Ten | Byler

10. The Omen

Jonathan silently laughed at the discussion between Will and Mike. At least, Will would not go alone to the shed.

Unfortunately, that was the last place Will wanted to be in with Mike by the moment.

Minutes later, Will and Mike arrived at the shed. It was easy to go there at noon because any mysterious creature in the woods would be hiding from the sunlight.

Will carefully opened the door to enter the shed and Mike followed behind.

Then, Will grabbed his bag for a flashlight, so they wouldn’t accidentally hit an object and make a noise. But when he tried to turn it on, it didn’t work.

He kept trying a few more times, but nothing happened.

Mike couldn’t help but chuckle.

- What are you laughing at? - Will asked, frustrated.

- Nothing, nothing. - Mike replied. I… I brought a candle.

Will raised his gaze to Mike, with a pretty confused expression.

- Why did you bring a candle? - He asked.

- I don’t know. I thought I might need it. - Mike replied, opening his bag to look for the candle inside. - We’re, like.. in danger. So it’s not easy to know if you’re getting home soon. - He added.

After some silent seconds, Will noticed what Mike had in his bag.

- Is that why you brought the painting? - He inquired.

- … Uh, yeah. Maybe. I just wanted to have it. - Mike replied.

Will sighed and remained silent for a few more seconds. Then, he grabbed the candle and turned around.

- Whatever. Let’s find that bag, it must be around here. - He said.

Will carefully lit the candle with a match. In that exact moment, Mike felt some strange shock by seeing the small fire. But he ignored the feeling and returned the conversation.

- “Whatever?” That’s all you’re gonna say? - Mike inquired, confused.

- What else should I say? - Will asked, focused on his search. - It was a gift, you can have it in your bathroom if you want to.

- But it was a gift from you, right?  Mike inquired again.

Will stopped pacing around the small shed when he heard the question. He was shocked.

- I… I painted it. But, it wasn’t a gift from m-

- Don’t lie and just say yes. It’s not that difficult. - Mike interrupted Will, serious.

- Well, yes. It was from me. - Will said, turning around to look at MIke. - But it doesn’t matter anymore. - He added and kept looking for the bag.

- Oh, so you’re gonna keep pretending you suddenly don’t care about us anymore. - Mike said.

- I’m not pretending. - Will exclaimed.

- So why didn’t you finish the count yesterday? - Mike asked, serious.

Will suddenly tripped over the bag they were looking for, which was on the floor, so he completely ignored Mike’s question, even though he could perfectly hear it.

- Here it is. - Will said, leaving the candle on a shelf so he could grab the bag. - Let’s go to the cabin.

- Not until I get an answer. - Mike said. - Why didn’t you say ten? - He insisted.

After some silent seconds, Will's mood changed and he got annoyed by that question.

- Does it matter anyway? I could have said it. - He said, seriously. - No, you know what? I should have said it.

Mike was shocked by that answer.

- But you didn’t. And if you had, that would have been so… unfair. - Mike exclaimed.

- What is fair right now? - Will asked, bringing up Mike’s question again.

- Well, giving a person 10 seconds to decide part of their future is not so fair, don’t you think so? - Mike replied, annoyed. - I’m allowed to have some doubts.

- I wouldn’t have hesitated for a second. - Will exclaimed.

- Oh, really? That’s why you lied to me in a first place? - Mike asked, taking the painting out of his bag to show it to Will. - You had doubts, remember?

Will averted his gaze to the painting on Mike’s hand and sighed.

- That was different. - He said, lowering the tone of his voice.

- Why?!

- Because you had a girlfriend, Mike. - Will said, placing his index finger on Mike’s chest, pointing at him.

Mike took a quick breath and lowered his gaze to Will’s hand as he got closer to him. He was so surprised by that reaction that the painting fell off his hand as Will kept talking.

- You already had someone. Someone for whom you pushed me away from overnight, Mike. - Will said, serious but quietly. - So, why on earth would I believe I even had a chance? - He added.

- How could I know you wanted me if I never got to know it until now? - Mike asked, placing his hand over Will’s, which was still over Mike’s chest.

- I guess you should have never known. - Will replied, letting go of Mike and turning around to leave the shed.

- Wait. - Mike exclaimed, placing a hand on Will’s shoulder to stop him from leaving.

But the movement was so fast that Will accidentally hit the shelf where the candle was, making it fall to the floor.

Mike quickly moved aside when he saw some small flames of fire spreading across the floor until they reached the painting, completely burning it in just a few seconds.

Will was so shocked by the situation that he couldn’t understand what happened, because it all had happened too fast to even think about it.

Fortunately, the painting stopped the fire from spreading across the rest of the shed, but at what cost? If now it turned into nothing more than some ashes.