Onward to 7 Years

Chapter 5: Don't Fall

Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-beep!

Ian's eyes fluttered open as his watch kept on beeping for 7 a.m. He shut off the alarm and sat up, his muscles a little sore from sleeping in such a small space. To his surprise, the Manticore was already up sweeping the restaurant, getting ready to open it later that day.

"Good morning!" she said to Ian cheerfully. "Even though we saw each other a few hours ago..."

"Morning," Ian said as he stretched out and yawned. He grabbed his bag and stood up. "Well, I really should be going-"

"Wait!" the Manticore interrupted. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat before you go? Toast? Waffles? Cereal? Oh, wait, I don't have cereal, it's a restaurant..."

"I'm okay. I need to get going. I need to find him," Ian said as he started walking toward the exit.

"Just wait one more second! Be right back!" the Manticore exclaimed as she dashed to the kitchen.

Ian sighed and turned back around. A minute later, the Manticore came running back with a styrofoam container. "Here," she said as she handed it to him. "Please just take this-it's the burger and Griffin nuggets you started eating last night! Might as well finish it for lunch on your journey."

Ian took his backpack off his shoulders and carefully set the container in the second compartment. "Thank you," he said, tossing the backpack back on his shoulders.

"Now, the legend says that 'Cavaria and the sunrise are far; you shall find it under the moon and stars'. So you'll want to head east, where the sun sets and the moon rises," the Manticore smiled.

Ian smiled back. "Thank you so much for all your help, ma'am."

"Sure! Make sure to tell your mom that I want to do something together with her again!" she laughed.

"Will do!" Ian yelled as he started walking out the door. "Bye!"

"Bye...and Ian?"

Ian turned around. "Yeah?"

"Don't start any more fires!" the Manticore chuckled.

"Technically, that was your fault," Ian laughed. They said their goodbyes one last time, and Ian went on his way, feeling more at ease about the journey.

All he had to do was go east and find Cavaria. That's not bad at all. I can find it!  I can do this!  Then Ian stumbled over a fallen tree branch on the ground. "Maybe not..." Ian grumbled as he lay on his stomach on the grass.

                                                                                    *****

Ian walked east, away from the sunrise, for over 3 hours. All he passed was roads, neighborhoods, some parks, and then more roads, neighborhoods, and parks. How will I know  what Cavaria is? The Manticore didn't tell me what it looked like, Ian thought to himself. as he passed house after house after house. Whatever. I bet I'll just know it when I see it. The Manticore isn't completely sure it's real, but I think it is. Where else could Barley be? This 'Hidden Centaur' must have captured him! I hope Barley's okay right now. I hope he can sense that I'm on my w-

Ian's loud, grumbling stomach interrupted his thoughts. "I should probably take a break and eat," Ian muttered. In the distance was a forest, and behind some trees, he saw a pond. "I'll eat my burger there. Seems nice and peaceful," Ian told himself.

He walked several yards forward, went through the forest (being careful not to trip over more branches), and finally came out to the pond. It was a beautiful, bright blue color. To his right, it narrowed out into a stream that looked like it would go out for miles. Ian smiled at the sight and took a seat at the edge of the grass before the shallow pond. Ian looked at his reflection in the blue, shimmering water. He realized that he really hasn't changed much in 10 years. He had a little bit of facial hair on the sides of his face and under his nose, but you could barely see it. Maybe his face shape changed a little bit, and maybe he had more broader shoulders and wasn't as skinny, but that was the only difference about him.

He set his backpack down next to him and opened the second compartment and took out the container of food. He ate, admiring the peaceful, quiet sight around him. Once he was done eating, he closed the container and unzipped his backpack to put it back in his bag. Once he set it down, his hand slipped, and it reached the bottom of his backpack. He felt something small and smooth, and when he took it out, he realized it was a notepad.

Ian smiled. As he started flipping through it, he realized with a shock that it was the notepad he had with him on his quest 10 years ago! He must've brought the backpack somewhere with him sometime afterwards and put the notepad in the second compartment, and never took it back out.

He smiled at his old goals that he had written down. But one of the pages caught his eye.

The checklist of all the things he wanted to do with his dad. He slowly read them, letting the words sink in.

-Play catch

-Take a walk

-Heart to heart

-Laugh together

-Driving lesson

-Share my life with him

I started crossing them out once I thought Barley screwed up the quest, but I stopped at the end of the list,  Ian thought. Because I realized I never had a dad...but I always had Barley.

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down Ian's face. And he couldn't stop them. After a few minutes of silently crying, he looked into the distance, where there were huge trees and a bright blue sky above them. "I miss you, Barley. And I'm gonna find you," Ian whispered. "Just hold on. Don't give up. I'll be there soon. I promise-"

"Oh! I thought I would be alone once I saw that this pond was behind a bunch of trees, but I guess not!" a voice said from behind Ian.

Ian whipped around, quickly wiping the tears off his face. In the distance, coming out from behind the trees, was an elf that appeared to be a few years younger than Ian. She had shoulder-length light brown hair, a t-shirt, and jeans. She also had a backpack on, but it seemed a lot bigger than Ian's.

She must've noticed Ian's sad expression, because she suddenly got a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Ian grabbed his bag and quickly stood up. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine-AH!" he stepped backwards and started to stumble into the water, but the other elf lurched forward and grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her. Ian looked down, noticing she was only a little bit shorter than him. He quickly pulled his hand out of her's. He laughed nervously. "Thanks, uh, um....?"

"-Jessica," she completed his sentence.

"Jessica," Ian repeated. "I'm, um..Barley...wait. No. I'm not Barley. I'm Ian...okay, well, I gotta go continue my journey now, um, BYE!" he quickly turned and started walking back into the clump of trees.

"Wait, did you say journey?  Wait a minute! Are you..." she gasped. "Are you Ian Lightfoot?" she exclaimed excitedly.

Ian stopped. Wait,  he wondered. How does she know my name?