Twenty Nine

can't understand where everyone thinks they're going!"

Wendy replied, a smirk of subtle superiority decorating her face, "I think it would be better if you didn't know."  With that she slunk off into the gaping hole so recently blasted through the outer wall of her house, and sat down on the only part of her settee not currently smoldering.  Thom's eyes followed her, then lit upon the box which, incredibly, still perched on the corner of the coffee table.

"Well," he croaked, smoke stinging his larynx, "at least we still have the pin."  He moved to the edge of the hole, his feet crunching atop the charred embers littering the ground.  The glowing bits of red-hot debris worked at the soles of his heavy boots, sending the pungent stink of melting rubber up to his nostrils, which flared slightly at the intrusion.  He pinched his nose between his thumb and first finger, sniffled, and crawled through the rabbit hole into the remains of Wendy's living room.

Wendy moved to make room for him.  "Yes," she smiled quietly, "we still have that."

Twenty Eight

wild ride off the deep end.  I'd seen nothing like what I'd seen in the last three days; not sure I would ever recover, or if I even wanted to.

When I finally said "Goodbye" to everyone who helped me take down the Co-op, it was with a few tears and a lot of promises to keep in touch. I'm pretty sure we all knew that was a bunch of bull, but it helped cut the pain.  I looked them each in the eye and promised how much I would miss them.

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky a gorgeous pink and blue.  I got on my Vespa, cranked the engine (as much as one can on an Italian scooter,) and rode off.

It would have been more poetic to ride off into the sunset, but I was heading east, and was low on gas.

Twenty Seven

but his truck would never be the same.  The claw marks served as a badge of honor, signaling his triumph over a monstrous creature capable of tearing a man apart as easily as Aaron would tear open his lunch bag.

He looked down at the crimson sword in his hand, admiring the fine engraving running up and down the edges of the blood groove.  Outwardly he pledged never again to use the blade, but inwardly he knew that was not true; there were other monsters dwelling in the Forest, and he was all that stood between them and the small village he now called “home.”

A small hand touched his as it gripped the hilt, his knuckles white with tension.  He looked down and saw Dara’s piercing grey eyes gazing into his.  There was something about the child that frightened him, but it was his duty to protect her, and he would not fail.  Behind that frail exterior was power he could not begin to imagine existed, at least not before these last two weeks, when his world was turned upside-down.  He would keep her alive, at least until they could reach the Jade Temple.  After that, she would most likely have to keep him alive.

“Let’s go home, now,” she said softly, urging Aaron in the direction of the village.

Aaron stole a moment to look back into the Forest, sighed heavily, and turned back to Dara, saying, “Yeah…let’s do that.”

Twenty Six

and his pants would never again see the light of day.

Sandra took his hand in hers, the softness of her skin not escaping his notice, and looked into his eyes. “I’ve seen stupid before, but that was Stupid with a capital S.”

Peter would have argued the point, but he knew she was right. As they sat next to each other on the stonewall fence, he scratched an abstract pattern in the dirt with the toe of his right foot. He would tell her he loved her, but not right then. There were too many things hanging over them, and most of them were his fault; he would wait until she could focus her attention on him instead of his mess.

Peter looked into the looming sycamore tree across the street and said with painfully clear regret, “I’m gonna miss those pants.”