Stoll Her Heart: Tratie's Story

11 (1) . Maybe I'm Like You

Ch. 11 Pt. 1
When you realize this is insanely short don't panic. This is part one of chapter 11 and part 2 is coming later tonight.

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Travis pov

When Katie points up to the sky, I look up and see that this is clearly the best view you could find here at camp. It's even better than from in the middle of the strawberry field. So good, in fact, that I can't possibly just leave it behind. I direct my eyes back at Katie's and she understands my thoughts clearly. She's thinking the same thing. Silently we agree to stay here and appreciate this for at least a little bit.
We get off our heavy armor and both drop onto the ground. For the next few minutes, we go back and forth pointing out constellations we find. Both of us are used to finding them from the exact same spot so locating them from a different direction is different. When we have found most of them, we sit there and just look at the night sky in a comfortable silence. I'm glad to have found another avid stargazer. Neither of us think about the time or the real world, just now.
Suddenly Katie speaks up and it's something I wasn't sure she would ever say. "So. I think I owe you an explanation?"
I look over at her somewhat cautiously but surprised. "Let me guess. You secretly love canaries and blue paint and want to confess that to me".
She sarcastically laughs and slaps her knee. "Yes! You got me on that one!"
Getting back to what she really meant, I add, "Well then, I guess you do if you're the one sayin it," not wanting to pressure her into having to say anything at all.
"Yeah, well," she begins, "get comfortable because it is still a long story."
She sighs and starts her story when she was little. At first it's the way I expected, she always planting and maintaining gardens at a young age. I force myself to not mock that. Then she gets to a part that is typical for a demigod who is unsure of what they are. A monster attack in the garden, and Katie explains getting rid of the monster by herself.
By that point she introduces another person involved in this whirlwind of the account. Rosalind, a satyr. Apparently after another monster attack she rushed Katie to camp. At the gates of camp, Rosalind disappeared. Maybe dead, maybe just missing, Katie says, her voice getting unsteady. She didn't even see.
Right before she says it, I figure one part out and it hits me with a waving pang of black guilt. The rose bush, the one that was ruined by the sudden snow, want just a bush, not even just Katie's favorite. It meant something way more to her. It was the glowing white memorial to her only real childhood friend. She tells how every year she spends the day there and adds another little part of a garden there. She has been meticulously caring for it since she was eleven. And just like that, it's ruined. Ruined by none other than me and Connor. Her talking is done now, and she's looking straight ahead with her knees pulled to her chest and chin resting on top of them. She appears to be in deep, sorrowful thought, her green eyes distant. The silence extends on, only occupied by the heavy feelings of loss and guilt and the steady glow of night time stars.
I don't know what to say, I don't know if I should say anything. There seems to be so much on both of our minds now but nothing is said aloud. Does she want me to apologize? No, that won't do a thing. So...?

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Remember that part 2 of chapter 11 is coming later tonight!