Decemberland

Chapter 17: The First Day of the Shining

The sun glared against her eyelids and the sound of birds chirping crept into her ear. She slowly cracked open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a pair of knees in dark jeans. When the realization she was laying down on someone’s lap finally occurred to her, she turned herself over to see who it was.

A skinny, sweaty, snow white chest quietly heaved in front of her, shoulders broad enough to balance a cup on with a trademark brown overcoat once again draped over them like a cape. A little further up and she could make out the messy white hair and trait eye patch she was so familiar with by now.

Red quickly made its way to her face, but thankfully, Trust slept like a rock. Her heart rate didn’t slow down any, however. Carefully, she lifted her head from his lap and sat up. Just in time, too, as he yawned and began to stretch his arms the moment she moved away.

His vibrant red eye was already fixed on her before it even opened. “Morning, sunshine. You look nice and healthy.”

They both sat next to each other on the couch inside Nico’s dorm. For some odd reason she thought he would go missing for a week or more, just like last time. But here he was, sitting right in front of her as if nothing were any different between them. She had so many questions for him, but she felt too lost for words to say anything.

Trust broke the ice first. “It’s a beautiful day out. First day of the Shining. Valley’s gonna get nice and warm. No more sleet or ice for a few months.”

“Yeah...” was all Nico could muster. At first glance, he didn’t look cursed like she thought he was. Did she come to a wrong conclusion...?

“How’s your arm?” he asked, pointing at the blood stained bandages wrapped all across her forearm. Nico moved it around. It felt fine. Whether it looked that way underneath the bandages was another thing entirely, though. She would have to check later.

“It feels okay,” she said, “Not as deep as I thought.”

“That’s good,” Trust replied, and sighed, getting up from the couch, putting on his coat and walking over to the door. “Well, I gotta get going. If the dorm room inspector catches me here I’m in trouble.”

“W-Wait!” Nico’s arm reached out, trying to stop him. “Don’t... don’t go yet.”

Trust turned to peak over his shoulder at her with his one eye. She could swear there was even a hint of smugness on his face.

“What? You want me to get in trouble?”

“No, I just... what happened? I can’t remember... anything.”

Trust stroked his chin and pretended to think hard about it. “Well, you basically played the flute for a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters and miraculously mesmerised them-with beautiful playing, I might add, I was mesmerised too-and led them back into the forest where you fainted. That’s where I came to pick you up and carry you back home.”

It was a blunt answer, but that’s what she came to expect from Trust. “O-Oh...” she stammered, “Thank you...”

“You did have the keys in your pocket, after all. My sleep tonight depended on it.”

She’d have given him a potato sized bruise for that one if he hadn’t moved away from her. But she knew he had come out to save her-he normally took the window inside.

“The rest of the town is having a massive funeral for the dead right now,” he continued, “I don’t like funerals myself, too morbid. You probably won’t want to go out there if you don’t like them, either.” He stopped for a moment, and looked at her in anticipation. “... Can I go now?”