„Never.“, thought Jamie, „Never again will I travel with this Forrest Ghost!“

She starred annoyed at Laelole walking cheerfully in Front of her.

They had spent the Morning packing up things in Jamie´s house, then raided a bunch of secret Places and abandoned Ghost Houses for Food.

It wasn´t hard to tell that Laelole didn´t bring her to the most secret of Places, or even any kind of Settlement to begin with. Did Forrest Ghost, even do that, live together in Groups? How many of them had lived in this Forrest before they had been attacked? How big was the Forrest?

Jamie sighed. Sadly, other than providing them with some food and carrying the heavy bag with ease, Laelole wasn´t exactly good company. He talked like a waterfall and managed to place Questions so skillfully, that she only noticed them once he starred at her huffily, or rather, amused, as though he knew how nerve wrecking he behaved, and especially enjoyed that.

The worst part of this whole arrangement, though: He talked about Birds, Butterflys, Flowers, Trees and every most boring thing he could find. But he would not talk about himself. Or about his fellow Ghosts, how they lived, or even, what he thought awaited them once they left the forest. Would they even leave the Forrest? Was the whole world covered in Trees?

She tried to ask him, but he had a way in changing her Question around until it sounded like she was interested in any of the plants growing under that big tree on the left, they were daisies by the way, very pretty,... Jamie had given up.

„Wait a second.“, he said, suddenly stopping in his youthful walk on the barely recognizable path and pricking up his ears.

„Jamie, did you hear that just now?“

„Yeah, Sure, I agree, it looks beautiful!“

Laelole sighed, but didn´t continue walking, so she looked up at him.

„There was a sound just now. Did you hear it?“

Did an especially gracefully colored Butterfly fly by his ears, and now he was too astonished to even walk? She stiffened her shoulders and prepared for another endless story about some kind of moth, when Laelole suddenly grabbed her Arms and pulled her into a thicket beside them.

The brake was covered with Roses and consequently their Thorns, that pierced trough her clothes and into Skin.

„Autsch, Damm it, you -“

She started angrily, but he instantly covered her mouth.

Right in front of them, at the Path that they had followed, now a group of men ran by. They wore Black Uniforms and carried strange machines close to their chests. The way they carried them made them seem important, though they didn´t look too dangerous. Their feet destroyed any traces of Nature under them, and they were gone as soon as they had come.

Laelole let go off her the second their voices disappeared, but she still pushed him a bit further away, shaking with anger.

„Why did you not tell me right away that there was danger coming? You should have known I wouldn´t listen to you after all that nonsense talk from before!“

She angrily started picking thorns out of her Pants, while he just sat there on the dirty ground, astonished. After a few moments of silence, Laelole stood up and offered her a hand, which she grabbed without hesitation.

„Listen, Jamie.... I´m sorry.“

He looked at her, then slowly breathed out and observed their surroundings carefully. Then he turned back at her with a hesitant smirk.

„Maybe I shouldn´t have talked in the first place if it wasn´t about my Heritage or Family, right?“

So he absolutely did catch up to that. At least he wasn´t ignorant. She made a face and then gave him a small smile.

„You should´ve.“

They started walking again, and the sun wandered across the sky with them.

She finally asked the now very quiet Laelole about the strange machinery the men had carried. He looked at her with pity and sadness in his eyes, and she particularly didn´t like that.

„They were Guns. Automatic ones, to be completely faithful.“

She narrowed her Eyebrows in Confusion.

„So, what are “Guns“?“

„They shoot little objects of metal at you, and when they hit, they pierce your skin and destroy your organs, muscles and Bones.“

Jamie stared at him with big eyes and felt fear crawling in her skin.

„Let´s be quiet from now on. They could come back any moment, and we still have our ways to go.“, he said with an earnest tone.

„Oh, no. Don´t treat me like a child, just cause I don´t know a few things that you know. We´re doing this together, right? Why are those people after you? Why did they capture your family? Where exactly are we going? Do you even know where they are imprisoned?“

Her voice had gotten steadier, the more she talked, and she had come to a halt.

Jamie stared directly into the forest Ghost´s eyes. He held her Gaze, not budging either.

Suddenly, her heart made a strange jump. Seeing his gray eyes with very light sprinkles in the middle from up close colored them even more familiar, and the way he looked back at her felt almost intimate.