Keldon’s feet pounded against the thick undergrowth of the forest floor. With a leap, Keldon clambered over a moss-covered trunk and stumbled down the rocky dirt slopes.

  “S-shit. W-where’s the road again?” said Keldon, struggling to catch his breath. The thick wooden trunks of red-barked trees towered over him as he swiveled around, trying to find his bearings in this enormous sea of trees. It grew harder to find his way through the dense thickets as Keldon moved forward in what he hoped was the right direction.

  But a few hours of bumbling through the forest later, the panic he felt dwindled, as other, subtler fears settled in.

  What if he never made it out of this forest?

  What if he was already too late?

  How long that ribbon had been tied into the ground?

  What if it had been there for days without him noticing?

  But despite floundering in his own thoughts, Keldon dragged himself through the forest. Until a few minutes later, a series of quiet yet sharp upbeat sounds caught his attention. Keldon blinked in disbelief, pricking up his ears. What in the world? He cupped his hands around his ears as ever-so-faintly, he could hear soft music being played far off in the distance. And where there was music, there were people!

  Keldon raced in the direction of the song, following the trail of sharp notes. He weaved past a thick sea of green as the song grew louder until eventually, he heard a voice singing along to the tune!

  “~Oh poor old man, your horse will die~

  And we say so, and we know so

  ~Oh poor old man, your horse will die~

  And soooo ittt goessss!!”

  Keldon ran in the direction of the song, finding clues that he was heading in the right direction. At some point as well, he even caught himself humming to the tune of the joyfully morbid song as Keldon broke the treeline. He emerged from the forest, greeted by signs of civilization at last! There was a long dirt path that split an endless expanse of greenery as a little way up the road, Keldon finally tracked down the source of the song.

  Over on the side of the road, plopped down by a caravan attached to a tortulga, three people sat around a makeshift table built from an overturned log. A tall lanky fellow with bright orange hair was stamping his feet on the ground, creating a rhythmic strumming as he cradled a fiddle in his arms. He bowed the fiddle with glee, hollering his song as he held his head high with pride. Though, it seemed his companions were less than impressed. As Keldon crept closer, he saw that one of the fellow’s companions was a young girl, no more than the age of 10. She leaned into the nooks of her hands with an apathetic look as she blew a strand of dark hair off her face. And the other well… Keldon didn’t even think the other companion was human. Rather, the person simply looked like a chimpanzee in a fancy suit. The chimpanzee was short, sitting upon an elevated seat as he flipped the page from an incredibly dense novel.

  The chimpanzee-looking companion pursed its lips, murmuring to itself as it flipped the page and shared the same apathetic look like the child. Despite the passionate singing, however, the both of them seemed rather unimpressed by the lanky fellow's song. Though, what stood out to Keldon most was if the chimpanzee knew how to read, then he’d be far more intelligent than most of the unfortunate saps at the Hissings.

  “I don’t remember seeing anything about chimps being able to read,” thought Keldon, scratching his head. But in fairness, his knowledge of great apes was pretty lacking, so it wouldn't be fair to judge. Plus, it was his first time encountering one.

  Keldon’s stomach rumbled. He thought about the dwindling supply of rations in his backpack. He’d binged eaten most of it in his depressive state. Perhaps these people would have some food that they’d be willing to spare? Only one way to find out.

  “~Oh poor old man, your horse will die~ and we say so and we know so. Oh poor old man, your-. Ah Hey there fella, come to steal our stuff?” said the lanky fellow, stopping his song to greet Keldon.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The young girl and the chimp switched their attention over to Keldon, although doing so with an unamused look.

  “Huh?! No no no, I was just a bit hungry and heard some really catchy music wandering through the woods, so I thought I'd come to see where it was coming from.”

  The tall lanky fellow beamed as he turned to the chimp.

  “Hear that Sims? He said my music was catchy,” said the tall lanky fellow.

  Sims the chimp rolled his eyes at the tall lanky fellow. “How quaint, the bandit complimented you. Remember to thank him before he slits our throats and pockets your fiddle,” said Sims.

  “Ah of course, yes, how could I forget my manners,” said the lanky fellow, “Thank you for the kind words fella. How do you do, the name’s Darian. Spelled with a D. Not a K.”

