Civilized

Ch. 5

During the ride, there was one boy, probably around my age, who would stick with me along the journey to who knows where. His name was Jake, and he was only here since his brother was a soldier.
"Fiera, what are you doing?" He asked one day during lunch. I raised the piece of bread in my hands up. I wasn't in mood to eat their version of bread. It was too sweet and the texture seemed a little too soft. I set the bread down and instead turned to the bowl of grapes.
"Oh, can I join you?" Jake asked. I nodded without looking at him. Honestly, he reminded me of a huge flirt. He'd talk with other girls from towns and cities we passed through. I only witnessed it a few times, but he was definitely flirting. I spent the remainder of my time in these civilizations simply looking at the different cultures and comparing them to my own. Of course I would think mine were better anyways.
"Are you free later?" Jake suddenly asked,"I want to show you this pond I found nearby here." He pointed north and I followed his line of view. There was a few sparkles from what I thought was water, and I was definitely hyped to get to play for once, but I shook my head.
"Sorry, they're not going to let me go," I said. I popped another grape in my mouth and let it burst between my teeth. His face fell in disappointment.
"Aw, really? That's a shame, but I'll try and get them to let you go with me," he urged, "My brother is one of the soldiers here, so he's going to help me for sure." He got up off the grass, smiled and ran off towards the group if soldiers sat at a table.
I never knew what to do with him. He was a total flirt my eyes, but at the same time, when he was with me, he seemed more like a friend. Maybe I wasn't pretty enough for him to flirt, and that he was just pitying me, the only girl in the group. I wouldn't blame other girls for falling for him either. He wasn't that bad looking. He had mildly tan skin, he was tall and lean, and he had straight black hair that was styled away from his face. His face was even attractive to certain standards. When he smiled dimples appeared on both cheeks, and his eyes were the really sweet, kind type you'd see on maybe a puppy's face, except they were an everlasting blue. The type that you knew would never fade with age. I'd only seen one other Person with eyes like this, but that was years ago. But this was just what I thought, and I didn't feel any shame in comparing him to something other than a human. I rolled a grape between my fingers pondering this for a long time till they came to get me back.
That night, someone spoke on the outside of my tent. They spoke in a low whisper, but I knew who they were almost immediately.
"Fiera, can you open up?" Spoke Jake. I rolled my eyes, but opened the tent anyways.
"What? Do you need something?" I whispered to him through a crack made in the tent flap.
"I spoke with my brother, he was able to find out a way to let you out. We just need to leave it to him, and go out to the pond," he said, "Grab a coat since it's cold. It's a quite a few feet away, but it'll be fun. Trust me." He spoke so assuringly that I agreed and grabbed my coat. Unlike the clean and new dress, the coat they gave me was stringing apart in places and had a musky presence both in color and smell. But I didn't complain since if I did, there would be no way to keep me warm.
"Why are you taking me out?" I asked finally. He was holding my hand firmly in case we had to run and I was too slow. He said this exactly to me. But I doubted there'd be any problem considering I grew up in a village not a castle and walked around barefoot not in slippers. So therefore, I would be able to run quite well anywhere, and I was confident that I was faster than him too.
"Here we are," he said rather loudly. I was about to shush him, but then I saw the pond. In the moonlight, or what there was of it, it sparkled along the ripple surface, perfect for the pretty, flowery background against it. I'd never seen anything like it before. I had only been in a rainforest, and never in an actual forest like this.
"Pretty, right?" He asked. I nodded not sure what to say or do when I remembered he was still standing there, by my side, still holding my hand. I moved my hands a bit, and then he realized what was happening.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot," he said. But right after his apologetic response, he turned back to the pond forgetting about his apology and not even expecting any forgiveness. But I didn't mind since it was easier for me too.
We sat in silence for a long time, when suddenly, when I looked down, there was a spider crawling on my hand.
"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed and jumped up so high, it felt like I was hovering for a few seconds. I began moving my feet up and down quickly and moving my wrists as fast as I could to get the spider off.
"Agh, a spider! Oh gosh!" I cried out loudly.
"Are you ok? It's gone, trust me. I saw you fling it into the pond," he said half chuckling. He held the sides of my arms and calmed me down. I stood still with my hands to my chest. I looked around at the grass and on me to be sure it was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief after reviewing its presence gone.
"This is the most girly I've ever seen you," he said chuckling. I frowned and wiped his hands off of me.
All of a sudden, we heard murmurings from conversations and shouts coming from the camp. I was able to catch a few sentences.
"Where's she gone?!"
"We have to find her!"
"Where's Jake!?"
I froze. Jake did too. Suddenly, he pulled me out of the pond's clearing. I ran alongside him and wriggled my wrist from his grip. He gave me a confused like he was saying I was crazy.
"I can run on my own," I huffed between breaths. I ran off ahead of him around the camp site. He followed, partially struck by my actions. I heard more shouts and they were getting louder. Even the neighs of horses were heard indicating they were riding on horse back. It would be good for us if we kept to the thinner paths, but bad when we reached the main road into the camp.
"Hey, come here," whisper yelled Jake. He pulled my arm, and we both collapsed into a crawl space created pay an uprooted tree. I landed on him elbowing him in the chest. He yelped but I covered is mouth. He gripped the spot where I hit and scowled at me. But I wasn't looking at him. I was looking out at the thundering hooves sometimes speeding by, and other times, stopping right in front of our eyes.