Bubble Of Love
2095 Words
"Let's go, what are we waiting for?" Blake said, skipping along in front of the disappointed girl. The two walked up a hill by the end of the road, at the top, a long, outstretched field made usually for soccer was waiting for them. One half of it was taken up by rowdy older boys, the other half, a small girl with a shoulder-length haircut that was pulled back by a hairband was waiting patiently in the corner. She wore a grey dress with ripped up slippers.
"Um, who's that?" Blake asked
"Willow. She's my best friend," Laney looked at him with less wonder on her face "It won't bother you if she plays with us, will it?"
"I mean, sure it won't," Blake stared up at her "But is seems like she's been playing already, looking so dirty and all."
Laney gave the boy an evil eye and marched up to him "My friend is NOT dirty? Understand?!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Blake quickly back-pedaled as much as he could "You're friend is not dirty, or ugly, or anything! I was joking. Bad joke, sorry."
Blake's friends all did a massive face-palm. How hard is it for him to just talk to a girl? He does it all the time with his sisters and mother and Light.
"Willow!" Laney exclaimed, running up to her friend. Willow's dull face brightened upon seeing her and the two embraced. "I've never heard of Willow before, if I'm being honest." Blake admitted. Light agreed. As did Tobias. Flare just scoffed and cruelly pointed out the reason why "It's because you're so invested in being a loner you don't even notice your own classmates."
"Oh, well. They seem close." Light said, changing the subject. That subject went a little sour though when the four caught the girls kissing each other on the cheeks.
"Really close." Flare nodded, glad to know this would hurt Blake a big deal.
The toddler was confused and sad "Did they just-"
"It's fine," Light said, hoping to give Blake some sort of a chance "I've read that lots of friends do that in France."
"Are we in France?" Flare asked
"The only type of friends that do that are friends who are married." Tobias stated, unaware of Blake's currently heartbroken state.
"Blake, this is Willow. Remember her name this time." Laney said flatly, bringing out her friends arm to shake the boys.
"Hi." She said shyly, looking away from him.
"Hi." he said, also averting eye contact so the girls wouldn't see him tear up.
The three spent the afternoon playing football. Laney was the only one that kept the talking going. She explained how she had been trying to get Blake to talk to her for weeks now because he seemed so lonely until today where she finally got Blake to talk and laugh with her and the next thing she knew he was falling out of the sky. "Humans can't fly." Willow stated
"But you should have seen him! He was flying like a bird!"
"I was." Blake stated assertively.
"That's cool," Willow said, at last looking up at Blake. "Do it again."
Blake stammered "Wha-Again?"
"Why not? Seemed so easy the first time right?"
"Yeah. Of course it was."
"So do it again."
"Yeah Blake," Laney jumped up and down and clapped her hands "Again!"
"Listen Blake," Light caught his attention from his right shoulder "You don't have to do this. We aren't supposed to be here, remember? Let's just - leave."
"The angel's right," Flare said. Blake was shocked they were agreeing on something "It was clear from the start you never had a chance with Laney. Now you see she's already married. We should just go. We've got nothing to prove."
Blake listened to neither of them. "I'll do it right now!" he declared, standing in the middle of the two and taking deep breaths. Tobias behind them turned into a fan for launching him into the air. Blake stretched his hands into the air and looked towards the sky Anytime now, Jinx. he thought. But something else happened. That stupid omen had other plans for the kids.
The weather got cloudy, the three tots watched as the clouds went from white to grey to pitch black. "Wow..." Laney muttered in fascination. Willow backed into her corner again, scared. Blake watched as lightning strikes appeared the clouds, the crackling light first before the thunderous boom. Laney and Willow covered their ears. Blake dropped his stance and realized what he had done.
"You control the weather now?" Flare asked him. All the toddler could do was shrug as thunder and lightning tore through the skies. The clouds rolled violently over the far away hills. Tobias conjured an over-sized umbrella and his under it "Blakey, you want to saddle your friends over here? It looks like it's gonna get dangerous."
"Just a little lightning," muttered Light "It's not likely it would reach us anyway."
Spoke to soon, angel.
A bolt crashed onto a telephone pole, destroying it. The kids shrieked as it fell to the ground, sparks of electricity still shocking it.
"Great famous last words, Lightning." Flare snarked
A second bolt tore down from the sky.
Laney's hair began to stand on end, and not just the one's on her neck.
"LANEY!" Blake jumped to her just as bolt hit. The two were saved by a bright, green bubble encasing the two in a split-second. Blake opened his eyes to find himself over Laney a second time. She looked completely dumb-founded.
"Sorry," Blake got up and pulled her to her feet "Are you okay?"
"What is this?" Laney poked to sides of the sphere. It didn't falter or ripple. It was like hard window glass, or plastic. The three looked at him in a 'what have you done now' kind of way. He was honestly just as confused. He just dived to Laney, he didn't mean to make a...whatever this is.
"I think it's...a bubble. A forcefield if you will." He answered as calmly as he could. Which was hard because his voice was shaking as much as his hands and legs.
