Chapter Three
The call from school was only mentioned briefly at the dinner table by her mother who was only really about if Leena was getting enough sleep. Which Leena assured her she was getting plenty of. She was expecting to at least be grounded but nothing which was very surprising. Leena was not going to complain about not being punished though.
“Hey mom, Keean is coming over in a little bit to watch a movie okay?” she said to her mom after dinner while putting the dishes away. “Yeah that's fine.” Her mother answered. Movie nights with Keean always helped her to relax.
Once Leena was done with the dishes she went upstairs to change before Keean came over. She changed into her favourite black track pants and an old gym t-shirt. 15 minutes later she was changed and ready so she texted him telling him he could come now. When a reply came in from Keean she was expecting it say he was on his way but instead it said “I have to tell you something tonight…” Leena was a little surprised by it but it could be nothing she though so just responded with a simple “okay”.
Five minutes later there was a knock at the door and Leena bolted down the stairs to beat Max from getting there first, but she was too late. Max had already opened the door and was guiding Keean inside. He was wearing his faded jeans and a black t-shirt that she loved because it showed his perfectly sculpted chest. Then Leena noticed Max was saying something about her to Keean. “MAX!! Shut up!” Leena screamed as she heard what Max was talking about and it was not something she ever wished to share with Keean. “Leena he is your ‘best friend’ doesn’t he deserve to know that you….” Leena cut her off with a scream though before she could reveal whatever secret it was to Keean. Leena and Max’s dad walked into the room at the sound of the scream. “Dad, Max is saying stuff she swore secrecy over!!” Leena and Maxine’s father was used to their constant fighting. It never seemed to stop and his easy way to fix it was to just separate them, which usually worked. “Max if you promised you wouldn’t say anything you can’t just go round telling people.” Max opened her mouth but was silenced before she could get a word out by her dad pointing to her room. Which was an unspoken command to go there. Max went up to her room as she was told but stuck her tongue out at Leena as she walked up the stairs and Leena childishly returned the gesture
Leena was so preoccupied by Max she almost forgot Keean was there. “The two of you are crazy.” Keean said to Leena with a huge grin on his face. He seemed to think their fighting was comical but was always there to break it up if they actually started to fight. “Yeah you always say that when we fight, are you not used to it by now?” Keean nodded as to say he was and had started to laugh now. “Let’s just go watch a movie you dork.” Leena said with an overly dramatic eye roll. “Sure thing, nerd.” Keean said and followed her down to the basement where they always watched their movies.
They sat down on the old beat up couch that had been down there as longs as both of them could remember. Keean picked the movie this time meaning it was horrible. It was so bad Leena did not even bother to remember the name. Leena sat through it anyway because he seemed to be enjoying it.
The movie was almost over when Keean paused the movie and turned to look at Leena. “Why did you stop it?” She asked slightly confused. Keean was looking at her with such seriousness it almost scared her. “I have to tell you something Leena, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anybody especially not Sam. You promise?” She was a little caught off guard by the sudden sternness that was in his tone. She nodded. “I promise Keean, what is it?” He paused for a long moment like whatever he was about to say was very hard to tell her. This made her nervous.
He started to speak again “Umm Leena when we graduate in two months I am …” Then he just stopped. She could now tell it really was hard for him to say what he needed to. To help him she moved right beside him on the couch and put her arms around his neck to try and comfort him. He turned his head and looked right in her eyes and held her gaze for a few long moments and sighed. He started to relax against her and then he said it. Just like that he told her something she was not ready and never would have been ready to hear but he said it. She was sure she heard correctly. He had said “When we graduate Leena I am joining the army.” That was it nothing else. “I am joining the army” were five words that scared her half to death.
Keean was looking at her waiting for some sort of response but all she could do was stare back in shock. There were no words she could say to him that would explain how she was feeling. Instead Leena slowly unclasped her hands from around his neck and moved to lay her head on his lap. He did not ask her to speak although she knew he wished she would say something but she just could not. He allowed her to rest her head on his lap and ran his fingers through her light brown wavy hair in a comforting way. They stayed like this in total silence on the old beat up couch in the basement of Leena’s house just thinking about what this really meant for them and their friendship…
* * *
When Leena opened her eyes everything was dark still. Her arms were tied behind her back with some sort of vine or so it felt like it. She was sitting on the hard rock floor of a cave and leaning against the wall and she was sure it was not the cave they had first settled in. She was not sure though where they were or even if it was still they because she could not see or hear the boy.
