Am I Really Like This?

Lucas motions me along, to show something that he said was important to being here. Or at least, that's what he thought. 

This place seems like nothing but theory after theory. An idea after an idea. An imaginary world; and this all really happens to be a dream in the end. But it's all too vivid, all too realistic. 

Nonetheless, he holds onto my wrist firmly, but it's like his hand fit there snuggly. Like it was made to be there. He's not holding my hand at least, that felt uncomfortable.

My head turns constantly, wondering if the Reaper is following us, staring at us with those hollow eyes. I shudder, it's horrifying to think of, to see nothing where eyes should have been. But if that was the case, I stared at devilish eyes, and a gleam of happiness that came from those eyes, waiting to stab someone with the razor sharp blade he held with him. They would be blood red.

Something keeps me running, and keeps me motivated to follow Lucas, and it's not just because his hands clamped on my wrist. Was it the fact that death is somewhere behind us, and could strike at any moment? 

Or that I wanted to cling to him because he's my only friend?

Here I go, asking more questions. 

Lucas walks rather fast, and I find it difficult to keep up with him. I would ask him if I could take a breather, but I'd look weak in his eyes.

He's accepted me, however. Maybe he won't expect much from me, saying I have amnesia. But I want to prove myself. I don't want him to be protective of me; I don't want to be bothersome.

 We slowly halt in front of a large, green, thick, tree. It's stump is huge, like your arms won't be able to wrap around it. It looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. It's leaves gracefully flow like a curtain in the wind and have a translucent look from the moonlight. A gem-like green, a savory color. It's the kind of tree that's strong enough for you to climb on.  I stare up at it in awe. It's beautiful.

"This thing," he claps the heavily barked stump, "might be the way to get out of this place." 

  "And how do you suppose that?" I inquire him.

He laughed silently, "I'm no religious genius, but I think it has something to do with the entire Adam and Eve and the whole forbidden fruit idea." 

What if someone didn't believe in this kind of thing; a completely different religion? Maybe another type of world like this?

"I assume all we have to do is wait for an apple to grow, eat it, and bam," a huge smile inches on his face,"we're back to our world." 

I drop my shoulders to what he said, I don't think it would be that easy. To fight against death and all you have to do is eat an apple to survive? I flutter my eyes a few times in disbelief. 

He sighed at me, "I know, it's maybe not the best conclusion that I've come to, but if that wasn't the case, why do you think that there's not a lot of fruit growing?" He points up at the fruitless tree. There isn't a single bud of any sort that showed fruit is growing. He sat down, resting his back against the tree.

"Maybe it's not a fruit tree," I say, then sit on my ankles next to him. "How would you know that?" 

He gives me a quick smirk, then closes his eyes. "I've been here for four years."

My brows went up, "Four years?" 

He nodded to my question, "Possibly. It's kind of been Hell, but I somehow enjoy it." How could someone enjoy the fact that you have to run around to make it out alive? I guess everyone has their likes and dislikes. "But I guess it's the fact that I've been here for 'four years', I forgot what the real world looked like. So I just got used to this place." 

The taste in my mouth was gone, but my mouth begins to flood with saliva, almost like hunger is approaching. But I don't feel hungry. "What do we eat here?"

"We don't eat." He told me flatly.

"What?" My eyes went wide. You just go on, without eating. This place certainly bends the rules on humanity. 

"Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous with how everything in this place works, but it just does. You get over it pretty quickly." 

My ankles start to get sore, so I rest on my backside instead, then lie out from there. It feels comfortable, with the breeze, the huge moon, the tree we sat under.

  I could see what he means, it looks like something that can be loved easily. It's like before, it was soothing, but at the same time daunting. I can get used to this, except for the Reaper, I'm still terrified.

 I gently close my eyes, forgetting that I missed out on my sleep a while back. I take soft breaths, feeling the cool air fill my lungs. Expanding. Contrasting.

If this place is such a battlefield, why does it feel so calming? It shouldn't be this way, I think that it's just personally wrong. But I don't want to see piles of dead bodies, so maybe this okay.

I feel bad; do I always run off on people? Or just ignore people while they're still talking? 

Am I like this in real life, if real life is not this place? It's information that  I can't access, it's just locked away. I push the question away, I'll never know. 

Anything related to the real world, I need to ignore. After all, I won't be able to find the answers to them anyways, even if I did talk to Lucas about it.

I'm so questionable, but I guess everyone is in some fashion. I only wish that it would stop for one moment, so that my head can be clear from questions. It'll be bad for me to do nothing but wonder, I'll die in a heartbeat.

A warm buzz crosses my cheek. Again, the heat didn't come from anything. It randomly showed up. I was alleviated, something about it was loving and tender. The grass tickles at my legs and it puts a small smile on my face. 

There is a soft rumbling noise, I make a slit out of my left eye, Lucas is already asleep. But it's a relaxing noise, and it mixes perfectly with the sound of the rustling leaves.

I fall asleep right after that.

Reviews

[theladygraceling]

As I've said before in my previous reviews, I really like this story. It's well written and interesting. The only thing I have to comment on is how does Lucas know he's been there for four years? From the way the "Limbo", or wherever they are, is described, it seems like there's no sense of time. It's never daytime, it doesn't really seem like they are able to tell what time it is or how much time has passed, especially since they don't eat. I realize that the "four years" comment is just to let the reader know that Lucas has been there for a really long time but I just think that it's kind of random that time is suddenly a thing wherever they are. That's all I have to say. There might be something else in the story that backs up what Lucas has said though and I might have just missed it. Either way, nice writing.

[Forgotten14]

I do see what you mean by it being four years and all. I think that time truly is something that's perceptive, and in the world they're stuck in, you don't really have an observation of time. I guess it's kind of like how "time flies by when your having fun," (which you shouldn't be if your stuck in this sort of rut.)
But it's basically how Lucas perceives it.
(And also, thank you for reviewing this, just for the sake of it. But also because I haven't revised a large portion of this story in a long while~!)