I wish I was prepared for this. Saying I'm a kid sounds like an excuse but, I am a kid. No one told me Hilda's mom would die. No one told me Hilda would be like this. It may not matter now. She'll probably never talk to me again, nor David, Alfur, even Raven. What I did may have cost me everyone.

Remorse Of An Adventurer

By Daring D.D. Danger

2021 Remaster

Chapter 2: The Terror of the Night

School had been canceled for days since the snowstorm. Cars were still stuck in meters of snow. Normally my mother wouldn't let me outside with there being this much snow but, when I told her I was visiting Hilda, she said yes. I don't even think our parents knew how to handle this situation. I talked to David about her just yesterday. She won't even talk to his parents, only him. I trudged out of my door into the snow. My dad had finished shoveling half the walkway before seemingly giving up. Slowly I edged onto the street, or where I thought the road started, and out of sight of my home so Raven could pick me up (I figured it was better than introducing him to my parents). Without the storm, riding him seemed more leisurely, the town looked amazing from the air, even covered in snow.

"How are things?" I inquired of Raven.

"Well, Alfur has been teaching me how to play elf poker; it's nice to learn from someone else with no hands. He also wrote a very flattering report about me."

"Well I'm glad you two are getting along, but I'll admit I was asking about Hilda and David."

"Oh... Well, not the best. Hilda keeps waking him up with her screaming. It may be best for you to talk to David about it." That only worried me more.

I'll give Hilda credit, flying was faster than biking. I should've taken up her offer to ride a Woff before all of this happened. David's house felt warm and welcoming, but David… looked like neither of those things. He had bags under his eyes, and could barely keep his head up.

"David, you look... bad." I said, removing a bug from his hair; even it seemed to be asleep.

"Thanks for that Frida. And yeah I haven't been sleeping well for a few days." We walked up to his room, climbing the stairs felt like it took longer than normal. Raven hopped free of my shoulder and fluttered to his house.

"Since the day after the storm Hilda has been having nightmares. Like, bad ones. She wakes up screaming every night, covered in sweat. Then she cries herself back to sleep. I tried to ask her about it once, but the most she could do was lock eyes with me. The look she had on her face, will be in my nightmares." David seemed to shiver a little. He'd reclined on his own bed, I was sitting on the edge, next to his feet. This room still didn't feel lived in. David's posters, rock collection, and clothes were here, but it all could've been a picture of a clean kid's room in a parenting book. His spirit was missing.

"You don't think the Marra would give Hilda nightmares after what she's gone through do you?"

"Personally I prefer not to think about the Marra at all." David deflected.

"We could just find her and ask her? Or maybe the Rat King knows?"

"Chances are that she would just turn into a wisp of fire and run away from us if we tried to catch her. So Rat King... I guess?" I'd never seen David less excited about one of my ideas.

"Okay, get ready, I'll tell Raven and Alfur. It'll be hard to get in the sewer with all the snow."

I explained our plan to Raven and Alfur, and Raven knew of an entrance to the sewer that might not be entombed.

We were fortunate he was right. The sewer seemed even darker than the first time we explored it though. That memory felt older than it was. I remember how excited Hilda was about it, how she smiled meeting the Rat King, Fortunately this time we did not end up washed away; it was actually eerily silent, and much colder.

"Welcome back children" the Rat King's voice rang through the sewers. There was no exact word coming to mind to describe the voice, the sound made it feel like the walls were closing in.

"Rat King, we want to know if the Marra is giving Hilda nightmares" I said.

"I suspect you do not know as much of the Marra as you think you do. I could tell you something that may help. However as payment I need a very good secret." The Rat king seemed to be reaching out to us. I braced myself to let go of something deeply personal, however to my shock David stepped forward. He whispered to the Rat King and blushed a little; maybe it was just me but all the rats almost looked shocked in that instant. What secret did David have?

The Rat King whispered back at David. "Thank you Rat King." The ball of rats retreated into it's home as David nodded.

"What did it tell you?" I inquired.

"There are more Marra in Trolberg than just ours. And they're all meeting in the woods tonight. I'll explain on the way home."

