The Book of Days: Reign of Darkness

III: The Tournament

  Ssssssmack! I had put one in the center, but Kristen hadn't shown up yet. I was the first of ten archers to shoot, and her absence was dragging me down. Please, Kris. Come on, I silently pleaded as I lined up another shot. This one went wide, because all I could think about was the empty space where she should be.

  Another arrow, this time in the middle ring. Another, in the inner ring. I was down to six arrows, with one in the center and one in the inner ring. If I didn't place the rest of them very carefully, my chances of winning were gone. I dashed the sweat from my forehead, stealing another glance at the spectators. She still wasn't there.

  I flubbed another shot, hitting the outer rim of the target. The next one went into the dirt. I had only four arrows left-- and surely the other contestants were by now laughing into their sleeves at me. As my spirits sank, I fired the last four in rapid succession, no longer caring whether they hit the mark. If she wasn't there, it didn't matter.

  "In a surprising turn of events, the celebrated young archer Garret Hood has scored only twenty-six points. What, we wonder, could have caused such a sudden drop in performance?"

  And then she was there. Her eyes met mine, she took in the pitiful results of my shooting, and she immediately understood. She had come too late.

  As I approached her, she started to say my name, but I barrelled past, one acidic word on my lips. "Happy?"
She grasped at my arm; I yanked it away. "Garret..." I could hear the threat of tears in her voice.

  "You know," I snapped, stopping and turning to face her, "I thought to myself last night, 'She might be upset, but she wouldn't really back out on the tournament.' Guess you had me fooled, didn't you?"

  "Garret, I'm sorry... your mom told me I was being too harsh, and at first I didn't want to listen. But then I pictured you missing your shots because of me and I tried to make it, Garret, I tried..." she was sobbing now, repeating, "I tried, I tried... Garret, I tried."

  "Well it's done now. I'm going home, before I hear one more person in the crowd asking what happened to make me shoot so badly."

  I walked away, thinking she'd probably follow me, but when I got there, she was nowhere to be found. I was about to go inside, but stopped when I realized that no matter how hurt I felt, I couldn't just leave her there.

  "Kristen?" I called, heading back toward the tournament grounds. "Kris?" I found her sitting on a small rock outcropping near the grounds, staring at her feet. "Hey. I thought you had followed me, but when I got home you weren't there."

  "You hate me now, don't you?" The words punched me in the gut. If that was what she was thinking... I sat down next to her and said, "What makes you think that?"

  "Because I ruined your big day. I know if I were you, I'd never want to talk to me again. So you hate me, right?"

  "If I did, would I have come back to find you? No, I don't hate you, Kris. I'm... really hurt and angry, but I could never hate you. Though I must say, yesterday I rather thought you hated me."

  "No. I just kinda clam up when I'm angry, cause I don't want to say something I might really regret. Unfortunately it doesn't always work. I'm really sorry, Garret. If... if you don't want to see me anymore, I understand. I can send for someone to take me home, and..." I put a finger on her lips, startling her into silence.

  "Would you stop that? I don't hate you, Kris, I'm not sending you away or anything like that, okay? You're stuck with me. For life. I'm not the kind of flaky person to end a friendship just because I get upset. Even as upset as I am right now. So come on, let's go back to the house and you can find some way to make it up to me. Agreed?" She smiled, kissing my cheek before I could react, and nodded. I decided not to complain.

  When we got home, Dad glanced up from his whittling and commented, "I'm sorry, son. That was brutal." I shrugged it off, and headed to my room. Mom laid a consoling hand on my shoulder as I went past.

  I spent the rest of the day in my room, only coming out for lunch and dinner. I didn't have much to say to Kristen, or to anyone, really. At one point, I heard Kristen knocking on my door. "Garret?" She was crying. "Garret, I thought you should know...." the next part came out as a strangled sob. "...I'm supposed to go home tomorrow. I... I hoped you would forgive me, and talk to me again before I leave. Please? I feel like we've done nothing but fight, and I don't want to leave without knowing that we're still friends... Please, Garret. I don't know if I can stand to go home and wonder if you don't want to see me again. Please?"

   Then there was a long silence, and for a few minutes I was sure I could hear her crying softly, but before too much longer I was sure she was gone. Finally I couldn't stand it, and I went to her room and knocked. "Kris? Kris?"

  The door cracked open. "So you heard," she croaked, her voice raw. "You've been avoiding me all day, since the tournament, and I was beginning to think it was over between us. I was just about to go to sleep when you knocked."

  "Good thing I came looking for you when I did, then. Come on out a minute, I'm not allowed in there when you're here." She stepped gingerly through the door, already in a nightdress, and I put my arms around her. "We're still friends. I promise. It was just a stupid archery contest anyway."

  "It wasn't stupid. You trained for that for weeks."

  "Are you trying to remind me why I was upset? Cause it's working."

  "No, I just meant..."

"Look, it was important to me. But not more important than you. I could never live with myself if I had to think about you crying back at home and telling yourself I don't wanna see you anymore. I told you earlier. You're stuck with me for life."

  "So you'll marry me someday?" I reeled back, and of all the ways she could have reacted, she laughed. "W--well," I stammered, "m-maybe, but that's still a good ways away. I don't know. But I'll at least be your friend for life."

  "So you'll marry me someday," she repeated. There was a gleam in her eye that said she really believed she was stating a fact. "Uhhhh, good night." And as I turned to leave, she grabbed my arm and kissed me. On the mouth.

  I instantly retreated to my room, only to hear her calling after me, "You know you love me, Garret Hood, and one day, you're gonna marry me!"

  My last thought as I went to sleep was of uncertainty as to whether I really hoped I would, or really hoped I wouldn't.