by J G Smith
One of them could be Lighkame, I think. So, I hurriedly make my way. But I see, all around me, the exact same scene. It’s a little disorienting; a lot like déjà vu. There’s thick grass, calpryc vines, inya trees and the occasional diurnal creature. I keep moving.
Wait… the forest has a river. A very large one, if I remember correctly. If I crossed it before, I’d still be wet now. I’m not. So, if I find a river, I’ll need to go the opposite direction. I feel like I’m on to something, sort of.
I don’t walk very far before seeing a girl. Skye? I think. No, it isn’t. Her hair is lighter… wavier. She has ivory skin and is wearing khaki shorts, a black long-sleeved top and a black scarf.
I can’t help but stare. What if it’s Lighkame? I dread the thought. But, if it isn’t, what is she doing in the forest? Wind blows through her hair and Lightaia brightens her complexion. I swallow. I don’t want to find out. If it is Lighkame, I’m in trouble. If it isn’t…
She looks back, over her right shoulder, and sees me. My heart stops. Her chin rests on her left hand, padding her shoulder, and she triggers a paralysing smile. I really hope it isn’t Lighkame.
She turns around, humbly, and greets, “Hi.”
“Hi,” I mutter. “My name is Robert.”
She smiles. “Nice to meet you.”
I walk a little closer. Something about this feels good. Though, I instantly feel guilty. I’ve had a crush on Skye for the longest time. I haven’t so much as thought about another girl – until now.
No, I tell myself. Skye’s the one.
“I was just admiring that wolf in the distance,” she says, calmly.
“Wolf?” I question, eyebrows pressed.
She points to where she was facing moments before. How did I not see that? The sound of rushing water becomes apparent, soothing. Clear, crystal blue waters split the land. I know where I need to go.
And, just over the river, I see it. I can’t believe my eyes. I’m looking at a real life woodsma. I’ve dreamt of seeing this four-legged, fur-coated and pointy-eared beauty for years. Dylan will be jealous.
“There’s just something about it,” she says, with her left leg bent and her head leaning to the right. “Something familiar.”
“It’s a woodsma,” I tell her.
“A what, now?”
“A woodsma,” I repeat. “You know, long snout, four legs, two pointy ears, a fur coat and a long tail.” I like the black and white combination it has going.
She glares at me. “I can see it,” she says, flaring her hands along with her words. “It’s right there. I was talking about whatever word you just used.”
“Woodsma?”
“Yes,” she acknowledges. “That thing.”
That thing? I’m genuinely amazed. Who doesn’t know what a woodsma is? She continues, oblivious to my disapproving glare. “Yes, that thing.”
I let it go. “You didn’t tell me your name,” I prompt.
“You didn’t ask,” she says.
Okay… “What’s your name?”
“Rather direct, don’t you think?”
Wow! I think. I don’t think it’s ever been this difficult to get someone’s name – of all things. “Would you mind telling me your name, please?”
“That’s better,” she relents.
“Well?” I ask, expectantly. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all,” she says. Then, quiet.
Is this a game? I wonder. My hands twitch in slight frustration. “Are you going to tell me?”
“That’s not entirely possible,” she tells me.
We’re wasting time. “You just said you wouldn’t mind telling me your name,” I remind her.
“Exactly, I wouldn’t.”
“Then?”
“It’s not entirely possible.”
Now I’m irritated and confused. I’m sure she can see it, but she keeps on smiling. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“That it’s not entirely possible,” she repeats, monotonously, seeming to enjoy my confusion. “I don’t remember what it is. Well, assuming I have one. I’m sure I have one.” She seems to be talking to herself.
“Why didn’t you just say that?” I ask.
“You didn’t ask if I remembered my name,” she retorts. “You asked if I wouldn’t mind telling you what it is. And I wouldn’t, if I knew.”
I shake my head. She remains unfazed.
“Are you camping up at Phantom Forest Inc. as well?” I ask.
