word count: 1381
Chapter 3
Van
Theo sighed as we walked through the forest.
“I can’t believe you brought it,” he said, running his hand through his hair. He looked unnecessarily stressed. I didn’t see why. We had gotten out of the ruins without any issues. We hadn’t even seen a return of the shadow people, despite there being no clear explanation for why they had even disappeared in the first place.
“It helped us out,” I pointed out.
“We don’t even know what it is,” Theo argued. “We can’t just...just…”
He let out a tired, frustrated sigh.
“We should have just left it in the ruins.”
For a little bit of context: the infamous it Theo and I were discussing was the same mannequin that had tried kidnapping my body. Said mannequin had been surprisingly responsive to my idea of it helping us climb out of the ruins by using it as a ladder. There was the question of if it actually comprehended my request, but it didn’t fight me climbing on top of it. Before I had been able to figure out how to get the mannequin out with us when Theo and I made it back above ground had started scaling the rocks like it was some kind of professional rock climber. It did it so fast that Theo had given a terrified yelp when it finally reached the top; I was too busy looking for an incredibly long stick to yank it out of the ruins with to notice.
Though Theo was eager to blame me for it following us as we trudged through the woods, I actually had very little say with the whole matter. The mannequin had been trailing behind us for a good five minutes before I finally decided to embrace it as part of our now makeshift trio. By this point in the conversation, it was so close that I had been able to sling my arm over its shoulder. I didn’t let Theo know that I had only put my arm around it in the first place because I knew he would panic if he thought the mannequin was the one initiating the contact.
Better blame me than it.
While Theo was noticeably spooked by our friend, the mannequin did have a bonus: its eyes worked as a replacement flashlight. As the sky grew darker with the passing of time, the mannequin’s glowing blue eyes provided us with just enough light to prevent us from stumbling into another set of ruins.
I skillfully avoided a low-hanging branch and stepped over a rock jutting out of the ground. The mannequin wasn’t as lucky. After seeing it stumble over the rock and be whacked in the face by the branch, I decided to switch from using it as an armrest to being its guide.
“We should give it a name,” I suggested.
Theo stared at me.
“If it’s going to be traveling with us, we’ll need something to call it by.” Theo just groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “Maybe something like…”
I turned the mannequin away from an oncoming tree. The danger having now passed, I glanced back over at the mannequin. There was a name on the tip of my tongue. I wasn’t the best at naming things, but this name just felt right.
“Temp,” I said. “Short for Temporary.”
Theo gave me a long, hard look.
Temp – clearly in support of its new name – made a happy little whirring sound.
If Theo had any more objections, he certainly didn’t voice them. That was probably because we suddenly saw a light appear on the horizon. It wasn’t a strong light; I could barely make it out against the darkening sky. But when I peered through the trees (and turned Temp away from another low-hanging branch) I could just barely make out the outline of a building.
I glanced at Theo.
I glanced at Temp.
And then I glanced back in the direction of the building.
“Whatever happens next,” I said, “follow my lead.”
I walked towards the building and the light with the mannequin in tow. The sound of Theo’s soft but steady footsteps filled my ears. It mixed with the mannequin’s more uncertain, uneven ones. Mine were nowhere to be found. The sound was surprisingly calming; it was almost like a lo-fi track. Add in the crickets chirping and random, unseen animals scurrying in the brush, and it sounded like the nature CDs I used to listen to when trying to fall asleep as a kid.
As we got closer, the building slowly became more than a blurry outline. It was a picturesque hut of stone and straw. It even had a little stone wall surrounding it. Add in the single, solitary lamp standing on a wooden post that towered over a wooden gate, and it felt like a scene straight out of a Studio Ghibli movie.
Theo and Temp’s footsteps became harder.
I looked down.
The forest’s dirt had become a mismatched stone path. The stones were all gray bricks, but the shades and sizes all varied. It took a little extra work to guide Temp over them as we ducked underneath the single, pulsing lamp.
I pushed the gate open.
A loud creak filled the calm night air.
I had been hoping to have the element of surprise, but the lights almost immediately turned on inside of the building. A few seconds later, a figure passed by the window closest to us – and stepped out through the wooden front door. The owner of the hut was apparently a middle-aged woman. I couldn’t put an exact age to her face, but her hair had a few gray streaks to it. That part didn’t make me pause.
What made me hesitate was her outfit. It wasn’t what I expected someone her age to be wearing – or anyone to be wearing, for that matter. It was something straight out of the 1980s: high-waisted jeans with a thin brown belt, a button-up shirt, and a pair of much more modern Converses.
It was like I was seeing a ghost.
I glanced back at Theo. He looked a little confused, but he was staring right at her. He wasn’t staring at the open door. He had to be able to see her, too. Even Temp was looking at her. It looked like the owner of this place just had a very questionable fashion sense.
The woman looked at us.
I opened my mouth, ready to give the story I had already come up with. I wasn’t going to jump to assumptions about where we were or who she was until she gave us some kind of clue or indicator.
The woman dropped her flashlight.
The flashlight rolled across the ground until it came to a stop at Temp’s feet. The woman didn’t make a move to get it. She just kept looking at us like we were suddenly the ghosts. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come to this place without tidying up - the blood, rips and charred clothes probably looked a bit questionable.
“Oh Rew,” she whispered, “you’re-you’re new.”
Theo crouched down beside Temp. After grabbing the flashlight, he walked over to the woman and extended it to her. She reached out a shaking hand, but didn’t take it away from him. I shoved aside my story for another time; it looked like we were already going to be getting some answers.
“I...I can’t believe someone finally came again,” she said. “You’re-You’re really dead, aren’t you?”
Theo gave me a questioning look.
Not for the first time in the day, I was surprisingly – and worryingly – clueless.
She finally took the flashlight from Theo. Hands still shaking and footwork now unsteady, she returned to the front door of the building. We lingered in the yard as she pushed the old, wooden door open. A moment later, she was gesturing for us to follow her inside.
Theo and I made eye contact.
I couldn’t entirely read his expression, but I took the way he glanced over at the woman as a cue to enter the building. I led Temp inside – making sure to push its head down so it didn’t hit the low doorway.
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