Chapter Eight

Home Sweet Home

-Gith-

"You got mud all over the floor! I just cleaned that!" Colleen walked in on the scene. Korah had already retreated upstairs by then.

"Calm down," her husband, Jake, who was nearby, sat at the inn counter. He fumbled over a ledger with a pen. His gaze flickered to Colleen, to Luke, and then to business numbers again. Later, he was the one to mop up the mess.

"Sorry, honest mistake," Luke shrugged, smiling.
He looked so smug.

"Honest mistake the third time this week!" Colleen yelled, pointing at him.
"Once more and I'm calling the Mayor in on this!"

"So it has happened before…?" I smiled a tight smile and looked to the dear perpetrator. I had to wonder if he was charming some other dame the last two times, or if he really had made an honest mistake at least once.

"Shoo!" She flicked her wrist at him, as if her hand would sweep him away.

"Fine, fine," he laughed.
"But who's gonna carry the poor babe home next time? Chase?" He raised his eyebrows and looked directly at Chase.

"I'm sorry, what?" Maya looked up from a table she was wiping down.

Luke winked at Maya and nodded. Chase's hand attacked his face in face-palm, which made Luke laugh even more. He shrugged and turned to leave.

"And you stay out with that mud, young man!" Colleen waved a broom at him

"Don't tell me what to do," he turned back around; his smile had turned sarcastic and angry. Colleen was not one to waver, though,

"That's it," Jake sighed; he grabbed Luke by the arm and dragged him outside.

Finally.

Later that day, the Mayor stopped by. By then, it was already pretty late, but I think Korah was glad just to be out of the inn. I mean, I was too, but after the stunt she pulled I was glad that we finally got some time to ourselves. Maybe, we'd sit in opposite corners and think about what we'd done.

We had made some really good friends at the time, and man is it only going to get worse.

Anyways, he stopped by and popped us a key.

Just one.

This is only the first inconvenience we came across within that next week. I mean, besides the other inconveniences we had already been inconvenienced by, inconveniently. First, the key; the mayor only had one house ready, and both of us were ready to get out of the inn. Second, these relationships were moving way too fast, and we were greatly aware of it- both downhill and uphill. God, if only we'd have known. Third, and only third was the disappearance of the rainbow. I mean it really wasn't that unsettling, but we realized later how important it was. Fourth was money. Korah and I were both broke after buying houses. The rest, and oh boy the rest, there are even more of.

So, when it was evident that only one house had been readied, absolute war broke out between Korah and I. I mean, I wasn't prepared to let Korah out of my sight, but she was determined to escape the inn for whatever reason. Mostly, it was about cheap shots, insults, and who deserved or even "needed" the first house. Really, it was childish wordplay and banter that we were both later ashamed for.

Honestly, after we all got our big-boy pants on and acted like adults is when we decided to share the house temporarily. Some one stopped me on our way out, though.

"Hey, you seen Candace anywhere?" Someone grabbed my shoulder and turned me around in one motion.

"Yeah… I…" I looked at the stranger, he had purple hair and some fancy coat. He looked like someone from my many dreams. In fact, he was in my dreams frequently.
"… No, I have not. Was she the short girl with pink hair or…?" I deflected his question with the obvious I'm-new-here-I-don't-know-who-anyone-is trick.

"Oh… never mind," he looked a little disappointed, but only a little. I mean it was obvious that I didn't seem to know her, so he couldn't blame me. He turned around and shuffled his feet, kicking up dust.
The ground was finally dry from the rain.

Korah waited before he disappeared into the town before she leaned towards me.

"Who was that?" she asked in whisper. She kept looking around to make sure he wasn't coming back. Who knows why she so quiet, there wasn't anyone around us, was there?

"I'm still not sure." I said aloud and threw off her mumbling. She leaned back into her own personal bubble and stopped invading mine.
"Actually, the role he plays is… confusing." I said. I recalled every moment he had shown up with a yellow background- each one was different and random. Maybe he was a wildcard. Maybe he was a very eventful guy. Regardless, I didn't know what he was there for.

