Imperfect Love

Part 7

I venture off to explore the cave. I have to find a way to get out of here; my parents are probably worried sick. There is definitely someone...or something...that brought me here to the cave because I remember I landed in the water. I hear the strange gurgling noise once again and I realize that it right behind me.

I don't turn around yet, but I could feel a very tall presence behind me and I gulp. I turn and almost fall on my bottom at what I see, but "it" catches me. I try to get away from it. It is some humongous octopus. I believe it is called a kraken from one of my fantasy books. But, that is is all its supposed to be...a fantasy! My heart palpitates at the very sight it in fear. It has blue-green, rough-looking skin and it has the upper half of a human, but it has tentacles! There are some feather things on his back. The most intimidating feature are it's eyes- slitted and yellow peering down at me. Oh dear, it's at least 40 or 50 feet! I don't know how it can see me right now. I don't know what to do as I feel it's intense gaze on me. I close my eyes and wait for the creature to eat me.

After a few seconds, I open my eyes and realize that I am still alive. I realize it is still gripping my waist with its tentacles. The kraken transfers me to its hand and I am placed directly in front of his face. I start shaking and it's hard to breathe. Unfortunately, my body can't handle all this stress and collapse in the kraken's arms.

(time skip)

When I wake up, I am lying near the rock where I usually sit and watch the ocean. I jolt up remembering the kraken and the cave. I look down at my clothes- they are drenched. I knew it! That kraken must have brought me to the cave and now it brought me back to this rock. Either that or I have teleportation powers. I read too much fantasy.

I shiver in fear at my memory of the kraken. The question is why didn't the kraken kill me? And how did it know where my town was? Did I have a stalker now? No Kaaya, don't be too selfish. No one is going to pay that much attention to you.

I decided that curiosity might kill the cat and decided to continue home to see if anyone noticed my absence.

"Kaaya!" I hear a voice shout my name and I am hugged from the back. I look back to see Tyer. I turn around and hug him back.

"I am so sorry Kaaya that I got mad at you! Don't run away from me again!" I smile at his words and apologize for my lack of patience to him as well. The tone where he said the words 'Don't run away from me again' was a bit unnerving, but I will just look past that for now. We just made up, we don't need another fight.

He smiled at me and wrapped an arm around my waist, the way a man would do to his woman. His grip is tight enough to prevent me from running away, but not tight enough to hurt me. I feel my face heat up as I try to push him away and he just looks down at me and smirks. I could feel his breath tickle my ear as whispers, "So you don't run away from me again." I feel a shiver run down my spine at his words. Something is definitely odd about him now. Maybe maintaining distance between isn't such a bad thing.

We continue walking, me trying to keep as much distance as possible between us, but failing at it tremendously. We run into Archis and his eyes narrow at Tyer's arm around my waist. I hide behind Tyer. This is the person who pushed me off a cliff and left me to die.

I quickly whisper to Tyer as I see Archis coming closer and closer to us. "Tyer! Please protect me from him. While, I was running away, Tyer chased me and pushed me off a cliff to die! He told me that if he can't have me, no one can. That is why I am wet!"

Tyer's face contorts to deathly rage. I have never seen him this mad at anyone. Even when we fight, one of us always ends up apologizing before the week is over. He lets go of my waist and walks to Archis. I gasp when Tyer punches Archis in the face. He shouts curses and clutches his now bloody nose.

"What is wrong with you man!? I am going to kill you for what you did to Kaaya!!" Tyer continues to blow punches at Archis, who is now on the ground. It is no joke that Tyer might kill him if he continues this. I grab Tyer's arms, but he just shoves me away gently. In order to stop him, I stand right in front Tyer, his knuckle ends up inches from my face and he quickly brings it down.

"Kaaya! Get out of my way!! I have to kill this idiot for what he did to you!" Tyer tells me angrily. His eyes are filled with uncaged rage. For a moment, I am relieved that his rage is not at me.

"Tyer! Please stop! You already hurt enough him enough! If you continue, he is going to end up dying!" I plead with him to stop. Thankfully, he stops. But, he mumbles something under his breath which sounds something like 'Why is that a bad thing'. My eyes widen and I quickly pull him away.

I don't want to stay close too close to Tyer now. It seems like he displays insane behavior every time I am near him. We are just best friends, but Tyer is treating as our relationship as more. I might blush or giggle sometimes at his behavior, but that is because he is a man and I am a woman. I don't have any true romantic feelings toward him. I see him as my brother.

As I look back at Tyer, his face has adoration written all over it. I clear my throat to tell him how I feel about him.

"Kaaya-"

"Tyer-"

We both laugh at our awkward timing. "You first." Tyer tells me, laughing. I clear my throat and begin.

"Um Tyer...you are one of my best friends. I am really thankful to have you in my life. But, I think that you get a little too protective about me something, alarmingly so. I am your friend and I don't want to bring out the worst in you. I want you to be happy. I think I have an idea about what you were about to say- about our relationship. Thank you for being such a good friend, but I don't think I am ready for anything else."

After I am done with my long speech, I look at Tyer's face for any emotion at all, but his face a void of any. I find this a little strange because Tyer is one to always show emotions - whether he is happy, sad, or angry. His emotionless face continues to stare at me until I start getting very uncomfortable and look down at my feet.

"Kaaya." My head snaps up to look at him. "I have feelings for you in a romantic way. You told me that you are not ready and I respect that. Just know that I will continue to wait for you for as long as it will take for you to reciprocate my feelings. About the insane part...I am insane..insane for you."

I gulp at Tyer's long speech. I need time to sort everything out. I was chased by a perverted maniac, I was kidnapped by a kraken, and now my best friend just confessed his feelings. I feel like there are a lot of things being thrown at me and I don't have time to process everything.

With that thought in mind, I nod at Tyer as a farewell and head home to my family.