Chapter one~
Alfred Jones hid behind one of the trees near where Arthur was sitting. He snickered and edged closer to Arthur on tiptoes through the thick grass, hiding behind each tree he passed and peeking to make sure Arthur's eyes were still on his book. He smiled to himself at how well he was doing until a loud snap from under his foot caused him to freeze. He dashed behind the closest tree and took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead when he heard Arthur sniff and turn the page. Very slowly, he looked around the trunk and saw that Arthur was still reading. 'Still In the clear,' he thought to himself. He stepped out from behind his hiding place and approached Arthur. He reached over, licking his lips. Just a little closer and...
"Don't even think about it," came Arthur's voice. Alfred huffed as he circled the tree and sat down by Arthur.
"What happened to the whole getting lost in your stories thing?" Alfred asked.
Arthur rolled his eyes and looked back at his book. "You've been trying to steal my books like that since I've known you. Let's just say I've figured you out."
Alfred sighed and wiped his glasses on the hem of his shirt. He put them back on and rested his head on his knees as he watched Arthur. "Guess I'm losing my touch."
"Can't lose what you never had," Arthur remarked before looking back down at his book.
Alfred pouted and nudged Arthur in the sudden nudge caused Arthur's eyes to shift, losing his place. "What?" he asked in irritation.
Alfred gave him an innocent smile. "It's boring watching you read. Let's do something else," he suggested.
"Like?" Arthur asked, his concentration broken but his eyes still hovered over the page.
Alfred thought for a moment. "Um... we could... I don't know! Come on. We are already halfway through summer vacation and done nothing exciting. This town is so boring. There's nothing to do."
Arthur folded the corner of the page to hold his place and closed the book. He stood up and dusted off the back of his pants. "I like it. It's nice and simple."
"Well then, what do you suggest we do?" Alfred asked, standing up next to him and stretching his arms out.
"I was sitting here perfectly fine on my own. You are the one who insisted it was boring and that we had to do something." He crossed his arms. "I see it only fair that you pick what to do."
Alfred thought for a moment. His face lit up when he thought of an idea. "Oh! There was something I wanted to show you." Without explanation, Alfred grabbed Arthur's arm. The jolt made the book fall out of Arthur's arm and hit the ground.
"Hey!" Arthur tried to complain but Alfred only tugged him in the direction of the forest that was near the outskirts of town.
"Why are we going into the forest?" Arthur asked. "We have been in there hundreds of times. There is nothing interesting in there."
Alfred nodded but continued to lead him into the trees. "I know that, but we always go to the same place. We don't try and look through the whole thing."
"That's because it's too big and we don't want to get lost, remember?" Arthur started to walk alongside Alfred as opposed to being nearly dragged.
"And that's exactly the problem: we do everything the same," Alfred stated matter-of-factly. "Why not try and get lost for once?"
Arthur gave him a look like he was crazy. "Oh, I don't know. Perhaps because we wouldn't know how to get back? No, that cannot possibly be it."
"No need for sarcasm." Alfred still smiled brightly, not faltering to Arthur's words. "Besides, we haven't been in here in forever. It couldn't hurt to try."
"But I thought you said you wanted to show me something?" Arthur asked.
Alfred nodded. "Yup, something very important. I need to show you-" He paused for dramatic effect. "- there is more to life than just books."
Arthur scoffed at Alfred's attempt at humor and stayed where he was, giving him his signature 'I am not going any further' stance.
"Aw, don't be like that." Alfred pulled on Arthur's arm, giving him a pleading look.
Arthur drew his arm back from Alfred's grip and shook his head. Alfred interlaced his hands together. "Pretty please, Arthur?" He batted his eyelashes, knowing Arthur hated it when he did that, mostly because Alfred was always able to sway him with that move.
"Stop that this instant!" Arthur snapped, turning around so he wouldn't have to look at him. "It is not going to work this time."
"It would if you were looking at me." Arthur shook his head and began heading back. "Ok, wait." Alfred latched onto Arthur's arm to get him to stop. "I won't make you but... we never do anything out of the ordinary. Look at all the books you read. Do the characters get anywhere by just doing the same old thing?"
