Idea

Chapter 1.1

 Teresa knew something was up as soon as she heard a shuffle coming from her companion’s sleeping bag. To tell the truth, after they had barely made it out of the City of Thieves alive, he had not been acting very normal.

 

She turned slightly, her black hair rustling as she caught sight of a figure moving quietly away from the campsite and into the surrounding forest; towards the general direction of the waterfall they had discovered earlier in the day.

 

She waited and listened a moment longer, making sure that Kyle was out of earshot before she herself stood up. Teresa pocketed her wand, just that it might come in handy, to what, that, she couldn’t imagine.

 

She padded slightly on the forest floor, not wanting to take any form of footwear lest it might give her away. Pushing through the undergrowth of the forest towards the ascending noise of the waterfall, she would once or twice break a dry twig and at those moments, Teresa would pause and wait, like Daniel had taught her. She bit her lip, she shouldn’t be thinking about him.

 

The waterfall was a medium sized one, water falling from ten feet or less, however, still it made much noise compared to the slight chirping of the grasshoppers in surrounding forest.

 

It took her awhile to orient herself. And even more to locate Kyle. He was standing at an outcropping rock, all the while allowing the torrents of water to pound on his head, shoulders.

 

She was about to call out when he yelled.

 

Teresa couldn’t differentiae if it was scream or a yell; it was so full of… fury… frustration. He kept on going, even as the water continued to pound into him, into the pool below. Competing with his voice, but still, he continued.

 

Finally, he fell silent. Head bowing, as though that scream took up all of his energy.

 

She stepped back, suddenly fearful.

 

A twig cracked.

 

Kyle’s head snapped towards her, then registered her form. He seemed to deflate. “How long have you been here?”

 

Sound from other objects, crickets, from the waterfall, seemed to fade away. It was as though they were non-existent. Like it was only the two of them in the entire forest.

 

“Are you ok?”

 

He leapt off the outcropping and into the splash pool below, his head bobbed on the surface seconds later, swimming towards the shore.

 

“Are you - ” Teresa was about to repeat her question when his gaze, caught her.

 

“I’m fine Teresa.”

 

“Swimming in the dead of night and yelling into the distance doesn’t seem that ‘fine’ to me, is anything wrong?” She asked as he pulled himself out of the water.

 

He smiled sadly, “You imagine too much. I’ve said, I’m fine.”

 

A sudden flash of inspiration caught her. “Its Daniel isn’t it?”

 

He stopped. Hands frozen midway in drying his hair.

 

“It wasn’t your fault Kyle.” She said, walking towards him. “Maybe he was captured. We -”

 

He swirled around “You saw, the fire, the arrows! Even Daniel, he could not have possibly survived that Teresa! No one could.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault Kyle.” Teresa said, reaching out a hand.

 

“No. It was. I betrayed him. So stop patronizing me.” Kyle shook his head, stepping back. “Leave me alone.” He said before he turned and ran away into the forest.

Author's Note

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