"What happened Frida?" David's voice came from beside me. He looked into my eyes, the world still spinning around him."Where's Hilda?"

"With the Alp" I whispered.

"An Alp? They're real?" I could hear the librarian moving around, but couldn't see her.

"That's bad, especially if Hilda is already hurt and her mind is weak." I could feel a tear running down the side of my face. As the light faded once more, I called out to her.

"Hilda!"

Remorse Of An Adventurer

2021 Remaster

By Daring D.D. Danger

Chapter 8: The Sparrow Scouts

***Hilda***

"Hilda?" Frida said, tapping me on the shoulder

"I'm sorry, my head got a little foggy there."

"Okay-like I was saying, welcome to your first Sparrow Scout badge challenge!" She said with the excitement of someone giving a presentation.

"Where do we start?"

"With my action plan!" Frida held the document in the air and the sun glinted off of the cover. Frida then began taking pictures of the area.

"Was she raised by elves?" I asked David.

"Maybe!" He laughed. A day passed quickly with raking, weed pulling, and marking off the future garden with stakes. Of course we also had to drop the weeds off at the mulching center.

That night I had a dream about a baby Troll running around my school, it felt so real. I overslept a bit and was almost late meeting Frida and David at the park. When we arrived our site was destroyed. We began inspecting the area when we heard a noise. Twig began growling. The three of us stood back to back. An Onion shaped creature sprinted from the bushes! With a garden spade in hand he bashed David and Frida in the shins. He turned to come at me, but met with Twig in the middle. Twig slowly forced him back.

"Call off the hound!" begged the little man guarding himself with the spade.

"Only if you surrender the garden spade!" He released the weapon and I beckoned Twig to me. Staying aggressive, he told us he was called a Vittra, and that he had been hibernating when we dug up other sleeping Vittra, and put a stake in his head, waking him up. Frida offered to help, showing him her Sparrow Scout badges, before he snatched the sash and dove into a hole.

"Oh no you don't!" Yelled Frida as she followed him in. David and I sprinted to the hole, but saw no sign of Frida. I ran to our supplies, grabbing a rope.

"David, I need you to hold this!"

"What?"

"Just hold it so I can get back up!" I stood at the mouth of the hole. I looked down, ready to jump, but I began feeling dizzy. I sat down beside the hole.

"Are you afraid of heights?" asked David.

"N...no! An adventurer isn't afraid of anything!"

"It looks like you are." I shot him a dirty look.

After a moment he continued. "Look Hilda, I'll go in after her. You just stay here." David took the rope and tied it around himself. I held the end as he closed his eyes and jumped, screaming the entire way down."I'll be back soon Hilda!"

The rope went limp and I was left with Twig, at the side of the hole. Why couldn't I jump? That was nothing new for me. Why couldn't I do it?

An hour passed and I began to worry. I had a hallucination of David, only he was covered in burns and with a streak of blue in his hair. I began crying. Why was I crying?

"Hilda! Pull the flippin' rope up!" I grabbed the rope and pulled, David came into view, followed by Frida and the Vittra.

"We were pulling the rope for like 5 minutes!" David said begrudgingly.

"I'm really sorry. I must have zoned out."

"Hilda, have you been crying? I'm okay, see?" Frida was as confident looking as ever.

"Okay girls we need to go!" The Vittra was visibly angry as he called his miniature cow over.

"He's going to help us save the other Vittra from being mulched!" David waved me forward and the four of us sprinted back to town.

Frida arrived at the gate to the Big Chipper first.

"We're too late! It's closed!" Frida shook the padlocked gate in vain.

"Let's just come back tomorrow." David suggested.

"Wait Look!" The Vittra shouted, pointing at the conveyor, full of sleeping Vittra headed up to the Chipper.

"It's now or never!" Frida began scaling the fence.

"You know sometimes under is better than over!" The Vittra rammed a hole through the bottom of the fence with his cow, and David and I followed. Frida scaled the conveyor ramp to the highest Vittra, with myself closer to the bottom, and David and the Vittra making a pile out of the rescued. Like an assembly line Vittra were removed from the belt by the dozens.