"That is not the same," Arthur said. "Those are stories. This is real life."
"That's true, but real life has no appeal if you don't take any risks. Just do something for once that you wouldn't normally do. What's the worse that could happen?"
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Shall I give you a list?"
"Later on in life, you want to look back at the stupid things you did, not sitting by a tree and reading."
"You make reading sound like a bad thing." Arthur ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at him. "Since when do you try to sound logical?" he asked.
"Shut up. I'm not stupid, you know? But it makes sense doesn't it?" Alfred smiled.
"Hardly." Arthur said dryly. "But I suppose if I don't agree I won't hear the end of it."
"Is that a yes?" Alfred asked, excitement rising in his voice.
"Just walk, idiot." He sneered and pushed Alfred forward a little. Alfred laughed in glorious victory as they descended into the depths of the shady woods.
As they continued onward, the trees became denser, the thickening canopy blocking out more and more of the sun, leaving the forest in a grey-ish light, causing Alfred to begin to think his plan wasn't as great as he'd thought it was. Perhaps Arthur was right yet again, but he wasn't about to give him the satisfaction. Alfred wasn't paying attention at first where they were going and now that he didn't recognize where they were, it was too late. There was no path to take. All the turns they made were getting jumbled in his head. Alfred accomplished his goal. He was completely lost.
"Are you done yet?" Arthur followed up behind him.
Alfred didn't respond to Arthur's question because he didn't hear him. During his rush, he'd forgotten that the deeper you go into a forest, the darker it became. Alfred hated the dark. It was one of his embarrassing secrets that Arthur thought he had grown out of. He took a glimpse up and around the area slowly, taking in every detail of his surroundings. They were engulfed by trees in all directions with no exit in sight.
He was sure he could see tiny details in the landscape moving, swaying at their own accord, as though everything around him was alive and aware of their presence. He quickly looked back for Arthur, but Arthur was nowhere to be seen. Panic rose as a cold lump in his stomach. "Arthur, quit messing around! I know you're hiding somewhere," he called out helplessly. "This isn't funny! Just come out! Please!"
A patch of ferns rustled behind the trees. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could feel sweat drip down his back that had nothing to do with the heat. His palms felt clammy and he felt like his feet were glued to the ground. "A-Arthur, is that you?" he tried. The rustling got louder and so did Alfred's heart. Something was in those bushes, coming right toward him. Something grabbed his shoulder and jerked him back. A scream erupted from his throat as he lurched forward to get away.
"Got you," a familiar voice whispered into his ear.
Alfred let out a trembling breath and turned his head to see none other than a smug grin. "I got you! Did you see the look on your face?" Arthur's sides shook with laughter.
"What the hell, Arthur! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"
Arthur wiped a tear from his eye. "That was priceless! And that scream! The way you were looking around. I couldn't just stand and not take that perfect opportunity."
"You suck, you know that?" Alfred groaned.
"It was just a joke. Stop being such a baby." Arthur said.
Alfred glared at him and stuck out his tongue. "You're gonna get it, I swear."
"Sure I will." Arthur said, still chuckling.
Alfred scrunched his face up in displeasure and turned swiftly away. He was going to get Arthur for his little stunt. He wasn't sure how or when, but he would.
"Hey Alfred, look over there." Arthur tapped Alfred's shoulder and pointed in the direction over Alfred's shoulder.
"You're not going to get me again." Once was enough.
"I'm being serious. Look."
Alfred faced his friend and followed the extended hand to peer into the distance. A dim light, perhaps an exit, shone through a break in the trees.
"I don't know, but let's go check it out." Courage renewed at the idea of getting out of there, Alfred ran forward.
It wasn't the anticipated exit. It was a clearing with only a solitary tree standing in the center. The tree was not nearly as tall as the surrounding canopy and the sunlight pooled over it. Interest piqued, the two boys walked closer to the clearing, stepping into a world of light that sent them blinking as their eyes adjusted.
"Damn... looks like it's just a clearing." Arthur sighed. "Let's try going back, if we keep walking, we should reach the exit eventually."
