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It’s a Saturday, and everyone in my family is running errands. I get bored being home alone so I decide to go on a walk in the forest. A few minutes into my walk, I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and am surprised to see Sugar, that girl I met in art class, the girl who’s dating Jake.
“Oh, hey, do you mind if I walk here too?”
“No, I don’t mind”
“Thank you, I don’t live very close to this forest but my parents and I are staying with my aunt for the weekend and she is near here”
“Cool” I respond
There’s a silence for a few seconds. I don’t necessarily want to have a conversation with her considering she’s dating Jake. He’s a complete asshole. She probably knows about his behavior and maybe even condones it. She takes out her phone, and then suddenly a loud blast of music comes from her phone. I recognize it. It’s a part of “Your favorite sidekick” by underscores.
“Oops, sorry” she says, seeming embarrassed and pausing the song
“It’s ok, you listen to underscores?”
“Yeah, do you listen to them too?”
“Yeah, I just discovered their music this past summer”
“Cool, that’s when I discovered them too. What’s your favorite song by them?”
“Probably “Spoiled little brat”, you?”
“I’d have to say my favorite is “Your favorite sidekick””
“Yeah, I mean all the songs on fishmonger are good. I started listening to fishmonger while I was on a trip in Montana with my family, so I’ll probably always associate it with that trip”
“Oh, you went to Montana?”
“Yeah”
“That’s cool”
“What did you do over the summer?”
“I mostly just stayed home with my cat”
“That’s nice, what’s your cat’s name?”
“Darya”
“Nice, I have a dog named Cecilia”
We continue having a conversation about our pets. It soon turns into a conversation where we’re talking about ourselves and getting to know each other. I guess she’s really not so bad, but then why would she be dating someone like Jake? That confuses me. I’ll never understand nice people dating mean people. Is there more to it than I know?
All of a sudden, I hear loud ominous footsteps behind us. Uh oh. I guess Sugar hears it too, because we both turn around at the same time. My stomach flips when I see IT.
It isn’t a person. I don’t know what it is. All I know is that I don’t want it anywhere near me. It has red horns and glowing red eyes. Tentacles on its back. It has the creepiest smile you’ve ever seen. Teeth that look like they could impale you. Sugar and I turn our heads and look at each other for a split second. Then we both turn around and run at a speed that I didn’t even know was humanly possible. I can hear the creature chasing us. We have to outrun it. This can’t be the day I die. This can’t be the day Sugar dies. We’re only 14 years old. We’re too young. I don’t even pay attention to the fact that my legs are getting tired from running so much or that I’m panting. All I can feel right now is fear.
“Maybe we should try running in different directions to confuse it” I manage to say between gasps
“Good idea, but we should stick together”
“Wouldn’t it be better to split up?”
“It’s safer to stick together”
“Ok”
So we try running in all kinds of different directions but still sticking together. Our attempt to confuse it doesn’t work. After a very long time of running it finally seems we’ve lost the monster. It’s nowhere to be seen. We both collapse and just lay on the ground for a few minutes.
“I think we’re pretty far away from home now” I say nervously
“Yeah, and there’s no cell service here” Sugar responds
I think frantically about how we’ll get out of here. I never thought I would end up in a life or death situation with someone I barely know. I also feel very, very thirsty.
“I’m really thirsty,” Sugar says what I’m thinking
“I am too” I respond
“There’s a lake right there but I don’t know if the water is clean”
“Yeah I don’t think it is”
We try to look around for a better water source. We don’t find one. We start to become desperate, so we end up crouching down by the lake and drinking some of the water. We soon both feel dizzy and fall back.
“UhHHHHh, I feel like everything is spinning” She says
“I do too” I respond
I flimsily help her up and we continue walking.
“I think I see a butterfly” Sugar says
“No, there’s no butter-” I cough violently, ”there’s no butterfly”
“Yeah there is, you liar!”
“I see I see birds”
“Birds?”
“Yeah, they have, they each have five eyes”
We keep walking very slowly and saying what we see.
