I Wish

Chapter 13

“I’m a shitty human being,” I groaned, and really, that should have been my motto by that point. She flicked me lightly in the arm, and my jumper was so fluffy that I barely felt it.

“No talking about my soulmate like that,” Ivy scolded me. I huffed at her, and she just grinned. “Come on, it will be fun,” she goaded. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it didn’t have to be fun. It was somewhere new, somewhere not my house, and therefore it could be awful for all I cared about. I had long since passed the stage of being picky enough for that to be a deal breaker. Still.

“And you promise," I started, and hoping that she didn’t realise that it was on principle more than anything that had me adding in requirements, she cut me off. There was an amused look on her face, like even she realises that not going wasn’t an option anymore.

“You will return here, unharmed and without consequence... this time,” she sighed, “As I promised. Can we go now?” The image of my family popped into my head at random, clear as day. Little moments, and fragments of memories. I swallowed, guilt swirling nauseatingly hot in my stomach because if I hadn’t pictured them I already would have left.

“How can I be sure that you aren’t lying?” I asked suspiciously. Her stare turned cool.

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop calling me a liar when I’m physically incapable on a genetic level, and you aren’t,” she said flatly, and I might have fought her. Might, but her eyes misted with unshed tears and really that was all the justification I needed to throw caution to the wind and stop pretending that I wasn’t going.

“So will we fly?” I asked her, and there was that switch again. Flipping Ivy to a blinding joy that had her scooping me up into a large exuberant hug. She squealed and attempted to jump up and down on the spot. Except I was so short that, given how tightly she held us together, it was more like rocking on my toes. I buried my face into the soft wool and breathed in her flowery scent. The hum I let out was involuntary.

“No, we walk Treasure,” she giggled, pulling me in what was to me a random direction. Ivy, however, seemed to know where we were going and was insistent that we get there as quickly as possible. Given how dark it was, and with how the wind raged, I was glad that she was as confident as I was very much not. It was hard to tell when things changed, granted the dark wasn’t helping, but there was no distinct point where it was obvious that where we had been we weren’t any longer. There were trees that whispered in the same one-but-many-male voice that I remembered. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but it didn’t feel welcoming. The trees grew denser and packed together with no clear path through them, until the both of us were climbing through them with hands clinging together so as not to lose each other.

“Is it supposed to be this hard to get there?” I asked her when I started to get sweaty, and my jumper started to stick to my body. She threw me a dirty look. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, because I hadn’t expected that.

“No. This is all you. Do you have to be this stubborn?” she retorted louder than necessary, “No, don’t answer that. Of course you. It wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” She did that a lot, talked to me like she’d known me forever, and actually managed to pick up enough about me for it to feel convincing. It should have been creepy but it just left me feeling like I hadn’t done a good enough job, with Ivy that is. Keeping true to my pattern regarding the things I didn’t like, I ignored it.

“Me?! You’re the one leading the way, how is this my fault?” I asked her offendedly, it wasn’t my sense of direction we were trusting. It was a shame that I was too busy throwing an internal hissy-fit to notice the tree branch. There was a moment of weightlessness and a twinge in my ankle before I crashed into Ivy. She wrapped both arms around me and twisted to take the brunt of the impact. We didn’t really hit the ground, more like tangled with nature and did not come out victorious.

“This is ridiculous,” she informed me, “Can you just stop being so difficult?”

“I’m not doing this,” I hissed at her venomously, “Clearly, we shall not f*****g pass, and therefore we can’t go this way.” She growled, and shifted a little, trying to get us both free. I don’t know why I bothered wasting my perfectly good Lord of the Rings references on a person that was never going to get it. This whole excursion was a terrible idea. I decided and began to wonder just where we were going to go from here, but if nothing else, it hadn’t been boring.

“That’s why we’re stuck like this. Something about you is resisting, and so we’re not getting in. Stop it, we’re fine,” she says, but it doesn’t help. We were still stuck pressed together in the world’s most awkward hug, and if anybody had happened across us, I would not blame them one bit if it occurred to them that this was how really weird pornos started.

“You really need to redefine your definition of the world fine,” I retorted without any heat, I was too busy blushing. If I had any control over my brain, that last little observation never would have occurred to me.

“I hope you know that I deserve quality make-out time for this,” she said haughtily, but there was a wobbling undertone to her words that flagged a suspicion immediately.

“Do you know what making out entails?” I said, with a curious little hum.

