He didn’t say anything as we left the backyard and started our journey into the forest. Although quiet, it gave me more time to appreciate the forest as we walked. It was a beautiful walk filled with lots of new plants to look at. I was constantly stopping to look at some of the plants that I didn’t normally see.
One of these plants was a beautiful wild morning glory. I’d seen them in some of the gardens that accompany some of the city buildings, but that was my first time seeing them bloom in the wild. The morning glories have a sad life. They bloom in the morning just to have their flowers die shortly after. It was such a waste that their petals faded away so quickly when they were such beautiful flowers.
It was a long walk, but it was nice. Max and I didn’t say much on the walk towards the river, which made the hike so much more enjoyable for me. Occasionally, Max would pull out his stupid notebook and jot down some mystery word or phrase. I used to wonder what he wrote down in his notebook, but anytime I asked, he would just shrug me off and say that it’s not important.
Once we made it to the river, Max unfolded a large blanket he had brought with him and spread it out near the bank. I was getting ready to wade into the water when a butterfly showed up. It was fluttering beside my head. As it fluttered beside me, I could feel that it was trying to tell me something.
I stuck out my hand, and it quickly landed in the palm of it. I studied it as it sat there. It seemed so sad and lonely. I didn’t know how, but somehow, I could tell it was begging me to help it. However, the type of help it wanted wasn’t help that I was ready to give.
Max was watching me as I held the butterfly and watched me as I walked to a tree, transferred the butterfly onto a limb, and apologized to it. He looked at me puzzled, “Why are you apologizing to it?”
“I can’t do what it is asking of me.”
He gave me one of those “you’re crazy looks” and asked, “What do you mean?”
“The butterfly is old and wants to leave this world. He asked me to help him to the next phase of his life.”
“The butterfly wanted you to kill it?”
“He didn’t say kill, but it was something to that effect.”
“I didn’t hear anything, and as far as I know, butterflies can’t speak human.”
“Well, he didn’t really say it.”
“Then how do you know what it wanted.”
“I don’t know. I just did.”
Max took out his notebook and, yet again, jotted down something on its pages. I looked at him with inquisitive eyes, hoping that he would tell me what he had written that time. He looked at me and answered my silent plead, “I wrote ‘possible shapeshifter that can talk to animals who is stuck in human form?'”
I laughed at him. He may have thought that I was weird, but at least, I didn't believe in some of the ludicrous things he thought I could possibly be. “And you think I’m weird.” I commented.
“You are. You have some strange ability to communicate with nature apparently, and that’s not human. This would mean that you’re not human, unless you're making it up.”
“I’m not making it up, but I don’t know how to explain it.” I turned away from him and walked back to the river's edge.
I put one foot into the water. It was cold, but it was really nice. I put my other foot into the water and waded deeper and deeper into the cool liquid. Max watched me as I walked around in the water enjoying its refreshing chill.
Minnows were swimming along the edges and fled when I got close to them; they were interesting to watch as they fled. They would catch the sun's rays and reflect them back, making a flash of light, as they sped off away from me. Being there was pleasant and peaceful; I could have stayed there all day, everyday if Max would have let me.
I continued to splash in the water while Max sat on the blanket. The water felt really nice as it splashed against my legs. I belonged out there; it was much better than spending my time inside a building. The sounds of nature were soothing to my ears and the smells were refreshing.
After a while, I decided to lay in the shallows of the river. Apparently, I had fallen asleep there, and Max had to wake me up. The sun was getting ready to set as I reluctantly got out of the water.
“Falling asleep in water is dangerous. Don’t you know that?” Max asked me as he folded his blanket.
“You were watching me; I was safe. Besides if it's so dangerous, why didn't you wake me sooner? We’ve been out here all day.”
“What if I hadn’t been paying attention to you? Anyway, are you hungry? I packed some sandwiches to eat, but you fell asleep. I don’t know how you slept for that long. I ate some, but you can eat the rest as we walk back to the house.”
“Yeah, I’d like one.”
Max reached into his bag and pulled out two saran wrapped sandwiches and handed them to me. I took them and unwrapped one and ate it as I followed behind him. Something was familiar about him. Every time I watched him walk, it was as if I knew him before my accident. However, I didn’t think it was possible that we knew each other in my past because I believed he would have told me he did.
I knew that my lost memories hurt me, but I think it would hurt someone else more if I had forgotten them, but they still remembered me. I was thankful that Max and I probably didn’t know each other before I met him.
