“You know I don’t have a good poker face.” Tyler worriedly spoke, after Pfiefer slammed the door behind them.
Just a few minutes before, he had tried desperately to mask his confusion regarding not being in on her plan or the whopper of a story she told her mother for that matter. He had even remained quiet when she turned to ask his mother if they could borrow her car. They being the optimal word here, somehow reassuring him at the time that he was still included in this secret excursion.
He had haphazardly hoped that one of them, his mother or hers, would just once say no. Just once so that he didn’t always have to be the one to attempt to cage her madness. By then Pfiefer handing him the keys, giving Tyler his answer and his own gnawing feeling to go with it; as he watched her disappear down the hall; off to retrieve some item for something she wasn’t going to tell him about either.
“Just come on Tyler!” Pfiefer rudely repeated. Her tone and impatience a precursor to the verbal vomit she was about to spew at him, but he just kept prodding the beast.
“Are we really going to the mall? Why didn’t you just tell your mom the whole truth? I mean we ate and we have been at the ash ever since, waiting for…something. Wait! Does this have anything to do with this morning?”
With the monster awakened, Pfiefer turns to Tyler and snaps, “LOOK TYLER! I need you to get in the car and drive where I say so, when I say so, all without saying one single word. If you cannot handle this simple task then you can run home to mommy and I will handle this all myself.”
Tyler wasn’t sure at which point he misplaced his words but he followed her instructions mutely; turning his head away from her before she had the chance to see his eyes well over with the tears. He slips into the driver seat of the VW his mother had decorated to resemble a lady bug, an act his mother had done well after it was the cool thing to do, and slams the door; his face as red as the car.
After wiping away more tears, he catches a glimpse of her in the rear-view mirror, standing on the sidewalk staring at something down the street; triggering irritation then anger.
“Well, if it was such a big hurry,” he thought aloud, contemplating honking the horn, knowing it would only upset her more, a war he was not prepared to fight just then. So he continued his rant solitarily. “All I wanted was for her to answer a few simple questions minus half the attitude.” He mumbled to himself. But before he could go any further she pulled the door handle of the passenger side. Their jumps coincided, hers into the car, his hearts out of his chest.
“Head up the street.” She commanded. He lingered for a few seconds, feeling out her expression, trying to determine if she heard his rant or not, unsure, he decides not to waste any more time and puts the car in reverse.
“Step on it.” She said simultaneously, reaffirming her previous command by pointing in the direction she wanted him to chauffer her and he listened, faster this time, screeching out of the driveway, driving up past his house, past hers, to a place with no exit; where the end was dead.
“Pull over here.” She commanded again and Tyler does so promptly, parking parallel to the Diaz’s curb and lets it idle; awaiting further instructions.
He watched as she turned and looked behind her, out the back window, down the street. He listened when she mumbled something he could barely make out, safe? But he couldn’t follow her logic when the mumble grew into audible utterances and spoke out against the silence he had agreed to keep.
“What?” He asked her to repeat, in hopes that what she said and what he heard were in fact different.
“Do you ever feel like they are all watching you?”
“Who?” Tyler asked again after finding his answer.
“The cars. The trees. The lights. The night.”
When she jumped out of the car and started up the street into the field, Tyler followed closely beside her. Even when she told him, she thought it best he stay behind. He laughed before shouting at her and then the agreement they had made earlier swiftly came back into effect.
In silence they walked, as the lady bug disappeared behind them, followed by the Diaz’s tree that stood sturdy in their front lawn, followed next by their rooftop. With each comfort being swallowed up by the night, his commitment faltered a little more. His ability to ignore the questions that intuitively surfaced became harder to sustain; his agreement to maintain the silence became a burden. While Tyler struggled to repress his instincts, Pfiefer used hers to fuel her determination; knowing that it was out there, not knowing who, what, when, where, or why, was irrelevant in her surety.
Pfiefer kept her pace in the pitch perfect night, relying on Tyler’s footsteps in the dirt as a guide, since she couldn’t hear her own over his. She chose not to use the flashlight she had swiped from the hall closet just yet, unsure of how much juice it still held. So she reserved it, for a later time in the near future, and instead, relied on something else, the weight of Tyler’s generous build and stature.
