(GE Copy)

Chapter 19: The Qualities of A Friend (Part 2)

“...It is not until our toe is stubbed along the wall, that we should become aware, and ironically ignorant.”

Taking their path out through the forest. Aaron danced the new stones in his hands and inquired “So, how’s the parental lockdown?”

“Don’t remind me...” Zack moaned, “...Three hours late and they take away my internet for a week. That’s half my time off, gone.”

“What? So, no more squirrel princess pictures?”

“Dude, I’ll right straight up deny that. You saw like zero percent of the context behind that one.”

“I’m pretty sure I saw one hundred percent of her body... How do you hide those from your folks, anyway?”

“I don’t, coz I don’t need to, I’m not a furry... But if I did... I’d create a ‘data’ folder inside a preexisting application folder, zip the files, give it a password and rename the archive to have a B.S. file extension to blend in with the rest. Reverse the process each time you want to look at them. If you want to be real sneaky when removing, you’ll paint bucket the pictures black and save them as a broken file extension before removing from trash and clear the temp cache folder so if anything’s recovered, it can’t be identified... But as I said, I don’t have to. Stole enough of Jamie’s old magazines from the car lot after his arrest to serve a life time.”

“I like that you know all these terms about them... What do they call that action again? The one those thirty year old dudes without girlfriends do, instead of ‘sharing a special hug’? I’m pretty sure there was a word for it.”

“Holy shit! It’s an owl with a copper knob!” Zack pointed out into the distance. “Wait, no... Guess it’s just a normal owl. Would have swore it was a Hungarian Boogieman... So, how’s your parental lockdown, Aaron?”

“I’m supposed to be grounded... Figured it’s gonna be real difficult for Dad to put me over his knee from all the shit way out here.”

“You really are playing hardball my guy... Anyone ever tell you that?”

“I’m kidding. I’m not grounded... I’m getting to that point of frustration, though. So much going on in the world, I’m not sure I got time to sit down and take my parent’s seriously. It’d be simple if they actually knew everything that’s going on, if they understood what I was going through; maybe they wouldn’t understand, but they’d at least let me find my way in life... With my luck though, they’d probably just tie me down even harder to protect me from it all. Feels like it’d be easier to just tell them, I’m an adult now, they have to believe me when I say that I have a snake that can transform. I want to prove them all wrong so badly, for all the times I grew up being told it wasn’t there... But all the pain of being convinced I was faking it, just makes me want to let it go and not go through that torment again... Like some force just prevents me from even opening my mouth.”

“Why?” Felicity mentioned. “It’s not like you owe them that after what they did. If they want to hurt you, or say you can’t go anywhere, I’ll get involved. Your parents can’t push you around, Aaron. They’re the ones who are ignorant, not you.”

“It’s not like it’s that big of thing though, I’ll just deal with it when the time arrives...” Coming into a small ravine. The rock risen above them, walking the uneven patchy grass and moist soil, with overflowing leafy vegetation pouring in from overheard. They reached out for the walls on both sides to balance, as the large stones that broke up the way disrupted the tranquility of their escape. It felt peaceful above them, with the fresh aromas of chill purple flowers floating past the crack in the canopy. The leaves quietly rustled, fading into a blur of water painted patterns, yet the grass swayed much more smoothly. Aaron took his eyes away to rest and refocus, but it still transitioned between fading frames of reference.

“Is this what they call nostalgia?...” Sophie marvelled, “I’ve been locked away in Stagna for so long, that I forgot how tight a fresh passage looks like...”

“One of these days, I’m gonna get tired of your cryptic comments,” Aaron remarked, “Should I even ask what any of that means, or you just gonna tell me anyway?”

Getting caught in her admiration, Sophie replied, “I’d explain it, but I don’t think you’d actually take the time to listen.” Stumbling on an abrupt stone that appeared from nowhere, but she regained composure. “If it’s any consolation, you might appreciate it more to know that we’re one of the few people to reach here. I think in your value system, in terms of mystery, that fits your criteria for ‘exciting’ and new...”