“If it’s kissing, and cuddling, and good over-the-clothes touches, then yes. I absolutely know what it is and feel we should do that, because I deserve it,” she insisted, like it was a given and not an option. There were… so, so many things wrong with that statement I didn’t even know where to start. I ought to go ballistic and explain to her that nothing physical is ever just coughed up like that because the other person thought that they deserved it. Ought to.

“I don’t think so. The hell you deserve it. There I was minding my own business and living my non-existent life before I made one – one, singular, stupid offhand wish, when I could have changed the world, and then there’s you. Being stupidly hot, and funny, and making me laugh even when I shouldn’t want to – let alone be able to,” I ranted at her and felt her wince against me, “We’re not making out because you demand that you deserve it. We are having kisses, and cuddles, and good over the clothes touching because after all this bullshit, I deserve it.” She was laughing, great pearls of laughter that just vibrated right through me as she shook.

“Yes we are,” she cheered me on, like I wasn’t going off like a crazy lady. Yeah, apparently Ivy was more okay with what had just come out of my mouth than I was. I just felt like a tired asshole, and here she was all but shouting ‘Right on.’ The good thing was the force of her laughter helped to dislodge us, and we fell. Rolling into a heap sprawled on the other side of the tree line. It was here that I realised that it wasn't exertion making me sweat. It was hot. Like a summer night, after a 40 degree day. Celsius, Australia does not use Fahrenheit. The grass was nice and cool, and the stars brighter than lightning littering the sky in the thousands.

“Wow,” I whispered in awe, rolling on my back so I could just stare up. Ivy poked me in the arm.

“Hey, did you mean it? What you said about wishing? Is that why this has been so hard? You think you should have wished for something else?” she asked in a small voice. At first I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I felt like an i***t about that, because if I was going to talk to anyone about this without them thinking that it was time to send me off to the funny-farm, then she was pretty much the only option I had.

“Yeah,” I said haltingly and making sure to choose my words very carefully, “Have you seen the state the world is in?” There was a rustling sound as she shifted, but I kept my gaze up.

“The human world? No, I can't say that I pay much attention to it. You were the only thing there I could afford to sacrifice my attention to while I was there. Mostly just when natural disasters strike, like the fires that you had at the beginning of… last year? I think it was last year. It doesn’t translate well,” she said, as if it was no big deal.

“It’s bad, so bad that nobody really remembers those fires and at the time a whole bunch of people were running around talking about what defining moment it was. Actually it was probably always bad, it’s just now with the pandemic people are talking about it and it’s more obvious,” I tried to explain to her. So much had been happening the last couple of years, and it was compounded by the fact that nothing was happening.

“Pandemic?” she queried, sitting up and leaning over me. Her face held a serious edge to it, and did its best to block out any Zen I had been able to find staring up at the almost otherworldly sky.

“Covid-19. It’s complicated, all of the information contradicts each other,” I said, sitting up, and really trying to think about how best to explain it. The more I tried to find the words to explain it, the more I started to feel uneasy. “But this is about as basic as I can get it,” I continued, unable to look at her for some odd reason I couldn’t put my finger on, “According to Google when I first asked way back when all this started; it’s an infectious disease with mild to moderate symptoms and recovery without special treatment. However, some people will become seriously ill and require medical attention.”

“Sounds like the flu,” she responded, as if she didn’t see the problem. That thought was one that had just occurred to me, and I disliked it immensely.

“Yeah, a flu that put the whole world out of commission,” I replied honestly, “Bad flu.”

“That doesn’t sound so complicated,” she says, helping me to my feet. I took the opportunity to peel off my jumper and tie it around my waist, Ivy following suit and throwing hers carelessly over her arm. It was far too hot here to keep it on. After the cold, and the wind, and the solemn promise that I was right on the verge of storming like a b***h, the change was lovely.

“Yeah, but scared people are both terrifying and nuts,” I said with a hollow laugh, “It doesn’t really affect me, I’m far too isolated to be able to catch it. Anyway, where to now?” She got the picture that it was the end of that particular conversation. She smirked and offered me her arm like a teenage boy, playing at being Prince Charming in an early 2000’s movie. The fact that this made me feel better should count for something I decided.

“The prettiest make-out spot you ever did see. Shall we, my lady?” Ivy invited with a flourish. I smiled, apparently now fully committed to the emotional roller-coaster I’d apparently boarded by leaving the house and took it.

“We a lot more than shall, we will, Sweetie,” I offered, and let her lead me to our next destination.