We passed several hours at David's house playing Dragon Panic, a game Hilda had taught us all to love. At one point she passed by David's room, probably on her way to the washroom. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she only gave us a weak wave. David gestured for her to come sit with us. To our surprise she came and laid on David's bed. She remained there for a while, quiet, her hair falling off the side of the bed. When it came time for us to plan our visit with the Marra, Hilda remained by our side, seeming to listen. We waved bye to her as we boarded the Raven, and I looked back as we took to the sky, she was watching us leave. She probably wanted the dreams to stop too.

"When we are over the woods, keep an eye out for a campfire with an unearthly green glow!" David was shouting over the sound of wind passing us as we flew, he seemed different suddenly, he was looking directly forward off of the Raven, no fear in his eyes, only fire. Alfur climbed down to my ear to get my attention and pointed. He'd found it. I passed the info on to the Raven, and we began descending a bit away form the fire. We had earlier decided to attempt to surprise them, so they couldn't leave before we confronted them.

"David, this is really close to where the Sparrow Scouts camp-out always is!" I whispered in his ear.

"Thanks! I feel very frightened now!" David said rolling his eyes.

The Great Raven eased us down below the treeline, before transforming and boarding David's head. I'd never hiked off the trails before I met Hilda, and at this instant, guided only by the weak lime light of the Marra's fire in the distance, I was glad she'd given me a chance to practice doing so. The glow grew more intense and we began hearing a shrill voice ahead. Peeking my head over a log at the edge of the clearing I saw a dozen Marra sitting in a circle around the ethereal green glow, their faces lit like jack-o-lanterns. Somewhere in there, a voice cut through the howling wind like an obsidian blade.

"So he goes for the phone to call for help, but I turned the phone into a bird! He actually wet himself in the dream and the real world!" She cackled wildly, facing upward toward the night sky.

"I know who this is about" said the Raven snickering quietly.

As her story concluded, the fire grew and the eyes of the Marras turned the same wicked shade of green. Some of the fire shot out of the pit, and was being absorbed by each Marra. It was now or never. I jumped out of my hiding spot, into the clearing.

"Hey Marra! I have a few questions for you!" I announced. The Marra were speechless, staring at me, a few of them with their heads turned entirely backwards like owls, until David made himself known.

"Hey girls! This is the kid I was talking about! Easiest scare of my life!" The Marra cackled, hovering over to David.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore! After everything I've been through and seen!" That took a bit of energy out of him clearly, he looked flushed.

"Well, David what if instead I told all your classmates how you sleep in the same bed as Hilda?" The girl rebuked. The other Marra started making mocking sounds at David. A few were singing. "Hilda and David sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G." He backed away, head down, clearly embarrassed.

"Hey That's not funny! David is just doing his best to be brave for her! For all of us!" I retorted. Another of the Marra edged towards me.

"And what do you want Frida?" She was in my face now. Her eyes had wisps of fire running through them.

"Which one of you is giving Hilda nightmares? After everything she's gone through!"

"Ugh you mean the girl who's afraid of bikes and has no parents? She's not even a good scare anymore. We all happen to have certain types people who we like scaring."

"She wakes up every night screaming. Then she cries for hours. Stop it!" David sounded worn down, his voice weakening.

"It's not us kid!" David's former Marra had her arms crossed and her back to him.

"Then prove it."

"Why should any of us have to do that?" The blonde girl in front of me was waiting for my response, eyes glowing slightly, but I didn't have one.

"I'll let you haunt my dreams for a week!" David yelled. The girl in front of me turned to him, suddenly showing interest.

"So, all I have to do is prove we aren't giving your friend nightmares, and I can feed off of you for a week?"

"You can't be serious Kelly?" The Marra who had haunted David seemed annoyed.

"What? You said he was your easiest scare ever and I want to try!" She turned to David. "Make it two weeks and you have a deal." Kelly stuck her hand out to David, her eyes turning green. David closed his eyes and reached out his hand. A small green stream of light emitted from their hands. The other Marras turned into their flame forms and left, their gathering ruined for the night.

