Element-chapter 5

Chapter 5—untitled

My name is Skye and I have nothing to say about this dream sequence because I haven’t gone to sleep yet. Sorry to disappoint you who were looking forward to what I would say next, but it’s a relief to me; I hate those dreams.

And now I find myself in Ryan’s house, much against my will of course.
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“When I saw you back then…9 years ago I think? You had shorter hair…and I think it was brown.”

“You have a very good memory…” The man with the long red hair lay upside down on the sofa chair, staring at the ceiling. Looking at him now, I saw that he had one brown eye and one green eye.

“You don’t forget something like that, trust me. My parents thought I was insane though.”

“Ah, yes, they were great caretakers…”

It seemed to me like he was avoiding talking about my parents. Ryan, on the other hand, had gone silent altogether. At this moment, he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom for an unnecessary long amount of time, leaving me and this other man alone in the living room.

“He’s mad at me…” The man with the long red hair spoke up. “But you can’t blame me, ya know? You saw it! Norse was killing me out there! I needed his help!”

And I couldn’t resist it; this man seemed too eager to talk. “And why is he mad at you?”

“I…” he lowered his voice. “I blew his cover. You weren’t ever supposed to know about him being….well, a—“

At that moment, the door to the bathroom flew open, but Ryan never entered the room. He just passed by and went into his bedroom, perhaps to change. The man started up again, “Well, I’m not ‘pose to say.”

“He’s acting weird…” Nothing like the Ryan I knew. He was angry, ill-temptered, but suffering alone in the silent anger. What happened to that carefree happy guy I hung out with just a few hours ago?

The man merely shrugged. “He’s fine, he’s being himself—“
“Not to me…if anything, I would love to go home…” Maybe there was a slight chance he’d allow it?

“We told you, you can’t. Norse will kill you as soon as he could if you were there. Here, it’s, well, different.”

“And WHY, might I ask, does he want me dead?”

The man thought for a while, as if pondering whether to say anything at all. And then, after long anticipation, he spoke. “You never asked my name did you?”

“Damnit, don’t change the subject!” I was getting tired of them keeping secrets from me.

But he went on. “I don’t have a name. People just call me Wood, due to the trees I live around—“

“I don’t care about that, Wood! I wanna know what’s going on!!”

“You caught my name! I knew you were listening!” His playful manor did nothing to cheer me up. Ryan entering the room at long last didn’t do much for it either.

“He can’t tell you anything, they’ve forbidden him long ago. That was how this thing happened the last time.”

I was hit with so much confusion that all I managed to get out was, “They?”

He didn’t acknowledge it much. “You should get some sleep, I think the sun’s rising now.”

“I wanna know what just happened.”

“After sleep—“

“RYAN!!” I had never wanted to hit him as much as I did at this moment.

Unfortunately, that did nothing to brighten Ryan’s mood either. “Skye, think for a moment, what’s been happening lately.”

“Fuck the mind games Ryan! I want answers!!”

Then Wood spoke up. “I believe she’s strong-willed as ever sir.” Ryan ignored him.

“If I told you now, you wouldn’t know what to do…what to think.”

I looked him dead in the eyes. “Try me.”

He didn’t do anything. Nothing expect for standing up, never taking his locked eyes off of mine, and then briefly went back into his room. The door slammed. He wasn’t coming back out.

There was silence for a while, but then Wood piped up. “I should go…” he was finally sitting upright on the floor. I kind of wish he wouldn’t; I wanted some other company then the silent asshole in the other room.

But soon he left. And I was left alone in the dim light that was coming through the windows.

And I hated it.