Beyond the Hedge

Beyond Understanding

"Thanks." I chuckled. "I really needed something like that."

He seemed dazed and I laughed again, this time nervously. "What happened, Red?"

He seemed to snap out of it and shook his head. I don't know if he did that to shake himself back to reality or to tell me to forget about it. I took it as both.

"Don't worry about me." He stated firmly. "This is about you. You should make sure your fine. If you want me to leave so you can be yourself, by yourself, I will."

This time I shook my head, almost panicked. "No. I just... I need to be around someone." Looking behind me, where Grandma disappeared. I saw the white cloud and I sighed. "Grandma almost feels like a stranger. Ashley and Gladys are part family, I trust them with anything, but..." My voice faltered. I looked at him and he nodded.

"I just need a friend right now. To listen. A new person who won't judge anything on what I say or what I've said before." Another sigh, this time directed to King's HQ. "Someone who recently lost someone too."

Reggie looked at his hands like he found some secret to what he should say next. "Someone who understands without steering off the conversation. Someone who won't try to lighten the mood by bringing back memories that are unwanted."

"Yeah."

"I get what you mean."

He paused.

I paused.

We looked at each other and gave comfort smiles.

I turn my body to face where the Hedge would be and soon enough, it comes into clear focus.

"You know what I've learned? When someone leaves the only thing you can think of is regret. There are a lot of emotions like when you get angry at them for leaving, depressed that they're gone, worried for what will happen next. The one thing I'm thinking only has to do with regret." I confess and it feels like a huge relief. I was never one to keep what was bothering me hidden.

I frown remembering the person who I always went to who turned out to be someone totally opposite.

Jonas, you are so lucky you are under your dad's watch.

Reggie, the person who ends up being with me right now, gives a sad smile. "A day we loose someone is a day of question."

That would be awesome as a painting with a background of a broken heart. Totally Hallmark card worthy. My lips twitch in a microscopic smile.

His does too. I wonder if I yawn he would too. He seems doing that a lot lately. He seems..different lately.

"Let me guess. " He starts ticking off what he says next with his hands. "The 'what if' stage is also inviting it's friends 'I wish' and 'what would happen'?" He questions, looking pointedly at me.

I nod. "Exactly. What if I never left? What if I never came back? I wish I had more time with her, to talk to her. What would've happen if I stayed close to her all this time?" I looked at him through another round of tears. "Did you know that she was related to me?"

"Well there were certain traits. I could see her eyes light up when she smiled, exactly like yours. I remember her. She was the one who found me when I went back to the river when Rosie." He chocked up. "drowned." He finished quietly.

"She has...had the most amazing green eyes. Her blonde hair was always in a bun that I would stick chopsticks in it when I was a kid and said it looked like. Like Princess curls." I took a deep breath to let it out slowly.

He went on to tell me similar stories about Rosie and how happy his brother was when his first taught her everything he knew. He was extremely ecstatic when he found out about Quinn. "Two princesses who were so worth spoiling." he says and I see the whole Reggie now, his answers out in the open.

By now, we had almost told each other everything. It's something about how you talk to a person, on a certain thing you both have experience on emotionally. I could see why he kept so many things hurt him hidden.

Suddenly, I remembered something.

"Red?" I ask softly.

"Hum?"

"Is the reason you stay at the Treehouse so much is because of what happened to Rosie?" After slapping my hands to cover my mouth, I realized I can't take what I just said back.

Didn't we just agree not to bring up the unwanted memories?

I fidget with my fingers when he doesn't say anything. I refuse to look at him.

And this is the part in the books where the guy you just introduced a topic to freezes like he just entered Antarctica. It's funny that I mentioned that because now I think our conversation is like the Titanic.

It's going to sink because of the glacier.

And I am Mother Nature who put it there.

"I am so SO sorry. I don't even know why I said that! Just forget I even said anything. You know what? I'm just gonna shut up now, so, yeah." I give a nervous laugh and it dies in my throat soon after.

I wish I was dead. Elders! Just end my misery and embarrassment.

"Princess." Reggie suddenly says, taking my hands in his. He looks alarmed and a little angry. "Don't you ever say, or think, those words again, do you hear me?"

My eyes widen. "You heard me?"

He gave a worried smile. He seems to be doing that a lot lately too."I'll always be here to hear you, but as of right now." He pointed to his head. "A power of mine, remember? A power of ours, I should say. I saw the memories you had and I'll teach you to do the same with me."

"Why?' Still leaving the vulnerable side of me in the open.

"To be honest, I don't know why. Maybe we need to be equal when it comes to powers. It's only fair. Plus, as we could both see, life's not fair. We gotta make something seem even." He shruggs. "Do you feel better now?"

"A little." I mutter.

"Time to wake up then. We just wasted another day."

"Fine." I give in. I get up and stretch and cringe. I need sleep.

"Sleep sounds like paradise." I hear Reggie laugh.

I do to but it soon dies in my throat and it forms a lump.

When I wake up, Crystal won't be there.

But a depressed Alexander will.