“I’m gonna die,” I say with a stomach on the verge of combustion “You should not have eaten that fast, that's on you” Athena scolds “I don’t care that meal was glorious” I sluggishly wave my hand causing Babban to jiggled in jolly a tiny bit at what I said

I ignore the blob monster acting like a giddy schoolgirl too busy trying to keep my eyelids open as I lay against the chair like a zombie, oh shit I didn't realize this before because my blood anxiety levels had been topped off just a few minutes ago, but I'm dead tired. “Hey, Athena are you done yet” I yawn “Calm down I’m halfway there,” Athena says taking another bite of rice “Wha? Wh’re you so dam slow” I groggily complain pushing against the wooden chair and trying to get comfortable “Well you were practically inhaling you’re food I don’t see how that's my fault” Athena's brows furrow “ughhh- well, umm hurry up I guess kekeke” I Iaugh my arm practically falling off the chair at this point “ you reap what you sow” Athena states matter a factly waving her spoon around “imma go into hibernation kekeke” I ignore Athena closing my eyes for longer intervals every time I blink.

After a minute or so, Athena finished her meal and goes to wash the dishes “The food was great thanks Babban” Athena says with a smile causing the blob to jiggle once again “You kids… eat quite fast, huh” Brandon says slowly only getting halfway through his meal, “ahahaha yep, I'm a speed demon I go like swoosh and boosh” I gesture the movements with my hands “oh, speed demon you are? You run against Gudun; Gudun fast” Karfi says “bahahaha sureee~ pal, I’ll take on this- Gundam of yours, I’ll beat him up and shit, man” I punch the air half-assly.

After my declaration to destroy their Gundam, Athena promptly finished up cleaning the dishes and picked me up over the shoulder like a plank of wood “ahahaha, he doesn’t mean that he’s just being stupid, remember he not very smart” Athena awkwardly apologizes “actually very not smart” Athena mummers under her breath “WHA- What da hell Sis aren’t chu supposed to believe n’ me!?” I protest

“Gael I swear to god shut up” she threatens me with a whisper “No! this is a free country goddamn it!” I don’t give in to Athena’s threats

“wonderfool! race tomorrow!” Karfi cheered “god damn it,” Athena curses under her breath “Karfi, ke ie donnail, ke kant poke” Brandon says to the minotaur

“Oh- OH,” Karfi’s eyes go wide “me sorry, me not know human no speak well” he bows apologetically showing off his 4 buffalo horns one of them being sawed off “whoa dude, that's awesome, you got tusks on your head, does it help with your internet connection” I start giggling rubbing one of the Karfi’s horns causing him to flinch

I noticed that Brandon had been nowhere to be seen; he had been across the table the entire time we were eating, but he had apparently vanished

In the corner of my eye, I see the silhouette of a tall man staring at me. I tried to turn my head quickly, but I couldn’t; I had been stuck in space and time, all too aware of what was going on but being able to do nothing about it, I was stuck in a laughing animation as this man continued to stare into the depth of my soul, the man starts to extend his hand out towards me and grips my hand firmly making blood freeze over “Gael, go to sleep” the silhouetted man says bringing back the world to motion but causing Athena and me to freeze over in fear.

I never thought that such a simple set of words would make me snap back to reality so effectively,

Athena quickly creates distance from Brandon and faces Brandon, her pure terror evident on her face

“L-Listen I-I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry” I profusely apologize so he doesn’t turn me into dust.

‘I-its, It’s…” he clutches his fists causing Athena and me to tense up “Just go to sleep, and never- I mean never touch Karfi’s horn again!” he demands. My heart pounding in my chest.