Laney seemed calm enough. She just casually poked the surface before looking to Blake to bring down the sphere. "Are you gonna make this disappear soon or what?"
"Gonna go out on a limb and say you can't." Flare said before chuckling at the absurd situation.
"I didn't do it..." Blake lied. Laney seemed to buy that, or she didn't. She was just distracted by Willow "Wait, don't run!"
Willow was so freaked out she began screaming and running down the hill towards her house. The pair exchanged a look that said 'yeah, we should go and get her' before doing just that.
"Willow wait!"
"We're fine!"
"Help us out of this thing!"
They both took one step forward in sync while pushing the ball they were stuck in. They did this at a faster pace while shouting for Willow to help them. Light wished she could help, but at this point she couldn't help but think she'd done enough what with everything that's gone wrong already. If she hadn't encouraged Blake to talk to Laney in the first place none of this would be happening right now.
They picked up so much speed heading down the footpath they didn't even need to push, they just ran and tried to keep up with the speed of the bubble. Willow was right in front of them, running and screaming still. They shouted again, but maybe she couldn't hear them through her own high-pitched shrieks. Or she was just ignoring them. For what reason? No idea.
Willow took a sudden left turn into her garden, leaving the others to continue rolling down the road. Laney lost her footing, followed by Blake and the two were on their stomachs uncontrollably rolling out of the estate into traffic. Cars stopped suddenly as the pair sped out onto the road and bounced off different potholes and rocks.
Blake couldn't sit up for a second to get a proper view of where they were. He was just upside down one minute and back on the hard road the next. Over and over and over.
"I think I'm gonna be-"
"No Blake," Light reached out and covered his mouth, holding the sick in "You can't get sick in front of her. It's a likely chance it'll end up on her if you do."
The boy was seeing colors now. If this thing didn't stop soon he'd have no choice but to get sick on his possible forever-partner. That was the last thing he needed. He could already imagine their wedding day and Tobias bringing it up as a joke during his best man speech that just ruins everything and gets the bride angry because bad memories.
"I can't- I don't feel great..." Laney shouted before covering her own mouth. Flare was clinging onto Blake's clothes for dear life. Light popped back into her room, unable to take it much longer, why didn't he think of that.
Tobias was all green now instead of his usual blue "Blake, I can't keep it in no longer."
"Toby no!" Blake choked out
"Say hi to the missus for me..."
"Toby don't you dare throw up-!"
Blake's threat was interrupted by something hard and scratchy hitting the side of the bubble. It was a loud and painful thud, but at least it stopped.
Blake sat up, as did Laney. She looked dazed and Blake could swear her eyes were spinning clock-wise like a cartoon.
"Where are we?"
It took Blake a minute to figure it out "We're lost."
"WHERE are we lost though?"
"Looks like a forest," Blake said, head clearing up more now "We should get going before any wild animals eat us. Hahaha."
Laney looked at him like he was nuts "Not funny."
"Right, sorry."
The two began pushing again, and Laney took in the plant life as they calmly walked through "Y'know, if it weren't for the wild animals, I think I'd live in the forest."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's quiet. I'd bring all my friends here too. We could live in a treehouse!"
"That seems cool."
Laney went on and on about the treehouse. How it would be just above the river they could drink from and bathe in. Flare gagged "Drink AND bathe in?"
Blake shrugged. Maybe these marital ideas weren't going to work out if this was the kind of future Laney wanted for herself and her friends.
GGGRRRRR.
"What was that?!" Laney said, grabbing Blake's arm
"I don't know," The boy had to look away to hide the pink blush from the girl "Let's go another way."
GGGGRRRRRR.
From the shadows of the tall oak trees appeared two dogs. They had scruffy, dirty blonde fur and their legs seemed muddy and scratched up from previous children they must have ate. Light popped out and popped right back in once she saw what they were dealing with. The two dogs surrounded the kids, not making a sound but looking at them with a certain, deranged look in their eye no normal dog should have.
The angel popped back out with a book on breeds of dogs and their dangers. "This had better not be what it looks to be..." she freaked out as she scanned the pages.
Tobias shrunk to shoulder size and clung on to Blake's neck. Flare looked at the angel warily, in a 'hurry up before we're eaten!' kind of way
"Alright," Light explained "So sometimes dogs get infected with these things called rabies, it makes them go totally feral. Same thing happens with foxes and wolves I think."
"Are they dangerous?" Flare asked impatiently
"In this state? Very. But they seem to be just as a danger to themselves."
"But still one to us." Blake said, his knees almost buckling from the weight of their situation.
"Did you say something Blake?" Laney asked
"Those dogs have a thing called rabies. It makes them feral and now we are in danger."
"Rabies?" Laney echoed "Oh no, those poor things."
"Those poor things?" Flare said astonished "More like poor us! We're going to get mauled!"
"Aren't they usually harmful to themselves or other animals?" Laney asked as the feral pair quickly ran around the bubble some more.
"Yes. But still very much a danger to humans." Blake said
"Ah yes. Rabies can be passed to humans," Light said after reading some more "Don't let them bite."
And with those famous last words, they attacked.
- Writer
