Dents

[+Bonus Chapter] The Speak It Mountains

I'd been spending an awful lot of time off the ground lately.

Ever since we left Wobble Street, 2D had been running us ragged. Little more than a week passed between flights. As soon as we stopped off in one country, 2D was already booking tickets for the next. While it was fun, it was also draining. I wasn't even sure which side of the Earth I was on half the time.

Along with his emboldened sense of adventure, 2D had also become quite keen on surprising me at every chance he got. I had been kept in the dark with regard to where we were headed, provided only with the lackluster response of 'yew'll see,' which was equal parts endearing and frustrating. 

I twisted my ring around my finger. Absentmindedly, I thumbed the sparkling gemstones adorning it.

Similarly to the state of my physical body, my mind often lurched from place to place. I never dawdled on the same thought for long. In the dark of night, l was haunted by a series of unsettling dreams. Sometimes, I dreamt of a home I could no longer remember. Others, I dreamt of Essex.

More often than not, my restless nightmares would wake 2D as well. He never complained. Quietly, he lay on his pillow with a concerned twist in his brow, clasping my trembling hand in his own. It was as if my grief was painful for him to watch. When I settled down, he would hold me to his chest and whisper, 'wha' did yew rememba?'

With how far removed I was from myself, I couldn't say for certain whether any of it held water. Regardless, I shared it with him anyway. The burden felt lighter when we carried it together.

On rare occasions, the flashbacks would come to me in waking hours. It pulled the wind from my sails and sent me spiraling into increasingly unpleasant worries that I had to push aside in order to keep moving.

I forced myself to keep trudging forward to prevent myself from looking back.

A patch of turbulence sent a few poorly secured pieces of luggage tumbling into the walkway beside us. I sighed.

After two hours in the air, my tiredness won out and my eyes fell shut. In contrast, 2D overflowed with life. He was practically giddy, bouncing in his seat like a small child. He hadn't managed to sit still for the entirety of the flight. I tried to imagine where we could be headed that would have him so wound up. Nothing came to mind.

I woke an hour later to a gentle nudge on my shoulder. 

"We're 'ere, luv," 2D said softly. His voice was buried beneath the rummaging and fidgeting of the other passengers.

"We're where," I moaned.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. An uncomfortable ache settled in to the small of my back thanks to the stiff economy seats. 

"'Ere," 2D nodded smartly.

"Right," I chuckled, "But where's 'here?'"

2D smiled, his innocent joy brighter than the sunlight trickling through the airline windows.

"Ireland, luv."

"I - Ireland?"

To say that I was stunned would have been an understatement.

I hadn't returned to my home country since I left for college. I was supposed to finish my degree and return home a success. I hadn't managed to do either. Now that I was on familiar soil, I was reminded of how terribly I failed when I set out on my own.

Home, a place that used to call to my heart from across the sea, was now a source of pain, regret, and 'if onlys.' 

After I'd been abducted, the lingering memories attached to it had begun to fade until they felt like the life of a stranger. I imagined that the only way my fragile mind could cope with what I'd lost was to pretend it never existed at all.