It was strange that despite my image being everywhere, no one claimed to know me. Was I a recluse in my past? Was I raised by wolves? It was really disheartening not to know my past. I could feel that I had one, and I knew that I was missing something or someone; but I had no memory, so I had no clue what or who I was missing.
It was quickly getting dark as we walked back to the house. I didn’t want to go back to the house at all and thought about running away from Max to hide in the woods, but I couldn’t do that to him. He would be worried about me, and I didn’t want to cause him any stress.
As we made it back into the back yard, Max patted my back, sending another strange tingle through my body, "Hope you enjoyed your day."
Once we made it back to the house, Max went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, and I went to the living room and sat on the couch. Normally, Max would cook real food from scrap, but tonight he cheated and pulled out things from the freezer and just threw it into the oven. He also grabbed a box of instant potatoes and a can of corn. He prepared the mashed potatoes and heated up the corn on the stove as the mystery meat he threw into the oven warmed up. I didn’t get to see what he put in the oven, so I had to wait for it to be placed on a plate to know what it was.
When I saw Max gathering plates and utensils, I made my way to the table. I sat down in my chair and waited for him to serve me. It wasn’t long before he placed a plate of quick foods in front of me. Turned out, the mystery meat was fishsticks that smelled kind of funny. The food was alright, but it lacked the flavor of Max’s normal dishes.
When Max sat down he announced to me, “Were going to be going out to the forest with Karl again.”
“I don’t want to go there.” I groaned.
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t want us there.”
“That’s silly. It doesn’t matter what the forest wants; we’re going tomorrow.
“Why? Can’t we go somewhere else?”
“You like nature. Why are you so against going there?”
“Something there doesn’t feel right.”
“It’ll be a quick lunch, but we need to meet Karl.”
“I’m not going.”
“You have no choice. I’ll drag you if I have to.”
I stopped responding to him and quickly scarfed my meal down. When I was done, I carried my plate to the sink. Without looking at Max, I walked past the dinning room to take a quick shower. I was mad and wanted nothing to do with the trip the next day. I quickly finished my shower and threw on some random night clothes.
After getting dressed, I pulled my pillow off of the bed and grabbed a blanket out of the closet. Being the drama king I am, I loudly walked into the living room and threw my bed items onto the couch.
As I was getting ready to climb in, Max asked, “What are you doing?’
I glared at him and continued to get under the blanket. I didn’t say anything to him. I wanted to let him know how displeased I was with him. He didn’t say anything else to me that night as he cleaned up the mess left in the kitchen. He turned off the lights and went to shower.
I fell asleep on the couch that night, but I magically woke up in Max’s bed. I was still mad at him, and I wasn’t happy that he moved me. I got out of our bed and went back to the couch; it wasn’t long after I got out of bed when Max woke up and started breakfast. I didn’t pay much attention to him; I even refused to eat, and I could visually tell that this bothered him. I was hoping that if I maintained my displeasure with him, he’d cancel the outing.
However, that didn’t happen. He ended up dragging me out of the house as I screamed at the top of my lungs that I didn’t want to go.
He manhandled me into his car and buckled me in. He walked to the drivers side of the car, and I quickly undid my buckle and bolted out of the car. This didn’t work; Max quickly caught back up to me and pulled me back to the car. He forced me back into it, and I attempted to flee several more times before he eventually put me in the backseats from which I wasn’t able to open the doors from the inside. I later learned this was due to child lock.
That was the first time that Max ever did anything that really made me upset. It was a new experience because I was used to him catering to my wants.
It was a long ride to get back to the forest, and I hated every minute of the drive. On the bright side, the forest didn’t tell us to go away on this second trip. This made me feel a little bit better about going to the forest, but I was still unhappy. Max parked the car, and we started walking into the woods towards the area we last met Karl. It was a long walk, but we eventually made it to the clearing where Detective Karl was waiting for us.
“How are you guys doing today?” Detective Karl asked as we got into hearing distance.
“Doing pretty good, but it would seem that Felix is a bit pissed though.” Max answered him.
“What’s wrong, Felix?” Detective Karl asked me.
I ignored him and started looking around. It was amazing out there, and it was huge. I walked around the clearing to keep my distance away from Max; I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. The forest was more lively than it was the previous visit. It was as if it had accepted us into it and was okay with us being there. I found a nice area away from Max and relaxed as I studied the area.
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