Chapter 37: Young Nature

Suddenly the red heart shaped plant send some kind of energy to my brain, creating an illusion of me submerging in a deep red liquid.

I felt this liquid on every part of my body and how it slowly made them heavy. It was almost like my body became numb to the outside world. I couldn't see anything, and even Boo's hand which I never let go of, now disappeared.

(What. Is. This?) Even my thoughts were affected by this liquid. I could hardly think of a one word at the time.

I opened my mouth, trying to speak, but the liquid quickly filled it, making me feel like I was suffocating.

I tried to spit it out and let air fill my lungs with oxygen, but no matter how many times I tried, more liquid replaced the one I got rid of.

I was drowning in complete silence, as no words were able to leave my mouth when this liquid occupied it. And in this state, it didn't take long before I got light headed.

I stayed in this position when I heard a faint, fourth heartbeat in the distance. It was so quiet, that for a moment, I mistook it for my own.

I wanted to learn why it appeared, but I knew I had no time to do so, because seconds later I passed out.

(What. A. Terrible. Way. To. Die.) Those were my last thoughts right after I closed my eyes, for what I thought to be the last time.

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"My head hurts." I said it after waking up, as my head was in so much pain that I couldn't even open my eyes. I didn't care about what happened moments ago, the only thing on my mind was to get rid of it.

I used both of my hands to rub my temples, feeling slight relief after doing so. And it was just enough to let my brain focus on something else, other than pain.

"What happened?" I lightly lifted my eyelids and saw sun right above me. It shone brightly, right into my freshly opened eyes, making me unable to keep them this way for long.

I was ready to close them when a shadow fall on my face, hiding this bright abomination from my sight.

"You hit your head." With this shadow, came long, green strands of hair which gently grazed my forehead and nose. But it wasn't all, as I heard a young cheerful voice rang out on my right side.

(Who is that?)

"Boo. Is that you?" Those long green hair and especially cheerful tone made me instantly think of Boo.

"No. Do you want to take another guess?" This person chuckled a little, just like a child would while playing a game.

"I would, if not for my headache." I still couldn't get rid of the pain, even after massaging my temples for some time now.

"That's a shame. I wanted you to keep guesing... Hmmm. I know. Let me help you so we can continue playing together." At first this person was disappointed that we can't play more, but it changed quickly after she came up with idea of helping me.

I didn't know her plan, but at this point I was ready to accept whatever solution she could offer me.

"Go ahead. Help me lessen the pain." I didn't have mental capacity to reply with anything more, other than a straight agreement.

"*Hmph* Lessen it? I will make it disappear." My words that stated she could only lessen the pain worked like an insult. So she proudly said she can make it disappear, seemingly with no effort.

Soon she placed her hand on my forehead, with green energy emitting from her fingertips.

"Nature magic?" I said surprised, with idea of the real identity of this person appearing in my mind.

(Proud, green hair and nature magic to finish the deal. I think I know who you really are.) Now I was almost certian who this person was.

The only thing preventing me from being sure was her similarity to Boo. Gaia I know isn't so playful and childlike, even that itself is an understatement. The Gaia I interacted with, wouldn't help me no matter what.

With so many thoughts running through my mind, I felt how my headache was getting worse with each passing moment.

"Hey, you. I'm trying to help you here, and you aren't making it easy with your stupid thinking." The same young and proud voice brought me out from my busy mind.

"Sorry, I have a lot on my mind." I forced myself to smile, despite my face muscles refusing to do so.

"Ew, your smile is horrible. Can you please stop?" Her comment only made me laugh and smile even wider.

"I can't believe it, it's getting worse. Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard?"

"Maybe I did. It's hard to tell when you don't remember even hitting it." I let my lips return to their original position, taking my horrible smile away from the world.

"*Phew* It's finally gone." I could hear relief in her voice.

"Was it really that bad?"

"You have no idea."

"I'm sure you will appreciate it someday."

"Whatever you say" She didn't sound convinced by my words ".....And gone. You can thank me later."

I didn't realize it beforehand, but my headache disappeared completely.

With nothing restristing me any longer, I let my eyelids lift fully up and this is when I saw a grining teenage face of a young girl.

"Now, tell me who are you? And you better not lie to me." She started stomping her foot on the ground, showing me how impatient she was.

I wasn't bothered by her body language and answered in a care free maner. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ale....Adder. And you are?"

(What was that?) Just when I wanted to tell her my real name, I felt how my lips moved on their own and changed it. I had no idea how it happened, but I was certain it meant a lot more than a simple misspoke.

"I'm Gaia. And it's not so nice to meet you."

"You never let go of a chance at being mean, don't you?" Her mean behavior didn't cause any unpleasant feelings in me. It did the opposite, as her young voice created a funny contrast to her words.

"Nope." After saying it, she started swaying to the sides, looking happy that she could say mean things to me and have fun, without experiencing any negative feedback.

"You truly don't care about my feelings." I put my hand on my heart, pretending she broke it with her behavior.

"You got it right... What was your name again? It was something unimportant... Adder! You got it right, Adder." She even acted like she forgot my name already, making me laugh out loud.

"Hahahaha" While laughing, I noticed Gaia look at me with a grin on her face. And just seconds later, she began laughing on her own.

"I like you, Adder. We can become friends." Gaia didn't simply ask me to be her friend, no, she commanded me to be her friend.

"I don't get a say in that?" I raised my upper body, asking Gaia a rhetorical question.

"What do you think?" Gaia replied to me with her own rhetorical question.

"Sure, I will be your friend, Gaia." I hold out my hand to her, wanting us to shake hands.

Gaia gazed at my hand and shook her head, confusing me. "What's wrong? Didn't you want us to be friends?"

"I did." Gaia gave me only half of the answer I expected.

"Then why won't you shake my hand? I don't understand."

Gaia shook her head again, but this time she did something that surprised me. She crouched down and put her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"Thank you." I heard Gaia's voice deprived of anything other than gratitude. There was no insults or mean comments.

I hugged her too and said "Didn't you say I will be the one that will thank you later?"

"Shut up and don't ruin the moment." Gaia's commanding tone returned to her, making me smile and shut up, just like she asked me to.

We hold each other until I felt Gaia moving backward, signaling me that she wanted to end the hug.

Then she stood up and reach her hand out, wanting to help me get up from the ground I was sitting on from the moment we meet.

I grabbed her hand with no hesitation, allowing her to pull me up easily.

"Wha. For having such a small body, you're quite strong."

"You aren't exactly that big yourself." I thought it was one of Gaia's mean comments, but I didn't hear her use the same tone she did previously.

After feeling that something wasn't right, I looked down at my hands, noticing how small they were.

(Did I shrink?) When this though appeared in my mind, I saw that I was only slightly taller than Gaia. Which wouldn't be surprising, if she didn't look like she was 13 years old.

"It was a lot of fun playing with you today, Adder. It's a shame you need to go back home." Gaia spoke those words out of nowhere, making me question why she did so.

"I feel the same, Gaia. But look at the bright side. We can still play tomorrow." My mouth moved on its own again.

"You promise?"

"I promise." This time I replied on my own, feeling like my promise will affect a lot more, than two kids playing the next day.

(What is this feeling?) I didn't know why I felt that way, it made no sense to me. And right after that, my body turned around before heading in unknown direction.

"Bye, Gaia. See you tomorrow." I yelled my goodbyes, when I felt how fear slowly grew larger with each step I took in the direction my body lead me to.

(Why am I scared? And why does it seems like natural reaction of my body?) This fear didn't belong to me, but to someone else who knew exactly where I was going.