Beast of Bamboo

"Elliot, Elliot, wake up!," Everett called out. Elliot could feel someone violently shaking his shoulder.

He cracked open his dry eyes to see his own self. Except that self was calling his name, so it couldn't be him. It must be his brother. Elliot swatted Everett's hand away and got up from the ground he was laying on. He propped up his torso up against his elbows to survey his surroundings. He looks around, squinting his eyes which they finally landed on Everett.

"Huh?," he looks at the identical staring back at him with furrowed eyebrows. Elliot rubbed his dry eyes that were stained by his stray tears.

The tears were formed while he was still sleeping. He quickly got up to his feet and surveyed his surroundings properly. He was standing in the middle of a huge forest. Not just any forest, it was the Bamboo forest. He turned his head to the left to see that his twin brother stood quietly beside him.

"Am I dreaming?," Eliot questioned his brother as he stared up at the tall, gigantic green bamboo trees.

"We are in separate bodies, this is 100% a dream whether you like it or not," Everett concluded, crossing his arms.

Everett looked down near the bamboo stalks to see new bamboo shoots bursting out of the soil. Big bamboo shoots, they looked fresh and ready to be cooked. Everett made his way towards the bamboo shoots. He kneeled down on the dirt ground and began plucking them out of the ground. Elliot saw his brother's doing and stood behind him, observing his actions.

"What are you doing?," Elliot questioned, tilting his head quizzically.

"We're in a huge forest, there's no use standing around. We're going to die here if we don't gather our essential needs before sunset," Everett huffed.

"Right, let me help you," Elliot smiled, lifting the sleeve of his shirt to show his medium sized bicep.

Everett sent him a soft smile and got up from the ground. He held out his hands filled with bamboo shoots for his brother to hold. He shifted the bamboo shoots into Elliot's outstretched hands. Elliot held the bamboo shoots against his chest to avoid them from falling. Everett dusted his hands and proceeded to search for a place where they could make camp. But before that, he turned to his brother. He took out a medium sized rod that had a resemblance of a stick from his pants pocket.

Everett raised his wand while mouthing something intangible. It's intangible to Elliot's ears but he paid attention nonetheless. Blue sparkles surrounded Everett's outstretched hand and illuminated his face under the dark shadows of the tall bamboo trees. After circling his hand for a few seconds, the blue sparkles dissipate revealing a wooden bucket. Elliot pouted at the result.

"After all that pizazz, you summoned a bucket?," Elliot complained.

"All that 'pizazz' is your point of view, I summoned it much faster than you had time to comprehend," Everett said, tucking his wand inside his pants pocket.

Everett held out the bucket by its handle towards his brother. Elliot placed the freshly hand-picked bamboo shoots into the bucket. Elliot was just about to dust his hand when Everett shoved the bucket to his chest. He grabbed the bucket by the sides, balancing himself while trying to avoid falling on his rear.

"Hey! what the-," Elliot began bellowing.

Everett silenced him by placing a hand harshly over his mouth.

"Shh....were surrounded by creatures who'll be lurking in the night. We don't want to be their next hunting ground now do we?," Everett whispered.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You've got no reason to shove me just now," Elliot ripped his brother's hand from his mouth before saying that.

Everett smiled. "I know. It's because your expressions are always amusing to me,".

Everett grunted but composed himself. Fighting wouldn't do them any good in the predicament they're in.

"Right....," Elliot dragged.

"Alright, follow that path ahead. You'll discover a flowing river. Wash the bamboo shoots and fetch us some water using that bucket," Everett requested.

"What are you going to do?," Elliot questioned.

"I'm going to find some twigs and sticks to make a fire. Go on ahead, I'll set up camp," Everett said.

"You got it," Elliot said and began walking along the path towards the flowing river.

"By the way, I've marked our camp with a smiling face. So, be sure it's a smiling face. Also, make sure all the bamboo shoots are counted," Everett mentioned.

Elliot waved at his brother without turning back at him and proceeded deeper into the Bamboo Forest. He continued down the path his brother had told him to follow. He kept vigorously walking along the path. Eventually, his ears picked up the sound of flowing water. He smiled while making his way towards the river bank. The river was filled with huge and tiny rocks, but it was flowing nonetheless.

Elliot knelt down and spread the bamboo shoots in between the rocks with flowing water. He was feeling rather fatigued so he wanted the water to his job of scrubbing out the excess soil that was stuck to the bamboo shoots. While he waited, he decided to view the scenery around him. Elliot raised his arms, taking a deep breath and exhaling it.

