So Hide Your Eyes

Chapter SIX - Red Promise

Chapter SIX

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My Mama told me when I was young, "so hide your eyes when they come."

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 "SURE," I SAID. "Sure it was for honour."

  Demon didn't seem to notice. He beckoned me with a finger and I obeyed.

  "See these plants? They're easy weapons. All you got to do is swing it at their heads and," he said, hefting his up.

  "Wham!" he yelled and clubbed a fictional enemy.

  He set the club down and turned to me with an almost apologetic expression.

"But I need a lot since they break after an average of eleven swings and I've got to shave the narrow end of it first to hold it," he said and passed me a knife that was longer than my arm. "You can help."

"Take this and chop one more like I'd done just now. Then you strip off the needles like this." He turned the plant to face him horizontally, and nicked the side of the plant.

He pushed the flat side of a needle and spun the plant around the blunt blade and peeled a layer of skin off. The needles came with it. I watched white sap squeeze out from the flayed part of the weird plant like pus.

"I leave that thing to dry before sprinkling sand over it, because it's really sticky," he said, swatting my hand when I reached to poke it. "So don't touch," he admonished.

I nodded.

"After we've been adequately armed, we can visit my wife. She's pretty funny," he continued.

My hair swiftly slapped my face as I shook my head.

"Don't worry, she can't bite."

Still, I shook my head. She was an unknown.

"We should," He said again, firmly.

I decided that a moment of discomfort with his wife wasn't worth a dreaded disagreement.

"OK."

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The sun set our backs on fire while we worked, while wind stung me with the sand it blasted. It was even worse on the patch of skin where I'd torn cloth for the blindfold.

Demon's skin had flushed red like lobster, and gleamed with sweat like its shell. I was glad my skin was too dark for such coloration. I wouldn't look as durable as he in it.

I was shaving my third plant. It was harder and more frightening than expected. The skin of my plants kept peeling in chunks so the handhold of my Plant Clubs were riddled with holes.

Demon glanced up from his scary plant to exhale harshly. He jolted, shouting suddenly - "Bird!"

"Where?" I asked, and winced. In my haste, a narrow needle had slit a thin red line across half my finger.

"Damn- Dam! It flew away."

My head sank down to carve the plant again in disappointment.

A few moments later, I felt him lead my hand away from the plant laid in front of me.

He scrutinized my scratch for a while. Then he snatched the blindfold from my other hand and tied it around my hurt finger in a neat and unnecessarily flouncy ribbon.

I watched the small ribbon stain entirely scarlet. The lump in my throat had appeared again.

It'd been the first time anyone other than Mama had done that for me.

"Are we friends?" I asked carefully.

"Ye. You swam an ocean for me - well kind of but yeah - so yeah." He smiled, his crooked yellow teeth beaming like the sun. "We're even going to have a sleepover later. Because you don't have anywhere else to sleep."

"You go pluck a few fruits while I finish up our weapons," he said, and started on my unfinished plant club. He turned my shoulders and directed me to face an absurdly tall tree with slanting sharp leaves, a curved ringed trunk, and several brown round fruits at the top.

I nodded and stood to walk there.

The tree's shadow loomed over me. I didn't know how I was supposed to obtain the fruits so I shuffled back to ask Demon.

He blinked a little and I could see grains of sand arrested between his black lashes. His laugh sounded soft - an apology. "Sorry, I forgot you're not an islander."

My heart sank. The gap between us seemed to have widened. Demon set down the plant club - I think it was his seventh - and came over. Demon jumped onto the tree trunk and scrambled up to the crown where all the fruits nested. He twisted the largest one off a stem and let it fall, before climbing down.

I dragged the dusty fruit out the dent in the sand and cradled it in my arms, while waiting for him to return.

When he did so, he said, "We can share this at Wife's house." He petted the brown fruit, which emitted a hollow tapping. Then he turned and darted away.

He stopped. "Come on," he called and wiggled his fingers without glancing back.

"What about the weapons?" I asked from some distance away.

He waved his fingers dismissively. "We'll retrieve them later."

I hefted our fruit and reluctantly shuffled out the garden to Wife's house.

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A/N:

Don't worry. The fluff has a very important role in the main plot. Of the save-the-world variety.

Hope you liked this double update!

>.<

Please vote? Or tell me what you hate about this story so I can improve on it! :)