CHAPTER SEVEN - FAIR-WEATHER FRIENDS
Even though Anton makes a fair point, I can’t help but think he’s being unnecessarily paranoid like usual. Call me naïve, but Maggie doesn’t seem bad, especially not after healing us up like that. She didn’t have to do that at all; I think it was very benevolent of her to, and I really don’t think someone with bad intentions would show us the kindness she has. Sure, she’s mysterious and a little annoying, but I don’t think she’s straight-up evil at all. She hasn’t given us any reason to think she’s straight-up evil. Although, like Anton said, things could change at any moment, and sometimes people end up being different than who they say they are.
Maggie stops walking and turns around, realizing that we’re not following her.
“Hey! You guys coming?” She asks, pulling me away from my thoughts.
“Yeah, sorry,” I reply, “We’re on our way, Anton just wanted to tell me something first.”
I rush after her, and Anton follows reluctantly. I can tell he’s still on edge. I guess maybe I really am naïve, maybe it’s not that I don’t see whatever red flags he sees but I refuse to. Since I don’t want to think Maggie could have ulterior motives, I refuse to acknowledge the fact that she very well could. Ugh! Being around Anton when he’s anxious like this makes me anxious! Being as empathetic as I am really is a curse… Whatever. I refuse to be paranoid, because for now, I have no reason to be. Anton’s just crazy; when he gets like this, usually nothing bad even happens and I get the satisfaction of telling him “See, I told you so.” Surely this time will be no different, right? Nothing to worry about.
Anyway, to say our walk through the woods is awkward would be an understatement. Maggie and I are walking next to each other, in complete silence, while Anton follows us from a safe distance away. To an outside observer, a tall, unkempt guy in a pseudo-military getup sulkingly following two young-looking individuals through a wooded area would probably ring quite a few alarm bells.
“Um, is Anton okay?” Maggie asks me, looking over her shoulder for a second, “I thought I’d really impressed him with my magic, but he looks kind of mad now.”
“Don’t worry about him, he’s always like this,” I sigh, “He’s almost always a bit anxious, and has a hard time trusting people. He may not be the best at making new friends, but he really is a nice person deep down. I think he’ll come around eventually.”
“Is there anything I could do to make him feel better? Do you think he’s mad at me?”
Her eyes have that wide sad look much like before, and she’s pouting. Ohh, my heart! Not only do I feel anxious because of Anton, but now I feel terrible for Maggie, as well! All she wants is Anton’s approval… I’ve been in that same boat many times.
“Awww, Maggie, he doesn’t dislike you at all, I don’t think! He’s a bit hard to read sometimes, is all.”
I don’t think she believes what I’m saying, and honestly, I don’t entirely either. I mean, Anton’s not a hateful person, but it’s pretty unlikely he’ll actually warm up to her. Even if he does, it’s even more unlikely he’ll be upfront about it.
“I don’t appreciate you talking about me like I’m not here,” Anton grumbles from behind us, “I’m not ‘mad’ at anyone, merely just being cautious here. It’s only natural to be wary of snakes that turn into little girls with strange magic and unknown intentions.”
This does little to diffuse the situation– in fact, it probably would have been better if he’d never said anything at all. The tension surrounding us is like an impassable cloud of fog that, with every step taken and every word spoken, only grows thicker and even more impassable.
Maggie doesn’t reply at all, and I remain silent as well, completely unsure what to say. I don’t think that anything I say or do would instantly make anything better, and, like Anton, I might accidentally say something clumsy that makes the tension-fog even more dense.
After quite a bit of walking, we finally reach what seems to be the deepest and darkest part of this thicket. In fact, the trees are so tall and crowded so closely together that I think it’s safe to say this is a full-on forest. When I look to the sky, I can only see brief glimpses of sun since the leaves are so big and form an impenetrable canopy above us. Even though it’s still daytime, all the shade makes it seem dark as night. There’s even a slight chill to the air that wasn’t there before, and it’s getting kind of spooky. It feels almost like Halloween, minus the fun costumes and candy.
