(A/N; the comment came to my email but I've failed to find it here. Someone said I'm one of their fav authors: Thank you honey 🤍 Because I fr don't know what I'm doing anymore)
The first thing that came to her were her moans during the previous process. Before she could feel her embarrassment, she felt like she had been thrown into a pool of water. Instinctively, she held her breath.
The darkness turned into the blue shades of deep water before clearing and a scene played before her.
I felt myself float and then walk. Every step I took made the surrounding clearer. A great sense of fatigue and stress hit me. It was more than clear that the books that weighed on my shoulder were the reason for it.
"This stupid course is going to kill me," I reached the balcony and rested my arms against it.
I was on the sixth floor. Looking down through the large opening to the last floor from above made me a bit dizzy but I still risked my phobia acting up just to rest a little. I purposely looked upwards, to where the sunlight spilled in, lighting the interior.
I started contemplating my life, wondering why in the world my parents were so proud of me when I didn't know half of what I was doing. Last week's confusion and the previous lesson's confusion was still hanging on my shoulders. Somehow, I was still expected to excel and get an honors degree.
My gaze wondered back down to the opposite end of the floor level I was on. Then down to the fifth floor.
Few students walked around at that time since most of them still had classes to attend.
I wanted to tempt myself into looking lower so as to test my phobia but goodness knew I would end up falling off the rail.
Abruptly, a person stepped into my line of sight. I was about to ignore them when I noticed that they were looking directly at me, with a wide grin on their face.
Their big round eyes had a cold glint in them. They were so wide open that the circle of their black irises could be properly made out even from the distance.
They were standing on the end opposite to the one I was on but on the fifth floor, looking up at me intensely. They wore a grey checkered shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
They wore a grey checkered shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Their grin grew wider and wider and they seemed as though they would never leave. They would never stop looking at me
They wore a grey checkered shirt and a pair of blue jeans. They would never stop looking for me. I couldn't- I wouldn't take my eyes off them. I was afraid that in that second that I looked away, they would disappear. They would be elsewhere. I would have no control at all.
A hand suddenly covered my eyes.
"What are you looking at?" He asked.
No! No! Please no!
Denise jolted up. She was outside, in a spot filled with sunlight. Around the spot was an over twelve feet rise of thick fog. It was so thick that she couldn't see anything but the white film that surrounded the sunlit spot.
Immediately, a pain pierced through her back where the creature had penetrated. Unlike the first time, she only vomited out the fog and less of the black substance.
There after, she simply coiled herself into a fetal position, holding her knees close to her chest.
As weird as it might have seemed to anybody, Denise always dreamed of auctioning off her first time. It hurt her sanity that she hadn't had the chance to.
"Mummy, life is hard," she murmured to herself.
Then she thought about her life as the dog quickly dissipated. She was in the middle of a prehistoric forest, she was running out of food, didn't have water, was trapped by a wolf and the fire she thought was protecting her seemed have no effect. She felt completely helpless.
She couldn't help but wonder whether or not the fog's companion had grown immune to the flames.
If only she could get out of the forest. Trying to walk out from the forest alone seemed dangerous and moreover, she had walked long distances in several directions while looking for food and not come across any outlet.
Suddenly, she sat up, and sprinted in the direction of the wolf's cave. She didn't know how she managed to find it, considering that it was far off from where she woke up. But that wasn't her concern.
She found the wolf stretching out his front legs and yawning. At that time, the fog at completely disappeared. He turned to look in her direction as soon as she stepped into the vicinity. Even in his wolf form, it was easy to tell that he didn't have any interest in what she was going to say.
"Hey!" she called, "how are you?" she greeted, "I can tell you slept well." She smiled brightly.
The wolf sat down and watched her, waiting for what she would present.
"By any chance, have you ever been outside this forest? And I'm not saying like staying out but just visiting- perhaps a friend or a relative," she asked cautiously.
In the middle of her question, the wolf stood and walked towards her. He sniffed the air around her then turned back into his human form.
"You smell different," he commented.
And who did she have to blame for that? She hadn't had a bath, least of all water ever since she arrived. And the wolf had refused to take her to any water sources.
"You know, you don't smell too good yourself," she commented, "how about finding a large water source?"
"You smell odd," he repeated.
"Thanks, it's Chanel," she retorted sarcastically. Then continued, "have you been outside the forest before?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Don't you want to go out again?" she asked.
"No!"
"Why? Why not?" she asked, "there's lots to see outside. Don't you want to see your friends again? Go back to the life you once had?"
"Now and then, there's no difference," he said.
'So he has no friends and no family! No wonder he is so comfortable here,' Denise duly noted
"Even so," she evaded the touchy subject, "don't you want to see the world? Meet knew people?"
"No."
