Irene, My dead best friend [Wattys 2015]

Chapter 27: You make me so mad, Irene!

Chapter 27: You make me so mad, Irene

“What do you want, MacGuffin, a duel?”
“No.” Julian held out both hands, one palm flat, the other held over it in a fist. “Rock, paper, scissors. Two out of three.”
Ty rolled his eyes and held out his fist, apparently willing to play. Julian hit his palm three times, and Ty kept time with his fist in the air. But when Julian threw a paper, Ty reached into his jacket with his other hand and pulled his gun, aiming it at Julian.
“Ty!” Zane said in exasperation from the front seat.
“Glock, paper, scissors. I win.”
“You are an ass,” Julian muttered.” 
― Abigail Roux, Armed & Dangerous

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I woke up to the sound of one bird, yes one bird chirping away like an irritating little thing while the right side of my face felt like it was burning. I opened my eyes thoroughly annoyed to realize that sunlight had somehow found its way into the tree hollow, just enough to reach one half of my face. I got up, stretching out and spotted the source of my annoyance…a little, blue birdie was sitting outside, making a hell lot of noise. I remembered how there was hardly any natural life around here last night, so it was quite surprising to find it here.

“Fly away, lil’ guy. It’s not safe for you here!” I tried shooing it away but the bird looked hardly rattled.

“Fly away or I might make a nice breakfast out of you!” grabbing a bunch of grass from the ground, I threw it at the bird. If the bird could have facial expressions or could speak, it would tell me I was a psycho but it flew away, regardless.  Happy with myself, I turned around to see if Irene was still asleep, only to find the tree hollow empty.

“Aren’t you a joy to behold this morning,” came a voice from behind me freaking me out and making me jump at least two inches above the ground.

“Oh, Irene. You scared me,” I couldn’t look her in the eye. It was a combination of how she had managed to scare me like a little girl just now with what had passed between us last night.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to. Here, I got us breakfast,” turned out, she wasn’t making eye contact either and her apology sounded like it was more than just scaring me. I noticed her shake her dress from the corner of my eyes and saw a whole bunch of berries fall onto the ground. It was mostly raspberries and blueberries mixed in with a few that I didn’t recognize.

“I remembered spotting a couple of berry bushes when we were making our way here last night. Figured it would be healthy breakfast and we could store some for later,” she explained herself, finally causing me to look at her. Her hair was smooth and flat today, making me wonder how she had managed to do that. There were no signs of the tears she had spilled last night and I guess I liked it that way. The front of her dress had berry stains all over it, presumably when she had carried them here.

“Thanks,” was all I could muster. I honestly had no idea how I felt about the information she had laid upon me last night and I’d rather she believe she had been freaking out and it was all a spur-of-the-moment-rant. I grabbed a handful of berries and began eating them; they were surprisingly delicious, a good combination of sweet and tangy.  I heard her sigh and sit down on the floor across from me. She grabbed a couple of berries and popped them into her mouth.

“They’re nice, aren’t they?” her voice sounded nice and cheery.

“Mhmm,” was all I could get out.

“Listen, Jason, about last night,” she took a pause, chewing her berries and using that moment to think about what she wanted to say, “I know it probably freaked out you but I do remember quite a lot. The only reason I’m not telling you anything is….well, I’d rather you just see it. There are some parts which are still foggy to me and I’m hoping going to the house will trigger some sort of memory, like you did with your theory last night?”

I kept on eating, trying to mull her information in my head, but she figured she needed to keep on going,

“I know it all sounds so odd and I understand that. It’s just that with all that I’ve remembered, I’m scared too. Some of it is downright horrid and I’m hoping my memory is wrong in regards to it. Please try and understand Jason. We have to get there….there to my house, as soon as we can. Your parents will begin looking for you soon, if they haven’t already and I’m afraid we’re running out of time,”

“Running out of time? For what?” she had finally gotten through to me.

“You remember those human eating, singing creatures in the forest earlier?”

“Yeah…,”

“They are heading this way soon… a lot of them, it’s almost their entire herd and we have to get to my house before they make it there,”

“Wait…what? How do you know this? Why are they going to your house?” I was freaking out again, I whole rush of sweats breaking out all over my body. I wanted to not believe her ridiculous information but on an elemental level, I had a feeling she might be speaking the truth.

“Jason! You keep on asking me these questions and I’m telling you there’s no proper way of explaining all this to you. If you could stop asking questions and just trust me on this, I’d really appreciate it!” she was half yelling at me and was beginning to speak like me too. All I could do was continue looking at her as though she’d smacked me but finally went back to eating whatever was left of the berries. We finished what we could eat in silence and I scooped the rest of them into my bag pack.

“I need a moment and then we can leave,” I had to relieve myself and needed a minute away from Irene, she was getting on my nerves and quite frankly I was starting to forget why I was out here risking my life trying to help her out. I walked away into some dense trees and tried to get my business done with.

The fact of the matter was she was no longer lost, she knew exactly where her house was, which was what I had promised her in the first place. Yet, now here we were with her bossing me around, making me go around these damned enchanted woods…forest...whatever the heck they were in this pointless escapade which would probably end in either one of us getting hurt. I had a feeling I would be the one in this case, probably considering I couldn’t feel her and if there was any eminent danger, she’d do that magic bit she had done earlier with those centaur like creatures and evade all trouble. Fuck it, what had I gotten into and why the heck was I here? Because you care for her and love her. Came a voice from somewhere within. Shut the hell up, I don’t need your nonsense right now, you’re the reason I’m in this mess! I screamed right back at that voice in my head but I knew it was right. I was so mad at myself but I knew what I had to do.’

Zipping up my pants, I walked back to the hollow tree, vaguely aware that Irene was watching my every move but I ignored it. I grabbed my backpack, pulled out the water bottle, washed my hands with it and splashed some of it on my face, not that I needed any waking up. I threw the bottle back into my bag, zipped it close and flung it over my shoulders.

“Let’s go”

©Hafsa T.M (aka HTMwrites)