"Don't tell me we're walking to Trolberg." Kelly said, cross-armed. The Great Raven transformed, destroying our former hiding spot.

"Fair enough." Kelly took the front-most spot on the Raven during our return trip. She didn't even hold on to him, she laid down on his back, chewing gum. She could fly though, so falling was probably not one of the girl's fears. Did Marra have fears?

"Okay let's be quiet, we don't want to wake Hilda. Or my mom now that I think about it. This is probably more girls than I can have over this late." Kelly was already halfway through the window into Hilda's room as David was speaking. Hilda was rolling in the bed, sweating.

"This is usually what happens prior to the screaming. You're saying there's definitely no Marra behind this?" David looked like he was losing hope.

"I can go in there to check if you want." Kelly quipped. The Marra entered Hilda's head, a process just as terrifying to watch as it had been the first time. Hilda continued writhing. After a few moments the Marra emerged, winded, her eyes dilated and no longer alight.

"What happened to this girl? That was horrible!" Kelly seemed scared, her cool facade broken as she hyperventilated.

"She blames herself, wrongly, for her mothers death." I explained.

"It's more than that. She thinks she's some kind of killer. She is driving a car over her mother. That's not a nightmare, that's too low, even by my standards." Kelly had a tear in her eye as she sat down on Hilda's bed. "I need to go think. And maybe talk to my mom." Kelly turned into a wisp of flame and flew out of the door. I had a lot to think about too and asked Raven to take me home. I thought about my parents, David's parents, and Hilda as we flew home over Trolberg, the city lights reflecting off of the snow.

I returned to David's in the morning, school once again canceled. We ascended to Hilda's room, the time spent climbing the stairs once again felt slowed down. She was awake, petting Twig.

"I'm sorry Hilda. We tried to stop the nightmares for you. We talked to the Marra and everything." David was trying to comfort her.

I looked her in the eye. "Hilda, you can't keep believing her death was your fault."

"Frida, it was my fault. She came looking for us because we were out doing dangerous things. That's why I can't adventure anymore. No one else will die by my hands." Hilda no longer had her usual confident voice, instead a soft one, akin to the sounds of a scared puppy.

"That's rubbish Hilda! Some idiot killed her, and you were just trying to help me!"

"And I failed Frida! All I did was make your life worse. My mum died for nothing!" She barked, her fists clenched against her side, ready to fight. But her watering eyes were soft and pink; iris' like melted chocolate.

"Hilda you raised the dead for me! I don't care if it didn't work! Who other than you would go that far for a friend?"

"It was a stupid choice, and I'll never take a risk like that again! I'm a bad friend and a bad person!" Hilda shot back before turning over into her sheets.

I couldn't take her talking about herself this way. She was such a great person, possibly the greatest I knew.

"Hilda!" I howled, hitting her across the face. The room fell silent. David was covering his mouth. Raven and Alfur were silent. Hilda looked me right in the eye for a second, before turning her face into her pillow and crying. She wasn't just crying however, she was screaming. It was a horrifying sound, the screech shaking me to my core.

"I'm- I'm sorry I don't know what came over me!" I pleaded, tears already filling my eyes

"I think you should leave Frida." David said, trying to be calm. I ran out of his house and into the snow, not even taking all of my winter gear. I continued into town, running from what I'd done. What was wrong with me? I just wanted her to stop talking so badly about herself. Would she ever forgive me? Should I even forgive myself? As I came into town, I heard music. I came upon the Woodman, playing music for loose change on some sort of string instrument.

"Frida, right?" He asked. I nodded.

"You look like you just committed a crime, you don't seem the type, but who am I to judge" He stated, obviously judging me.

"I just hit one of my best friends..." I whispered under my breath.

"That doesn't seem very friendly."

"I'm not sure what I was thinking, or if I can take it back." I sat next to the Woodman, and listened to his song, watching the people of Trolberg pass by. Did I even deserve friends?

To Be Continued in Chapter 3: The Price

By Daring D.D. Danger, inspired by Ghost-Buddie