The field had ran the length of Trelle Street on the west side, and stretched for miles in the north just passed the Diaz's. The eleven houses that ran along the east of Trelle Street had a view of only dirt and shrubbery with mountains, that sometimes looked to be painted in, in the background edging off the town. But Pfiefer and Tyler had shared a different perspective. They had walked the path that led to the ash a thousand times and knew that, just beyond the dirt and litter that filled the sloped terrain, laid the softest grass they’d ever felt. They also knew that in this precise spot, where green grass meets brown earth, where hard meets soft, where opposites attract, they knew that they were completely out of sight from everyone.
Pfiefer and Tyler had tested their calculations one breezy day. She had waited behind the barbed wire, as Tyler stood facing her on the opposite side, he walking backwards until they could no longer see each other, in hopes of finding the exact spot where they would be completely alone, from Kym’s eyes or Persephone’s. When she caught up to him, she kissed him in the spot where opposites attract, hoping that someone and no one would see. Back then she thought to herself, when their lips finally unhinged, how incredibly green the grass behind him was. Back then, she also couldn’t help but think about the emptiness that lay just behind her.
But Pfiefer wasn’t concerned with which one of her Trelle neighbors happened to be walking their dog along the edge of town in that moment because the night masked their movements. What Pfiefer did care about was this green grass. She knew that this part of her journey was no longer flat and instead, steeped down into a shallow valley before ascending and leveling off where the ash tree stood.
When the sound of Tyler’s steps disappeared Pfiefer took a hold of his hand and used his strength to keep herself balanced while they descended. And when it leveled off, and with the easy part of her journey behind her, she took it upon herself to tackle the hard part and let the remaining member of her party into her day.
“I am sorry I snapped,” she said accepting the blame before shifting it back in his direction, “but you know me, you know when something’s off and you damn well know why I didn’t tell mom. You know I can’t talk to her about these things.” Tyler nodded his forgiveness but soon realized her pardon couldn’t be seen in the dark. But even before he could get the words out, she continued and so he let her.
“They’re watching me, Ty, waiting for something to happen.”
“The trees?”
“Everything. It’s waiting for me.”
“To do what exactly?”
“Live. Begin. Start. I don’t know. It’s tugging on the very essence of me. It wants me here. It showed me something today.”
“Showed you what?”
Pfiefer began her story in the most delicate of voices; the fear transforming her once tough timbre into something Tyler could barely recognize. “I was staring out the window in first period, and I saw this boy. He wasn’t like Sam Cleary, 8th grade, crush-of-the-day material. He was like, it may not be today, maybe not even next week, but sometime, in the near to distant future, not even a thousand deaths would be able to keep us apart.”
Tyler stared intently as she continued, her slight softness saucing him up by the seconds. “We were under the ash, only it was different. Red leaves and a gentle breeze. I was crying. I was literally watching myself cry while he spoke to me, Tyler, except I couldn’t hear him exactly; I only just tasted his words. They were sweet and salty, as if someone dumped Koolaid into the ocean. He reached into his pocket and pulled this little jar out and pressed it up to my cheek. I watched as a tear fell from my own eyes into it and then he put it back in his pocket and waved his fingers about like this.” Pfiefer imitated the motions the boy had done earlier as Tyler sat motionless, his attention affixed on her, in the way only a great story could capture.
“He counted to five. Five fingers waved about and then…” She paused for dramatic effect and leaned closer towards his left side.
“BOOM.” She shouted, that tough timbre returning with a vengeance for Tyler’s ear.
“WHAT THE HELL PFIEFER?”
“Did I scare you?” She asked him, half-serious.
“Um…YEAH!”
“Good, cause he scared me too.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Alveda. He called my name after seeing me in a much happier place. Jealous. Then he tried to make me solve a math problem, but guess what the answer was.”
“5.”
“Then the bell rings.”
“Sooooo, you ditched me earlier to see if you could find lover boy again.”
“I just love you, Ty. It’s like we are here.” She said, while pointing two fingers between his eyes and hers back and forth.
“So did you see him again?”
“Yes.”
“Is he bae?”
“Oh, he is so bae.”
