4 For Wood In The Woods

It was Christmas today. After that slightly strange conversation with Elwyn, I stopped him from talking and asked him to spend the night in my house, and he happily agreed. But I couldn't sleep a wink. I mean who would, if such questions were thrown at them in the middle of the night? Just when I thought things were starting to become normal...but then again, I'm Blaine Bennett. I'm the only normal person in my life, while I am somehow constantly surrounded by various oddities.

It was still chilly in the morning and my mother had warned me and Elwyn about a snowstorm within a few hours. This, was weird. A snowstorm, in Vanifernum? Please.

"We're gonna need more firewood and more meat. Elwyn and Blaine, you're bringing home firewood before the storm rages. Elijah will go to buy meat and other ingredients. I need the three of you home in three hours. Okay ?"

"Okay," we replied in unision.

"Oh, and merry Christmas!" She said in a tune and pranced to the television.

"Your mom sure knows how to boss around." Elwyn said.

"She deserves to boss me around."

"Well, true that."

"So, let's go chop some lumber." Elwyn said, feeling excited with an axe in his hands.

"Lumber is not firewood."

"But we still get to cut something down! Come on!"

"We're going to buy firewood like civilized humans, not chop down trees like nomads."

"Trust me, we're going to need this."

"Whatever."

We drove to the town to get my tank filled. Elwyn wouldn't stop talking about this girl he met weeks ago and thinks she's 'the one' for him. She'd leave this town the moment she sees his real self behind all those smiles and cuteness.

"And then, I finally went to her and asked her number. But you won't believe what she said. She did she didn't have a phone! What kind of a lame excuse is that? Couldn't she come up with a better one?"

"Why should she think hard about telling you off with an excuse ? If I were her, I'd throw a punch at that face of yours for trying and bugging me."

He huffed and started to sulk, looking outside the window.

"She was really pretty, man. She kept refusing me politely no matter how much I tried. I'm one of the most handsome guys in town and she turned me down...in a really cute way."

"She's got a good eye for things."

"I can't believe my best friend would say that."

"You need to stop behaving like a desperate teenager."

"You're one to talk."

"Don't start this again or I'll kick you out."

He looked taken aback by my response. I was never like this. Hell, there were times I even forgot the sound of my voice, as I didn't speak much in high school, and middle school. I never spoke to anyone for years. That's how bad I was bullied.

"You've really changed. Tell me, is it because of the surgery? Your profession? Why have you become so arrogant?"

I didn't want to answer. This change just...happened and I'm happy with it. It made me take control of my emotions and conceal my weaknesses in front of the world. That is the way of a mogul in my perspective. The corporates are all wolves waiting for any chance to take over the company I worked my butt off to build, and I found difficulties trying to forget Loralie. Work distracted me. I addicted myself to one thing in attempts of trying to get rid of another. That helped me in a way as I made Octavia one of the best firms in the nation.

"The firewood shop is the other way, Blaine."

I hit the brakes as soon as I realized I spaced out and drove in the wrong direction. The car came to a screeching halt and Elwyn ended up hurting his head from the impact.

"What the hell Blaine?!"

"Sorry for that. But honestly, that's what you get for not putting your seat belt on. This should be a reminder from next time."

"You have no idea how much I want to hurt you right now."

"The feeling's mutual, buddy." I simply shrugged.

We got back on the right road with an imaginary cloud of thunder hovering over the now sulking Elwyn Belcher, and to our dismay, all the shops in town were shut down. The sky started to darken a bit. Maybe there really is a storm coming.

"This situation calls for extreme measures, don't you think Blaine?"

"What's going on in that brain of yours now?"

"A storm is brewing...somewhere close. History is going to repeat itself. Better grab it before the moment vanishes." He said, looking up. Worried that he might be doing his psychic stuff again, I shook him hard.

"Earth to Elwyn! Earth to Elwyn!"

He looked at me as if he snapped from a trance and laughed nervously.

"Oh well, there's nothing much I wanted to say. Hey, I know this spot in the woods whe-"

I did not let him complete the sentence and headed straight for my car. The woods are an undeniably ominous place and something bad happens every time I set foot on that land. How did Elwyn even discover that 'spot' there? What the-

"Stop spacing out, you scholarly bird brain. You do not leave a conversation as you wish! I know of a place in the woods where you'll find firewood, but we need to chop some trees down. Look, my intuition was right. I did the right thing bringing the axe with me." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I refuse."

"Then you'll have to suffer in the chill of Death Valley's snow storm when the power goes off in your house. Do you have better plans than firewood for keeping your place warm without a heater? Do you have the guts to face your mother's fury?"

"I hate it when you're right."

He smirked and sat in the car. I sighed.

"The woods it is, then."

But deep down, I had this weird feeling that Elwyn had predicted something and didn't tell me about it. He's a psychic, after all.