“We’re nearly fifty percent through the woods now,” Maggie says matter-of-factly, breaking the silence, “Nearly fifty percent through, and I’ve been able to keep you both safe from all the scary, bad things lurking around. My presence banishes them, so as long as we all stick together, everything will be okay!”
“Thank you,” I reply, “This forest is kind of creepy. Even though you’re here, I’m honestly kinda half-expecting like, a ghost to pop out at us from behind a tree or something…”
“Aww, don’t be scared, Mister Hong! There’s no bad stuff here, but even if there was, I’d be able to protect you from it!” She turns up her head confidently, crossing her arms.
“‘Mister Hong’?” I raise an eyebrow, “I appreciate your confidence, but Anton and I can protect ourselves with our own magic just fine if we have to. I don’t want you to feel completely responsible for keeping us safe. Also, please just call me Hong.” God, now I get how Anton feels when people call him ‘Mr. Giles’…
“Oh, right, sorry. I have a bad habit of being too formal, and sometimes a ‘mister’ or ‘missus’ slips out when I don’t mean it to. Also, you’re the one who seems a bit too confident. I mean, I don’t wanna be condescending, but this place really is more dangerous than you’d think it is. Like I said earlier, I hold way more power in this dream than you do, and it really is true. I’m not trying to brag or anything when I say your powers are pretty much useless against some of the wicked things here. Almost no one can defeat them except for me, which is why I wanted to accompany you in the first place.”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” I sigh, feeling a bit like I’ve been scolded, “Forgive me for not knowing a ton of stuff about dream logic or whatever.”
We walk for some time more, the forest only growing darker and denser the whole while. If we were fifty percent through the woods a while ago, I’m sure we’ve gotta be at least seventy percent through now, though the forest seems endless and doesn’t look like it’ll clear up again any time soon.
“These woods are quite similar to the ones I spent my boyhood hunting and camping in,” Anton says, his first words in quite a long while, “Almost feels wrong I don’t have my old Remington 760 Gamemaster in tow.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at that, though his tone sounds less anxious than it did before. As I glance over my shoulder at him I swear I see the remnants of a smile fading from his face. I let Maggie walk ahead of me as I slow my pace to match Anton’s, looking up at him. I still feel that anxiety and paranoia emanating from him, but those feelings aren’t nearly as strong as they were before.
“You seem less freaked out,” I say, quietly as I can, “I can tell.”
“Indeed. I don’t feel the need to be as cautious as before, but we still must remain vigilant,” he says, voice low and (hopefully) just out of earshot of Maggie, “Nothing terrible has happened yet, and although it is relieving, we mustn’t relax fully. We still have plenty of time for things to go south.”
“Well, whatever,” I reply, “At least you’re feeling a little bit better. It’s not good to be so scared of everything all the time.”
As I go back to catch up with Maggie, I think of how ironic that, in a spooky old forest of all places, is where Anton’s decided to let his guard down a bit. I really don’t get that guy at all. If I were him, the darkness and cold would only make me more freaked out!
Anton seems to be coming around a little bit, I whisper to Maggie, and she smiles widely, looking over her shoulder at him briefly, See, I told you he’s not mad!
“Do I want to know what you’ve just said to her?” He asks.
“Only reassuring Maggie you don’t hate her, since you refuse to outright say it yourself.”
“Why should I? I never told her I disliked her, so it’s not my responsibility for her to come to that conclusion.”
“See, I told you he’s always like this,” I say to Maggie, making sure I’m loud enough for Anton to hear, “You’ll get used to it.”
After a while of more aimless chatter between Maggie and I, and Anton actually warming up to her enough to walk at the same pace as us, we finally reach the end of the forest. We find ourselves in a meadow that looks fairly similar to where Anton and I first found ourselves, except there’s an actual trail ahead of us that parts the green grass sea in two, and beyond the meadow is a brilliant view of an actual sea, blue-teal twinkling in the sunlight. It’s truly the loveliest thing I’ve seen in a long time, and I can feel the sun on my face again.