"Come on, why not? There's lots to do outside. You could find an open field and play with a stick, stick your tongue out in the wind, you could even pee in knew places," she added, "I bet there are other dog-wolves out there that have peed on more places than you could ever count."
"If we leave now, we can start counting," she urged, "this forest can be one and the furthest place from here can be two."
Not seeming moved, he shifted back into his wolf and started walking away.
She followed behind him and blabbed on, "or or, since you don't know what to do with me, maybe you could just let me go. How's that? By the way, do you know where I can find more food? I think the rest of the potato is way too deep for me to dig out? Also I need water, please take me to water. But first, let's get out of this place. It's fine if you keep me hostage as long as we get out of here before night falls ..."
Her plan was quite clear; she wanted out of the forest. But at the end of the day, she had to set up multiple large flames, hoping that they would work in her favor.
She waited patiently for the companion to arrive and nervously prayed for some miracle. Minutes into the night, she felt the heat around her grow. In panic, she jumped out of the tree and was greeted by growing flames. They were slowly climbing up the bark of the tree. One of the fire she made had been made to lean close to the bark so that the flames could spread to the tree.
She immediately grabbed some soil off the ground to put off the flames. She started by putting out the flame she made before attacking the one on the bark.
She had just finished putting it out when a voice reached her ears.
"The hours of the day are so many and yet the night is way too short. The purpose of this must simply be to torture me. Don't you think so, little light?"
Denise took in a deep breath. She had been warned but still tried. It seemed stupid but she wouldn't blame herself for trying to preserve her life.
She lowered her head and looked at the ground, "you're here early."
"Of course, a minute wasted away from you is an eternity of misery. If only that I could spend every moment away from you but alas I would burst into thousands of specks and wonder into the dark, without your light to guide me."
Denise's face concocted disgust, "eh! What light? There's no light."
"Obviously, you're unaware."
She sighed and whispered to herself, "the night came too early today."
"Earlier today, I discovered a new part of my power. If I will it, maybe I can make the night last forever."
Denise had just randomly commented but not actually noticed that the sun set earlier than usual. The statement the companion made made her wonder if it could really adjust the flow of time.
"I also discovered something today," she said in a low voice, "if I burn down this forest, what happens to you?"
"My dear, even I, that is blinded by your magnificence and enamored with you beyond saving, know that you have overestimated yourself in saying that. This forest, it can't be destroyed."
"Have I? All I need is a couple of branches and this entire forest will be down," she added, "and maybe I can finally hear the last of you."
"Not that you will get the chance to kill it but if this forest dies, you'll go with it."
"And so will you," she smiled venomously.
Denise; *all this while had been cutely planning murder.*
"Sweet grape vine, you seem angry."
Denise; Who wouldn't be when you can't stop calling them crappy pet names like that. We aren't close in any way.
Denise said angrily, "do I? You can pacify me by burning yourself up too."
She was angry that the thing almost burnt her alive and was treating it as though it was a normal event.
"I should probably tell you now that trying to get rid of me with flames isn't an option."
"Aren't you afraid of flames?" she asked, more casually than she would have ever expected herself to be.
"It pains me deeply to disappoint you, perhaps it's better that you don't know."
"Are you afraid of flames?" she asked again.
A long sigh was heard, "if you insist. I am not."
"Then why didn't you attack when I first put them up?" she hadn't bothered to look around for where the companion could be.
(A/N; ⚠️ burning down forests is against the law. Also the sun decided to burn this year, so please don't do it. Plant a tree for every fire you start. (Of course I don't, but you can) ☣️this is the end of this chapter. Here is a scene I cut out;
Her grandmother always said something about virgins not growing in trees, "they are made." Because apparently, virginity wasn't only a thing of the body but of the soul, of the spirit and of the mind.
A lot of people don't understand what that is but Denise managed to gather half of what it meant from her grandmother's lectures and her own philosophy of life.
The souls represented the core of the person- their personality, what they would be when pressed to make hard decisions, what they became when no one was watching.
The spirit represented their will to do whatever good or evil there was to do.
The mind represented the source of everything and the limits of that person.
When two people became one, they would merge souls, their spirits would be in sync, they would open their boundaries to each other and promise to keep each other in mind. In this way, they would only share a physical body for a couple of minutes but be bound for eternity spiritually.
Their spiritual bond allowed them share demons, blessings and earthly problems as well.
Having discovered such great value, shallow minded Denise settled for the best way to handle such a burning coal- AUCTION IT OFF. She couldn't help but imagine that one day, she would stand on a podium with a hammer shouting, "going once."
And maybe when the competition died down, "sold, to billionaire xxx."
Denise still thought of herself as invaluable. She was priceless. But still, some parts of her had a price tag, for example, her kidneys.
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