"Like how confusing? What are you supposed to do?" Korah asked. I think she glanced back to the corner of a shop. It was like she was looking out for something or someone. I thought she was maybe scared of the flamboyant guy or something.

"Somewhere between punching him in the face and helping him feel better." I told her. It seemed not to really register of something, because she looked even more confused. Usually in the dream, the interactions ranged between those two actions, maybe she just didn't understand because she never had the dream.

"I…hm…" She readjusted her rucksack on her back. She checked the corner again before pulling out a map of Waffle.
"Yeah, that's pretty confusing all right." She flipped the map upside-down and sideways. She didn't know which was the right side up. I thought she had pretty much timed out of the conversation by then.

"This whole island is confusing." I said as I reached over and turned the map for her. I even pointed to where we were at and where we were going to make it easy for her.

"What? But you've been having dreams of this place your whole life! Ever since you met the goddess!" She exclaimed, a little louder than I would have wished her to. It was like she was trying to announce it to the world. Thanks, Korah.
"I mean… You're kind'a obsessed with this dream of yours. How do you now its what's s'posed to happen and not what's not s'posed to happen?" She closed the map, crumpled it up, and looked back at me, concerned. The map was all wrinkled now. She made me turning it completely pointless. Thanks, Korah.

"I'm not obsessed." I looked to her.

I'm not, really. I mean… I just… I'm not obsessed.

She rolled her eyes at me. Maybe she really thought I was obsessed.

"You've been looking forward to seeing this place you're whole life. How are you not obsessed?" She asked. I think she missed the fact that just because she would be obsessed over a magical dream, doesn't mean that I was. If she had the dream I had, she'd be really obsessed.

"Still, though. There are some things I haven't seen. Some important things." Of course, I could never just pinpoint those like I wanted to. I had to wait for them to happen.

I started to move. Standing there was pointless. I really wanted to be out of there. Somehow, Korah's glancing at the corners made me uneasy, and the best thing to do was avoid uncomfortable situations. Korah was quiet the majority of the way there. I got to see a whole area of Waffle Island that was new to me, and in silence.

It was relaxing to see those oak trees winding into a path, and crabgrass sprouting up her and there and eating all of the other plants. Some patches of flowers and clovers made the earth look soft.

I mean, I had seen nature all the time back home- but this place was so new and fresh. It was like home, but it wasn't. The scent of the island was like saltwater and honey. My parents used to live near the shore in Flower Bud village, and the library where my mother worked was near the sand too. Then, when spring came around, Korah's parents would go up to the mountain and collect Honey from beehives and would bring us some.

It was like a nostalgic paradise to walk in caramel river district. We crossed over a freshwater river, but could still see the sea within walking distance, and could see the fish almost jumping out of the water.
It was late too, so the whole sky was a glowing orange. Though it felt like home, it… I could feel something strange. It was like I was hiking the mountain by Mr. Jamie's house- it was like I could feel the goddess' fountain near us.

The scenery started trailing downwards as the sun started to fade from the sky, and suddenly, everything felt wrong. The sea felt so far away, the fish all stopped at once, and the whole island became amiss.

"Why did you act like you didn't know Candace?" Korah spoke up. She had waited until we were far from Waffle Town to ask. Somehow, I got the feeling that the scenery around her wasn't on her mind at all this whole time. She was so focused on relationship stuff that she could never see the obvious around her.

We stopped walking.

"Gith?" Korah asked again. She was trying to get my attention, but there was something else.

Something was wrong and I just couldn't see it.

"Lets get home," I started to walk again, but Korah was still just standing there. I turned back and she was looking out at the sky. It really wasn't the time for stargazing, though- it was dark and I thought that we should really be inside a building. I mean we were new to the island and-

"Gith," She sounded worried.

Honestly, when I pretended not to know Candace I just thought I was protecting her. So what if it might confuse Julius later or something, I didn't care. It really didn't matter because-

"Now," I said. We needed to be inside soon, and I wasn't sure why, but it really started to freak me out. We just got here, what if there were coyotes or-

"Did another rainbow just disappear?" she asked me.

I looked up to the sky, and I was right.
Something was wrong.