'Coping'
Xhyrah's POV
I heard the sound of the roosters from the outside. I decided to open my eyes and I woke up on the bed when I clearly remembered I slept on the rocking chair last night. I went up from the bed and looked everywhere for Alexander. I panicked when I found out he was not inside the room. I went out of the room and looked for him. I saw the old lady washing dishes in the sink and I think she didn't know I went out so I left her and went straight outside. I saw the old man with Alexander moving ducks from the duck house into the truck.
"Good morning." I greeted them. The old man looked at me and Alexander didn't.
"Good Morning." he greeted me while holding 2 ducks and placing them straight into the truck.
I looked at Alexander. He's too busy catching the ducks and giving them to the old man. Though I know he's cheating. Every time the old man turns around to put the ducks in the truck, the ducks come to him and make it easier for him to catch them. I licked my lips and let him be. I went into the kitchen and helped Cecil with the chores. I should help her at least.
It's time to say goodbye to Cecil. She smiled at me and even hugged me. "Thank you very much," I told her before letting go. We went up the truck. Besides the duck cage, the old man put a bench for us to sit on. He said we can't sit in the front seat so I agreed. It stinks but I have to go home. "Let's go!" the old man said.
We both sat on the bench. The first 20 minutes of the ride are quiet and peaceful. I appreciate the beauty of the forest, unlike yesterday. The trees are tall and the wind is really refreshing. Since I don't have time for going to places like this, I didn't get to experience these things a lot. I closed my eyes and raised my head just because I want to. But then I almost fell off the seat when the wind became very strong and hit me in the face. I opened my eyes immediately and gripped tightly on the seat.
Then I saw him smirking on my side while looking at me. "Did you do that?" I asked him.
Instead of answering me verbally, he entered my mind again. 'What?'
"The wind?" I asked. He scoffed playfully and smirked. "How did you do that?" I asked but he didn't answer me again. "You've been talking to me inside my head. How did you do that?"
"I can do everything," he said like it was just nothing. Like I said before, I don't know what he can do. I have only seen him fight with swords. I narrowed my eyes. "I know what you're thinking."
I looked away. I want to know if it's true. I want him to cut a branch from the tree. And he did. My eyes widened.
"I get stronger when I'm in your world." He said and looked at his hand as if it were some precious thing. I looked at the fallen branch as we go away from it. Then a thought came into my mind again.
"What will you do now?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he said and looked away. I laid my back on the backrest of the bench and raised my head again. He let me be until we got to the city after 2 hours. We stopped at gasoline stations and we also stopped for food. He left us somewhere near my apartment.
"Thank you very much," I told him. I looked at Alexander. I want him to bow and say thank you too and he did. He bowed a little and said thank you awkwardly.
We walked to our apartment and as we walk in the entrance, I become more nervous. They haven't seen me for more than a week and they probably think I was kidnapped because I disappeared out of nowhere. I stared at the apartment door for a few minutes. I am so scared to open it though I think they might not be here. I haven't checked any calendar yet and I lost count of how many days I stayed in Armania. I took a deep breath and opened the door. It opened right away and I saw no one in there.
The room is clean and silent. I know they would know that someone entered because the door usually makes a sound every time someone goes in. I gulped when Leslie went out of her room holding a bottle of water. Her eyes widened as she look at me.
"Hi," I said. Her eyes shifted to who was behind me. I got nervous even more.
"Did you run away with him? Sky what the hell?" she dropped the bottle and went to me. "JULIEEEE!!" she shouted.
"No, it's not that. I--" I tried to explain but she pushed me and pulled Alexander in. "It's not like what you're thinking okay?" I said.
"Wait, who is he? Oh my god! is he your boyfriend?!" I heard Julie from the back.
"NO!" I denied. Leslie closed the door and looked at every inch of Alexander.
"Then who is he?" Julie asked. I saw how Leslie pinched Alexander and saw how annoyed he is. I went to him and pulled him away from her right away.
"He's a friend," I answered.
"You had a friend without us knowing? OMG, this hurts." Julie said as if she got betrayed by me for having a guy friend without them knowing.
"No. I met him a few days ago." I answered.
"So you were with him this whole time?" Leslie said.
"Something is really off here," Julie said and they both looked at each other. They exchanged glances and laughed. I shook my head.
