Escaping to the valley

(Chapter 7: Cave adventures and forest spirits)

(3 days later)

(Willow's POV)

After the events of the festival, I stayed at home, feeling afraid to even show my face around town. "I spent all this time telling people in one way or another that it's difficult for me to talk, only to end up yelling in front of everyone. They're going to think I was lying about my ability to speak, or lack thereof... They're going to think that I just... Hate people or I'm just being rude, or childish, or something. That's what my mom always seemed to think..." I said, laying on the couch, and staring blankly at the TV.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Oh no..." I sighed quietly as I slowly got up from the couch, and opened the door.

I was unpleasantly surprised to find Abi, Seb, and Sam on the other side.

"Hey, farmer. Can we talk?" Abi asked, tilting her head. I felt sweat on my forehead as I nodded, and let them into the house.

The four of us sat at the kitchen table, before Sam spoke up. "Hey, ya seemed to um... Dip out pretty quickly after what happened at the egg festival." He said.

"Oh no." I thought, before Abi started talking again. "We've been trying to figure out who tried to egg Seb that day... You wouldn't have any ideas about who that was, would you?"

"Crap. I don't have my notebook..." I thought, nervously, before doing a 'pause' hand gesture, and attempting to get up from where I was sitting. "Hold it right there, farmer Willow." Abi said as I froze half way off my seat. "Where do you think you're going?" The purple haired girl asked.

I stood up, reached into my pockets, and did a sort of writing hand gesture, before shrugging.

"Let the kid grab their notebook." Seb said with a sigh as he rested his head on his hand.

"I don't see why they need it. We're only looking for a yes or a no to our question. Did they throw the egg?"

I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest as I thought "Why is she making this more difficult than it needs to be?" before slowly nodding, because it was the only thing I could really do at that moment.

For a split second, I saw Sebastian's face change from a blank stare to what looked like a mix of confusion and betrayal, before acting as if there was something on the table that was much more interesting than anything being said in this conversation.

I felt awful, knowing that they weren't getting the full story, so once again, I tried to get up, but Abi grabbed my arm. "Why'd you do it?" She asked quietly.

I sat down again, with my head down, fearing that I was going to have to speak whether I liked it or not. I looked at Sam, then Sebastian, Then back at Abi, before closing my eyes, letting out a quiet sigh, and with a shaky voice, I stuttered "I-... I tri-... T- tripped." as tears formed in my eyes, and I slowly lifted my hands to show them the scratches all over my palms.

Everyone just looked at me as if they didn't believe what they heard, or maybe the fact that I actually said it.

After a short pause, Sebastian whispered "Wait... That voice."

Then Abi quickly chimed in, saying "Were you the one who-...? Oh Yoba, it was you, wasn't it?!"

I just wiped the tears off my face before nodding again.

"Haha! Our little farmer can talk! Heck, they can even scream!" Sam said excitedly, to which I hid my face with my hood, and rested my head on the table.

"I assume this isn't a thing they're gonna be doing often." Sebastian said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine by me. Anyway, we still down to go to the mines tomorrow?" Sam asked, luckily changing the subject. I just nodded from underneath my hood, not even attempting to lift my head from the table. "Again, it still depends on what Welwick says." Abi said with a shrug.