The Broken Ones

Chapter 21

I woke with a start the next day. Something was around. I could feel it. Slowly, very slowly, I wiggled out of my sleeping bag, making far too much noise on the way. A rustling could be heard from something nearby. Should I approach it? That seemed like a dumb thing to do.

So, cautiously, I approached it.

The noise continuously grew louder every step closer. I picked up a rock for protection. Really, Felix? A rock?

A loud snap of a twig and I was inches from yelling out. The bush was ahead. It shook slightly at whatever could be disturbing it. I imagined the worst possible creatures. Probably irrational, but in this forest, it seemed reasonable.

"Felix?"

I jumped at the sound of a voice. Kat was poking out from her sleeping bag, hair wild and eyes sunken. "What the hell are you-"

"Shh!" I urged. I gestured to the bush in front of me with the rock tightly gripped in my hand. "There's something in there."

I watched her eyes go wide for a moment, then slowly sinking into a look of pure exhaustion as she slowly sunk back into her sleeping bag. I didn't know why she was being so passive about this. I could die right now for all we knew.

With a great leap of faith (or utter stupidity) I chucked the rock at the bush with a hard thrust. The leaves quivered for a moment after a small squeal sounded from inside.

That didn't sound like what I was expecting . . .

I jumped when an angry rabbit came bounding out of the greenery. A breath a relief escaped my mouth as Kat laughed behind me.

"Oh, shut up," I muttered to her.

Eventually, the three of us emerged from sleep. We were still exhausted, however. There was little motivation in me to even move.

The food was almost entirely gone. The three of us munched on our now disgusting sandwiches in quiet, until I bit down once more on something that tasted oddly off. With furrowed eyebrows, I observed my sandwich. Something was sticking out of it.

Turns out, Tyson had stuck a whole piece of paper in my sandwich. Apparently, that was a better option than simply putting it in the bag.

The paper read,"If you run out of food, just say these words with the name of a food at the end: 'Replete Cicum, _____.'"

Lovely. Knowing sooner would have been even better, but who was I to complain?

Excitedly, we said the words and a choice of our food. Kat went with a chocolate muffin, Taylor, bacon and eggs, and myself, a nice, juicy, tender steak.

"You're disgusting," Taylor said.

"No, I'm a man," I replied.

After our rather reviving meal, we set off along the path that would most likely take us to eternal damnation with full bellies and a smile on our face.

The day was pretty uneventful, for the most part. We talked, made jokes, dared each other to lick more tree's. That is until Kat suddenly froze in the middle of walking.

Taylor grabbed her shoulders hesitantly. "Kat?"

It was another vision. A good or bad one, we couldn't tell. Her face was devoid of any emotion, her eyes swirling with a milky white, lips slightly parted. It was over within no time, to our relief. We sat her down on a nearby log, offering some water she took with a small smile. From my guess, it wasn't a good vision. Her next words confirmed this.

"It was the Memoria Demons," she said, a little breathless. "They're close."

After that, we were on extreme edge, jumping at every possible sound. If they were close, there was no doubt they knew we were too. And that could only mean trouble.

"I've been thinking," Taylor said out of the blue.

"Yeah?"

"The Cavernae Fairies. Why did they just up and leave like that?"

Kat nodded at the question grimly. "After the attack, I did some research. Apparently, the fairies fear Memoria Demons above anything else, or more specifically, their eyes."

I nodded slowly, but I was still a bit lost. "And?"

"And, they probably caught a glimpse of my eyes and mistook them for the Demon's, which then caused them to run away."

It all made sense. They only fled once Kat turned around to face them. I guess now we had a bigger advantage in some ways. Against the fairies, at least.

The sun began fading after a while. We walked until our legs ached, along with our tired minds. Even after how far we had come, the destination-wherever that could be-seemed very far away. I wanted nothing more than to be back home, in that alleyway, with Taylor at my side as we binge-watched every episode of our favorite show until falling asleep. Was that so much to ask for?

For a moment, I thought I was going crazy when a certain sound met my ears. It was a soft tune coming from somewhere in the distance. It sounded as if it was accompanied by other voices. Laughter, maybe?

I shrugged it off. The forest was probably just getting to my head. But the sound wouldn't go away. "Do you guys hear that?" I asked, hoping I wasn't just hearing things.

No. They definitely heard it too by the looks on their faces.

"I think it's coming from somewhere over there." Kat pointed off to the left.

Taylor disagreed with a shake of her head. "No, it has to be coming from over there." She pointed to the right.

"I distinctly hear it to the left. How do you not hear that?"

"There's no way."

As they bickered over where the source of the sound was, my eyes wandered the treetops. There was an orange glare over everything, causing the view to burn my eyes. I averted my gaze to something else. The trail, of course, was winding through the trees as normal. But I thought, for a moment, there was a second, smaller trail leading off to the left. My brain could be playing tricks on me. It could be a deer trail for all I knew. However, what would the harm be in observing?

"Hey, let's go this way," I suggested as I began walking towards the small trail.

"Ha! He agrees with me," Kat grinned.

"Never in a million years, Kit-Kat."

"Wait." Taylor jogged to catch up with me, followed by Kat. She lightly placed her arm on my elbow, a simple act that would have normally been fine, but she was staring up at me with such intensity I could feel it in my soul. Sometimes, I wondered if she was even real. "You're just going to walk towards the noise."

At this, I grinned cheekily at her. My arms were open wide in a carefree motion. "We're going to die anyway. Why not speed up the process?"

I left them staring at me like I had gone hopelessly insane. I probably have, if we were being honest.

The sound gradually increased as we got closer to the source, deeper into the trail leading to the unknown. It didn't sound threatening, by any means. Quite the contrary. Was it at all possible not everything in this forest radiated death and destruction? One could hope. The three of us stuck close together as we advanced, not truly knowing the outcome.

"Sounds like a party," Kat whispered beside me.

From the music and laughter, I had assumed she was right. But out here? No, that didn't make sense.

Yet, when we stepped into view of the scene in front of us, low and behold, a party was taking place. A wedding, if we were being precise.

I couldn't help but gape.

♥

Fun fact about me: I can't sleep in silence 

Contacts:

Email: 55leftturns@gmail.com

Tumblr: 55leftturns

Thanks for reading!