Stuck With You

Chapter 2
All the Beauty in the World

I saw something spectacular last night while Ona and I camped out near a crimson tree. Ona, I have realized, could have been a girl scout in a past life. She had started a fire last night, though small, it was large enough for the two of us. The heat was nice and warm against the cool night air.

I had been watching the night sky, noticing the amount of stars here compared to back home. The bright lights littered the darkness and I was so entranced by its beauty.

And that’s when I saw it.

Its grace was spectacular, and it dominated the sky with majestic beauty and confidence in a way I’ve never seen before. Its wings were flaming reds and gold’s and Ona and I were memorized by it. Its body was lean and shaped; striking flames enveloped the magnificent bird.

I’m not sure what the creature was, but it dazzled me. I was inspired. I watched it soar across the night sky, disappearing beyond the mountains. And suddenly I had an overwhelming urge to follow it.

I wanted to go beyond the mountains. I want to find myself that flaming bird. I don’t know why and I don’t know what I’d do when I found it, but all I know is that right now, it’s all that mattered.

--

That night I’d dreamed of flaming birds dancing across the sky, Ona and I watching it seemingly forever. I’d dreamed of touching it, wondering if it would burn my skin to touch it, or if it would feel warm and inviting.

I don’t remember what else I dreamed of; all I know is that when I woke up, I wasn’t dreaming about riding across the sky on the back of a golden beast –no, I was dreaming of something much worse. I had screamed, shouting out a name that had died at the tip of my tongue, and it had left me in tears. Ona was rushing around me, unsure of what was happening to me, of what was happening to my eyes.

She’d asked me why they were leaking, but I could only mumble something incoherent and shrug her off. I must have hurt her feelings somewhat, and thinking over it, she had been rather quiet when we’d continued on our way down the winding path, towards the mountains after the incident.

I still haven’t apologized…

“Ona…” I began, awkwardly ending the silence, but she wouldn’t have any of it. I glanced up at the sapphire monkey perched on my shoulder, watching as she shook her head.

She understood.

It might seem amazing that after almost a day together we’re like best friends. But honestly, it feels that way. We are best friends.

“Thanks,” I mumble, appreciative that she wasn’t upset about how rude I was to her this morning. “I can always count on you.”

She grinned and nodded at that, chirping happily in my ear. “Aaron friend!”

I smiled. “Yeah… Great friend…”

--

In my half-asleep daze, I heard a faint giggle from somewhere afar. This confused me greatly, I must say, because I hadn’t even realized that I was straying off the winding path. My legs were aching from constantly walking all day and my mind was fogging up with fantasies of big feasts, warm beds and a good night’s sleep.

Of course I would get none of my fantasies, but that didn’t stop me from zoning out and hoping pathetically for it. I just wish I would wake up from this stupid dream, because that’s all it is really: a dream.

What other explanation could there be? I’m in some far away place with no memory of how I got here. I have a blue monkey perched on my shoulder for god’s sake! This must be a dream. It fits.

And suddenly, I really miss my family. I miss my dad and the way he’d smile at me when I did something good. But the worst thing is I really, really, really miss my mum and older brother; so much that it hurts. My heart ached just picturing their sweet faces, and I have no idea why.

Maybe I’m just tired.

I shook my head of these thoughts - thinking the less I thought about it, the quicker I’d wake up from this dream - and I redirected my legs back onto the path a few yards away.

Then I heard it again: a giggle.

I’m confused, to say the least, but I remained neutral, pretending I hadn’t heard it, while at the same time my eyes were scanning around the trees and bushes in search for the owner of the giggle fits.

And then I found it. Or should I say… I found her.

She was possibly the most gorgeous female I’ve ever seen (if you’re into that kind of thing). Her hair was tree-bark brown, reaching her waist and curving around her slender, curving hips. Her eyes were a metallic green, shining with mischief and flirtatious amusement, contrasting wonderfully with her brown complexion. Her hair was decorated with green leaves and flowers strung together into a creative head scarf. She wore a short green skirt embroidered with grasses of different greens, and a chocolate-coloured boob-tube stitched with an assortment of reds, yellows, browns and green leaves as decoration.

All in all, she was alluring, inviting, pulling me towards her slowly – mesmerizing - and she was breathtaking at the same time, keeping me standing in the same spot, admiring her beauty from afar.

It was an odd feeling. I felt drawn to her, but at the same time, her beauty didn’t satisfy my needs. Maybe if I swung that way I would have thought her an angel and made a move to win her love and affection. But I don’t swing that way, so she merely remained this beautiful girl, drowning in smiles and attention from all things around her, merely a beautiful creature to admire, never to touch and never to love.

I suppose I looked at her as if I were a girl admiring another girl’s beauty. I haven’t fallen head over heels; I’m merely interested by this girl’s attractiveness. In a way, that made more sense to me.

She giggled again, snapping me out of my trance. Then I noticed Ona watching this girl intently, eyes large and curious. Obviously Ona must feel the same way I do. Strange that.

And then Ona, being the perky little annoying brat she is, jumped forward, chasing after the girl, who immediately fled from us. She ran into the thick of the bushes, her chocolate locks trailing behind her.

Unfortunately, this didn’t stop Ona one bit. She merely chased her down faster, disappearing into the bushes after her.

Oh fucking great.

Growling threateningly and making myself a silent promise to murder Ona slowly and painfully later, I set off after them, sprinting like maybe my life depended on it.

