Death In A Mile

Chapter 8: A Shared Wish Part II

In a sense, I wish this village didn't exist. That thought stayed in my head as I wandered home. People stared me down as I minded my business, and eventually I walked through my front door.

Instantly, she sprang up from her bed and on to her feet. "What happened?" She excitedly said.

"Nothing, just giving my charm to someone in need," I responded with a fake chuckle. I hated lying, especially to her, but the less people who know the truth the better.

"Awe that's sweet of you." Her tone then instantly changed. "But I know that's not all you went there for." She caught me, and all of the sudden I felt a sense of insecurity to my lying skills. I figured since my impractical plot was going to be stupidly executed someday, I might have to come clean first before disappearing without a trace.

Without a second thought, I spoke. "Madi I have been thinking, and I have decided I don't want to be here anymore." Simple as that and to the point, but I wasn't finished. "You may not be on board but I have been coming to conclusions that it is time for me to leave, not for myself but for the villages sake." I wanted to say more but it didn't seem right. I was excpecting her to not believe me, but with the look on her face she looked like she completly understood. I wanted to question her and ask what she thought, but I already knew what she was thinking.

"Hmmm," she mumbled aloud. "You know, I am not one for change or dramatic emotional moments but I completly agree." Woah, not an answer I expected from her, or anyone for that matter.

"Okay..." I said, almost confused. "But you kind of say that like you don't care about the consequences."

"Yeah well I don't. Who or what is going to stop me? My Mom? Dad?" I didn't want to go down this road so I changed the subject.

"Death," I interrupted. "I don't want to die, and neither should you. Didn't you think about what was beyond the nice part of the forest?"

"No, come to think of it never."

"Hold on then, you have been planning to go into this forest, without any forethought as to what might the dangers might be?"

She looked like she wanted to stay silent forever after I said that. Either she was rethinking or was trying to find a part in her brain she didn't have. "Come with me," she finally concluded. I of course agreed, so she immediately got up and walked out my front door. I stopped her.

"Wait, what about Andrew and the other villagers, they might see us." I said with concern.

"It's fine," she decided. She whipped around, swinging her hair like a pendulum, and started walking.

We had gotten to her house shortly after, and I looked around making sure no one was watching as her tunnel vision opened the door.

I was opened up to a well lit but low aesthetic house. We were in a living room with 2 couches facing each other, and an opening to the kitchen was at the right corner. Another door, leading to her room I am guessing, was at the opposite corner. I followed her to the door on the right.

Inside was quite clearly her room, and was much better decorated than the rest of the house. It was mainly purple, with a multitude of other colors and clutter. I followed her to the back, still silent in posture and words.

In the back was a closet, intricately locked with a pad lock and chains. She hid a key inside a box inside of a box on top of the shelf to the right. While consciously aware of the sound the rattle the padlock makes, she quietly opened the door revealing to what appeared an empty closet.

"What's in here?" I asked impatiently.

"Patience," she snapped back. The closet was much more spacious from the inside rather than the outside as she walked me in. She pulled a string turning on a light, and on the top shelf another box became visible. She stood on her toes to grab the box. It was painted in a design of water, but lots of it. No land was visible, just a storm and a big sail boat. The box was locked.

"You see this? This is an ocean. My parents told me about it as a kid but I never believed in one because I had never seen one," she told.

"How did they know it existed?" I responded.

"I don't know, I never questioned. I'm guessing from this box, they just started believing I guess."

"Do your parents believe in conspiracies?" Obviously I wasn't trying to sound rude but she took it that way.

"No! I told you they just believed in it. Just take my word for it, okay?"

"Okay," I pandered. Some part of me didn't believe.

She spun the combination lock until it matched a code: 345, then pressed a button and it sprung open. Inside was a folded paper that looked at least 5 years old.

"When my parents were alive they were in charge of village and forest inventory, and often they took me with them but I never helped. I decided to spend my time in the forest mapping out everything exactly. I walked the entire perimeter and found the shape." She opened the paper and inside was an aerial view of a map, with our village in the center.

"I'm sure you could tell this already but we are inside a circle until we meet forest." She drew her finger around the outside part of the map labeled trees, and it was an exact shape of an eye.

"A-are you sure this is right?" I stuttered.

"Yeah, it is right. I have checked it over a dozen times." I was speechless. I had no idea she had the time, and no offense the intelligence, to do this. "All those nights where I stayed up past curfew? I was in this room, revising this map until I got it to a tee."

"That's honestly amazing Madi that you managed to make that map, but I have to ask, why are you telling me this?" I said.

"Because, you are the only person who has ever shown any curiousity to the outside world," she started. "But ultimately, I want to leave this village and go to the unexplored forest alongside you."