'The air is so fresh,' Elliot muttered in his mind.

"Wait....I can talk in my head?," mumbled Elliot as he ponders about the miracle.

"Oh wait, I'm in a dream," Elliot sighed sadly.

He knelt back down and collected the bamboo shoots and placed them on the grassy ground beside him. He picked them up one by one from in between the rocks.

"seven, eight, nine.....hey, where's ten?," Elliot wondered.

He got up and look around and in-between the rocks which he had laid the bamboo shoots for cleaning. There was nothing but small schools of fish swimming around. He stared at the flowing river, puzzled by the sudden decrease of the bamboo shoots with no evidence to go by. He shrugged his shoulders and knelt down to fetch some fresh water with the bucket Everett summoned for him.

He realized he had one small problem. How would he carry both the heavy bucket filled with water and the bamboo shoots at the same time? He came up with a solution the minute after without giving it a second thought.

Elliot walked along the path back towards the camp his brother had set up with a smile. He had a hop in his step as he softly hums a happy tune. His steps made up the beat while his humming made up the melody. Behind him was a floating wooden bucket of water and nine bamboo shoots. The commodities float in time with the rhythm that Elliot was creating simultaneously.

How did he do that you ask? Well, simple. This is a dream, not just any dream. It was his dream. As far as any human being know, dreams are not reality. Therefore, anything could happen inside it without any prior knowledge. Dreams being stimulated by outside problems such as controversies, sadness, or any negative emotion may be worst than real life. Some may also dream certain memories of the past that came back to haunt them. But then again, people would rather dream than going back to reality. However the dream, we must always wake up and continue our life in reality to survive.

Elliot knew that this was a dream because he saw an identical face but not of his own features. His hair is green whilst his brother's hair was yellow. His eyes are yellow, his brother's were green. He had almost forgotten what his brother had looked like after so many years. But no, he can't forget what Everett looked like, he couldn't even if he wanted to. His brother was in his own body now for the time being, that's already enough to make him happy.

Elliot reached the campsite only to find nothing. No campfire, not smiley face.....no Everett. His eyes when wide in shock, he looked around for any signs of his brother, but there was nothing. There were no footprints either, not a single trace of Everett. Elliot placed all the bucket of water and the fresh bamboo shoots onto the ground beside him. He surveyed the area for any sign of his brother but to his avail, he couldn't spot his brother anywhere.

"Everett is usually meticulous about survival in the forest. But, I can't find him anywhere," Elliot muttered to himself.

He began going along the path towards the river again in hopes that his brother would be there. Everett probably went to find him because he took to long in his book. That would not be probable but it might be a possibility in this scenario. Elliot soon reached the river to find his brother kneeling by the riverbank. He smiled and raced towards his brother in a full sprint.

"Brother!," Elliot called out excitedly.

Everett glanced at his sprinting brother, his red eyebrows furrowed and his eyes went wide in shock. Elliot realized that his brother was not looking at him but was staring at something behind him. Elliot glanced behind himself to see a large black creature with huge orange eyes staring back at him. The creature cannot be seen for it's body was shielded by the shadows casted by the huge bamboo trees. The only visible thing that indicated it made its presence known was its two large orange eyes.

In a state of panic, Elliot ran quicker towards his brother. Fortunately, Elliot had already stood up and sprinted to him with his wand in hand. He sprinted past his brother who came to an abrupt halt.

"Elliot, start running back to camp!," Everett ordered as he ran passed Elliot.

Elliot was too stunned by the beast's appearance to escape. He could only stare at its huge orange eyes. Everett fought with the beast using defensive spells that came out in blue sparks. The blue sparks illuminate the black beast, revealing its shiny fur and claws. It used it's claws, trying to scratch Everett. Heck, the claws could even kill him in one blow.

"EVERETT!," Elliot screamed out, running towards him.

Everett's eyes open with a start and awoken him. The dreadful scene from his dream had awoken him from his distressful slumber. He placed a hand on his chest to find his heart is beating fast. He leaned against Millard, trying to calm himself down. He took in his surroundings to see that Millard was here, the Dancer was not. The trail beside him seemed familiar to him. He gasped as he realized that it was the trail from his dream.

He got up and ran along the path towards the river from his dream. He wonders what he'll discover if the Dancer was not by the river.