“Really?”
“So damn bae, Ty.” They bursted into laughter.
“So what happened next?”
“Well,” Pfiefer began softly before continuing her sentence with one long extended breath, “ then I noticed a rainbow feather on a chain around his neck, he pulled it off, burned it to ash, yes it stayed rainbow colored after he burned it, he buried the soot in a hole right between us, covered it with dirt, took out the bottle, poured my tear on the earth, we watched a stalk sprout from the ground, he collected a handful of seeds from the stalk, brought them up to my mouth, I blew, they scattered and they spelled out DESTINY before Mr. Alveda boomed in my earbox once more, taking me away from him once again.”
“Damn that Alveda. You know, the next time I see him I am going to give him a stern talking to.” Tyler shrugged his eyebrows and shook his fist to add extra emphasis to his sarcasm.
“Shut up. I am being so serious right now and…”
“You can’t possibly be serious. WOW. I forgot who I was talking to for a second. Hold on... Okay, I am back.” Tyler gathered himself and continued, “Pfiefer, for us normal folks, digging in the same spot you saw the love of your day dig in a distant dream hoping to find a clue or something is a little weird, honey.”
“Ty…GENIUS!”
“Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t think of that first.”
“Ok?” Pfiefer said releasing a full smile.
“Seriously? I am so disappointed in you.” Tyler sighed, hoping to convey his dismal feelings about the subject despite vocally encouraging it and hoping that she noticed. “Let’s go.” He succumbed pulling her in its direction.
“So, do you even want to know what Alveda said after he kidnapped me for the second time?” Pfiefer asked fully aware of his sigh hoping the proof she was about to provide him would be enough.
“What?”
“The thing about destiny Pfiefer is that it’s not about the person you become, but the person you decide to be.” She said adopting a mockingly sinister tone.
“And you think because he used the word destiny it is some sort of sign.”
“YES!” she shouted enthused.
“NO!” he shouted, matching her enthused with his own petty version. “Honey, sometimes a coincidence is just two separate instances,” he finished.
Pfiefer and Tyler carried on in this manner, through several more bouts of laughter before they reached it and Pfiefer filled with an amazement and puzzlement when she positioned herself in its direction; feeling a wave of déjà vu come over her. Tyler, couldn’t help but feel equally amazed and puzzled, at this girl who was growing increasingly more unfamiliar by the second and why of all days, the differences that had long stood between them, suddenly seemed to matter more now.
Pfiefer stood in awe, grasping desperately at the details that were once so vivid in her mind that were now suddenly being replaced by the new ones before her eyes. Green, the leaves were this time, and there wasn’t much light sifting through them, so she removed the batteries from the flashlight, careful not to shift their position when she placed them back inside. It gave off a dim light, when she flicked the switch, P+T still carved into the spot the light landed; plan A.
Plan B came into effect shortly afterwards. Pfiefer put the flashlight down face up and removed the next items, candles and matches she swiped from the living room before shoving Ty out of the door. Ty made himself useful and began lighting the candles and passing them to her, while she spread them out around them.
In silence and under the flicker of the slight light, Pfiefer pulls Tyler down next to the trunk, to approximately the same position the boy was in earlier and places his hand on her face before extending hers towards the direction of his belly button; feeling the imaginary feather between her fingers once more. She smiles when Tyler strokes her cheek, a scene that had been previously edited out of the final cut, and then removes his hand from her face and positions the fingers so that it’s cupping the ashes. Connecting with his other hand in the dark, she uses it to scoop dirt from spot in the ground between them and with eyes wide open now, digs voraciously at the spot he just mined until…
“It just doesn’t make sense.” She blurted, after the dirt unearthed revealed no treasure, “why would he have shown me this?”
There wasn’t much Tyler could offer her as far as comfort, the expression on his face seemed to convey all he had wanted to say but didn’t. It’s not that he couldn’t appreciate her abilities. It was just nice to know every now and again one didn’t always have to be gifted in order to be right. But there was no distracting her when she was on a mission, even if the distraction was pure logic. Cause: a boy who may or may not be real comes to her, plays in the dirt for a little while, and leaves. Effect: a girl lies to her mother and snaps at her best friend just so she could go play in the dirt too, hoping said boy left something behind for her; pure logic.
