The Garden of Heathen

Hedy Games

"Happy 10 day anniversary," Aussie said to Gally as she tossed him an extra roll at breakfast.

He caught it with a look of confusion.
"It's been 10 days?" He questioned in disbelief.

Aussie nodded slowly as she took a seat across the table from him, knowing exactly how weird time felt there. Her three years felt like 50.

"Yeah, but it's been such torture it feels longer," Gertie griped from beside him.

"Tell me about it," he fired back, squinting at her. He looked up to see Aussie's eyes darting between him and Gertie, a suspicious look on her face.

She caught him looking at her with a slight scrunch to his brows and she quickly forged ahead on another topic.

"So that means we have 20 days left till another newbie arrives... if another newbie arrives, they haven't exactly been playing by the rules lately," she muttered.

"When do you think that ... white rabbit will arrive?" Gertie whispered the secret words.

"I think it might have to do with the newbie," Aussie leaned in and spoke in excited but hushed tones. "The note said "arrives" just like you said, and nothing but Newbies and supplies arrives here, so it makes sense."

Gertie nodded.

"And where do you think we have to go?" Gally asked.

Aussie's eyes stared at the maze door just beyond him and her lips tightened.
"Something tells me the way out is through that gosh darn shucking maze," she shrugged unhappily. "I just know it is."

The thought made Gally very uneasy, yet he had to agree with her.

"Should we organize the runners again? We haven't had runners in- well, 10 days," Gertie pointed out.

"That'll be a hard sell won't it?" Aussie's eyes widened briefly. "Hey, we need you to go into the, so far, unsolvable maze with the monsters and look for a way out- oh yeah, they'll jump right on that."

"Better to go through them and get out than stay here and be their neighbors for the rest of our lives, never knowing when they'll decide to waltz through the doors- I still don't know why they don't come in here!" Gertie banged her spoon on the table.

"But we're thankful, right?" Aussie said before rolling her eyes. "This makes my head hurt."

"Well, take care of that yourself if you can, I gotta go do my shift watching over Rani... I hope she wakes up soon.." Gertie said as she took her last bite and gathered up her dishes.

"Ok, you're doing good!" Aussie encouraged her as she started to leave for the house. "I'll come see you later!"

Gertie waved and jogged off. And that left her with Gally who was staring intently at her now.

"What?" She asked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What are you up to?" He asked her bluntly, taking her aback.

"What?" She almost choked.

"You keep giving me and Gertie weird looks, what's up?" He explained.

"Wha- I- nothing!" She stuttered as she avoided his 'I don't believe you for a second' look.

"Wow. You are a terrible liar," he stated. "Just so long as you don't think there's something going on between us because, gross-"

"No, no, no, no, no!" She quickly waved her hands and dismissed that. "But it is a relief to hear, because I..."

His heart suddenly leapt for some reason. Why was it a relief? Because she what?

"... think she might be... your... sister."