“Criteria?” Aaron snidely threw back at her

“Meeting a personal requirement...” Obviously answering the wrong context, Sophie reoriented “You seem unsatisfied. Paranoid even. Unless I’ve mistaken your values of mystery to be more derived towards personal discovery regardless of how many have found it before you, then I’m not sure what you really find interesting; even given how many times you explicitly state it, because you seem contrary to your own passions.”

“I used to love discovering what we’ve forgotten, what laid beneath...” Aaron admit, a streak of guilt burdening him somehow, “But something happened to me. Now, discovering places is just a tool that gets me closer towards collecting as many unique memories as I can before I die... I’d say it’s useless to have them, if I can’t keep them after I croak; but I feel what is here and now, and that’s somehow more important to me than...” His eyes veered, concentrating on the material in the walls rather than Sophie, who seemed concerned by it all. Especially when he returned as though finishing aloud, a sentence that took place in his head, “So, what lays beyond isn’t worth it anymore.”

“But it’s all you’d go on about...” Wondering what could have killed Aaron’s ambitions, that he held so strongly to for so long. “You used to follow after them to find a way to protect yourself from those forces you mentioned.”

“Yeah, and he’s got it...” Felicity defended their honour.

“Get a room...” Zack, interrupted, also, “So what is this Stagna you mentioned? That some kind of alien planet?”

“You really didn’t pay attention to my Father, did you?” Sophie, shook her head, “I swear, you Stagalnians would be so much more useful if you actually valued knowledge over a corphelia subscription...”

“It’s home...” Aaron answered. “Everywhere outside home is Tapia, and outside of that it gets complicated.”

“Honestly, we could be anywhere.” Returning, Sophie gratified, “Unless this realm works different, we arrived here through a portal, that conciquently cut directly to anywhere in all of existence. But this is a Tapian corridor, yes. From my understanding, these passages expand into different realms as people travel them, this passage is just undeveloped, so the thin connection of logic and events is shallow and doesn’t loop back very well. Given time, it may reconnect anywhere that person had been previously by recollection, but for right now it’s only a vague experience reaching up into that point. Hence, corridor, unlike the tangled ball of yarn that Stagalnia is based upon.”

“Where were you when we were running around in an endless loop?” Aaron muttered.

“If I were there, it wouldn’t have even activated... It’s not everyone else’s fault that they’re not there to hold your hand, so stop riding me.” Sophie argued in return as they stopped. The wind blew past them, at the faint frail passage that only their feet could find. Their sides had faded and as they looked for answers it all seemed to curl around on itself until it was no more than a small grassy glade floor of newborn greens amidst a forest without detail or contrast. It seemed as though it were a dead end.

Getting a strange reminder of the days before, Zack opened his mouth “We remember the way back, yea?”

“That’s what this water is for, remember?” Aaron replied.

“Just... You know... In case something comes up...”

“Hey...” Felicity muttered, “Was... That rock always there?” But when the party saw it, it seemed to be a large stone, and when all eyes were upon it, it looked to be a wall. Small details began to fill themselves out, always with something basic, then a defining edge, soon a tree line and bushes to block the way, and Aaron began to sweat. “You suppose if I said there was a sandwich, it’s appear?” Felicity continued.

The glade expanded without notice, each time seeming larger and larger like a field growing out from them. A weight overtook him, and Aaron saw a memory of a mountain range and shut his eyes to look away. He could feel the wind as before and closed his ears to hear a voice. Beneath him grew a hole that floor was his ceiling and mirror painted both halves in grass and stone, and fading like his own voice fell through the void. He opened his eyes to see only the ground beneath him, but it seemed to open up like the memory captured in his mind. It felt to be opening here as well.

Marvelling at the opening world, Zack called back excited, “Aaron!” only to see the sweat pouring down from his face. “Aa... You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Actually, no, I’ve seen you find one, that’s not what you did at all.”

Swallowing the dry air around him, Aaron mocked, “And you don’t look like you just got your man cherry popped by a squirrel with tits?”

“What in fuck was that about?”

“I don’t know, one shiv hurtful comment for another... Didn’t sound too fucking playful that time.” As Aaron regained his grip on the space around him.

“What the hell’s been up your ass Aaron?” Sophie scowled, “You’ve got everything you wanted, things are going good for you, and you’re chewing everyone right now except your new friend over there.”