She gives a funny look. “Maybe, I’m not sure.”
Not this again. “Not sure?” I probe.
“We just met,” she says. I feel the tension. “Maybe slow down on the questions for now.”
I hold my tongue and look into the distance. My hands are clasped, left over right. I don’t want to pry. I know we just met, but I need to know. It’s more than just curiosity. Something strange is happening. She can’t just, coincidentally, be here in the forest as well.
She senses my disengagement. “Look,” she says, with a heavy sigh, “I’m not tryna be horrible.”
Okay… I think to myself.
She lingers briefly then, discerning no change in my expression, gives in. “I don’t remember anything from before this morning,” she says, not as peppy as before. “I woke up not too far from here. I wandered around for a while before eventually realising that it wasn’t getting me anywhere. That’s when I saw you – running. And that man with long hair.”
“Lighkame?” I ask. My interest is peaked.
“Is that his name?” she asks. Her mood lightens. “He looks creepy, if you ask me.”
I can’t help but smile. She does too. “I’m scared of him,” I admit.
“I could tell,” she says.
“Did you see anything else?” I ask. “Did you speak to him? Did he do anything, umm, strange?”
“Is this an interrogation?” she asks. “I was just minding my own business. You came running from that way and he chased after you. I doubt he saw me.”
“That way?” I ask, pointing to where she looked. She nods in agreement, confirming my theory of moving back in the opposite direction.
I can see questions forming on her face, but she doesn’t ask. “That’s my way back,” I say. She raises her eyebrows in response to what I say. “I don’t know what you do or do not know, or remember, but we shouldn’t be here. It’s off limits for a reason.” Now I sound like Dylan, taking the fun out of an adventure.
I want to explore. I want to know more, but I need to get back – before dark, at least. See what I mean? Killjoy. That’s what you’re being right now, Robert. Though, there are more important matters at hand. I think of Bradley, Skye and the rest of the gang. I need to get back – for them.
“Are you coming with me?” I ask.
“What?”
“We can’t stay here,” I tell her, already walking.
“I’m sorry?” she questions, raising her voice. “I don’t know you well enough for you to take me places I do not know.”
I hope she gets the irony in that statement. “It’s not like you have anywhere else to go,” I mention. My hands splay outwards. She isn’t impressed. “Or you could just stay,” I add, nonchalantly.
There’s a shuffle in her movement as I look back. I know what she’s choosing.
“Not that way,” she says.
I smile.
She runs to catch up, grabs my loose jacket and drags me a little to the right. I feel relieved. I don’t know what we’re going to do with her when we get back, or how I’m going to explain what happened, but at least I won’t be alone in searching for a way out.
As we walk, we talk – about the forest and its animals. I attempt to broach the Lighkame topic, but she doesn’t appear to know much. When I tell her he’s not from here, she mentions something about a multiverse theory. It’s not something I’ve ever heard of. The thought crosses my mind, Maybe she’s not from here either. But it’s only a thought.
/> As Lightaia sinks, she bleeds out crimson light across the horizon. Unsettling sounds become clearer in the distance and all I’m hoping for is a safe place to be before the sky turns black.
“What’s there?” asks the girl.
I look to where she directs my attention. It’s a seamless fence. My eyes brighten and I rush over without answering.
The girl follows. “Talk to me,” she says. “What is it?”
“Over this fence,” I begin, “is the campsite.”
She makes a snide remark questioning how we’re supposed to get over the razor ridden fence, but I pretend to not hear her. I got over during my blackout, somehow. There has to be a way back. I’m sure of it.
As I pace frantically, trying to find it, I hear my name being called out. I turn to the voice and see that it’s Skye, on the other side of the fence. I couldn’t be happier. She rushes over to where the girl and I are and asks, “Where have you been?” and “What are you doing there?”
I don’t even know where to begin. She doesn’t waste a moment’s breath before continuing to tell me that I’ve been gone for most of the afternoon and that they’ve been looking for me, and Steve.