“I see a snake with black, red and yellow stripes” I say.
“Like Jake’s sweatshirt?” She responds
“Yes, like your boyfriend’s sweatshirt.”
“NO! FUCK THE SNAKE!” She appears to try and stamp on the snake but completely fails, probably because she can’t also see it.
“No! No, don’t hurt the snake, it’s, it’s venom– it’s venomous”
“I don’t like Jake! He, he’s STUPID! I only stay with him because he makes me feel bad. He’ll make me feel so SAD and BAD if I try to leave because he’ll be sad without me but I don’t want him,” she blurts, like she’s getting it off her chest “I don’t want him! I don’t want him! I don’t want him!” She repeats those words at least five more times.
“Do you want him?” I ask with a smile
“NO!” She responds, seemingly not picking up on my sarcasm.
I decide to vent about him too, “He’s mean to me and Celeste. He said I’m weak, he said she’s stupid. He called us retarded. We’re not FUCKing reTARDed! He’s retarded! He’s a retard! He’s a pottymouth fuckface retarded shithead sack of shit!”
We keep drunkenly shit talking Jake for a while. Well, we’re not drunk. Because I don’t think alcohol was in that water. But something was wrong with that water. I almost forget he’s her boyfriend. I normally would want to talk respectfully about someone’s partner if I’m right in front of them regardless of what I think of their partner. But right now I don’t feel the need to do that. The energy of the conversation doesn’t feel like we’re talking about her boyfriend. It feels more like we’re talking about someone we both dislike. Which I guess is also what we’re doing. I feel numb. I know I was afraid or worried about something earlier. But I don’t know what it was. I have absolutely no idea. I feel like everything is perfectly fine now and like I’m in no danger.
“EheHehe, this is fUn!” Sugar exclaims as she kicks a tree
I suddenly start to feel a sick feeling in my stomach. I think I’m gonna throw up. I can feel it coming up my throat. The next thing I know I’m on my knees throwing up all over the ground, and Sugar is doing the same. Then we both find ourselves laying on the ground, just like earlier. I come back to reality. I remember just earlier today when I was bored at home and I decided to go on a walk. And then Sugar asked if she could join me. That feels like it was centuries ago. Was that really just today? I feel so exhausted now. Everything is coming back to me. I remember why I was so afraid. I remember the monster. Right as I think of the monster, I feel a presence near Sugar and me. Uh oh. I feel like it isn’t the presence of something good. I look around and I see the monster. UH OH. It’s far behind us. In the distance I can see that it’s smiling at us. It’s definitely about to come after us again. I turn to Sugar, she’s very tired and looks like she’s about to fall asleep. I wouldn’t want to disturb her if it weren’t for the fact that something terrible could happen to us.
“Sugar, Sugar, get up” I say, nudging her
“What?” She says, sitting up and rubbing her eyes
“The monster, it’s gonna come after us again”
“What?” She says as she looks around, and then she sees it and says “Oh shit, we need to run!”
We get up and manage to run but not nearly as fast as before. We’re just too tired. It makes me more afraid that we won’t outrun it this time. It doesn’t seem to run out of energy. The whole time I’m running I feel like I could pass out any minute. A few times I actually forget what we’re running from, because that’s how sleepy I am. Eventually we get to a cliff. Sugar stops running in time to not fall. But I don’t. I fall but thankfully she catches my hand.
Before losing her balance, and now we’re both falling. We’re really gonna die now, after all that effort to not die. This is hard to process. Sugar is the last person I’ll ever see. I’m the last person she’ll ever see. We both wrap our arms around each other because we know this is the last time we’ll ever have contact with another human. We close our eyes and accept fate. Eventually I feel us start to drift out of each other’s arms as we get closer to hitting the ground.