Rising huffily, “He’s got a few troubles at home.” Felicity defended.

“Welcome to the group man...” Zachery returned, wiping clean the snide wound he just received in a friendlier, yet sore manner.

“Like felicity said...” Aaron turned away, biting his tensions as the unveiling fields seemed to close up tightly in rock walls and barbwire brambles. “Status at home ain’t doing too good...” Finally putting a cap to his nightmare.

“It’s a real fine scapegoat,” Sophie doubted, stepping into his caustic bluff. Her eyes wavered in pity, walking past the pain that hindered her. “but what would you use if they weren’t there? You got everything going for you, and the only problem you’ve got is with your folks? Bullshit! What do you think is catalyzing that problem? Making something we’ve all dealt with seem like a damned mountain collapsing on you. Even you said they ‘weren’t a big deal’” Seeing Aaron turn his head in anger, “You can’t even look at me when you say what’s wrong, let alone when we talk to you, what are you so scared of seeing? That we care about you?

Felicity walked up to pull Sophie back but Aaron looked up and called him off, “I can stand on my own Felicity... It’s like everyone’s got a fucking problem with me lately, especially the people I happen to like the most. How about you leave me be like a real friend would? Let me carry my own damn weight?”

“I’ll stop, when you stop chewing apart the things that matter most to us.” Stamping her foot. “What about all your dreams? To see the world, the truth behind it... What happened to the joy that I saw in your eyes when you came upon something special? The reward of discovery, triumph, determination? You showed me how beautiful it was, and I believed you... Now you only want to hide from it, like these rocks are the only thing that make this trip mean anything?”

“Just what I need giving me grief. I often forget how much of a psychoanalyst you are. What is this? You doing this because I said something bad? Sorry, I said the wrong words, I’m in a rotten mood; do you want a fucking hanky? How about you let Zack fight his own battles.”

“He already set his aside, which is why we’re still talking. I’m not going to sit idle and watch you hurt yourself and the rest of us like this! You’re putting this overwhelming path of danger and intrigue as a wall from performing a single selfless action; why would someone do something so unnecessary? It’s a crutch that isn’t helping you, only hiding the pain that’s still in there until it’s gotten to a point of being so massive that you have to take it out on us for your own pity. You’d be more free from your pain to pick up your balls and walked with them instead of dragging them along the ground with your ass glued to the cement. You’re so impressed by every trick you can perform, and shun the reason it exists. What’s got you so afraid that you’ve forsaken everything that brought you joy?

Aaron turned from her, sending a silent insult, and held in the pain.

“Parents? You’ve always acted like their some kind of tyrannical force, but they love you, even more than Zack’s folks do for him. Is it monsters? We fight those, and you keep coming back for more.” Aaron continued to ignore her, while she continued to reach out to him, without letting the childish response alter her resolve. “You keep talking Seven this, Seven that. Are you scared of them or something? The seven never bothered you, I’ve lived my whole life scared of them! So what is it, really?!”

“I got a lot bigger monkey riding on my back than any of them!” Aaron shouted.

“It really isn’t your parents after all, is it? You used to confide in me your deepest thoughts, now you can’t even tell me how you’re doing... You told me that you had to figure out the truth, that you needed my help so you could keep your memories and that’s what I’m doing! The back seat guy hasn’t beaten you already, has he?”

It was as though Aaron forgot all about the ‘back seat guy’. What a terrible analogy, who’d ever think of such a thing? It doesn’t exist, no angel on one shoulder, and devil on the other... And yet... The more he thought about it, the less he wanted to remember it. Felt like the world was crushing him, everyone trying to tell him how to live his life, what to side with, what to fight, he just wanted to make his own choices, and he wasn’t even doing that so he took a stand

Aaron’s aggressive streak cut into his tongue as he scowled back, holding in the frustration. “The things I’ve seen since you were away... It did something... And you’re really walking thin ice bring it up...”

“Did that thing that hurt you so badly really kill every ambition of passion inside you?” Sophie cried to tears.

“Yes!” Aaron roared.

Wiping the water from her eyes, she returned “Or is it just you that you’re afraid of?”

