Chapter 2 - The Man Of Her Dreams Is A Teenage Pervert

I saw the edge of the forest and I sped up, I didn't want to slow down. Not now, not when I felt so alive. I broke into the cover of the thick trees, a wild freedom coming over me. Branches scratched my face and tore at my dress but I kept running.

"Lara! Wait!" I nearly tripped while twisting around.

Dewni. I forgot about her. Her face was pale, and sweating, then I remembered the wounds on her back. "Sit down!" I commanded.

She fell to the forest floor panting, she never was a runner but the fact that she made it this far with the wounds impressed me, ever so slightly. My eyes scanned the forest.

"Stay here. Don't you dare move," I warned her. She nodded weakly in reply. I moved in desperation, thanking the moon for the light to see where I was going. I was deep in the woods now.

Then I saw it, a tree with a black bark and red-purple leaves. I hitched my skirts and grappled at the branches to climb high for the orange berries. My foot was unstable on the branch but there was a bundle of berries so close.

I grasped it just as I clutched the berries. I stopped myself from falling, by clutching at the near most branch with the berry-free hand. I breathed, trying to stop my wild heart. Gently, I jumped down onto the forest floor, slightly dizzy with the almost fall that would've without a doubt, ended my life.

I ran back as fast as I could but by the time I was there, Dewni was at the tree roots, eyes rolling about in her head and looking very much as if she were about to faint.

"Here." I turned her so her back faced me. I smeared the berries onto her back which had a very soothing smell. "Nersaryll. Their flesh is used to heal cuts and wounds. It's said they have magical properties that can cure the most fatal wound or poison. I learned about it when I was an apprentice to the Healer."

I tore of a large scrap from the cleaner parts of my skirt and wrapped it tightly around her back. I felt a pang of fear when I thought about how much blood she lost. "It works miracles. You'll be fine in the morning, you'll see. Just don't go to sleep. Sleep is dangerous."

"Lucky for you, I'm an insomniac," she croaked.

"Well, you should be alright then."

"As fine as someone with restless nights can be." She gave a weak smile and leaned back.

"I think we have a lot in common, Dewni. We just have to figure out what it is." I leaned back as well.

"Can't be all that hard, can it?"

"I don't think so." I replied.

We fell quiet, I would occasionally check up on her to make sure she didn't go to sleep.

"Lara?"

"Mmm?"

"Our mothers," my body tensed. "Do you think them weak? For committing suicide like that?"

I paused. "My mother was good friends with yours. I may not know you well, but I knew them very well. It just doesn't make sense. They were strong women. They had massive tempers, and were so stubborn. It's just not like them. I've been playing it over my head again and again and I still can't make sense of it."

"Did they ever find the cause of the fire?" She whispered.

"No," we let the mystery engulf us.

"Lara?"

"Yes?"

"Can I got to sleep now? I'm pretty tired."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Apart from the tiredness and the starvation that is. Are you sure we can't eat some of those berries?"

"No, we can't. But I think it would be ok for you to go to sleep now."

"Lara?"

"Yes?"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I closed my eyes, dreams flooding my brain. I was standing in a place of my childhood. A beautiful pond with white lotuses and leaping frogs. I used to swim here with my old friends. Friends that abandoned me now.

My toes felt the squishy mud and I wanted to swim again. I undid the torn, dirty dress and slipped into the cool water of the pond. I ran my fingers down the petals of the lotus, feeling happy and in innocent as I did in the days of my childhood.

"What are you doing?" Said a masculine voice.

I swung around and shrieked, "Who are you?!" I wrapped my arms around my naked form.

"You know, normally the girls in my dreams don't panic when they find themselves naked in front of me."

I got a good look at the boy. He looked about seventeen to eighteen, just a few years older than me. He was handsome, I noticed, wavy, slightly long, but shorter than Dewni's, black hair falling over his pale green eyes.

"The girls in your dream! This is my dream and I demand you get out of here!" I gained a bit of composure as I hid behind the lotuses.

"I've never had a crazy, naked girl in my dreams before. I suppose the hormones are getting creative." He flashed me a smirk.

"You're sick," I growled. "Now get out of here!"

He did quite the opposite, he took of his boots and rolled up his trousers. For a terrifying moment, I thought he was going to get in with me but he simply sat at the edge of the pond, feet dipped into the clear water.

"What is this place?" His eyes scanned our surroundings. "I've never been here before."

"Of course not, this is my place."

"Meaning?"

"This is my dream, so it's my place."

"Tell me this. If this is your dream, why would you wish for a handsome teenage boy while you bathe?"

I grew a bit flustered at this. "I don't know! I can't control my dreams, you're just a - a nightmare!"

"I don't think that someone like me could ever be a nightmare to a girl."

"Well, you're being a bloody good nightmare right now!"

"If this is just a dream, will it matter if I see you naked?"

"I suppose not, but this doesn't feel like a dream."

"You're right." He frowned, stood up and turned around.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to get out and get dressed."

"But I wanted to swim."

"Make up your mind!"

"I'm swimming." I stated firmly.

"What am I supposed to do, then?"

"Well, I have an idea."

I waddled up to the shore and put on my undergarments. "You can turn around. If you want, you can come swim too." I invited him as I dove back into the water. I felt small waves as he divided in after me, in his undergarments as well.

"You have an interesting hair colour," he murmured as he ran a hand down it. "Did your mother have it as well?"

"No, she had golden hair. I have no idea where I got it from. Maybe a great, great, great, great, great grandparent."

"What's your name?"

"Lara. And yours?"

"Bard."

"Like a poet?"

"More like a bowman. So, how do you know this place?"

"When I was young, every summer, every day I would face down here with my friends to play and swim. I miss those times."

"They don't happen anymore?"

"I got left behind." I answered and slipped under the water.

He slipped underwater as well, bubbles blurring his face as he tried to ask me more questions underwater. I giggled but abruptly stopped when I noticed his shirtlessness, and I must say, he was quite fit.

He swam closer and pointed at my cheeks and then at his torso. I stubbornly shook my head. He raised an eyebrow. I swam even closer so that our legs were touching and watched as his eyes snapped down and his cheeks coloured. I forced his gaze back up and pointed at his cheeks, and then at my torso. He poked his tongue out me and we emerged to the surface, breathless and laughing.

I splashed water at him and laughed as he tried to retaliate but I dashed out of the pond and was well beyond his reach. Our clothes laid forgotten as I ran up the hill, but the inertia slowed me and he was a fast runner.

As soon as I reached the top, he caught up to me and tackled me so we tumbled down the hill. He landed on top of me with painful force. He grinned down at me and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, I simply kneed him in the stomach so he fell next to me.

And we just laid like that until I fell asleep, which was the moment I woke up. I blinked at the green canopies, not sure if this was a dream or if Bard was the dream.

I caught the faintest sniff of lotuses and fresh grass in the air and I couldn't help but break into a smile.