Suddenly I hit a hard, fuzzy surface. I sit up and open my blurry eyes, expecting to be in heaven. I look to my left and see light coming in through a window. I see a painting of a blue sky hung next to the window. Below the window there is a bed with a purple blanket. Sugar was lucky enough to land on the bed, unlike me. Instead I landed on a baby pink carpeted floor. I look to my right and see a black desk with a computer on it. I smell lavender air freshener. This doesn’t seem like heaven, it seems a lot more like someone’s bedroom. But it’s homey and comfortable, so I guess it’s good enough. Sugar sits up and rubs her eyes and looks around.
“This is my bedroom,” Sugar says, looking as confused as a person can be
“Oh,” I respond
“It looks the same outside as it always does” she says, looking out the window, “and we’re…” she looks at her hands and moves her fingers and then touches her face, and then she touches MY face. “ALIVE! WE’RE ALIVE!”
I sit here dumbfounded with a blank expression on my face.
“Aren’t you happy that we’re alive?” She asks me
“Yeah, it’s just really jarring. I really thought we were gonna die. How did we end up here? How are we not dead? Do we at least have any bruises?” We both examine our bodies for bruises. There doesn’t seem to be any. “Is this some kind of trap?”
“I don’t think it is, I think we’re finally safe. But there’s one problem, my parents aren’t here, they’re still at my aunt’s, which is where I’m supposed to be. How am I gonna get back there? And how are you gonna get back to your home?” She says
“I don’t know” I say. I try to think about ways we can get back to where we’re supposed to be. I think about if there’s someone who can pick us up. I come up with an idea. “I’ll ask Dante if his older sister can pick us up.”
I take out my phone and call Dante. He picks up.
“Hey Sky, what’s up?” Dante says
“Hey, can you do me a huge favor and ask Angie to pick Sugar and me up? We’re at her house” I respond
“You’re at Sugar’s house?” He asks sounding very surprised and confused
“Yeah, it’s a long story, I’ll explain later”
“Alright, I’ll ask her”
“Thank you”
“No problem” he walks to the room Angie’s in, “Hey, is it possible that you can pick Skyler and a girl named Sugar up from her house?”
“From Sugar’s house?” I hear Angie’s voice say a distance away from Dante’s phone
“Yeah” Dante says
“Sure, what’s the address?”
Sugar tells her the address
“Ok, I’ll be there in a little bit” Angie says
“Thank you” I say
“You’re welcome” Angie says
“Bye Dante, I’ll talk to you later”
“Bye Sky”
We hang up and then Sugar and I go outside and wait in front of the house.
“So your friends call you Sky?” She asks me.
“Yeah, that’s my nickname,” I respond.
“Cool” says Sugar
After that interaction we stand in silence until Angie gets here. We both let out sighs of relief when we see her car pull up.
“Hey guys” Angie says as she rolls down her window.
“Hi” Sugar and I both say.
I let Sugar get in first and then I get in and shut the door.
“So where am I taking you guys?” Angie asks us.
“I’m going to my aunt’s apartment and Sky’s going home” Sugar says.
“Ok, what’s the address of your aunt’s apartment Sugar?” Angie asks.
Sugar tells her the address and we’re on our way. There’s not much conversation for the rest of the way. I can tell Angie is probably wondering if there’s something between Sugar and me, but she’s just not sure if she should ask. There really isn’t anything between us. This whole thing is just a random coincidence.
Eventually we get to Sugar’s aunt’s apartment.
“This is it” Sugar says right before Angie stops the car.
“Ok, can you text Skyler when you’re in?” Angie says.
“Oh, I don’t have their number” Sugar responds.
“You don’t? Aren’t you two friends?”
“Well, I guess you could say we are..?” I say as I turn to Sugar.
“Yeah, sure, after everything we just went through together I guess Skyler and I are friends” Sugar says.
“You can call me Sky” I respond
I actually feel a little nervous about having her number since I’m worried Jake could find out about it. I’m not sure how he’d react. But Angie will need to know Sugar got in safely. She’s a little overly nervous about stuff like that.
“I’ll give you my number, just so you can let me know you got in safely” I say.
So I give her my number and then she opens the car door and steps out.
“I’ll see you at school, Sky” Sugar says as she shuts the door and starts walking to the apartment.
Broken Minds 