“Welp, I’m off to bed. Goodnight you two!” Victor said to Vallory and me.

“Goodnight! See you in the morning.” I replied as he entered our tent.

Vallory leaned on my shoulder trying to fight the sleepiness. I threw another log on the fire and warmed my hands, “So, Val. Thank you for that little talk earlier. You really helped me out a lot!”

“Hm?” She smacked her tired lips together, “Oh, no problem. I just thought you needed it. It helped me a lot out here too. I think about it every night!” She wrapped her arms around my shoulder.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead!”

“Are you jealous of Victor?”

She paused for a moment, “Jealous? Why would I be jealous?”

“It just seems like you are… Isn’t that why you took me away from him so early and started cuddling with me in the middle of the night?”

She let out a disappointed sigh, “Maybe just a little bit… but there’s nothing wrong with that!”

“Of course not! I just wish you would’ve told me instead of trying to separate us.”

“I’m sorry, I just missed you so much and I didn’t want him hogging all of the attention, ya know?”

“I get it.” I giggled, “I think something similar happened between me and you, just the other way around.”

“Oh yeah! I remember. You didn’t want me to have any other friends 'cause you were so scared of me leaving you!”

“Yes, just as I remembered. I was just scared of losing you because you really were my only friend at school. Everyone else was so mean to me.”

“Not ‘everyone’. But, that’s just how you saw it cause you only focused on the bad and you rarely focused on the good.”

“Oh yeah! That’s something you always said to me in my brain while you were gone.”

“That makes sense~ I told you that so many times but you never learn!” She chuckled. She yawned and stretched, “I guess I should be getting to bed too. Are you gonna cuddle your boyfriend or are ya gonna make me come in there and push you two together?”

“Fine, just no looking for too long, okay?”

“Of course not. Not that you’d be able to tell anyway!”

“You’re a mega jerk, you know that?” I joked.

“Yes, I really am. Anyway, have a good sleep and have sweet dreams.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze around the arm before standing up and returning to her tent.

After staring comfortably at the fire for a few extra minutes, I decided to go to sleep. I poked my head inside the tent and saw Victor sleeping so cutely, “How can I resist?” I thought to myself as I watched him all snuggled up in his little corner, “Awe, what the heck!” I gently sat myself next to him trying not to make too much noise, “It’s much warmer here anyway!” I thought while my eyes slowly grew heavier.

In the morning, I woke up entangled with Victor. I tried to escape but he was too strong. As I struggled, I heard giggles from behind me.

“You really did it!” Vallory tried to suppress her chuckles, “You didn’t have to! I thought you knew I was joking! You two look so cute!”

“Okay, okay. The show’s over, can you give us a second?” I said in a grumpy morning voice.

“Yes, I was just coming to wake you guys up. We gotta pack up and move today!”

Vallory zipped the door back up and I heard her footsteps slowly fade away.

“So what changed your mind?” I heard Victor’s voice rumble through my body.

I gasped and started to twirl my hair with my finger, “Well I… Well, I, um… couldn’t resist how cute you looked and I was cold anyway and I didn’t wanna wait for my nest to warm up so I decided to sleep with you!”

He released me from his arms, and I was able to take deep breaths again, “Makes sense. I wanted to cuddle with you yesterday night too but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“I’m so sorry! I was just so nervous and so embarrassed I just-”

“It’s okay, you made up for it last night.” He smiled and booped me on the nose. I retaliated by pinching his cheek. Strangely, yesterday his face had been battered and bruised by the trees that were trying to remove him from the forest. Today, his face was clean and pretty, but I didn’t take much time to ponder it, I was just happy to say good morning to my love!

We got ready for the day together. When we stepped outside we saw the camp had been completely disassembled and packed away.

“Dang, you guys slept in.” Vallory joked.

“They were probably sleepy, Val. I don’t blame them. It is really dark out here. It’s kinda hard to tell if it’s night or day.” Ash defended us.

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“You guys did so much!” I was surprised, “I’m sorry for not helping. I didn’t know we were leaving today…”

“It’s not your fault. It completely slipped my mind too. Today, we’re moving into more hostile territory. It seems that we’ve cleared out this portion pretty well.”

I started to bite my fingernails, “Y-You mean that it’s more dangerous than this?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. You don’t have to fight. Ash and I will take care of all the meanies, okay?”

“But I want to help.” My stomach started to churn.

“You can do whatever you’re comfortable with.” she sighed, “I just don’t want to push you too far again. Is that okay, cutie?”

I tried to make a brave face, “Absolutely!”

Victor and I helped pack the rest of the camp up, and we headed out on our journey. I held Victor’s hand as we walked through the dense bushes knowing he could feel me shake. He tightened his grip around my hand and rubbed it with his thumb. I felt this soothe my heart and calm my stomach. I looked into his eyes and gave him a silent, “Thank you.”

We occasionally came across small Weeds. Ash and Vallory made quick work of them while I covered my eyes and ears. Suddenly, a question came to my mind, “Why don’t we smell all the flowers they drop?”

“Would you like to try some?” Vallory replied, “We usually save pink flowers because that’s what we need most of the time. The other colors do some cool things, but we want them to revive this forest.” She picked and handed me a blue flower, “But, smelling one wouldn’t hurt.”

