"You… want to talk to me?" I asked, sitting beside Marcel on the couch.
He scratched at the back of his head. "Well, the truth is I was waiting on Alex but who knows where he is."
I chimed in "He's probably vusk training with Dahlia again. Those two have been tied at the hip since…" My mood instantly dipped, "Since Ms. Valeria's been gone."
Marcel lowered his head, caressing the gem on his ring before looking me dead in the eyes.
"We don't have any time left, we need to get going—and soon."
He uncrossed his legs, sitting up as he placed his hands on his knees. "In a perfect world we'd be leaving tomorrow morning, gather up whatever food and drink we have left and see where the forest takes us."
I raised an eyebrow. "See where the forest takes us? We'd be begging to get lost."
"There has to be a map somewhere around here. And we can't just up and go so quickly… it's gonna be harder than that."
Marcel groaned as he stood up. "2 days."
"No way." I interrupted, "2 days is too little… a week."
He blurted out a chuckle. "Hell no."
The front door clicked, swinging open as Alex stepped inside. Dahlia followed behind him clutching her book.
He had a huge grin on his face, opposite to Dahlia's more exhausted expression.
Alex sighed before placing his vusk on the table. "Do all you two do is argue?"
I shot up. "Marcel wants to leave in 2 days, tell him that's not happening."
His eyes widened. "So that's what you guys were talking about."
Marcel walked past me, leaning on the kitchen counter. "Yeah, the conversation WE were supposed to have."
Alex grinned with uncertainty. "About that, our training session might've gone a little overboard."
Dahlia frowned. "A little? My whole body feels numb. I swear, I have to be close to gate 3."
I noticed Alex's expression shift as he forced a grin.
Placing her vusk on the island Dahlia groaned, looking at me with a pout. "Could I borrow your creativity? I wanna shower."
Marcel scoffed. "We have to use our creativity just to get the shower to work, you don't see a problem with that?"
I couldn't do anything but bite at my lip. I hate that he's always right all the time… and I hate how it makes me feel.
"Simon?"
My body jerked as my head darted up. Alex looked at me, his face covered with confusion. "You alright?"
"Y-yeah." I mumbled, "I'm gonna call it for tonight, I'm getting tired."
"What about my shower!" Dahlia called out as I began to leave.
"Get Marcel to do it." I groaned, throwing my hand into the air as a sloppy way of waving. "Goodnight."
They all collectively said goodnight as I disappeared into the hallway.
Stopping at the bedroom door I hesitated before continuing down the hall.
Reaching for Ms. Valeria's door I rested my hand on the knob. Something felt… right about it.
Opening the door I stepped inside, closing it behind me before flopping onto her bed.
Upon rolling over my paintbrush poked into my lower back.
Pulling it out of my back pocket I raised it above my face. "It's been a while since I've used you."
"And now I'm talking to a paintbrush."
Laying my brush on the other side of the bed I fully crawled onto the covers, resting on my back as my heels hung off the edge of the bed.
"Do you think… She's watching us right now? From wherever she is?"
"Does she know how I'm feeling without me saying it? Can she read my mind from up there?"
"She would be so disappointed in me if she could."
**
"When are you gonna get off your ass and do something?"
My eyelids tore open. I looked to my right as Marcel loomed over me.
Luther stood behind him, just… glaring at me—his eyes piercing through my skull.
"What do you mean?" I said, my voice low and groggy.
Marcel scoffed. "You're in here more than your own room."
He sniffed the air as his face scrunched. "It doesn't even smell like her anymore."
Raising his hand he flexed the ring on his finger as it began to faintly glow.
I wiped my eyes "What're you…"
Orange light from his ring enveloped the room. I could only make out his grin through the light.
"I know what you are, Simon… you're…"
Gasping I shot up in bed, hunching over the edge as I coughed a few times.
I sharply turned my head to the side as I scanned the room, eventually taking a deep breath before relaxing.
"It was… just a dream?" I said between breaths.
My neck was sweaty and I couldn't stop shaking.
For a dream it felt oddly real, like I was actually there. His words... I know what you are.
"Phft, what does that even mean?"
Opening Ms. Valeria's door I poked my head into the hallway.
The stairs creaked as footsteps grew louder and louder.
I quickly went to close the door, but left a small gap so I could still peer into the hall.
Runi walked by as she held onto a rather large, and slightly damaged rolled up paper.
"This might be the map guys, I haven't opened it but it looks old enough."
The map? Did they really find one?
Swinging the door open I walked to the entrance of the hall as Runi rolled the map onto the table
She used glass cups to hold down the edges as Marcel, Cleo, Luther, Alex, and Dahlia gathered around the map.
Jackson watched them from the couch as he absentmindedly picked at a scab on his arm.
"You guys having a meeting without me?" I asked, walking into the kitchen as I scratched the back of my head.
Alex chuckled. "Well you aren't exactly an early bird so, didn't know you would be up."
Dahlia giggled. "You're pretty much the opposite, sometimes you sleep so long we have to make sure you aren't dead."
I laughed off my concern, leaning against the kitchen's island as Marcel shot me a smile.
