The Portal - Pain Is The Password

Chapter Fifteen - The Unexpected

"You didn't leave!" Audrey says, feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders.

"Didn't leave? Nope. We didn't, but who did? You, "Fate hisses, her hair gradually losing it's purple. "Didn't come back and tell us where you were going, didn't drop the stones as you said. You just vanished."

Audrey tries to talk, "I'm sor-" Fate cuts her off.

"Sorry isn't good enough, what if you had gotten hurt? You could've died out there in those woods and we wouldn't have known." Fate pauses for breath and Sias takes a moment to point something out.

"She is hurt, look at her ankle." He says gently, Fate's eyes swivel down. Her hair grows white in anger.

"And why wasn't that the first thing you told us?" She's furious now, screaming. Audrey's never seen her like this before. Usually, she's bright and bubbly, at the very worst serious.

"It's not that bad, just achy." Audrey lies, "anyway I didn't go off on purpose."

"Well, then what happened? Did you get carried away by a herd of Hornshells?" Audrey ignores the fact that she doesn't know what a hornshell is.

"Not exactly." Audrey mumbles.

"What do you mean not exactly?" Sias beats Fate to it.

"It started with these... um.. hallucinations. Maybe?" Audrey isn't sure if they were hallucinations or real-life scenarios.

"Maybe?" Fate asks.

"Maybe if you let me talk I'll tell you." They both fall silent. "So yeah, hallucinations are the most likely explanation. I thought I heard a baby, not crying just being happy but then I thought, why's a baby in the forest?  I can't exactly remember what happened next but the baby was gone and the trees were on fire. Then I was out."

"Then you were out?" Fate almost laughs.

"I fainted, due to my hand."

"What happened to your hand?" Sias asks and Audrey holds up her hand, showing the white scar travelling a short distance.

"You don't even tell your friends that you're injured, thanks a lot Audrey but you can expect me to leave." Fate storms off without looking back.

Audrey stands there, rooted on the top of the steps, mouth wide open in disbelief. Her friend, the best one she has made in this world, hates her. The worst part of it? She has a reason too. If Audrey had told her friends that her hand was cut then they could've gotten her to a doctor and she wouldn't have had an infection. They wouldn't have had the argument.

"I'm not on anyone's side, I am not going to talk to you or her until tomorrow, then hopefully you'll both be calm enough to hold a conversation," Sias speaks up, startling Audrey, he walks off with his hands on his hips and sashaying his hips the same way a model does. Audrey shakes the image.

She stares at her hands, like the shape of her nails is as important as the crisis. As if they are subject of importance.

The stinging of having a fight with your best friend slaps Audrey and she starts to cry. She's crying a lot nowadays, that's a problem

The sky looming above her head is bright, the sun falling into her eyeline. Her ankle screams in pain, she rolls her eyes, it's asking, practically begging for medical attention. Pathetic. 

As hard as it is to walk through a town with a bone sticking out at an angle, she manages it. Groaning and moaning all the way, she doesn't stop when she sees anything interesting, she doesn't need to. Eventually, she arrives at the familiar tall house, two houses in fact fused together, booming with life. Music blaring and animals hissing, barking and making weird noises in general. Mirk is lucky to have the town to himself, otherwise, he would have annoyed neighbours calling.