Karla was laughing! Not a sarcastic chuckle, or forced laugh just to be polite, this was a laugh without restraint, a nice honest belly laugh. She could have put Santa Clause to shame. And it was contagious. I smiled as the tension left my body, collapsed to a sitting position and laughed myself silly. Anyone walking by would have thought we had flipped our lids. And to be honest, we wouldn't have cared.
The laughing slowly subsided and was replaced with a peaceful silence between us. Karla shifted so that she now sat next to me, with her legs pulled up to her chest, and her chin resting on her hands. I was sitting cross-legged, absentmindedly playing with bits of grass. For a while we just sat there staring out into the wilderness.
"Thank you", Karla said. I turned my head to look at her. Her head was resting sideways on her hands. "No problem" I replied, "but I never wanted to put us in that much danger. Sorry about that." I apologized. "It's OK. I needed to face it." Karla said as she looked out into the wilderness again, but her eyes were fixed on the ground. "Either face it, or go back to cowering in a corner of a room in my inn, afraid to go anywhere." Her eyes then took on a determined look. "No. I will face it and overcome my fears. After all I am Karla, and Karla would never back away. She'll always take on whatever the world throws at her." Her voice lacked the confidence of her words as she spoke them. She nodded to herself a couple of time after saying this.
I knew I might regret the question later but I felt there was something she was holding back. "Who is Karla?" I asked softly. "I beg your pardon?" she replied, not quite understanding the question. She thought the answer was obvious; why would I be asking such a question? Without changing my tone of voice, I repeated the question. "Who is Karla?". "I am!" she said "Are you suffering from a loss of memory? I'm on your friends list. What a strange question." I closed my eyes and chuckled slightly at her remark partially because of how she had ended up on my list and partially to the way she had just reacted. I looked to the wilderness and said "I know your name is Karla, but it's probably not your real name. Not that I need to know your real name or anything, it would be rude of me to ask. But the way you talked about 'Karla' just now, it's as if you were talking about someone else. It may be none of my business, but I am curious: Who is Karla?"
She was shocked by the question and a little upset. "You sure know how to make a girl uncomfortable." she said annoyed. "My real name isn't Karla. So what? I bet your real name's not Wolf. When I first logged in, it asked me for a name, so I said the first name that came to mind and nothing more. The reason I chose it, is none of your business!" she huffed "I don't go around asking people those kind of personal questions. I don't know anything about you, Mr. Wolf" she challenged. She was noticeably upset. The question turned out to be a touchy subject, and I wasn't prepared for this. I thought it might be better not to say anything. She pursed her lips, and after a few minutes of silence said "Maybe I should go."
"Lone Wolf" I stated before she had time to get up and leave. She looked at me, waiting for some clarification. "Lone Wolf is where I got my name." I sighed "I was going to play this game solo so it seemed appropriate. And when the game turned into a prison, I didn't want to be near or with anyone. The name took on a vividly cruel meaning: it became my reality. I isolated myself and only interacted with others if I needed directions or information. I'd sworn that my friend list would stay empty."
"But it's no longer empty. There's this girl who pulled me out of my cocoon, and shook the bitter isolation out of me. And now she's on my list." I breathed deeply. "You're the only one I've connected with since this game started. You broke the certainty of Lone Wolf. I'm just Wolf now, and kind of glad that it turned out that way." I shrugged my shoulders. "So that's the very short story of my name." I concluded "It's nothing spectacular, it's just who I am. I've had no one to share it with, until now. I feel it's only fair that I tell you." I turned to Karla. "Forgive me for prying into your personal affairs. And forget that I even asked. I enjoy our time together and I don't want to ruin the day with my stupid questions. Please don't go" I pleaded.
"You enjoy almost getting killed?" she said indignant. "I didn't know I'd spent the day with a masochist. I guess I'll have to hang around to keep an eye on you. I don't want you to get run over by any other animals. I think we've both had enough "bull" for the day." I frowned at her obvious joke, and I could see she was barely containing a smile. Her smile broadened as I looked at her and she giggled a little. "Bad pun!" I huffed in response.
We laughed.