But it was too late, as he gripped his head in pain. He remembered the voice that spoke to him, the opening of his heart, he remembered the dagger which pierced it like no other. Passages between the space around him in the darkness, when he remembered the name which brought him, and felt only the pain to reject it. The thing he found that day when he remembered everything, with an iron barrier between him and what it was. In a deep and clairvoyant roar, Aaron returned “If you knew the reality that I saw, you could never endure this world again! You want to know what’s behind that wall?” Pointing to the bare rock and brambles, “You can’t handle the pain that that I’ve hidden away from my heart! It wasn’t worth it! It’s a pain so heavy, that death itself finally acquired a meaning! It’s terrifying, larger than any weight, becuase one day we’ll all be NOTHING!” The ground rattled with Aaron’s deep overwhelming voice, trees rustled and the very stone cracked along the walls, then it trembled with his tears “Do you not understand how frightening it is, to taste the truth with your own hands to know what awaits you in the end? And to know that you are powerless to stop it?”

Stepping up, the fury could be seen building behind Felicity’s eyes, drawing a very stern tone to settle the dispute but staggered on the uneven ground. Even after the echos faded, there came a rumbling that chipped through the air like fractures of crystal being ground against one another into a squeaking powder. Shards of rock shed from the wall beside them. Finally, the stone wall snapped, and emerging from it, lifted a turtle like head of bedrock and granite. It ripped out from it’s earth laden slumber, and roared out. Felicity smacked it without hesitation but it only seemed to chip away at his half reconstructed blade. Standing it’s massive body up, it leapt towards them, snapping at the rude neighbours who awoken it. Aaron looked it wearily in the eyes, and his own began to waver. Without being able to say it, Zack called out what everyone was thinking “OH SHIT!” while making a booking for the next county but there was nowhere he could relatively run in the newly constructed deadend culdesac

Getting upon it’s back, Felicity dropped the finally formed sword upon it’s neck but the stone was animate, without vessel or nerve. He hacked away at it’s shell, chipping it. A hard slice cracked the surface but it merely chipped off another thin layer of rock. Looking above, there seemed to be an overhang and taking a swift cut of the air, Felicity sent out a flying sharp slice to render the hillside down onto them. Colliding with the beast, it overtook it, and in the debris it was no longer moving. It’s head fell down, resting with a crackling and clinking. Like a geode, it’s noggin forced open, flowing an open spawn of hard shelled parasites. It spewed from the rest of the pile, eagerly thirsting for the tender flesh of man. They were slow, methodical in a pack that spread out, reluctant and occupying the known exit.

Peering through the crack of it’s origin, Aaron could see a large space, widening before him as his eyes adjusted. It reminded him of his descent, that passage beyond space that vividly haunted him. He looked out to his friends, who’s lives were corralled by the creatures that spawned and he weighed his guilts with his fears. Finally, calling out, Aaron decided. “Hold them busy, I’ll set up an escape!” As he squeezed in through the cracks of the wall he created. It was not the same hole, but every step reminded him until he could separate himself from the past.

Every surface seemed to run downhill but it’s deep bevelled surface seemed to be a haven of collecting bowls Aaron settled on one, seeing the cupping edges to perfectly bowl his escape. As he poured the gravity revealed a kilter in his perspective and from it’s shallow edge, the water began to run deeper down the rock. Aaron cupped it in his hands but it pooled and flowed past his fingers. Standing, he wobbled back. He ran to another bowl in the stone, but it was too deep and all the water he could pour into it would only fill an arm’s diameter. The low spot of the ground was a water worn path, that ran like the valley bottom between the two bevelled walls and ran like creek down below. He followed it, hearing the voices call back to him “Is it ready yet?” Only for brigade to retreat further into the vaguely forming cave, and relied that Aaron would save them even after all he said.

Great, bloody great. The cave bottom lead into a large pond, where it’s massive body laid filled to block his path and it’s still surface showed no sign of exit. Each strategic pothole was filled already, and Aaron had no clue how far he could dilute the water before it refused to open the gateways. Along the long wall, Aaron noticed a new platform across the water, where a ledge laid apart from the main access. Hopefully, where no thought of stream could pass nor fill. He shimmied along the thin walk, having to leap the last couple of feet, knocking the layer of hanging rock into the drink. He gazed upon the bowl, determining if it had formed with or without until laying his hand in the dry container.