"It's not that. Stop it." I stopped them. "He's staying here."
"What?!" they both looked at me.
"He's staying here. He gave no place to go for some reason so he's staying here." I said and looked at Alexander quietly listening to us.
"Do you know how sensitive that bitter lady next door is? He doesn't want to see boys around her." she whispered and pointed outside where a lady who was once brokenhearted lives.
"He's not going out," I said.
"Oh my God. Do what you want. But where is he going to sleep?" Julie asked me.
"In my room. I'm gonna stay with one of you." I replied.
"Definitely not in my room. Leslie, you got her," she said and gave me to Leslie.
"Fine," Leslie answered while looking intently at Alexander. "What's with your outfits?" she asked.
"Uhmm.. we didn't have the chance to change so we left our clothes there."
"Wait WHAT?! WHY AND HOW?!" they both asked me again.
"Stop misunderstanding everything, guys! Jesus!" I rolled my eyes and looked at Alexander. I pushed him into my room. "Gosh," I said when I finally got to close the door.
"Who are they?" he asked me and looked at everything inside my room. My walls are painted white and sky blue. There's a bed in the middle, a cabinet on the sides, and a study table. My room is the only room that has a bathroom inside.
"My friends," I answered him. "You're going to sleep here until we find a way for you to come back. You need to come back right away."
I've been very silent but I've been thinking about it a lot since we left. I barely slept last night. I am very worried about everything that is going on inside Armania. I don't know what happened to them or if they are okay. Looks like we need a key to go back inside again. Since we don't have one, we need to find another way. I am certain that he's worried about it. He left his friends and the princess there.
I feel very guilty about it. He came back to me that is why he was almost caught in the smoke and died. He might not be dead but he can't do anything to help his friends inside. I feel very guilty of letting him save me instead of going with the princess and the other guys.
I looked at him, he was looking at me. I pursed my lips thinking that he might have read my mind. I coughed and went to the cabinet. I took out some clothes for me and some for him. I only have a few oversized shirts and most of them are blue and pink. I took out one of those baby blue oversized shirts and shorts that I bought because I thought I can use them not knowing it's for boys and they don't fit. A co-worker gifted me a pair of under wares thinking I should keep it in my closet. I rolled my eyes and put it under the shirt.
"You can take a bath there." I pointed at the bathroom in the right corner of the room. I took out a towel too and put it on top of his clothes. I looked for clothes for me inside the closet again and an extra towel too. "I'll take a bath outside. You can stay here." I said and left the room.
I tried hard not to think about anything while taking a bath. I don't know if he's reading my mind right now but just in case. After a very long bath, I changed clothes inside the bathroom and went into the room again to check on him.
I saw him on the bed when I went in. "What are you doing?" I asked. he placed his arms under his head while lying on my bed. He's in deep thoughts, I wonder what it is. I waited for a response but I didn't get any.
I was about to ask something again but then he stood up.
"Why? What is it?" I asked. He looks like he found out something.
"I know a way to come back. Let's go back there," he said. He stood up and held my hands than in just a blink of an eye, we got back to the tree again.
How did he come all the way here? It's hours away from our apartment. How?
He walked around the tree. I am in the middle of the forest wearing shorts with a towel wrapped around my hair. I took a deep breath and followed him. He's looking for something on the tree. Then my eyes widened when A keyhole appeared in the middle. It's a circle and it's glowing.
"How do we find the key for that?" I asked.
"It's a keyhole for humans who know about Armania. The key must be in the earth. We need to find it here." he said. He touched the hole in the middle and it disappeared.
"But which part of the earth?" I asked him. This world is way too big for a key. How are we supposed to find it here?
"I don't know." He answered.
I looked at that part of the tree again. It's gone now. How are we supposed to look for it?
"Can't you detect it or something? Do you have a way to find it?"
"They said it's now inside a place with the treasures of the earth. Where they put things they find on the earth after a million years. They call it a treasure now." he answered. I looked at him and thought of something or somewhere we might be able to find it.
A place where the treasures of the earth are? But what kind of treasure is it? Where do you find treasures on the earth?
It took me a lot of time to finally thought of it. I looked at him.
"I think we need to look for it on the internet and find where it is right now."