Chapter 5
The next day, the sun had not even risen yet, but my mother woke me up to let me know that my father had arrived. By then, she and my father had already loaded my baggage into the car.
I got out of the trailer, fully changed into brand new clothes, and looked around for my mother and father. I saw my mother talking to my father, Kane Ovard. Back in the city, he is a marketing manager, which explains why he looks so tired at the moment while drinking that coffee that my mother prepared for him. His black hair was starting to have streaks of white in it from stress. My father's eyes start to light up when he sees me.
"Good morning, darling. Are you ready?" He greeted me.
"I guess. I'm sorry that you have to come here this early, dad." I yawned. I wasn't able to get much sleep last night because I was thinking too much about what Zhier said. I still can't make sense of what he was saying, but all I know is that the sooner that I am away from this place, the better.
"It's alright, sweetie. I miss having you around at home."
"Do you want me to drive the first half?" I offered.
"With that hand?" My father laughs while looking at my bandaged hand. "I rather not take my chances. Besides, you seem like you need more sleep than I do. What did you do? Pull out an all nighter reading books?"
"Something like that." I can't tell him that a blue skinned fairy prince visited me last night. They would think that I am crazy. I headed for my mother and gave her a hug.
"I know that you want to stay, but I'm sorry. I just want you safe. I don't want any other...accidents to happen to you again." She handed me two paper bags like they were her way of apologizing to me. "A little something on the road. You two better call me when you get home."
"We will. See you back home when you finish, mom." I planted a kiss on my mother's cheek before heading to the passenger's seat and allowed my parents some privacy when I closed the door.
I fastened on my seat belt because I was starting to get anxious.
This is the right decision, right? If I distanced myself from this place, then I would no longer be involved in this whole supernatural mess. I am not showing too much emotion about it, but I am honestly freaked out. All I want is to get back to the city and forget about this, like it is just a dream.
The blue leaf that Zhier gave me was still in the pocket of my jacket. I don't even know why I was still carrying it. I did try to throw it out earlier, but it just wouldn't separate from me. I tried tearing it up as well, but it is indestructible even with fire.
Just what kind of magical leaf is it!?
"All set?" I almost jumped out of my seat when my father got in the car with me. My heart hammered inside my chest when I gave him a smile.
"Of course. Can't wait to get back to a life with wifi." I joked, making my father laugh out loud.
The car begins to move, and I waved goodbye to my mother as we passed her. My attention shifts to the forest, half expecting to spot a certain fairy hiding in the shadows. Thankfully, I did not see him. And it might just be my imagination, but I felt the leaf getting warning the farther that we got to the forest.
I was never fond of long car rides, thus I begin to drift to sleep once we were finally driving on even road.
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"You have to wake up, Liv! They are going to get you!" I hear an urgent voice in my head, but I can't find who was talking.
"Liv, come on. WAKE UP. Urgh! Damn it. I'm too weak to protect you this time!"
Who is it? I wanted to ask, but it seems like I have forgotten to talk.
"There's no time. Livia, listen to me and remember this. Whatever you do, do not go to the forest or it will be over. And no matter what you do, do not-"
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I woke up when my stomach started to grumble. Loud 70's music was playing from my father's playlist, and I heard him singing along to a few lines.
"If I knew that this was going to be a karaoke ride, I would have prepared a playlist of my own." I joked and looked outside.
My father chuckled. "Sorry. I was trying to keep myself entertained." He pauses and keeps his eyes on the road when we are coming to a sharp curve. "If you're hungry, I've transferred the food at the back."
I was just going to rummage the back, when I heard a loud pop, making me scream with fright. I was so thankful that I always wore my seatbelt or I would have been thrown out of the vehicle at how abruptly my father hit the brake.
"Liv, are you alright!?" My father unbuckled his seat as soon as he raised the handbrake to check up on me.
"Yeah, I'm fine." My sides hurt a bit from the seatbelt, but I did not tell him that. I don't want him to worry about me, not when we have a lot more problems to take care of. I corrected my sitting position before removing the safety belt. "What happened?"
My father got out of the car to inspect it. I followed him until I saw what the problem was.
"A flat tire." My father rubbed the back of his head to relieve stress.
"Don't you carry a spare one in the trunk?" I ask. My father travels a lot because of his job, which is why he always carries one.
"That was my spare one." His eyes looked sunken because of how stressed he was about the situation. I felt bad for him since it was my fault that he had to do this extra work to pick me up.
"Should I try and call mom?" I suggested and got my phone out of my pocket. My expression fell when I saw that there was no signal in the area. "Oh, nervermind." I pocketed my phone in disappointment.
My father gives me a small smile and pats my head. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out." He behind to look around us but there was nothing but trees.
The hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stood up. Somehow, I have this feeling that we should not be here. I can't explain it, but I feel like someone was watching us. I could just imagine someone was screaming at me to leave and run away from here.
"Dad? Can we go back in the car?" My eyes circled around us.
"Honey, the tire is flat." I can't argue with that.
"Can't we just follow the road back? Who knows, maybe we can get a bit of a signal?" Last I checked, we were in a clearing just before we entered the forest. I know when I briefly got a chance to look back before the brakes exploded.
Come to think of it, why did it explode?
I didn't want to scare myself and check. All I know right now is that my whole body was telling me to get out of this forest as fast as possible.
I grabbed my father's hand urgently and started to drag him back. "Come on, dad. Let's go and find a signal back there."
"Sweetie, hang on! I haven't locked the car yet!" My father protested while I was dragging him.
"No one's here, dad. No one is going to steal your car with a flat tire."
"Good point."
We started walking for a while, but it seemed like no matter how far we walked, we never found the exit. We could not have crashed that far from the clearing, right? I'm pretty sure that we were following the road!
"Liv...?" My father sounded confused when he called for me.
"Not now, dad. We have to get out of here first."
I was in a state of panic. I wanted to get out of this place because there was something eerie in this place that was making the scar on the back of my hand burn.
My suddenly grabbed my should and turned me back. "Liv, look!" He points at his car behind us, right where we left it.
Cold seemed to creep into my skin the longer I saw how little the distance was between the car and us. We've been walking for about fifteen minutes, but it seems like we have not moved an inch from where we first turned our backs from the car.