Tyler did nothing when Pfiefer began to wander to another place. Her stubbornness propelling her and her pride, as she passed the ash leaving Tyler and the nonchalant attitude he had quickly adopted behind. She was in search of something that could convince him, words didn’t seem to be working; Tyler wasn’t a boy easily swayed by them to begin with. So she took the flashlight with her and set off into the night.
She wandered, in no particular direction, except for wherever the darkness was leading her towards. Seeing nothing but the breath she blew on beat. Feeling nothing but the icy chill of the cold and the grass that now became dirt beneath her feet. Until at some point the dirt made itself known.
There was something in the air and it smelled like home. With every step she took, a fragrance only Mother Earth could’ve made packed her nose. It was foreign yet familiar, like the love of a mother who isn’t your own. An instant panic stopped the delusive girl and the perfume dissipated to nothing at all causing Pfiefer to question whether or not it actually existed outside her mind. So, she tested a theory and picked up the pace. The laughter came soon after and eventually took over as she danced and twirled around; a bouquet wafting gospels in her nostrils.
Pfiefer reversed her stance, sprinting with all gusto towards the direction Tyler was last seen, in order to rub his nose in the proof he had pigheadedly rejected. Her memory guided the way, since the scent had grown weak the more she traveled towards him. By the time she noticed, she stopped suddenly, contemplating for a long while before opting to leave him behind again, so that the smells could grow more aromatic becoming stronger than they ever could when with him. So much stronger, in fact, at some point during her journey, her nose wasn’t the only thing being tickled.
After the fragrance she had been following so intently no longer grew stronger, when her curiosity dimmed, she looked out into the once night sky, only to find no traces of it ever existing there. In an instant, what was dark was now light. Pfiefer took note of the change; for it had been the second time night and day had seemingly switched. Pfiefer also took note of the occurrence of trees. There were trees to her left now; in fact they were surrounding her, bright green, moss-covered trunks extending from a layer of turquoise and yellow flowers, that seemed to stretch the sky.
The sun wasn’t visible, although, she knew of its exact position in the Heavens. To her left, the colors of the earth were light and inviting. Pfiefer chose the path to her right, out of instinct, and watched the greens of her surroundings deepen a few shades the more she kept her pace; the sun not able to keep an eye on her through this now thickened terrain.
The incense that had been made by Mother Nature had incensed her straight past Tyler and into a forest. Pfiefer walked until the forest invited her into its home located in a circular cranny. She admired the treasures it had managed to accumulate over its years and how well each one of them was displayed; hidden within this pocket she would’ve surely had missed if she was afraid of the dark.
She took a liking to this tree and not because it was the only tree located within the cranny itself but because it was unlike any of the others she had encountered before it. Resting in the middle of a blanket of moss within the cranny, it resembled a frayed rope that had thick strands, each one the size of her body, that were wound and wed near its roots and divorced and detached near its tips. But the size of this tree is what made it special. It would take at least four dozen hands joined together and stretched to their limits just to surround it, and it was the only tree, as far as she could tell, still keeping most of its dark chocolate coating; the moss hugging but unable to completely secure its girth.
The next treasure was a rainbow of lights scattering the leaves of the tree that had been adorned in whimsically salvaged décor. Circular wreaths of turquoise and yellow flowers, empty bottles filled with what appeared to be fireflies, bells and baubles in diverse bug shapes, all of them treasures from trash, hanging from the branches like a tree of Christmas. Pfiefer narrowed her focus to two braided ropes that attached to a limb on each end. It wasn’t until she moved closer that she was able to see the braids of the swing were made from real hair. But that wasn’t until much later, the two giant wings that peeked out from in between the two ropes kept her occupied for many more minutes.
The wings resembled a butterfly’s in shape, but were more jagged around the edges, as though a small child cut them out himself, but were beautiful just the same, in every place the holes weren’t. The holes, resembling ones found in a snowflake, reminded Pfiefer of windows. Windows that granted a view of her world on the other side of them, all the while accentuating the intricacies of every place the windows weren’t. In this case, those places adopting the characteristics of a peacock feather, with one vibrant color fading into the next around holes.
