The Trouble with Time, Part 14 - Something

He watches her passage through the Garden on the pad. He's doing his best to keep his breathing calm, and a few times he has to consciously stop himself from tearing apart whatever item he has in his hands at the time, be it his waterskin, or the book he pretended he would be able to read, or even the pad itself. He gets up a few times during his wait, too restless to sit in the shade, and walks around the oasis. It's not a big area, so he's back to his place very quickly.

It is agonizing. He can see her walk, and she's making progress most of the time, but sometimes she starts looping back around, clearly dazed and uncertain why she's there. And he can't do anything to help her. Frankly it's a miracle that he even has visual on her inside, but he is very good at what he does.

When the orange tree finally shifts into view he can feel his heart jump into his throat. He holds his breath. She stares at it for a moment, not doing anything, but then she picks one. Two. Three. She stands still for a moment. Sits down. He's chewing on his thumb. Read the notes, he thinks at her.

Eventually she notices the bag around her neck and finds the compass. And then she's coming back."

~x~

Slowly the doors open and she steps out. She blinks, shields her eyes from the sun, looks around. She spots him as he scrambles up from the shade.

"You're out!" he exclaims. His face feels like splitting underneath the smile on his face. "Oh thank everything, you're out!"

"What is happening," she says bluntly. She looks around again. "How is a garden in the middle of a desert? And who are you?" She pokes a finger at his chest as he gets over to her. He raises his hands in appeasement.

"I'm Kevin," he says. She squints, and then nods. "I'm your friend. We came here together, because you needed oranges."

"I do have oranges with me," she says and digs one out from her bag. "Here, look. They're golden for some reason?" She seems very amused about the fact. "They're not orange at all, they're gold! See!" She lifts it up to his face.

"Yes, they are," he says, placing a gentle hand on her arm. "That's why we came here. To get Golden Oranges."

"I think..." she starts and then pauses to think. "I think my notes said something about that."

"Yes, they did. Now, why don't you come over here," he nudges her to follow him, which she does very easily. He does not like that. "And sit down in the shade for a bit. You can have some water, read your notes. Reorient yourself a bit." He guides her to the chair and almost pushes her down. She drops down and then blinks twice, slowly.

"Right, have to follow the notes," she says, and pulls the papers from her bag. "Because I don't remember anything!" She laughs a bit. He doesn't find it particularly amusing, but he gives her a small smile.

"That's the Golden Garden for ya!" he says. "Just rest for a bit, and then we'll get going back home."

He leans on one of the palm trees as she sits and reads. He takes out his phone and shoots Sam a quick text to let them know they have the oranges and they'll be coming back in a bit. Sam texts back almost immediately, expressing their relief very briefly, before going back to berating him of how stupid the idea was to begin with. He rolls his eyes and puts the phone on silent, ignoring the rest of the barrage. He looks back over to her.

She looks contemplative. She's rereading the notes, and she is clearly much more serious now. Which is good. It means memories are sticking again. He lets out a small sigh and turns to go fill out their waterskins for the trip back.

Something moves in his peripheral vision.

He glances around, but there's nothing there. He could've sworn he saw a figure by the shade, right beside her, but there's nothing there. Of course. He takes a deep breath and rubs his eyes. The desert is starting to play tricks on him as well. The quicker they get away from this place, the better.

Still, he can't quite shake the feeling...

He gets the second waterskin from her and goes over to the small watering place to fill them. And it happens again. As he dunks one of the skins underwater, in the ripples he can barely make out a shape behind him. He spins around again. Nothing, again. She's looking at him with a confused frown and he just waves a hand at her. He turns back around, wondering if he's going mad.

From the clear surface of the water only he himself looks back up.

~x~

The trip back through the desert is less eventful than their trip here. Neither of them really say anything. He's too preoccupied with what he saw back at the Garden's entrance, and she doesn't remember anything, and he can only imagine how awkward that must feel. He has his compass back and he's recalibrated it to point back at his door, so they can follow it without much hassle.

She asks questions occasionally, like where exactly they are and where they're going and how do they know each other, and he answers them truthfully if briefly. He feels a bit bad for her, she's trying to make contact but he just can't shake the feeling that there is another presence with them.

Well, no, that's not entirely accurate. There is absolutely no other presence with them. Absolutely nothing. He feels like there should be. And he feels like there is, even though he can't actually feel it in any capacity. But what is something that would be so completely imperceivable? It is not like the residents of this realm, because while he can't physically see or touch them, when they passed through their village, he could sense they were there. Even right now he knows there are moles underneath the ground they walk on, even though, if they were to burrow their way to the surface, he wouldn't be able to see them.

But something that is there even if he can't perceive it? Or perhaps something that should be there but is not?

His mind is getting fuzzy.

He shakes his head to clear it. This is getting him nowhere. Then he glances back. His mouth opens slightly.

There's a third set of tracks in the sand. It's there and then it's not and then it is again.

His heartbeat is hammering in his ears and he quickly turns to stare straight ahead again. He is sure of it now. There is something with them.

Or perhaps someone.

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Sooooo I like might have ideas about some stuff :3c

Anyway, here's today's part. It didn't come out in the morning bc we had pikkujoulu yesterday and I had 0 time to write and today I had to focus first on my school assignments. But I finished those and now I finished this and it's only almost nine? So yay!

My next part (16th) will probably (almost definitely) not be out in the morning either, bc I'm gonna be off playing D&D tomorrow and will not have time to write, but I will have a few hours time to do that Monday, so it'll just be out sometime in the evening. After that I'll be in Kuopio and I'll have a bunch of time, so I'll try to get back to writing the day before! I've just been... SO FUCJIJMNG busy this week like holy hell I'm tired.

Next topic!! is!!!!! Guardian!!!!!!!!! Bye!!!!

Pie out.