The Alpha King Is Mad

Episode 5

TRACY

It hurt everywhere.

I winced as I tried to move my legs. It felt like every joint in my body had been hammered on. My eyes still closed, I inhaled deeply as I managed to get myself to sit. The rays of the sun forced their way into the thickness of the shade made by the myriad of tall trees all around.

We were in the woods—that much was certain.

"Oh my…" I let out before throwing up on the ground.

I tried to wipe my mouth but my hands were dirty so I had to settle with cleaning my mouth with my blouse.

Justin was a few feet away from me. He lay on the ground, not moving at all. After a few deep breaths, I attempted to push myself to go and check on Justin. Just one little problem—I couldn't get myself to move. It was as though my legs didn't have any use. With every fibre of my being, I crawled to where my brother lay.

"Thank goodness," I let out after hearing the somewhat stertorous breathing of my brother. At least he was breathing. Huge relief. Now I just had to find out where we were.

This was one of those moments where I didn't know what to make of anything. This one, more extreme than any I have ever experienced. I had tried pinching myself and it took me quite a while to come to the conclusion that hurting myself wasn't helping at all.

I wasn't dreaming. Yeah, I wasn't. But this felt surreal. I knew I wasn't unconscious and that was even more terrifying because, at least, people woke up from dreams. One moment I was speaking to my brother and the next moment everything just went bonkers.

What the actual f*ck happened? Where were we?

I looked up and watched as a flock of birds moved from one giant tree to another, chirping non-stop as they flew. Apart from the constant chirping the birds made, the only sounds I heard were the fluttering the trees made, and Justin's breathing.

"Tracy," Justin said, turning on his back as he regained consciousness. "Where are we?"

Our eyes met and that was all the answer he needed. He knew I didn't know any more than he did.

He shook his head, still lying on the dusty and sturdy ground of the forest. "What is happening? Are we dead?" He kept his stare on me and slapped his hands on his knee when he saw I didn't say anything. "Oh my god! We are dead!"

"Do you feel dead?"

"How does death feel?"

I helped him sit up. "I don't know, Justin. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't feel like this. That is if it feels like anything."

Justin squeezed both of his hands into fists, probably to conceal how much they were shaking. He wasn't doing a very good job.

He was scared shitless. I couldn't blame him because I was also scared too. More than just fear, what I felt was this fire of desperation burning inside of me because I needed to understand what was going on. I didn't just want to know what was happening—I needed to. Our lives were on the line. I craved an answer like a predator did a prey. The saddest part was that I didn't even have an idea as to how to go about this and there didn't seem to be even a scintilla of a clue.

I placed an arm on his shoulder, turning him so I could see his face. "Look, Justin, it's going to be fine. This is probably some advanced tech sorta sh!t. We'll get through this together."

"Tracy, look me in the eyes and tell me you believe this has anything to do with tech. Look me in the eyes and tell me you think we will be fine. Can you do that?"

I shifted my gaze from Justin's face to one of the many trees around us. His fear was more than justified. He was right to be scared. Man, I was shocked that he wasn't losing his sh!t already because I sure as hell was.

A thought crossed my mind. At least, it started with a thought which led me to a memory I hadn't brought to mind in quite a while. It was a moment of peace and I guessed it was because of the calm and quiet in the woods. It was a time when I went with Sarah, a friend of mine when I was younger, to her grandmother’s to spend the weekend. I recall Sarah telling me she was going to stay with her grandmother and I decided to tag along.

It was worth it. Every moment.

Now, don't get it twisted. Nothing ‘big’ happened. In fact, we didn't even leave the house more than two or three times. The reason that weekend never left my mind was Sarah's grandmother, Mrs Guilder. She was the reason herself. Mrs Guilder was a delight. She radiated so much positive energy that I found it very easy talking to her even though I had known her for less than three days. It was the way she smiled from her eyes, holding it like it was never supposed to leave her face. It was the way she cared whether you enjoyed the meal she prepared, her eyes lighting up when you thanked her for the meal. It was how gentle she was when teaching me the ‘tricks and secrets’ of learning how to knit. Mrs Guilder had been nearly eighty years old but she was ever attentive to listen to the very little wisdom Sarah and I had to share with her. The woman was a darling.

However, what particularly stood out about my stay with Mrs Guilder that weekend wasn't all that but how observant she was. The woman might have been old, but her mind was as sharp as ever.

"You miss your mother," she said, sliding into a seat beside me.

"How do you know this?" I asked, wondering whether this old woman could read my thoughts.

She nudged my shoulder as she smiled even wider. "I could hear the hurt in your voice when you spoke about her."

"I never spoke about her. I don't ever speak about her."

She gave my shoulder a nudge again. "When you're my age, you will realise that there's more than one way to speak."

For some reason, I never forgot that weekend—, particularly that dialogue. I never forgot it. I guessed the little version of myself wanted a mother so badly that the love Mrs Guilder showed to me stuck in my mind like glue.

"I think we can't keep sitting here," said Justin, getting to his feet. "We need to find someone who would help give us directions on how to go home."

I nodded, managing to get on my feet. "You're right. We can't keep sitting here. We don't know if it's safe here."

"We are in the middle of the woods and we got here via a not-very-normal way... I'm sure it's not safe. There's nothing I would love more than leaving here and forgetting today happened."

At first, I thought we were wasting our time. It was just the same species of trees in the forest— and they seemed countless. We kept walking around, hoping to see anything that would lead us to a road or a person. After walking for what felt like hours, we found a pathway. It was barely wide enough to accommodate Justin and me as we walked.

The scenery of the landscape was, well, different. Beautiful, but odd. I couldn't recognise any of the plants— some of them appeared to have rather awkward shapes— even awkward for plants. Under other circumstances, I would be happy to hang around here.

"This place looks like we jumped into a page of a kid's book," Justin said, kicking stones as he walked. "Tracy, look at the bloody sky. Where the hell are we?"

Oh, well that's unusual.

I guess I was so disoriented that I hadn't even noticed how awkward the sky was. Again, it was beautiful, but it felt unreal. The very light blue colour of the sky looked like it was painted— or it just did that way because it wasn't like anything like the sky we were accustomed to seeing.

"Hi," a little girl said as she slipped out of the forest.

She had been running after a butterfly but gave up the chase as she saw us. I took a very deep breath in an attempt to conceal the fact that she had scared the hell out of me. The girl was young, no older than eight or nine. She was in a long dress made of wool— the dress was so long it swept the ground as she walked towards us.

"Can you help me get my kite? It got stuck there yesterday. Mama does not want to help me. She says girls shouldn't play with kites." She explained, pointing to the top of a nearby tree not more than a few feet away.

"Sure," I said, smiling back at her. "After I do that, you will take me to your mum so I can use her phone."

The girl bit on her fingernails as she looked away, clearly deep in thought. "I don't what that is, but I'm sure my mum will."

"Okay, darling," I let out, "take me to your mother."

She waited until we got her kite down before she began to walk ahead of us, leading us on a path that she seemed to know only too well.