𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

"I'm driving!" I announced, hurriedly walking over to the Jeep Liberty's door to make sure that Lyra didn't beat me to it - though when I attempted to pull the door open, only for it to still be sealed shut, I looked up to the blonde with an annoyed look. In retaliation, she pulled our father's car keys out of one of her black, leather jacket pockets. Upon seeing them, I felt my brow furrow with frustration, letting go of the door handle and instead holding out my hand for her to give me the keys.

A scoff left her as she rolled her eyes. "No chance." My sister began, cutting me off before I could begin to argue, "No license, no insurance, which means no chance." Lyra lectured, though didn't begin to walk towards the driver's door - most likely maintaining the distance until I left the spot.

This, in turn, caused me to smirk - almost victoriously. "Well I can't get a license until I've done my drive time log! I haven't done an hour, nevermind fifty!" I stated. I knew that this wouldn't wear her down, but it was a step closer.

"I am not a driving instructor, a legal guardian or twenty-one."

"But you look like you could be my legal guardian!" I whined, beginning to pull on the door handle again, only receiving a glare. "Please open the door," I continued - dragging out my words, bouncing on the balls of my feet, "You're ruining my birthday!"

"No, Toby, I'm being safe." She sighed, her grip on the keys tightening, "If I do let you drive and if we get caught, that'll be at least a fine and dad is already pissed off."

"That's if we get caught."

"Toby!" She snapped, pointing at me before her demeanour faltered, "Toby, now is not the time. Get in the passenger seat or we're walking."

With a small huff I let go of the door, quickly walking around the back of the car to the other side - light heartedly glaring at Lyra when she quietly thanked me. She unlocked the car, sliding in as I followed suit, glancing to her as she began to turn the car on. I glanced to her as I began to put my seatbelt on, "Where are we going?" I hesitantly asked.

"Well, it's your birthday, you choose." She hummed, putting her own seatbelt on.

"Lazer Tag, we could invite Bronwyn?"

"Toby, my pockets aren't that big."

"The movies then?" I suggested, looking from the starry road ahead and back to Lyra.

"How's about a meal out?" She suggested, smiling slightly as she looked back to me.

I shrugged slightly as I nodded, humming slightly in response. "Okay, that sounds nice." I replied, albeit in a quieter tone. I couldn't help but look back to the house - my teeth naturally taking a hold of my gum in between them. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the shadow cast on the distant floral curtains allowed me to see the argument. This was worse. I felt a hand on my shoulder, causing my head to snap to the left, my wisdom teeth gnawing at the flesh as I looked to Lyra, waiting and curious.

"Toby, stop biting your cheek. We're going, okay?" She mumbled, though held a sense of reassurance to her voice. I slowly nodded, unclenching my jaw with a slightly disdained grimace. With hesitance, she slowly began to drive down the road, "I say we pick up Cody first, hey? You said that you two had gotten over your fight. You know where he lives, right?" She asked, her eyes fixed on the road - though her voice held a certain reluctancy, as if this was moreso a ploy to get me to update her on things. She was sneaky, but I wasn't dumb.

I paused, shrugging. "Normally I just call him and we meet up somewhere." I answered quietly. I felt bad for lying, but I was sick of talking about it. He was starting to grow even more distant since the incident and it hurt - ever since he'd moved in with his new parent he'd been so abosrbed in that stupid notebook and work, so we hadn't really done much together. That's what made it worse. Now that I thought about it, it'd be awkward to invite Bronwyn, too - even if she hadn't been involved, she was involved with Cody. I didn't want to mess with them and their relationship.

Lyra sighed, her fingers strumming the leather-looking, dark plastic steering wheel. "Maybe we should just go? A family party, eh?" She suggested, having noticed my shift in mood, obviously. It was somewhat comforting having someone being able to practically read your mind.

I only shrugged in response, gently laying my head against the passenger seat window, watching the suburban area slowly melt into the more built up city area - yet the woods still seemed prominent. Each tree sped past, a blur of bark topped with green leafy smudges. Something felt different about them.

They felt alive, watching.

"Toby-" Lyra began, a panic to her voice.

I couldn't stop watching them. I lived near the woods - I'd never felt this before. It was almost magnetic. But it felt ominous, something to fear.

"Toby - Toby, the brakes - you need to get your head away from the glass-"

Like a moth to a flame, in a sense. If the moth gets too close, of course it'll burn, but the moth still goes to it. It was strange. What was in there?

"Toby-"

I felt her hand on my shoulder, trying to pry me away from my position. I could hear her urgency. I could feel her urgency - her fear, but I didn't feel it. I wanted to move, to react, but I couldn't. Whatever was watching wouldn't let me. It wasn't a hallucination - it was different. It felt realer.

A horn blared - sprinting closer - almost muffling Lyra's exclamations - "Toby - for fucks sake, please - what are you doing?!"

There it was, that thing. I'd felt it watching. It stood tall, it's head almost submerged into the spiked leaves of the maze of trees that surrounded it. It didn't have eyes - I could see it didn't - it didn't have any features, where they were meant to be only held the indentations of what was meant to be there - but yet I could still feel it watching me. For that moment, everything in that forest clearing was clear. I could pick out the individual crevasses of the tree's bark - the texture of each leaf. The bumps of it's face. The way it's blood red tie hung from it's neck, and the way it's abnormally proportioned form was covered by a matching suit - the black only making it's featureless face painfully more visible, ingraining itself into my mind.

I could see the lights of the oncoming vehicle approaching - casting a bright glow onto everything it faced, including the forest. I wanted to be scared, I should've been scared - the light getting brighter, bigger and the sound of electronic interference getting louder - making Lyra's voice quieter and numbing the sound of the truck.

It was all I could focus on - the strange figure, no creature, looming in the woods. Watching. Frozen - and freezing me as it captured my attention. Not allowing me to react, to move, to process anything but it. It didn't want me to care - it didn't want me to process it - I could see everything, hear it, but it just didn't matter. They were just things that were there.

I was calm.