Pfiefer began to sidle the edge of the cranny the trees created, keeping distance between she and the creature on the other side of the wings. When she reached a quarter of a ways around, she couldn’t believe her eyes, there was a woman attached to those snowflakes.
The woman’s black hair matched the ropes she hung from, her skin matched the branches the ropes hung from, and her eyes matched the leaves the branches hung from and if her wings hadn’t have been so massive compared to her frail figure, which in contrast to her own was still at least twice as big, Pfiefer thought this woman could’ve gone along unnoticed too.
Her hair was entwined in violent vines, knotted and twisted, like the tree she swung from, and too had its own treasures traversed throughout it. The geodes that were strategically stained, the gold ore in her veins and soft glow of her remains cycled from her molten core, were cleverly obscured by her dirty skin. Her fingers firmed to the strength of crystals. Her clothing, an assortment of flavored gemstones that would make even a rainbow green, fluidly followed her minute motions like they had grown out from within her; covering what was necessary and leaving the rest for the dirt. But her face, like a rose from concrete, was a sight of serenity compared to the rest as birth marked the right side of her face in a foreign language Pfiefer could not interpret just then. She epitomized beauty, carrying the best of her world in her veins; masculine femininity, magnificently filthy, and meticulously fervent.
She was alluring as she hung there, like an ornament in the tree, like she belonged, Pfiefer couldn’t help but stare. So when the line that separates flattery from rudeness was well-surpassed, she apologized to the creature for her glare, one hand extended and now inches before her. But the woman never acknowledged her apology, never even turned in her direction the only movement she made, was a wiggle of her pointed ears and the motion of her swing. Swaying and not fast either, just enough to be in motion. Staring out into something more than just the trees Pfiefer was only able to see.
When she quickly realized she couldn’t be seen nor heard by this woman, when her eyes finally reached its fill of her, Pfiefer moved on to other things, refocusing her attention back towards this tree; which from this new perspective, as she faced it, was no longer a tree at all in its entirety.
The door of the house was almost invisible, but its knob, an emerald the size of a man’s fist, didn’t allow the door to go unnoticed for very long. The door curved at the top in an arch and was wide enough for the woman and her wings to walk through without much repositioning. There were two windows on both sides of the door, the wings of a butterfly that had been carved out, well above the height Pfiefer could reach. She climbed the 3 small stairs, stood on the tips of her toes, and jiggled the knob surprised that it was unlocked. She contemplated peering inside this woman’s home but stopped herself, deciding to leave this sight the only one not satisfied.
Pfiefer continued wandering, ending up on the side opposite the woman, when a glisten in the distance caught her attention. A marbled stone structure, triangular in shape, rose up from the bed of flowers and stopped just shy of her hips. It reflected light like diamonds, causing Pfiefer to remain puzzled; as she couldn’t determine the source of the reflection since the sun, although present in this greened forest, was obscured by it just the same.
Pfiefer lifted the box, in order to test her theory of the light source. Quickly realizing the shimmer was in her hands now, and not on the pedestal as she first suspected, she set out to debunk another myth. The box was encrusted with turquoise and yellow gems on every side but the top and was reflecting rays of radiance; sporadically splattering in all directions. The top displayed markings that did nothing to stray Pfiefer’s attention away from its glow. She was captured by her next theory that the box itself was the source and quickly began searching for any sign of light.
Pfiefer inspected each side thoroughly, hoping to find a place a key would fit. She ran her fingers over the jewels, in hopes of discovering a secret compartment. She shook it, on the off chance something could be heard rattling on the inside. As each scenario was discredited, its failure had little effect on her attempts at another until she noticed that the markings on her box matched the engravings on the pedestal.
Pfiefer studied the symbols, a series of ticks and slashes that carried on for three lines were unlike the ones that were etched into the woman’s face and even though the language gave no visible indication of its solution within the code itself, Pfiefer somehow knew it spelled Earth. She had allowed her fingers to trace over the engravings when she felt her Earth quake. The faint hum of life around her grew louder. The light that radiated out the box grew stronger and the box began to shake. Pfiefer clutched the trembling box tighter, dropping to both knees trying desperately to cease her quivering grip.