Alfred ignored him, stepping toward what might have been the most perfect climbing tree he'd ever seen. "Arthur, do you not see how perfect that tree is?" Despite his previous dread of being lost in the forest, excitement renewed itself in his veins.
"Did you even hear a word I said?" Arthur grumbled. "A few minutes ago you were scared out of your mind and now you're looking at a stupid tree?"
"It's not a stupid tree. It's an amazing tree! Look at it, it's just begging to be climbed." He stepped forward and raised his arms up to grab onto a branch just above his head to hoist himself up. "Remember when we use to climb that one tree by our houses? Now that that one is gone and there aren't any more in town, we can't pass this up. Please?" Alfred pleaded with his eyes and stretched out his hand for Arthur to grab onto.
Arthur hesitated, seeming to consider the facts before him. "Fine, move over so I can climb up."
Alfred grinned victoriously and moved to the side. He gripped Arthur's hand tightly and pulled on it, expecting Arthur to pull back. When he didn't, Alfred said, "You better not be expecting me to pull you up on my own."
Now it was Arthur's turn to ignore when Alfred was speaking to him. He was bending forward a little and looking closely at the bark on the trunk. "Hey, what's the holdup?" Alfred asked. "What are you doing?"
Arthur didn't answer him. Seemed like he was too busy doing... whatever it was that he was doing.
Alfred jumped down from the branch, leaves rustling as the branch whipped back from his weight. He dusted his hands on his pants and walked over to the other. "I thought you said you wanted to climb up. Now you're touching the tree? What are you even doing?"
"Ow!" Arthur yelled out and pulled back his finger with a hiss.
"Are you alright?" Alfred took Arthur's hand to examine his injured finger. A droplet of blood beaded at the end of a thin cut.
Arthur pulled his hand back from Alfred and nodded. "I'm fine. It's just a little cut," he mumbled.
"Any reason why you were even doing that?" he asked. Arthur simply pointed to the trunk. Alfred walked over to look and saw some odd carvings. He tilted his head and squinted, but squinting didn't help him make any sense of what they were.
"Well? What are you...?" Alfred started to asked then stopped. Arthur stood transfixed, his eyes glossy and far away, as he started intensively at the symbols. Alfred grabbed his arm and shook him. "Arthur? Hey! Arthur!" Arthur didn't respond. Alfred waved his hand in front of Arthur's face and snapped his fingers. Arthur blinked.
"Can you please stop ignoring me and answer my damn questions?" Alfred asked.
Arthur shook his head again and rubbed his temples. "Sorry but... something weird just happened and... I... I don't know if you'll believe me," he said mysteriously.
Alfred raised an eyebrow at him. "Try me."
"Well... Those marks. for a second, I thought I could read them," he said.
"Oh sure you could." Alfred rolled his eyes. "I told you Arthur, I'm not falling for your tricks again. It's not funny."
"I am not making this up!" He protested.
Alfred stood his ground and kept resisting. "Nope. You're probably going to say 'It says you're so gullible' or something like that."
Arthur tsked and stomped his foot. "I'm not joking!"
"Next time, try something more believable."
"I am not lying to you!" Arthur insisted.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say." Alfred said back, waving him off. Arthur glared and leaned forward to look at the symbols once more. Alfred rolled his eyes in response and placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder.
"Dude, you're taking this joke too far."
The centermost symbol let out a flash of a dark green light. From both sides, the light spread through the rest of the carvings, illuminating the whole phrase. Alfred widened his eyes in shock and tried to take a step back. The winds picked up around them, blinding the both of them, delaying their reactions.
Alfred shielded his eyes and Arthur stumbled backwards onto Alfred. They fell onto the floor, unable to move. The whirlwind increased in speed, the steady glow burned even brighter. Alfred pulled Arthur closer and wrapped his arms around him, shielding him from the harsh wind shining blaze. Breathing became more difficult, the pressure increased, a buzzing in their ear, all at once until...
They vanished.
A/N
Hey guys. This is a rewrite of my old story. Let me know what you think!