Gears of Harmony

Episode 15 - Faraway in the Past

I hurriedly went into the forest with Gale following closely behind. I kept looking down, watching the flickering small light in my hand, illuminating the ground beneath us in a soft orange glow. It was bright enough, at least to help me watch my step.

It was all very silent. There was no other sound than the howling wind and footsteps. Mine, and his. Which somehow seemed to be in the same pace that it sounded like one person's footstep.

How did it suddenly come to this? I thought, well, I know that he's not a creep, but... it's kind of awkward... after what happened a few days ago in his class.

"That Julius..." Gale suddenly said, "must have bailed on purpose..."

So that guy is called Julius, huh? I thought.

"Why do you think so?" I asked.

"It's written all over his face," he said.

"Then he must be scared too to go down here even with a friend, huh?" I said.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Well, I'm scared too..." I said, "scaring back the scarer must have sounded nice to him... like you're staying in control of everything..."

He said nothing as he kept walking behind me. The tall grasses swayed in the wind, tickling my trousers. I looked up to the skies. The tall trees covered my view that I could only see a part of the dark sky with few stars twinkling in the sky. Then my gaze shifted back to the candle in my hand.

I can see what's right beneath me, yes, but I could barely see two meters in front of me... I thought, if there's a hole I'd fall right into it before I spot it...

Then suddenly, I heard a rustling sound. I quickly turned to the direction of the noise.

What was that? I thought.

"Don't worry, it's just the scarers," said Gale in a low tone.

Just then, without notice, something white dropped from the sky into a knelt. Well, actually from the trees, I suppose. The figure stood up slowly, revealing a man with his mouth stretched to his ears, with no flesh in the said area. I gulped and took a step back, only to bump into something else. Then whatever was behind me stepped to the side. I looked behind my shoulder and found that it was only Gale. He stepped to the front and tugged my sleeve.

"Let's go," he said, "it's just a dude,"

...right, it's only a human... I thought.

"Just a dude, you said?" the man repeated.

Suddenly, he started lumbering towards us and grabbed my shoulder. I looked to Gale and he looked at me at the same time. In the split second, my sleeve was pulled in the direction opposite to the creepy man. In my eyes, the view went up and down as my feet frantically tried to keep up with him. I felt my knees weakened but I had to force my legs to keep running, even with trembly legs. When I turned around, the ripped mouth man has broken into a run towards us.

"Where do you think you're going?!" shouted the man.

Away from you?! I thought, isn't that obvious?!

"Bad things await you, young man! You and the little princess behind you-" he shouted.

...what? What the- that man... I thought.

He... knows?

"He was just giving damsels in distress nicknames, don't mind him," said Gale, "he was just trying to provoke us,"