“I wish there was a way to not kill them.” I pouted.

“Me too! That’s why I try to use them as little as possible.”

I lifted the flower to my face. It smelled very different from the pink flower. The pink flower smelled sweet, but this flower smelled almost like lavender. It was a nice smell. It reminded me of the pillow sprays I used at home to help me sleep.

After the scent entered my nose, I instantly felt all of the muscles in my body contract simultaneously. Then, after a few seconds, the contractions subsided, and I felt more relaxed than ever. It felt pleasurable in a weird way, “Maybe I should’ve asked before, but what does this do?” I felt lightheaded.

“Oh, yeah, right! This flower gives you temporary strength. Try lifting that rock over there.” She pointed to a rock that was half the size of me.

“I couldn’t lift-”

“Just try! You’ll be surprised!”

“Okay. Fine!” I stepped up to the rock and tried to lift it. Surprisingly, I was able to lift the rock above my head. It felt like I was lifting no more than a five-pound weight, “What the heck, is this some sort of prank?!”

“No, that’s a real rock.” Vallory covered her mouth, “I-I didn’t know it would make you that strong…”

I dropped the rock, and it sunk back into the earth, making a small crater around it, “What the freak! How’d I do that?!”

“Your guess is as good as mine. That’s a-meow-zing!” Vallory tried to imitate me.

“How long does this last? I don’t want to hurt anyone.” I started to panic.

“Don’t worry, it lasts about ten minutes, and don’t worry about hurting anyone. I’m sure you know your own strength.”

“Want to try it out?” Victor held open his arms.

I ran up to him and hugged him. Suddenly, he started to scream and yell at me to let go, “I’m so sorry!”

He started to laugh, “I was only joking!”

“You big jerky!” I yelled while throwing a play punch at his chest. When I punched him, I felt the air leave his lungs as he got thrown into a tree directly behind him, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” I apologized.

“Nope, nope. You’re all good.” He said in a sore voice, “I deserved that.”

We continued our journey and found a nice little resting spot, “Should we stop here for the night?” Ash panted.

“I guess so, I expected to find a more hostile place like we always do. Maybe we’re close to clearing the blight entirely!” Vallory excitedly responded, “Plus, I could use a little rest after carrying all this stuff. Alright, let’s make a small camp. Only sleeping bags, I don’t want to take the tents down again in the morning.”

“So, it’s usually more hostile than this?” I questioned.

“Well, yeah! It’s been super quiet since you got here luckily. I hope we can clear out this forest soon so we can play together and I can show you all the good parts of this wonderful domain!”

“You don’t want to go home after this?” I nervously asked.

“Why would I? This feels like home to me I’ve been living here so, I’m okay with staying here for the rest of my life. Here, I have no worries like school and I don’t have to worry about my parents and I don’t have to worry about jobs. It’s relaxing in this forest when it’s not infested with blight like this.”

“But, Val. Everyone is so worried about you. They all think you killed yourself.”

“Well, I guess they can believe what they want.” She soullessly chuckled, “I guess it doesn’t make much of a difference if they think I’m dead. They’re not getting me back anyway!”

I clenched my teeth, “So, you’re telling me that you’re willing to give up the seventeen years you gave in that world for a world that you’ve been in for a fraction of that time?”

She smiled, “Yeah, what’s the big deal?”

“You don’t see anything wrong with that?! You don’t realize how many hearts you broke, including mine! Your parents are heartbroken too you know! And if I never found this place… I don’t know what I would’ve done! My heart would’ve been forever broken.”

“Well, It makes me super happy you found this place.” She looked at Victor’s face. He looked very uncomfortable being part of this, “And besides, it looked like you were doing well without me. As for my parents, screw them. You out of all people should know the terrible things they put me through.”

“Val, you’re being a little harsh.” Ash interrupted.

“Didn’t I tell you to set up camp? This conversation has nothing to do with you, brat!”

I saw Ash throw his palms up to his eyes and walk away as he let out gentle sobs.

“What’s wrong with you?” Tears started to run down both sides of my cheeks, “Why couldn’t you be happy with what you had? Why couldn’t you be happy with me? When you were around, I felt like the happiest person alive! I didn’t care what others thought of me, and I didn’t care what was going on at my home! All I needed was you… but I guess you never felt the same about me.”

I turned my back to her and started to run, “Ivy!” Victor yelled out, “Wait! You can’t leave me alone!”

“I promise I won’t go far!” I yelled back at them while sobbing my lungs out.

As I wandered the forest, I found a soft-looking bush to hide in. I bit my hand, trying to stop myself from crying so they wouldn’t hear. I tasted and felt the warm blood drip into my mouth and down my arm. I took my hand out of my mouth after my sobs subsided and started to lick my wounds.

My body relaxed and I started to gaze up at the orange sunshine beaming down from the forest’s roof, “Why did I have to find this stupid place.” I quietly argued with myself, “I could’ve been happy with Victor if I had never come to look for that jerk!” I grabbed and pulled at my cat ears, “And I want these stupid things off too! I want to go back home! I’m so dumb for ever coming here!”

The sky slowly turned a beautiful violet color and my eyes became heavier and heavier, “I wanna go home.” I tiredly whispered, “I… wanna… go-”