“Earth,” it whispered, all signs of life, the trees, the flowers, the bugs, and the grass, all of it murmuring its command at her in varying rhythms until finally they coalesced to an exact beat.
The trinkets in the tree leaned in the direction Pfiefer kneeled, as if she had somehow turned the world on its side. She only noticed this because she went searching for her to no avail; the woman and her wings had vanished as Pfiefer lay panicked on the ground.
Pfiefer smelled the footsteps steadily approaching her just as soon as they were being made. By now the box had stopped shaking, the whispers had dimmed, but the smells were raging on but not in the way they once were. There was a clear pattern she recognized and it was then Pfiefer knew she was regaining control and began following the path the Earth was leading her towards; Ty. Her hand clutching the box so tightly the gems would make a lasting impression into her palms well after it was released. Pfiefer knew she was close now, he was right under her nose. So when the voice came, she wasn’t startled at all by its proximity, but more by its pitch.
It wasn’t Tyler, or any male for that matter. So naturally Pfiefer began to think she was caught. She stopped frozen, not wanting to face the woman whose home she had just ransacked; she couldn’t help but think about this delicate butterfly awakened from a disturbance of her treasure. So she attempted travelling back towards the pedestal, hoping, when she arrived, that she could ease the box back onto its home. Pfiefer had not intended on keeping it for so long. But the entrance to that cranny the woman and her wings were located in seemed to be nowhere in sight. Pfiefer tried finding the sun’s position, so that she could orient herself back towards the giant tree, but everything seemed dark. Hundreds of trees around her and not one of them showed any signs of light.
Pfiefer tested a theory, hoping the earth was trying to help her escape. She opted the odorous path and as she traveled increasingly quicker, the pungence chasing her grew increasingly louder and Pfiefer grew increasingly more nervous. It was so strong, but each time she would turn back to get glimpses of the face making her nose flare, there would be nothing more than the shadows she passed. Pfiefer couldn’t decipher the Earth’s commands, there was no escape and when the words this woman uttered were realized, Pfiefer began to hope she was caught by a woman with wings and not a woman who knew her secret.
“He will never understand our kind. The brown-haired boy you just left behind. His love for you will never last, once he finds out what you did.”
Although the words seemed to seize hold of her, the woman the words belonged to didn’t so she made a decision, and stopped running, allowing her pursuer to catch up. But as the scent grew faint, Pfiefer couldn’t help but wonder before deciding to test her final theory. She allowed the Earth to guide her once again, this time under the premise that it was not leading her away from something but towards it. Pfiefer released a long breath, almost as long and as black as the hair in front of her when she caught up. She was right.
She watched the woman move slowly as though careful not make a sound but the Earth tickled her nose each time. She was slender, adorned in black, and Pfiefer couldn’t help but notice the similarities in this woman’s movements to her own and it wasn’t just because she was mimicking her every step. Pfiefer rather enjoyed doing the chasing, being the pursuer and decided to have a little fun. She moved within inches of the woman, so close the woman’s hair tickled her nose, inhaled a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and let it escape with a bang.
“STOP!” She shouted to the woman’s neck. When her command was obeyed, Pfiefer grew a grin greater than grinch as the Earth dished each dirty detail of the woman’s dread to her. “Turn around,” she continued.
Pfiefer was feeling mighty powerful, too powerful to let logic bring her down now. Logic, like what happens after this woman does what she asks. Pfiefer watched her inch slowly around, her profile clearly visible as Pfiefer’s eyes widened, growing increasingly larger the more the woman continued the motion and faced her. Pfiefer slowly allowed her head to slant to one side, her mouth dropped a little. She squinted harder, her mouth dropped further. Pfiefer quickly corrected the slant in her neck, by now her mouth fully agape. Pfiefer stood astonished at how quickly their roles had reversed, for it was this woman who was feeling mighty powerful, this woman with a devilish grin and it was the only movement of Pfiefer’s not being plagiarized by her.