  “Is there any other way to spell it?” thought Keldon rather confused. “For the last time, I’m not a bandit!”

  “Hmm, well perhaps not. No self-respecting ne’er-do-well would have the audacity to do any proper thieving dressed like that. Gives away the illusion too easily,” said Sims pointing at Keldon’s tattered clothes.

  Keldon looked down, embarrassed to find that Sims was right. Tiny holes and tears riddled his tunic and his once beige pants were now a dark brown below the knee. He’d been wearing the same clothing for almost a week at this point and hadn’t taken the opportunity to change into some fresh clothes. Though, it wasn’t like he had any.

  “Well Sims, the poor lad doesn’t seem like he’ll cause any trouble. Shall we invite him for tea?” said Darian.

  Sims shrugged. “I suppose, so long as Clara has no objections,” said Sims.

  Darian turned to the young girl. “Clara?”

  The young girl had already stopped paying attention to the conversation, returning to staring out into the wilderness.

  “Then it’s settled! Wonderful to meet you here stranger!” said Darian as he walked up to Keldon and shook his hand with vigor.

  “I’m Simian Trout, though I suppose you’ll be referring to me as “Sims” due to a careless introduction by my compatriot here,”

  Clara said nothing.

  “Oh um… likewise, nice to meet you all too. Name’s Keldon by the way,”

  “That’s a great name! It’s been a heck of a long time since I’ve heard a name as great as that. Come now little fella, have a seat. I have a lot of nothing I’d like to talk about,” said Darian.

  “Nothing?” thought Keldon, looking around for a place to sit as Darian pulled up a tiny log. Darian gave the log a soft pat, beaming at Keldon with a wide toothy grin. Keldon sat, trying to squeeze his body down as small as possible, looking visibly uncomfortable.

  But Keldon soon realized that Darian truly did want to talk about nothing. As soon as Keldon had gotten settled in, Darian shoved a chipped teacup set and a colorful variety of cookies in front of him. And before he could even say thanks, Darian began to blather on about the moisture levels of different wood types dependent on tree rings. As he listened, Keldon snacked on a hard cinnamon biscuit, not wanting to interrupt.

  After twenty minutes of literal nothing later, however, it was difficult not to let his mind wander. Keldon appreciated the fact that Darian was passionate about so many topics, but each one was completely random. Darian bounced from one topic to another with seemingly no segue or connections. Darian went from talking about his favorite bathtub color composition to debating Keldon about the hypothetical color of envy. Another half an hour passed as Keldon found it increasingly difficult to feign interest. However, if Darian had noticed, he didn’t seem to mind. He went on to talk about the different times he'd picked something up and put them back down again. Keldon started to feel his brain ooze out of his ears, it seems Darian truly did want to talk about nothing. Sims flipped through his book with a bemused smile, shaking his head.

  Another thirty minutes later, Keldon’s boredom was starting to reach its peak. Finally, Keldon gave up, letting his attention wander away from Darian and his boisterous rambling,

  Clara was still staring out into the forest, remaining incredibly composed, if not somewhat monotone. She seemed stoic for a girl her age, maintaining an unwavering gaze at the wide expanse of nature around them. Sims read without a word, eyes scanning the pages at what Keldon could only assume at blinding speed. There was almost an art to the level of skill Sims displayed as he read. His eyes moved in a slow rhythmic draw across the page, flicking from one line to the next. But most impressive of all, Sims never had to reread a line twice. On closer inspection as well, Keldon noticed the stark quality of the book Sims was reading. There was no excessive glue on any of the edges and the words were printed on pristine white paper. It was the most beautiful thing Keldon had ever seen in his life. Well, he was exaggerating a bit, but it was honestly pretty close.

  Sims pretended to ignore Keldon, but upon seeing Keldon’s sparkling gaze of admiration, he lifted the cover, giving Keldon a proper look.

  “A practical guide on how to sleep at the end of the world,” thought Keldon, reading the title aloud in his head. Was it some kind of popular fiction?

  But as Keldon’s gaze wandered further, something alarming caught Keldon’s eye. Tied to the caravan behind them parked on the side of the dirt path, fluttered a red ribbon waving in the air.

  The thing was, it was the same shade as the one that he’d found on the cliff where he buried Salem