Oliver seemingly teleports in front of Brandon as well putting an arm against him “Calmez-vous, ils ne savent pas” Oliver says “Je sais, je suis au courant, mais- ça ne va pas!” Brandon says his eyes starting to water “hé ne t'inquiète pas ça va, je vais bien” the mintoaur says to Brandon

“You should go,” Hankali says “What the hell did I even do!” I whisper to the gerbil “You- you did something you weren’t supposed to; come back tomorrow once Brandon has calmed down,” Hankali says “Thanks” Athena nods to the gerbil and promptly fucks off from that kitchen with me still on her back

“Gael can you stop fucking with people for 5 goddamn seconds,” She scowls while running back to the hut that I first woke up in “Dude I don’t even know what the hell I did” I argue back “Yeah, you have a real talent for pissing people off” Athena scoffs “okay- fine, I’m sorry, do you know why what I did was wrong?!” I ask indignant at how I was supposed to know that touching Karfi’s horn would make Brandon want to turn me to dust

“I have no idea” Athena states dashing out of Brandon's house “You should know to keep your hands to yourself by now”

“Oh please,” I roll my eyes “I was half asleep”

‘You’re just full of excuses today huh”

“I already apologized! I don’t know what more you want me to do!?” I say cementing my argument

“...yeah, your right, just apologize again when you see them tomorrow. I’m also confused as to why Brandon reacted so harshly” Athena concludes continuing her dash to the hut. after, a bit more running I finally speak

“Athena… you think he’ll kill me?” I ask causing Athena to pause. Athena responds “If he tries, I’ll be there to protect you, yeah, I've got the athleticism to easily get into an ivy league college, I'll protect you, I definitely will” She gives me a confident smile,

There was something comforting about Athena being willing to fight a monster like Brandon for my sake, but at the same time it was terrifying to think how far Athena would go for me, knowing that my fuckups could really put Athena in real danger

“Athena, if he does, use that athleticism of yours to run for the hills” Athena stops

“Gael, I'll be fine"

“Athena, you're a good actor, but you’ve been shaking this entire time, you're paler than a ghost, you’re colder than you usually are, and I've practically lived with you all my life, it’s not hard to tell when you’re putting on a facade,” I say causing Athena to look away

“It’ll be fine, I've never lost in a fight” Athena pumps her chest still not facing me “You’ve never been in a fight” I retort a sad smile on my face “Bahaha that's the point” she states Matter a factly “That also doesn’t change the fact that I've dominated in every sport that I have played and look it has been only a minute and we’ve reached our destination is within walking distance after I've run carrying your fatass around” she declares proudly the fat-shaming irritating me slightly

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Athena, do you think you can fight Brandon?” I ask

“Of course, I can easily get into Ivy Leagues with athleticism alone guaranteed, Princeton, Harvard, easy” she declares

“also, did you not see me go super saiyan a moment ago” she boldly states

“Athena get real; you’re scared shitless, if it comes down to it I want you to run; they’re not mad at you they’re mad at me”

“No, I'm not”

“Yes you are”

“No, I’m not”

“Athena denying it won’t get you anywhere”

“I won’t let you die, I can’t let you die,” she says

“You don’t have a choice, it’s better that you live than both of us die”

“Gael if- when I see Mom how the hell do you expect me to tell her I sacrificed you to die so that I could live in some Hawaiian hut in some village full of monsters”

“I can’t do that” her voice starts cracking she was sniffling “Don’t you think I've seen enough of my loved ones die?” she turns to me showing her eyes full of tears

I pause seeing her face. Shit, I did it again.

I scratch my head “Listen Athena I’m only speaking of hypotheticals, I don’t exactly plan on dying; I also don’t think Brandon is the kinda guy who would kill someone, probably”

“That’s not good enough; don’t you want to run away?” Athena asks

“...I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to, but as you said before we don’t have many options other than this village, especially now knowing that the village has connections to the vampires, also it's true that the village has helped us out a lot and we do owe them,” I respond

“OWING THEM WON’T MEAN SHIT IF THEY KILL YOU!” she yells back

“Athena, let's be real here even if we run, even if we get away we’d be stuck in the desert leaving us to a fate that would force us to die in a much slower and painful process, ill just have to apologize again, and hope for the best.”

“So you’ll just… apologize?”