And as depressing as the thought was, I kind of realized that maybe it was true…

Absurdly enough… I think my life really did depend on it…

Like destiny…

--

I tumbled to a halt due to pure exhaustion, bending at the knees and heavily resting my hands on them, huffing and puffing as if I couldn’t get enough of it - which I couldn’t because I felt like there was no air to suck up anyway.

I’d been running for twenty minutes straight and unfortunately I’ve also come to realize I’m not quite as fit as I used to be, dammit. My lungs are about to explode and my heart is doing flips and really causing some serious pain in my chest.

I move to sit down on a fallen tree, not even caring if the thing was home to a million spiders – I just wanted to sit down and calm my speedy heart.

Don’t give up…

But before I could plonk myself down my thoughts were interrupted by a distant, yet familiar voice repeating the same words over and over, a sadness lingering in its tone. A small part of me thought it heard a sob, and my name being called, but when it didn’t come again I disregarded it as nothing.

Please… God, please… Don’t give up on me…

I swallowed. Who was that? I… I know that voice. I tried to place an image of the owner of the voice in my head, but none surfaced, leaving me surprisingly disappointed and lonely. I didn’t hear the voice again. That was it.

I could have shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me, or my sanity finally weakening, but I didn’t, and I felt compelled to not disappoint the voice. I wouldn’t give up.

Ever.

I stood straight from my crouched position, my eyes flicking over the direction I came and the direction Ona and the girl went. And before I knew it my feet were lurching forward with an unknown strength and newly found energy.

I kept my breathing even, listening to it fly in and out of my mouth, listening to the little hissing sound it made as my lungs grew painfully tighter. But I ignored it all. I hadn’t even realized I’d reached a clearing until I heard Ona shouting my name from up ahead.

“Aaron!”

I sped up until I was surging towards my little blue friend, falling to my knees in exhaustion and bringing her into my arms. I hugged her for all she was worth; I didn’t care if I’d lost the girl I thought was so significant to my existence in this strange land. I had found Ona, my only friend here, and that’s all that mattered at the moment.

She seemed briefly surprised by my sudden action, but she was a fast learner (that much is obvious) and she instantly returned my hug, perky all over again.

I smoothed her hair affectionately, smiling down at the little monkey gratefully. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Never!” Ona replied happily, perching herself in her all-time favourite spot: my shoulder. I laughed and reluctantly agreed. Ona was right. How silly of me.

After a brief moment of quietness I took the opportunity to scan the area. We were in a clearing, surrounded by a field of flowers and lively green grass. A snaking river could be heard a few hundred yards away, lurking through the flowers and down the hilly landscape. It must be the river I’d seen before, the one that lead through the mountains.

I sigh and continue surveying my surroundings.

And then I saw it.

In the midst of everything was this gigantic tree (the one I saw from Mr. Purple.) it must have been a hundred feet fall, branching out over a large section of the clearing, shading all around it.

I felt drawn to it, not because it was the colour of an actual tree or because it was so large, but because… it felt so familiar to me. Like… I’d seen it before.

Aaron… I know you can do this…

That voice again…

My fingers brushed against the vast truck of the tree, feeling the coarse bark between my fingers – and there was a flash before my eyes and I saw a vision of something… so surreal…

--

“Connie! Connie look!” a little boy, no older than eight, shouted to his big brother. His short brunette hair fell into his chocolate eyes a few times as the little boy attempted to present to his blonde, blue-eyed older brother the ladybug he’d caught.

“Aaron, how many times do I have to tell you to not call me that? My name is Conley. Now what is it you want?” his smile grew as he watched his little brother as he presented his cupped hands and small red and back ladybug wondering aimlessly across his skin. Aaron was grinning madly, waiting for his older brother’s, Conley, approval.

Conley was amazed at his little brother’s innocence and childishness that he couldn’t help but smile tenderly, which immediately brightened Aaron’s day. God, he loved that boy.

“It’s pretty. Are you gonna give it a name?”

“Yep. I’m calling it Conley, after you, because I love you so much.” his smile was so bright that I felt a pang of guilt flutter inside of myself.

“Aaron…” Conley whispered glancing up the massive tree they were sitting under. The tree reached hundreds of feet into the air, spreading its shade across such a large area, it was amazing.

“Yeah, Conley?” Aaron’s bright chocolate eyes followed his brother’s up to the big tree, watching how beautifully its leaves swayed in the light breeze before traveling down towards his parents, watching them sitting on the picnic blanket on this nice, sunny day, talking lovingly.

Conley watched his little brother, smiling guiltily. “It’s… nothing Aaron. Don’t worry…”

“Okay, if you say so Connie!”

“I told you not to call me that!” Past thoughts forgotten, he pounced on his brother, laughing gleefully.

And the wrestling match began.

--

Don’t give up Aaron…

I groaned. That voice again…

Please… God please… Wake up… Open your eyes… Please…for me…

Unfortunately, lately I’ve been feeling quite obligated to fulfill this voices’ wishes, so reluctantly I’ve found myself forcing my eyelids open long enough to see something that definitely made me want to shut my eyes and never open them again.

Please… Wake up…

Jesus Christ, fine, fine. I’ll open them again. Maybe that hideous thing is gone this time.

Unfortunately, it seems to still be there. A pair of concerned, confused and slightly awe-struck pink eyes were hovering over me.

Holy shit.

I hate pink…

TBC…

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-Review please

-Kyle’s Precious Little Girl