“Steve?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she answers. “He also went missing, around the same time as you. Don’t worry, though. He came back not so long ago.”
Could he be involved? I hope not.
Skye gives the girl a dirty look. There’s something on her mind. I can tell. “They’ll be happy to know you’re back,” she says – to me, hiding her thoughts. “Especially Bradley,” she adds with particular emphasis. That makes me happy.
The girl tries waving hi, but Skye brushes her off. Why would she do that? I wonder, taken aback. That’s not like her.
I notice the girl is somewhat offended, so I step in before something happens. “How do we get over?” I ask Skye.
“I’m not sure,” she replies. “Wait here. I’m gonna call the tour guides. They’ll know.”
The girl asks about Skye as she walks away. “Skye’s Falgron,” I say in answer, elaborating that the faith is centred on time, light, darkness and the elements. Not that I know much more about the religion.
The girl seems intrigued by this, but still unimpressed with Skye overall. “She’s also an oracle,” I add, shying away from mentioning my crush on her.
It isn’t long before Skye returns with a scrawny-looking man dressed in a navy uniform. I take a step back. It could be Lighkame, I think. Anyone could be him. He could be anyone. Play it cool, Robert, I tell myself. You can’t involve the others… not unless you have to. I also can’t run around accusing people of being Lighkame. That’d be madness. I can only imagine the drama.
“What are you two doing there?” asks the man. His voice booms through the air like a sergeant general. I didn’t expect that.
The girl and I stand to attention and even Skye looks nervous, for us. “Shouldn’t we first get them over the fence before the interrogation?” she asks, rushing to our aid. “Before it gets dark.”
The man agrees and motions for us to follow alongside the fence. “Did you know they were out there?” he asks Skye.
A look of shock envelopes her face. “I came to you,” she states. “Did I not?”
He isn’t happy. “Also, nobody mentioned anything about a girl gone missing,” he breathes.
Skye seems to agree with his sentiment, eyeballing the girl along the way. It’s quite clear she doesn’t trust her.
We eventually approach a small gate, blended in with the fence, and it is noticeably open. The latchet, where I assume a padlock was, is cut out – melted at the edges. Lighkame? The tour guide radios the matter in, asking a colleague to bring a chain and padlock.
“Was that you?” he asks sternly, looking my way.
“No,” I answer. “I didn’t even know there was a gate.” My voice cracks a little, only now nervous about what the tour guides might do.
Skye and the man glare at me, not quite believing my defence.
“Then how did you get there then?” asks the man.
I can’t answer that question. I don’t answer it. He notices, shakes his head and ushers us through the gate. “Do you know anything about this?” he asks the girl.
Her eyes open wide. “No,” she answers, as if she’d been attacked. “I don’t even know—”
I stop her with a grim look and disapproving gesture that she fortunately sees. “She’s just as confused as I am,” I tell the tour guide. “Just as confused as, I’m sure, you are.”
When the tour guide’s colleague arrives with a chain and sizeable padlock, he secures the gate to the fence and mumbles something about another missing person. He and his colleague then take me, Skye and the girl to an office where Andrew, David and the gang are waiting.
Bradley hugs me the second he sees me and I return the hug with one arm. He was worried and so were the others. I notice Andrew, however, glaring with disappointment as the adults engage in conversation.
“What was that about?” blurts Kyle, sharply. He then shoots a dirty look at Steve. Something’s been off with them today. “The two of you. Really? That wasn’t funny.”
I notice Steve has something on his mind, as he cannot take his eyes off of me.
“At least he’s back now,” says Skye, to my aid once more.
“There will be questions, though,” warns Bradley. “Like where you went.”
“And don’t say a stroll,” snaps Kyle. “Like Steve, over here.”
Dylan doesn’t entertain the choir of heightened emotion. His attention is on the girl. “Who’s this?” he asks me, with a soothing tone. His eyes are only briefly on me.
