Wildfire~Smoke and Mirrors (Book Two)

Chapter Two ~ I Am Truly Foolish

Me and Hazel. Hazel and I. But how? I wondered, still in a quizzical fog with me myself and I. 

Me myself and I, Wildfire repeated inside my mind. Really? Be reasonable Sophia, there's only two of us. Though, I have to admit I rather like the sound of the idea "me myself and I". 

Of course you do, I shot back.

Mark my words Sophia, I'll be the one with the clever blood-smeared grin, the soon-to-be scarlet red claws, the aqua-teal eyes with bloodthirst filling them until they're crimson with hate.

I didn't reply. How could I? I was next to my... well, the f-word that I refuse to use. ("F"riend, get it?) And my little psychopathic Wildfire was being trivial and more graphic than usual. Great.

I clenched my jaw, keeping my eyes open except for involuntary and necessary blinks for the slight anxiety of seeing Wildfire even more vividly in my mind than I already was. Who wants to see their demons, essentially?

I certainly don't.

I continued to walk a comfortable distance behind CruelStorm, striding gingerly next to Hazel, still in denial. I must've been extremely tense because Hazel's beautiful eyes drifted over and met mine.

"Ace," Hazel said. "What's wrong?" Here's a little tip for you, if your friend knows you really well, they will ask you 'what's wrong' when something is wrong, rather than asking 'is something wrong?' because a real friend will know when you are feeling even a little bit off at anytime and go out of their way to find out what's wrong and make you smile again. They don't need to waste their time on asking something they already know. They know something is wrong and they want to know what exactly it is. Or at least that's what I think. And I do a great deal of that thing we all call "thinking." Or maybe your friend is just stellar at deduction.

I gave only a little thought to what my response was to be. "Just a little... Fogged up, is all."

Hazel nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. I think I've been under a sort of fog for the past few years I've been here."

"Six years, seven months, three days," I replied automatically.

"Let me guess... Is it the time we've been apart?"

"Yes... I kept track."

"How old are you now? Before... The fire... You told me you were twelve and a half. That was a lie, wasn't it?"

I nodded slowly, feeling as if I might sink into the ground, or just trip over my own paws. "It was a lie. When I first met you, I didn't think I was going to become involved with anyone anymore. I was weak, so I lied. I'm one-thousand-three-hundred-fifty-two, so that means I was... " I did some quick mental-math. "One-thousand-three-hundred-forty-five years old."

Hazel's face went blank, her pawpace slowing enough for it to be notable. I slowed down to her new pace.

"The foxes told me you lied about your age... But I never thought it was something like this." She looked out forwards into The Dark Forest, her expressions unreadable, even for me.

Her gaze fell upon me yet another time. Now Hazel's expression was filled with understanding. Empathy. "That wasn't weak to lie," she comforted, which was comforting, evidently. "I'd say it was more like... You were protecting me." Protecting, I thought grouchily. Yeah, protecting me myself and I.

Hazel must've read my mind because she replied with, "You were protecting yourself in a way, I suppose, but that doesn't make you weak. It makes you scared, and scared is nothing to be ashamed of. Being scared makes you stronger because it makes you... more..." She was trying to find the proper word. "Susceptible to learning from your mistakes. What's weak is when someone makes you feel weak for their own foolish joy."