After returning to the mill, it was not long before another early spring evening came, bringing a chilling breeze with it. As the sun grew low in the sky, Wirt, Beatrice, and her family sat down for another meal. Wirt gazed down at the steaming bowl of stew which set before him, chopped carrots and potatoes resting atop its light brown surface. Both he and Beatrice were still rather silent. It seemed as though her family had grown more comfortable with the visitor's presence. Their conversations seemed much livelier than the previous night, or perhaps the silence was too awkward for them. Wirt's eyes traveled from one family member to the next as he began to spoon the stew into his mouth. He could not help but notice the many traits they shared with Beatrice, their pale freckled faces, their dark eyes, and their fiery red hair. It seemed as though they were the perfect, happy, cozy, and not so little family.
Then there was the cherry on top of it all, the crown atop the wonderful family's head, Beatrice. As he turned his head, allowing his eyes to finally reach her, their eyes met. Their gaze held for a moment before they both turned away. A light blush coming over his cheeks, Wirt wondered if she had been staring at him the whole time. As he continued to eat, Wirt grew more and more anxious as thoughts of the girl flooded his mind. A familiar sensation could be felt fluttering deep within his stomach. He knew he liked Beatrice, and that he had returned to her for a reason. He was beginning to feel the sensation of love, real love and the want to be with her even more so than he ever had before. His heart began to pound heavily against his chest. It was growing hard to hold his feelings in, even though he was much too nervous to say a word to her. He wondered whether or not her feelings were the same. After their day at the pond, it seemed so, yet he was still unsure. On occasion, he would return his gaze to her, hoping she would once again be staring back.
As their meal came to an end, Wirt announced that he had not yet caught up on his sleep and was heading to bed early once more. Although this announcement was a cover for his true ailment. His nerves and energetic mind had gotten the best of him, and he needed a way to escape. Wide awake, Wirt lay beneath the quilted blanket which Beatrice's father had provided for him. Once again, he watched the gentle sway of the flames behind the hearth's protective screen to pass the time rather than lull him to sleep.
Late in the night after all had grown silent besides the crackling of the fire, the sudden, light thud of footsteps upon the floor above caused Wirt's heart to pound. He knew exactly who the footsteps belonged to. When they began making their way down the stairs, he knew she was making her way to him. Wirt watched as the silhouette of her thin figure approached, her features coming to life as she walked into the glow produced by the fire. "Beatrice…"
"Wirt," she replied weakly. "I have something to tell you, and I think there's more you need to tell me too." Wirt gulped and nodded his head in response as he sat up, just as the previous night. "Whew, I need to get this off my chest, so I'll go first," she said as she took her place beside him. "About what happened at Adelaide's-"
"I know. You didn't know her actual intentions and were just doing it to help your family," Wirt interrupted, giving her an assuring nod.
"It's not that… Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you understand, but that wasn't what I needed to tell you."
"Then what do you need to tell me?"
Beatrice sighed, letting her eyes fall shut for a short moment. "Well, there's a lot more to it than that. Wirt… I… I never wanted you and Greg to go."
"Well, I sort of got that feeling near the end. You seemed so sad and most of your conversations with me revolved around persuading me to stay here and hinting at how much better it would be."
"Yeah, well, I was being selfish. The reason why I didn't want you to go to Adelaide's wasn't because I knew she wouldn't help you. She could have. I was more worried about losing you, Wirt. In the end, I realized what I was doing was wrong and the reason I went to her to see if she actually could help you instead of just put you to work. I wanted you to go home because, well, I like you, Wirt. I like you a lot." Beatrice paused to let out another sigh, this time with a shudder in her breath. "Yep, I'm going go ahead and admit it. I love you," she muttered, her cheeks growing a deep shade of red.
Wirt's heart pounded more heavily against his chest than it ever had before, this time mostly out of love rather than fear. "I, I, I love… you too. It probably sounds pretty weird, but I've felt that way for a while now, even when you were a bird."
"Falling in love with a bird does sound pretty strange, but a bird falling in love with a human sounds even more so," she said with a laugh, a look of blissful happiness upon her face and an eager glimmer in her eyes.
"I didn't want to leave. After I realized you hadn't really betrayed me, all my feelings for you came back. Like I said, the only reason I did go was for Greg. Then I came back because of you. I sort of really took a chance on that. Why would a girl like you ever be interested in me?"
"Wirt," Beatrice cooed softly as she wrapped her arms around neck, pulling him close, "you give yourself a lot less credit than you deserve. Yes, some of the things you do are a bit out there, but that doesn't mean you're not amazing. I've never really felt this way about anyone except you. Yeah, I've had a crush here and there, but you're different."