The girl and I turn to each other. How do we do this? I ask myself. Though, she doesn’t seem as caught in the headlights as I am. “Hi,” she says, cheerfully taking the initiative. “I just met Robert now. Well, not now, now. But you know what I mean.”
Dylan looks at the girl, then to me. He awkwardly lifts his hand to shake hers. “I’m Dylan,” he says. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you, too,” she replies, shaking his hand.
Dylan looks around. No one else is saying anything. “Seriously?” he murmurs. “This is Kyle,” he begins, taking control and introducing the gang. “He’s moping at the moment, so don’t mind him. This is Bradley. Probably the best bet you have to decent, when he isn’t all over Robert. That’s Steve. He’s been acting weird all day. And that’s Skye, Rob and Brad’s friend.”
There are muffled greetings all around, from everyone except Skye. Dylan rolls his eyes.
“And your name?’ asks Bradley.
Not this again. I scratch my head.
“Robert,” calls the scrawny sergeant general. Everyone goes quiet. “I’ll need to have a few words with you before I can let you go.”
As I’m shown to a small room, I hear the other tour guide call the girl. This gives us time, I think to myself. I hope. The same tour guide also informs Skye that she’ll need to make a statement. They don’t have a clue of what’s going on. I don’t imagine any of us could.
The scrawny tour guide closes the door and seats me behind a small desk. He tells me that both Steve and I were reported missing and that we were last seen together at the campsite. Bradley, apparently, was the last to see me thereafter. After catching me up on the search, he expresses his disapproval of carefree strolling, making specific mention of Steve’s just taking a walk report. It seems he thinks I also just took a walk. Only, a little further than I should’ve.
He hands me a printed form which I’m required to fill in, stating exactly what happened. I haven’t even thought of what I’m going to say. The truth? No. Not all of it. What is the girl going to say?
“The issue we have now,” he says, sternly, “is that you gallivanted past the fence. I’m going to ask you this one question, did you vandalise the padlock?”
Did he not see that lock? How am I supposed to have done that? “No,” I
tell him, cheekily. “I didn’t even know there was a gate into the forest to begin with.”
He shoots a glare. “Then how did you get past the fence?” he asks. He’s not letting me go anywhere until he has an answer.
I can’t think of anything. “I don’t know,” I answer, shaking.
“You don’t know?” tugs his voice. He doesn’t believe me. “Talk to me, son. How did you get past the fence? What were you doing there?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. My breathing grows heavy. “One minute I was with Steve, the next I’m somewhere out there. I have blackouts, okay. Ask anyone who knows me. I’m even seeing a shrink about it.”
He glowers. “Did Steve know you were going to the forest?” he asks, presumptively.
“I don’t know,” I say to him. “I don’t think so.”
“What about Skye?” he asks.
He’s digging. I honestly don’t like him. “I don’t know. I just got back and the first thing she said to me was that everyone’s been looking for me.”
He takes a breath and folds his arms. “And the girl?” he asks, one eye crooked. I can’t tell if he’s trying to be funny or serious.
“What about her?” I ask.
“She was in the forest with you…”
He keeps at it. I tell him I met her for the first time in the forest and that I don’t know anything else about her. I can see he’s frustrated. He takes a pen from his pocket, hands it to me and spits, “Just fill in the form.” I do. I write exactly what I told him, plus my personal details and contact information.
When I leave the room, the other tour guide calls the scrawny one over. I see Skye with her parents, the others and the girl standing on her own. Something’s up.
Andrew walks my way and begins asking the same questions the tour guide asked. David steps in and attempts to calm the situation, which doesn’t really work. “He’s wasted everyone’s time,” yells Andrew. “None of us need to be here, yet because of him we are.”
I’m eventually able to tell my part of the story. Andrew throws his hands in the air and storms out, saying that he’s calling my parents. Kyle looks my way as he follows his dad. “I’m sorry,” he mutters. “I’ll see what I can do.”
