Ugh this chapter. I'm going to let you guys get on with the reading, and reserve my comments for below.
"I'm getting increasingly frustrated with this cave," she said. I laughed.
"You're what?" I asked her. She huffed.
"You heard me." Tooth and I had been walking through the cave toward the light that I'd seen earlier. Neither of us knew what exactly was there, but we both kind of went with it. Be it sense of direction or just instinct, we just knew it was the right way to go.
There was a shuffling noise overhead. Tooth gasped and next thing I knew, she was latched onto my arm flitting her head wildly around.
"Did you hear that, because I heard that, and I was just going to make sure you heard that and it wasn't just a figment of my imagination because if it was a figment of my imagination then great I'm just crazy nothing to worry about right Jack? Jack? There is was again!" she whispered urgently and very quickly. I chuckled.
"From what I could understand, yes I heard it too. It's just a bunch of bats. Nothing to worry about, they won't attack unless you threaten them," I replied. Tooth didn't let up, and as we started walking again, she grasped tight to my arm, not wanting to "get lost" in so dark a place.
"You'll pull my arm off if you hold any tighter princess," I joked after a while, a smile on my face.
"Don't give me any ideas," she replied. "And 'princess' really?"
"She speaks!" I exclaimed, "I forgot you even had a voice!" She shoved me lightly on the shoulder. We walked in silence for a bit more after that.
"Listen, Jack, I'm sorry about earlier. I was stressed, and I get…violent when I'm anxious," Tooth apologized eventually with a quiet voice.
"It's alright, we were both stressed," I assured her. Tooth suddenly stopped me.
"Jack, look," she said as she pushed past me. I her path and saw the light we were going towards was a room. And we were just outside the threshold.
"What the hell?" I asked as I followed her quietly.
"It's beautiful," she said awe. I nodded in agreement.
There were glowworms on the ceiling. They were everywhere, and their neon glow reflected off the small lake in the center of the room. The effect it had on the pitch-black room was breathtaking.
"They're like stars," Tooth whispered.
"Yeah," I replied, unable to think of anything better to say.
"We should stop here, sleep, re-fresh ourselves. We've got a ways ahead of us, might as well settle down," I said finally.
"You're right, we can keep going after we sleep," she agreed.
"What about you?" I asked quietly once we settled down. She glanced at me, confused.
"What do you mean?" she inquired. I sighed.
"What's your story princess?" I elaborated. She stared at me for a while, then at the ground, as if contemplating whether or not she should tell me. Finally with a sigh she nodded.
"I grew up in Southeast Asia, with my parents. Their names were Haroom and Rashmi. My mother was a part of an organization called Sisters of Flight, which protected endangered species indigenous to the area, and my father was hunting with a friend when they found each other. My father's friend tried to kill mama when she got in between him and the elephant he tried to kill, but baba stepped in front of him, very heroic. At least that's what mama thought, I mean she did end up marrying him.
"I was twelve when everyone first started talking about Pitch Black. Punjam Hy Loo was a small mountain village, yet the merchants who travelled to the bigger towns would always bring us news. When the toxin was finally released, I was the only one in the town that was affected. Everyone was scared of me, and I didn't know why. My parents had to run, as things were getting dangerous. The townspeople hired hunters to track us down.
"Those hunters ended up killing my parents. They kidnapped them to get to me, and then when I tried to save them, they just," she pause for a moment. Her eyes were closed, but no evidence of tears showed. She finally pulled a necklace out of her shirt, a smooth white locket at the end of the chain.
"They left me with this, as well as a note, telling me that they loved me, and that this locket would always remind me of them. It would always serve me in my greatest time of need. They made it themselves out of a tooth of an animal, they didn't say which one. But I will never forget them, ever," she said, finally finished with her story. I was quiet.
"I'm so sorry," I finally whispered. She smiled.
"What is there to be sorry about? Eventually I found my friends, and they are like a second family to me anyway," she explained, "We should go ahead and get some sleep now, don't know when the next chance will be, right?" I stared at her for a while, and for once I felt like I knew someone who could fully comprehend what it felt like to lose everything, yet even now I still knew she had more than me. I felt like I had a friend in her. And I was going to hold on to that.
"Yeah, alright. Sleep well Tooth."
"Sleep well Jack."
Well yeah, that's all I could come up with. Sometimes, I write chapters, and they just come to me. Other times, I can hardly write anything. This was one of those times. Thus no chapter was written for well over a month. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so late. Please accept this chapter as an apology. Even though its a bit of a sucky one.