A few moments later she heard a sharp intake of breathe meaning the boy must have just woken up from the sleep-like state they had both been in. This calmed her down a little because she now knew she was not alone. “Where are we?” the boy whispered. He sounded close maybe only a foot away from her. “We are in another cave I can tell by the smooth rock but I could not even begin to tell you where this cave is. I do not know these forests. Plus I can’t see a thing.” She answered. She could hear him beside her trying to pull his arms free of the bindings but apparently it was no use by the way he sighed and she could here him relax against the wall.
She did not even hear it coming as something grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her on her feet. She must have been laying there for a long time as her legs were numb and wobbly from lack of use. Leena went to take a step but could not with her weak legs so she stood in place waiting for whatever it is that came next. She heard the boy being lifted to his feet as well. He put up a bit of a fight clearly not wanting to be touched. Whatever it was, was stronger then him though and brought the boy to his feet next to her she could feel his shoulder against hers now. They were both grabbed by the arm and dragged through the dark cave. They cave was deep enough that the sunlight from outside could not reach the back because upon reaching the opening realized it was day light outside and no longer night. Meaning they must have been passed out for quite a while. It also meant they would be able to see what had captured them.
When the light hit them they both looked to see what had stolen them away in the middle of the night. Standing seven feet tall with huge ugly hands grasping their arms was a hideous green ogre. The ogre had green dull skin that looked as though it would be ruff to the touch. He was large and terrifying and almost made Leena scream. She held it in though, taking deep breaths and closing her eyes to keep her calm.
As they stepped out of the cave into the knee high grass the ogre walked them out a few feet and threw them to the ground beside each other. Leena was still breathing heavily as the ogre left them there and walked back into the cave. She looked over at the boy to see what he was thinking they should do now that they were alone even if it was only going to be briefly. When she looked over to see his face she noticed she could not see it. His face was blurry only his sparkling blue eyes could be seen clearly. Leena had only ever seen him in the dark and now finally seeing him in the midday sun was finally realizing that the reason his eyes seemed so amazing the first time she saw him was because they were all that there was to his face. It was the strangest feeling to look at and see him like this especially because his eyes looked so familiar. She could not understand why she could not see his face but only his eyes. Leena was going through every possible reason as to why it would be like that but could not think of a single logical one.
"Can you hear me?” the boy said bringing her back to the present and the horrifying situation they were in. “Pay attention! I need you to turn over. I am going to bite through your bindings and then you will untie mine, okay?” she nodded her eyes locked in on his eyes. “I just hope we have time.” He said as an after thought.” Leena rolled over as he had instructed her to do trying not to think about the face of the boy she could not see.
It seemed like an eternity before her hands finally loosened and then came free. She rolled back over and sat up quickly praying that there was still time to untie the boy’s hands. Even if they did not have time to run at least they had a fighting chance.
The knot that the ogre or whoever had tied was very tight but Leena managed to get it untied just as they turned to look at the mouth of the cave to see the ogre standing there. Staring right at them and Leena let out an ear piercing scream…
* * *
“Leena wake up.” Someone whispered to her lightly rubbing her back. She slowly opened her eyes and looked over to see she had fallen asleep on Keean’s lap. “Sorry I didn’t want to wake you but you were having a nightmare.” He said to her still rubbing her back. “Yeah, I am okay now though.” She said while thinking back on the dream she had just had. This continuous dream was so weird she thought she had never had or experienced anything like it before. Especially now that she realized she could not see the boy’s face.
“Hey Leena, its getting pretty late I should probably get home.” Keean said to her, although was not making any movement to leave. Leena sat up and looked over at Keean who did not turn to look back at her. She wanted to believe what he had said earlier was not true but she knew he would never joke about something like that. Keean was very serious when it came to stuff such as this.
“Leena you can’t tell anybody what I told you earlier. I have not even talked to my parents about it yet and they need to hear it from me. I knew I could trust you but I also know you are going to try to talk me out of it but you wont be able to I have made up my mind.” She could tell from the way he said it that he was serious. “But you could die Keean! I don’t know what I would do without you if you didn’t come back.” By the end of her sentence she was almost talking in a whisper. “You will be fine without me. You are a strong girl and you do not need me.” Keean always told Leena she didn’t really need him but Leena did. He was always there for her no matter what. He was her rock to lean on and he always knew what to say to make her get back on her feet. Keean didn’t know this but he meant so much to her and she did love him, he was and is her best friend. Keean did not always seem to understand that and said she would be fine without him but she needed him whether he was aware if it or not. She hoped she meant just as much to him as he did to her, even though he would never show it if she did. This was why she had to do exactly the opposite of what he told her not to do and try to convince him to stay.