"Are you okay?" Barns asked after we had eaten breakfast. "Yeah, I'm okay." I replied, even though that wasn't true. He gave me a look that said he didn't believe me, but he didn't say anything. I took a drink of coffee after yawning a little. My thoughts kept interrupting my sleep last night even though I was exhausted. "Would you like to meet some of my friends?" Barn asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.
"Sure." I replied. I didn't have anything better to do, so why not meet some of his friends? I had a feeling that he asked because he knew I was feeling down. I was thankful that he was being kind even though we haven't known each other long. A couple of hours later the two of us left the hotel. I took my backpack with me, not wanting to leave it behind. I was nervous taking the crown around strangers, but it would have been stupid if I didn't.
Anyone could break into the hotel room and take it. We got onto our horses and I let him lead the way. I didn't know where we were going, but I hoped his friends were nice. "Your friends live in the woods then?" I asked as we left the main city and entered the outskirts of town. "They prefer to be off to themselves." He replied. The way he said it made a flicker of anxiety to burn in my stomach. 'Is this some kind of trap?' I wondered.
But there wasn't any way of me to escape now. Especially since Barns has a gun with him. The rest of the short trip was quiet. The only sounds were coming from the nature surrounding us. I admired the trees, plants, and small animals I could see. It was quite beautiful honestly. After a while we rode up onto a very large house. It looked like the house from Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children movie. There was a couple of caravans parked in the gravel driveway.
A large balled man with a huge beard was standing next to one of them. He was talking to a much shorter man with black hair, which was lied up in a bun. He had a beard as well. "Barns, who is this?" The balled man asked when he spotted me. His black eyes were full of suspicion and uncertainty. "This is Rose, we met on the road. You can trust her." Barns said to him. They looked at each other for a while as if they were communicating nonverbally.
We got down from our horses and tied them up nearby. There were a few other horses as well. "Rose, this is Kaven and Barkley." Barns introduced us to each other. We said our hellos and shook hands. I felt nervous meeting them. They looked like they belonged in a traveling freak show carnival. At least that's how they were dressed. "Come on, I want you to meet the others." Barns said, and I followed him up to the house.
There was a black flag attached to one of the beams on the front porch. The pole of the flag was black and white striped; the striped swirled down the length of the pole. Barns used a key that was on one of his necklaces to unlock the front door. I followed him in and wasn't surprised that it had a bohemian style. It was actually very homey feeling in a way. He took me from room to room introducing me to people. Some of them were wearing red-ish burgundy robes that were velvet.
One was a woman with bleach blond hair like Barns's. Except her hair wasn't as curly as his. Her hair was straight and shoulder length. "It's nice to meet you, Rose. My name is Theresa." She said in a British accent. She had black eyeliner on, which looked really cool. "It's nice to meet you too." I replied, complimenting her eyeliner. She thanked me and her smile grew. Everyone seemed nice even though they were kind of intimidating.
Barns was talking to people most of the time, which left me on my own. But Theresa was by my side and a couple of her friends as well. We talked and after a while I felt more comfortable around them. They seemed like the nicest people there. We talked about music, books, movies, etc. Reminiscing about how the world was before. Before the rich people ostracized the "less worthy" in the world. We ended up having lunch there, which was delicious.
The food was better than what we got from local restaurants. There were a lot of people there, which made since why they lived in a huge house. Some people were related and others weren't. It was like a community living in one house. Almost like one really big family. I wondered what Barns was up to, because I didn't see him much. Not until he was ready to leave. We said goodbye to everyone as we got onto our horses. "Come back so we can hangout again, Rose." Theresa said with a smile.
"I will." I replied with a smile of my own. Barns and I left at a slow pace. I enjoyed the nature again. It was cooler since there were trees creating shade. "So... do you like them?" Barns asked after a long while of comfortable silence. "Yeah, I did. They seem really nice. Especially Theresa and her friends." I replied with a smile. "Good, I'm glad. You can hangout with them any time you like. Forget that pen pal you had." He said encouragingly.
I knew I had to try and stop worrying about my pen pal. But it still hurt being lied to by someone I thought was my friend. I pressed my thoughts to the back of my mind as we talked. Eventually we reached the hotel and relaxed a bit. For dinner we went to one of the restaurants instead of getting take out. I made a mental note to go visit Theresa again soon. I wasn't sure if I would go again tomorrow though. I might explore Babylon a little instead.
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A/N: Thanks for reading!! Remember to vote, comment, share, etc. :) <3
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Gold Dust | Barns Courtney
Fanfiction(This was inspired by Barns Courtney's song: Golden.) Rose Blackthorn catches an early morning train. She is in hopes of meeting her pen pal when she reaches her destination. But things go a little unplanned and she finds herself in a bit of a situa...