“Wow!” I exclaim, “This place is so beautiful!”
“Uh huh, it is,” Maggie nods.
“I’ve had this dream so many times, yet I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Yeah, well, it’s impossible to get through that forest alone. You may have dreamed of this place a lot before, but it goes on and on and on forever. There’s still so much you haven’t explored yet.”
“Would it be possible to explore all of it right now?” I ask, getting very excited.
“In a single dream? No way! That’d take forever. But we can at least try to make our way down to the ocean. If you guys end up dreaming about this place again, we could maybe go even further than before.”
“I rarely ever dream, so don’t expect me joining in on any future misadventures,” Anton butts in, “A bright, whimsical place such as this isn’t exactly my cup of tea, anyway.”
“Okay, well, it’s not like you have to join, O Prince of Darkness,” I retort, “Maggie and I can have more fun adventures like this one, and you can dream of boring, empty voids and one-upping your seventh grade geography teacher.”
“…History,” Anton hisses.
“Same diff.”
As we continue to walk, the magnificent ocean before us grows closer and more intimidating. Along this worn trail, there’s some way-rotted picket fence posts that definitely look like they’ve seen better days. I look to the sky, noticing a murder of crows flying overhead. I follow them with my eyes, and realize they’re landing on the path a bit ahead of us. Anton’s taken notice too.
“Wonder what they’re all flocking to,” he muses, “Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good. Likely something dead or dying.”
“Hmm, maybe I could ask them? I do speak bird, after all!” I reply, looking upwards and shouting at them, “HEY! WHAT’S UP AHEAD?!”
“SOME NICE CARRION, SQUAWK!” One cries down.
“INDEED. STILL PRETTY FRESH,” another shrieks.
“Well?” Anton asks, “All I heard was squawking. What did they tell you?”
“They said there’s some ‘carrion’ up ahead. You were right, Anton, I think something did die up there.”
“How odd, we’re getting ever-closer, yet there’s no stench.”
“Well, they did say whatever it was was fresh, so there’s that…”
“I hope there’s no blood or guts,” Maggie mutters anxiously, “That’d be very gross. I don’t wanna see that.”
“I hope not either,” I sigh, “Couldn’t you just, I dunno, make it go away with your dream magic?”
“I mean, I guess I could try. I can’t really make things here disappear just like that. Bringing things here is easier than taking them out,” Maggie says, rolling up her dress’s short sleeves to her shoulders as we get closer to whatever nasty surprise lies ahead, “Whatever you guys do, stay close to me. If something really did die here, there had to have been something to kill it nearby. I don’t want you guys winding up in a similar predicament!”
We cautiously and anxiously approach where the crows had all landed, but due to the sheer volume of them, it’s impossible to see what they’ve all flocked around. A good number of them fly away out of fear once we get closer, and we’re all finally able to see what it is.
Slumped against a fence post, there’s a rather sweaty-looking man in a suitjacket, his wild, curly hair slightly slick and blowing in the breeze. He’s very clearly not dead, he’s just passed out. I have an inkling of who this guy might be, and I begin to feel my heart pound. I can’t see his face very well since it’s covered by his hair, so I decide not to get my hopes up quite yet.
“Oh my God!!” I gasp, running up to him and shooing the remaining crows away frantically, “Go away! Leave him alone!”
The man twitches a bit, wiping his sweaty forehead with his sleeve and brushing his hair out of his face. He opens his eyes, and quickly stands up. He swipes a pair of glasses from the pocket of his suit and puts them on, blinking a few times.
“What on earth?” He asks, looking around confusedly, “Perhaps it’s ‘cos I had a bit much to drink, but this doesn’t at all look like the Salisbury Arts Centre! Where have I wound up now? Who are you people?”
As I can clearly see his face and am able to hear his voice, I immediately shriek in excitement. I was right, I know EXACTLY who this guy is!