At the last corner, there was a flat that bowled out with a shallow rim. Aaron dribbled the water out, watching it flow down along the surface. It looped around a thin mound in the centre and reconnecting on both ends, then over the top of it. It filled, and Aaron’s last hope relied on there being enough to cover it. His half jar emptied, requiring his second to make the full surface area large enough to pass through. It barely made it to his hip’s width, and Aaron panicked, hearing everyone fall back into the chamber, and Felicities attacks still out of sight. He rubbed the water out onto the sides, wetting the stone and tried to open it up. He seemed to pass his hands through the waters, but it would not connect it with the damp stone we watered beside the puddle, and it refused to widen enough for everyone. Aaron gauged it’s size, unable to fit inside. He tried to flick the opened portal onto the sides, but his hands simply passed through the surface onto the other side. Aaron felt sick, and stood, looking for another option but there were none. This was the flattest sheet of rock that would not drain into the pool, and cause his his potion to dilute.

At last, as the creatures passed through, Aaron didn’t have any time but to improvise. He scooped the water from the flat bowl to his side, and mixed it with the closed teleporter water, stretching out the usefulness of his stone container. He reignited the portal, once he figured it was large enough to barely fit himself into, and it seemed to become viscus. Aaron plunged his hands in, and though it resisted him, he could manage to pass them through after all.

Aaron called to the front lines, beckoning them to fall back. Zack went to slip into the hole face first, only for his hands to slowly sink through and when he felt water on the other side, he began to worry. Zack yanked his arms out, feeling the tugging on his hairs. He slipped his feet in, slowly descending. Aaron pushed him in, helping the lad through the tight fit. Zack held his breath, feeling the wet sensation from the other end reach his chin and he submerged his head. Aaron followed after, leaving Felicity to continue defending the unending advances. Sophie came, standing herself above Aaron in the slow chute through the waters, pushing Aaron’s head down to pass him through. She lamented as it came to the final stretch, with Sophie making a satirical comment concerning the girth of her chest mounds: An ironically serious comment that would have been the funnest thing anyone ever heard, if there were someone in the vicinity, who was not tied to fighting freaks, to hear it.

Aaron crawled to the shore, watching Zack and Sophie surface in due time, but Felicity was somehow delayed. Aaron walked out into the deep, unable to actually do anything about it. In a hurry, Aaron remembered he could make another portal and rushed to the shoreline to throw the water out onto the ground... but nothing stayed. He kicked the sand loose, digging a bowl along the water table that it may fill up large enough for his head, and perhaps a tiny thin snake. Aaron tried to reignite the portal back to whatever forsaken room they had just left, but just then, he heard a loud eruption behind him.

Aaron turned his head to the crashing water just in time to see the majestic, and rare, flying snake fish launch from the depths like a blunderbuss... Then fall back down to the water where it splashed back in again. With the flicking of long blue hair and a gasping noise that came from it, Felicity snapped back. “You could have told me that everyone left already! I was up to my man cloaca in murder pebbles by the time I got out, and the portal was like swimming through bloody tar!”

“You’re alive!” Aaron cried out, swimming out to meet Felicity, only to be lifted and chucked about thirty feet off shore.

“What?” Zack heckled, “No worry about us or anything, we’re only your best friends...”

They recuperated by the rocky beach, straining out what little sand was there between their fingers until ready to go. Sophie sat alone, watching the boys make a joke or two and thought onto the realm that was created and what it could mean. She smirked, coming to realize the only solace to their argument, still sitting at the brink of tears. Lifting herself, Sophie walked up to the lads ready to head home “See...” She reminded cheerfully, “...you can remember when you want to...” As a facade before her saddened soul. Aaron didn’t even seem to take the time to process it, and gave a cold shoulder as he walked away, and heard not a word more from her any more that day. Behind the tears held up by that mask of false cheer, she took faith in knowing that he was not beyond help after all, and these pains were only a necessary endurance to help him find himself once more. A pain, she could scarcely bare, wondering how strong she could actually be for him, and wondered of his own pains after all.