Mighty powerful was long gone, in fact, mighty scared was more accurate. Pfiefer hadn’t moved an inch since the woman mirrored her motions, terrified of seeing her do it again. So she remained crisp until the woman made the first move and when the woman made the first move, which happened to be two aptly portioned paces closer towards her, Pfiefer slammed her eyelids shut and waited.
Earlier, Pfiefer had known this woman was here even before she spoke because the earth had given away her scent and Pfiefer opened her eyes to face this woman now, even though the earth had already told her she had gone. There was a familiar darkness before her eyes after the black cloud of dust dissipated in the spot the woman was last seen. The same darkness she had seen before she followed her nose. It was all gone, the woman and her tree it had all vanished and when she realized she was still clutching the box, she panicked and when she realized that Tyler was right behind her now, the panic tripled.
“Pfiefer, where have you been? Didn’t you hear me calling you?” Tyler asked her worriedly while checking her forehead for fever.
Once her breaths were able to produce sound, she shoved the box in his face. “Do you see it, Ty? The proof, do you see it?”
“See what?”
“Look, proof.” She said, holding her prize out to him.
“Where did you find this?” He asked instantly amazed although refusing to reveal his rapture.
“At this woman’s home. I smelled the most familiar thing after I left you, but I never could place it, then I followed it to a woman with wings. She sat on a swing swaying from a tree that was her home. And then I saw this box, heard another woman say something about… something, and I chased her. I scared her Ty, I scared her real good but then she returned the favor. I closed my eyes and I was back here. I knew it. I knew that boy was trying to show me something. I brought you proof Ty, and I think there are more.”
“More?”
“Yes and about earlier, I was right. They are watching Ty, and not just the trees either, but everything. It’s all one. It’s connected. They see everything.”
Tyler stares at her in awe once again, so many things going through his mind predominately the things he had recently been arguing with himself over when she left, things about their once bright future together and not necessarily about her recent discovery. He wasn’t sure what to say without sounding selfish, so he blurted something selfish.
“What about us?” Tyler immediately regretted the words that dropped from his mouth.
“What about us?” she asked in return before elaborating on her question further. “Tyler, I had a dream today which led us to a mysterious box, that I found on some stone structure that was beside a tree with a woman in it that was actually her house that just so happens to be up the street from where we live. I am telling you that there may be more and hinting that this could be the adventure of our lives and you want to know what exactly?”
Thrust into the war he was not prepared to fight, Tyler picked up his guns, fully intent on firing and letting the bullets fall where they may. “I want to know, Pfiefer,” he gritted, “what happened to our plans? Remember? You and I were going to graduate next year, head to New York, rent a crappy apartment, and try to bust into the business…together. It was your idea. And okay, doesn’t it sound a little freakish that you have a dream and then all of a sudden we are in a dirt field digging for treasure. What time do you think we live in Pfiefer? Huh? Or better yet, which reality? So you want us to go around Blisst looking for buried treasure right, and then what? We defeat the dark prince and live happily ever after? Get real!”
Pfiefer’s eyes, two gardens he once called them, filled with rage, and then dissolved to sadness. She wanted so desperately to put him in his place, to tell him the truth about his father’s death, not to mention Doug’s death. To make him feel as little as she felt right then. But all she could do to stop from yelling was to cry.
They walked in silence until they reached the street. Tyler hopped into the car and rolled the window down. “Look Fife, let’s just go, get in, okay? Please, so I can take you home?” he said trying to make amends for a war he won yet did not start.
“No, I will walk.” She answered stubbornly and headed down the street towards her house. Tyler looked upon her with sorrow. Usually he was always up for an adventure; so long as he had his partner in crime around with him. He just needed time to process this one. A wrinkle in a plan, New York, a plan he was most confident that he could and would be included in. This new plan, adventure as she called it, could very well lead them to a place they could not recover from. A lonely place that somewhere existed outside of all that was sacred to him. A place where Pfiefer and Tyler’s lives intersect no longer and where best friends forever was something you said once upon a time.
He turns the car around, knowing she wasn’t going to give in, and slowly passes her. Pfiefer slips her prize into the knapsack on her back and waits for his brake lights to shine when he pulls into his driveway. Once she was sure he was safe and she was out of sight, she turns around in the opposite direction and makes her way back towards the darkness.