"Look! At the top! Georgie Boy! He's the last one" The Vittra pointed frantically.

"I've got him!" Frida began running to the top. Inches from the Chipper she grabbed the little Vittra and began descending.

"Hilda!" She passed Georgie down to me, and I passed him to David.

Frida screamed. I looked back up to see she had tripped and was headed towards the Chipper. I began running to her, but my legs became wobbly. My legs gave as I neared the top and I reached out for Frida.

Our hands missed. All the color drained from Frida's eyes as she stared into mine. Her foot reached the mouth of the Big Chipper-

I woke up with a scream. I was hyperventilating. Twig was looking at me from the end of my bed.

"Hilda! Are you okay?" Mum's voice called from the kitchen.

"I'm fine!" I called back. What a traumatic dream. But in what world would I be afraid of heights? I slipped into my daytime clothes and left my room. Mum's drawing pad seemed to have something new on it. It looked like a negative image of me except with my Sparrow Scouts sash, with 8 badges.

"Hilda! Why are you in your day clothes?" Mum asked.

"It's seven in the morning." I sat down on the couch.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep more?" Mum asked in a more aggressive tone.

"Yes mum! Why would an adventurer sleep all day?" I asked. "And what's up with the weird picture?"

"Oh well it's not done yet, haven't quite gotten to the last badge yet!"

"No, I mean why draw a creepy picture of me?

"I thought it suited the mood."

"I'm very confused."

"It's all part of your story!" Mum's head rotated 180 degrees and her eyes glowed red.

"Now go back to bed so I can finish the final chapter!"

"Your not mum!" I shot up. Someone grabbed my left arm! I looked and it was another fake mum! Then another of her grabbed my other arm. I looked back at the red eyed mum, now walking towards me. I struggled to break free until She placed her foot on my stomach.

"Now let's get back to where I control your fate!" Mom pointed a finger at me, the human flesh peeling back to reveal a demonic hand made of black bones.

"Wait!" I screamed. "This is my dream!" Demon mom stopped.

"That's true, it is your dream. But I control all of it. Including your memories and subconscious fears!" Suddenly I was pulled to the floor. I landed so hard everything went white briefly. The mum's holding my arms had collapsed. I turned to my right and saw mum's face, expressionless, dead. Then I remembered. The car accident. The Demon mum sat down on my chest, weighing more than she should. I began crying as it became harder to breathe.

"That's right, all your fault! She's gone! And all you've done since is hurt your friends! You're not brave! You're just a scared little girl! And you've lost almost everything." I was shaking, hyperventilating and sobbing. I looked away from her as I scratched at the floor.

"You look at your mom while she's talking!" She grabbed my chin and turned it to her face. Her teeth were now bloody fangs, like the Black Hound's.

"You really don't have much left in you. I think I'll only get one more dream out of you before your mind is gone forever and you become a mindless blood bag." With a sickening laugh that echoed through my mind, Demon mum reeled back, and plunged her head down, sinking her teeth into my neck.

I sat up screaming. I put one hand on my chest as I caught my breath. My hair was dripping with sweat. Another nightmare. What was it about even? My mind was totally blank. Two knocks came from my door.

"You okay Hilda?" David came into the room. He stretched his arms, yawning, before sitting down. He immediately shot up and grimaced. I looked to where he'd sat down. I'd wet the bed. I was too embarrassed to look back up at him.

"You should get this cleaned up before mom finds out and gets mad again." David left the room, shaking out his left hand. I got up and discarded my wet clothes before heading to the shower.

As I sat with the water hitting my head, and watching as it circled the drain, I couldn't help but wonder what dream I'd had. Honestly everything felt foggy. I couldn't even remember what day of the week it was. Then again did it matter? I'd started more days like this than I could count in the year since mum died. I laid back, letting the water hit my chest. Would anything be different if I hadn't gotten up this morning?

To be concluded in part IX: Remorse Of An Adventurer

Hilda: Remorse of an Adventurer, written by D.D. Danger, inspired by ghost-buddie