"I-" Before Wirt was able to speak, the girl's eager lips pressed against his own. With wide eyes, he could feel his entire body tense at the sensation, a rush of pure joy traveling through his body. Beatrice pulled away with a nervous gasp as she grasped her hands at the back of his shoulders. She hesitantly brought her gaze up to his own and stared into his eyes a moment before leaning in for another kiss. This time, her lips wrapped around his more passionately than before, causing his shocked body to lock up even further. Wirt struggled to kiss back, let alone place his trembling hands around her waist. Their noses gently bumped and rubbed against one another as they attempted to reposition their heads for a better kiss. Beatrice brought her hand up to Wirt's head, letting his hair slip between her fingers. She then attempted to push his lips even further against her own by pressing at the back of his head.
She pulled away with a giggle as their noses bumped once more. "I wanted to do that before you left, but with a beak, I felt like it would be pretty awkward. Have you ever kissed a girl before, Wirt? I feel like you would've received some training from your ex-lover…but… Wirt?" she asked, noticing the rather serious and gloom look upon his face.
"You know how you said your feelings for me made you selfish?" Beatrice nodded her head softly as she gave him a curious stare. "Well, my feelings for you made me just as selfish."
Beatrice huffed rather worriedly. "What are you getting at?"
"I left my old life behind when I came here… earlier, when I said I risked quite a bit coming here … well, I actually risked everything."
"What do you mean?" she asked, squinting her eyes.
"I won't be able to go back home, ever."
"Huh? What do you mean, Wirt? You're starting to worry me," Beatrice muttered, a slight panic in her soft whispers.
"Beatrice, there's a reason why I've been avoiding telling you everything about coming back. It was pretty stupid of me to think I could avoid it forever. I really never wanted to tell you this, but I guess I have to."
"Tell me what? Just spit it out already, okay?" Beatrice asked, grasping his hands tightly in her own.
"How Greg and I got here, the reason we were lost…we… we were drowning in a river. It was a river back home."
The girl's mouth fell open, rather stunned and confused by such a statement. "What? What do you mean?"
"We were… dying, Beatrice, stuck in a state between life and death. When we went home, we escaped that state. If it wasn't for that, we would've drown. We would've been here forever."
"So, what you're saying is that…" Beatrice muttered. Heavy, panicked breaths escaped her mouth and pushed against Wirt's face, gently fondling his bangs.
"It means that to come here, I had to die…" Wirt muttered, tears forming in his eyes. "I… k-killed myself…"
"…What?" Beatrice muttered weakly in response, her hands trembling against his own as tears streamed down her face.
"I…I hung myself, Beatrice. My parents have probably seen me, well, my body by now." He paused, sucking in a gasp of air and grimacing as more tears streamed down his face. "Greg took it well when I explained it to him because he knows exactly where I am. I… I just don't know about my parents. I could never explain to them that Greg and I came here. They'd think I was… was crazy, insane. I still feel horrible for not telling them though… I just, I couldn't," he burst out, struggling to keep from raising his voice too loud as he sobbed. "I- I'll see them again someday though. They may not remember, but I will… I always will. It's sort of a curse and a blessing, I guess." Beatrice gazed at the sobbing being before her, her eyes both blank and lost. Her body was shuddering more fiercely than it had been before, and Wirt could feel the goose bumps which had raised upon her flesh as he grabbed her arms.
"I… don't even know what any of this means. I'm… I'm not alive either, am I? Where I live… here, the place that I thought I'd been living in for my whole life, it's all a lie?" Wirt swallowed painfully and nodded his head. "And you sacrificed your life to be with a girl who doesn't really exist at all…"
"It's not like that. We do exist, just our souls, maybe? It's something like that. It's a different world… we're somewhere else."
"How do you know so much about this? I trust you, but why don't I remember? I don't even know who I was or how I got here… but you do."
"You're still you, Beatrice… and I don't really know. I think it's because of how I got here the first time. Being both here and there, I guess I was able to keep my memory and not forget… but what if I start to forget too?"
"I… really don't know, Wirt," Beatrice whispered almost breathlessly before she began to weep once more. "I'm confused and uncertain… and…" she gasped out weakly as her face dripped with tears. Wirt pulled the sobbing, almost convulsing girl into an embrace, wanting to comfort her as much as he possibly could. He felt a painful pang in his chest as she weakly pushed him away. "I… I don't know. I need to go… be alone," she said as she quickly rose to her feet, nearly tripping herself as she rushed away.
"Beatrice…" Wirt said softly, knowing she would not turn back, and that there was no point in going after her. After what to Wirt seemed like ages of sitting in the painfully still silence and gazing ahead, he laid himself down. Even beneath the blanket, he shivered, chilled by the event that had taken place. Although he was no longer truly alive, all the emotions he experienced felt as if he was. There was no escape. After his tears had finally came to a halt, and his cheeks grew dry, he became restless. He sighed as he tossed over onto to his side to gaze into the burning orange flames once more, knowing that he would get little sleep that night, whatever it was that sleep meant in the place he was in.