The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

52. Swift Moon pt. 5

"Out! OUT!"

The loud, angry screaming of a deep, old male voice abruptly woke me up. The first thing I saw was a pitchfork, threateningly swinging in the air, pointing toward me and Jerr. The tool was handled by an old man, his scruffy, white beard a telltale sign of his age. His face was wrinkled in anger, his hands were visibly shaking with rage.

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath, shooting straight awake and scrambling towards my bag.

I saw Jerr do the same as me. "Run," he warned me, and we slipped past the angry farmer.

"I've had enough of you teens, rummaging in my shed!" He ran after us, continuing with his threats. "This ain't no damned hotel!" he screamed.

Suddenly very awake, Jerr and I ran towards to forest again, our bags in hand, where it would be easier to hide from this angry old man.

He wasn't nearly fast enough to keep up with us, but his angry rant followed us. He kept shouting, "The town's patrol is involved! I'll catch you fuckers!"

We ran and ran until his loud threats were nothing but a humming in our ears, and we were sure he wouldn't be able to catch up to us. We had no interest in fighting with the local townsfolk and bringing that unwanted attention upon us.

"I think we lost him," Jerr panted behind me. "You can slow down, Sari."

I halted in my tracks and turned around, making Jerr bump into me since he hadn't altered his speed.

We both fell on the ground, the leaves furrying next to us. I saw a squirrel hasting up a tree next to me, but when I looked forward, I stared into the familiar green eyes of the bloody Wise Moon, at a closeness they hadn't been before.

Jerr had fallen on top of me, his panting breaths caressing my cheeks. His chest was touching mine, and I could feel the speedy beating of his heart. My skin prickled in the places where we touched - his arms grazed past mine as he placed his hands next to my face, his legs intertwined with mine.

I was panting too, and for a second, our breaths were the only thing I could hear. Jerr's face was the only thing I could see or smell. I stopped feeling the ground beneath me - the soft, humid leaves that covered it. All I felt was the pressure of his body on mine - a pressure my body didn't seem to take as something negative, or dangerous. He was so close to me, his lips hovering over mine - near, but not touching.

He licked his lower lip as his eyes floated down to my lips, for only a short while, before they reached back to my eyes. My heart sped up at his subtle peek at my mouth - and I held his stare, not daring to say a word to make this moment explode.

His smell washed over me in waves, making me drown in the ocean of spicy wood, with a hint of incense. A smell that warmed me from the inside.

Jerr laughed as he shook his head and then rolled off me, plopping down on the ground next to me.

My eyes trailed his face, but he had broken our staring contest, and was now looking at the sky, his laughter intensifying.

A breath I hadn't realized I was holding escaped my mouth, and I joined in on the laughter.

"That is certainly an interesting way to begin our day," he joked.

"Out!" I mimicked the farmer, and a giggle escaped me.

"This ain't no damned hotel!"

I shrieked another laugh. I thought I was now one of the few people on Zyama who could say they had been chased and threatened by an old, senior farmer. And lived to tell the tale.

"Don't tell Feytan about this," I pleaded. "Or next time I'm hungover, he'll wake me with a pitchfork."

"That just makes me want to tell him all about it," Jerr teased.