"Simon, you were actually right." He snarked, patting the table.
"It didn't take long to find a map of the area… we're one step closer to getting out of here."
Pushing myself forward I got a better look at the map.
It was mostly faded, showing what looked like some mountains up far north, and a few bodies of land scattered around.
Alex pointed to the bottom left edge of the map. "We're here."
Cleo rested his head in his hand. "How do you know?"
Alex kneeled down as he looked at the map from the edge of the table.
"There's a lot of markings on this thing, stains, blemishes." He placed his finger on the corner again, "And a very faint X right where my finger is."
"I can only assume when Valeria used this map she knew where she wanted to go, and that place is here."
Looking from an angle, smart.
Marcel clapped his hands. "Looking from an angle, smart."
Alex grinned as he stood up. "So, what's the next step?"
Marcel placed his hands on the table. "We start packing, bring what's valuable, leave what's not."
"We'll say our final goodbyes and leave tomorrow morning, how's that sound?"
My eyes widened. "What did we talk about Marcel, tomorrow morning wont work!"
"And why won't it Simon." He looked around before taking a deep breath. "Does anyone object to leaving tomorrow morning?"
No one said a word.
Dahlia sighed. "I'm sorry Simon but he's right, the sooner we leave the better."
Runi interrupted. "We still don't know what's out there so, maybe another day of planning?"
Alex shook his head. "Nah, we need to preserve the food we have left, another day would put us at risk."
Marcel nudged Luther's arm. "You've been awfully quiet, what's up?"
"I just wanna get outa here." Luther groaned, slipping his hands into his pockets.
I looked to Cleo as he seemed lost in thought. He glanced at me, then back to the map.
"Okay, I can understand where you're coming from Simon but—"
I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "No buts! I don't know how you're all willing to just disregard this place, it's our home for god's sake!"
Dahlia smacked the table "Don't you think this is hard for us too? We have to do what we have to do for survival, Simon."
"This cabin isn't survival… it's a ticking time bomb."
"I KNOW THAT!"
My heart pounded through my chest as the room went silent.
"I know that… alright, I know we have to leave but can we just… take it a bit slower?"
"This is more than a time bomb. It holds memories more dear to me than anything else."
"Leave me if you have to, but I won't be going anywhere tomorrow morning."
Alex went to say something, but bit his tongue, looking to Marcel for an answer.
Dahlia kept her head lowered as I could see Cleo in clear distraught.
Marcel sighed, raising a finger as he traced it along the map.
He looked back at Alex with confidence. "We'll take this route, I don't know what it exactly leads to but this body of land has to be something."
He ignored me.
He completely ignored me.
Taking a step forward my body moved without thinking.
I snatched the map from the table, the glass cups shattering as they fell to the floor.
In one swift movement I tore the thin paper down the middle.
I tore another piece, and another, and another, and another.
Before I knew it brown pieces of paper were littered around my feet.
I zoned everything out, only the sound of my heart beating in my chest playing as I held onto the scraps.
Raising my head I could just barely react to the fist flying at my jaw.
Quickly guarding my face the fist slammed against my forearms.
I squinched from the pain as another punch landed to my stomach.
The impact knocked the air out of my lungs. I fell to one knee, gasping for air as I looked up.
A constant ringing played in my ear as Luther and Cleo held back an enraged Marcel.
I could feel Runi's arms wrap around me as Dahlia watched in shock.
Alex was screaming something at Marcel but I couldn't make out his words, just the vane on his neck.
Glancing over to Jackson he yelled something to me that broke through the ringing
"Hit him back!"
As my mind cleared I pushed myself up, ripping away from Runi's grasp.
Planting my foot into the floor I twisted my hips as I cocked my back a fist.
Stepping forward with my other foot I grit my teeth and punched as hard as I could.
After making contact I forced my fist deeper into Marcel's cheek as he grunted and lost balance.
"SIMON STOP!" Runi screeched as she stood up.
Alex wrapped his arms around me as he walked me backwards.
"You're better than that man." He said as he constricted my body.
I got a good look at Marcel's face. A stream of blood ran down his lip as he licked it away.
I made him bleed, and I didn't feel bad about it either—if anything I felt a sense of relief.
That expression on his face… I liked it.
Looking back to Jackson I smiled as he gave me a thumbs up.
Glancing down at Alex I let a laugh slip. "You can let go of me, I'm done."
His face twisted with disgust as he walked me into the hallway before finally letting go.
"Is this funny to you?"
He continued before I could answer. "It may not always feel like it, but that's your family right there."
"Family… is all we have left Simon."
We heard the front door open and close as Alex looked around the corner.
He sighed, gesturing me to go into the living room.
Slowly walking towards the couch I plopped down next to Jackson, who held his fist out for a bump.
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't support that… what I did was wrong, I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway."
He leaned into the couch as he snickered. "But you were cool while doing it."
I ran my hands down my face, looking into the dining room as Dahlia comforted Runi.
I hurt her again.
Alex stood in the kitchen as he seemed somewhat lost in thought.
I sunk into the couch a bit more.
"Stupid me."