I mean yeah I just said that why is she aski- OH MY GOD. my eyes go wide “You sick bitch, I thought you actually cared about me” I scowl incredulously causing Athena to click her tongue “shit you finally caught on”

“Why would you do that!? I actually felt bad!” I complain

“I just wanted you to promise that you’d apologize” she explains

“YOU LITERALLY SAID HE MAY KILL ME”

“I lied, You said it yourself he’s not the kinda guy who kills easily, probably, and he’ll probably calm down with more time, Your highest chance of death was literally a few seconds ago and you survived so you’ll be fine, probably” she shrugs

I stare at Athena dumbfounded “You can-”

“Before you complain I know for a fact that you would have done everything in your power to avoid talking to him, you would just sit in the corner giving him side glances as you read your book eventually forgetting about the encounter, minding your own business waiting for things to blow over never trying to actually reconnect with the other person, either because you’re too afraid, or because you’re too prideful,” she says with slight irritation in her words

“Wha-” Athena cuts me off again

“Before you complain asking how I might know that you would avoid Brandon till the end of time, might I remind you of elementary school- yeaaah, you remember Sally? She was a great friend of yours you guys would hang out all the time in the library exchanging books and talking to each other about each other’s favorite novels, but when good ol’ Sally gives you a book, and you lose it upsetting her, you never once tried to apologize or make it up to her; not making an effort to do any of that for 4 goddamn years even through middle school; you even kept it up as she was leaving the goddamn state!” She states “calmly”

“I’m not the same person I was as a child Athena” I retort baffled at how the conversation has changed completely

“Gael, have you truly grown up?”

“I mean, yeah?” I ask confused

“How?”

“I mean I'm taller, I'm smarter, I'm more handsome probably, and altogether more grown-up”

“Great, that's great, but did you grow emotionally?”

“Athena I don’t get what you're getting at”

“Gael I think you’re too slothful and indifferent; you never put any effort into any of your relationships, you don’t care.” she says

“I’ve literally come over to hang out with Liam and Catie every other day I don’t get what you mean, I follow you guys wherever you want to go; I’m just a go with the flow kind of guy” I retort

“That's the problem, you just let things flow too naturally without making any effort to improve your relationships; I’m really curious if Catie said that she wanted nothing to do with you tomorrow, would you even question her?” she asks

I mean I probably would, but I don't think that'll ever happen. “You know that I apologized to those guys earlier today right? I told them I’m sorry for my behavior, Does that not constitute as an apology or an attempt at trying to improve our relationship”

Athena cringes at me “My guy your life was at risk i'd assume you’d be willing to apologize for that at the very least, but y’know because of that it was pretty obvious that you’re apology was insincere”

“How the hell did that come off as insincere,” I question annoyed at her berating of me for seemingly no reason

“don’t know, just felt like it was,” she shrugs

I furrow my brows from the confusion and irritation “Are you serious, All this because you think my apology was insincere, whats next I'm not emotionally invested enough in other people?” I mock “Either way, I'm still going to apologize tomorrow, so I don’t know what you’re still complaining about”

“You joke, but sincerity can go a long way; people aren’t attracted to those who aren’t sincere, It’ll hurt you in the long run” Athena continues to try and drop knowledge like some sage

“Whatever I’m going to go to bed,” I say thinking about how Athena might’ve just said all that to call me an uber-virgin

“Suit yourself” she shrugs while shaking her head

We continue to walk through the muddy trail surrounded by life and vegetation until we once again reach the hut that I had woken up in; I walk through the fabric door and the moment I see the bed its as if I had laid my eyes upon a guardian angel, a beacon of salvation. I immediately ditched my shoes and dashed towards the bed with no hesitation jumping into the warm embrace of my guardian angel. I moan as I feel my very soul being soothed by the comfort of the bed.

Athena grabbed a blanket and placed it on the floor beside me and put a blanket over me, If I had been more awake I would’ve given the bed to Athena, but I had been far too tired to offer her the bed. I was encapsulated within the comfort of the bed relaxing my entire body into it and feeling all the stress I had accumulated during these two days disappear as I once again fall into the abyss of sleep.