What I Hate About You

Chpt. 10

"Tom."

"What."

"Don't do that."

"do what?"

There was silence.

"..."

"do what?"

Only silence.

"... dammit." Tom muttered.

He looked around but could see nothing. Reaching for his face to see if his eyes were closed, he only felt that they were wide open. This didn't scare Tom. He now knew exactly what was happening. He knew he'd been here before. Prepared as he was, he rolled up the cuffs of his pants and took off his shoes along with his dampened socks. His feet squished into what felt like mud beneath him. He then began to trudge forward. Counting his steps out loud, "one... two... three..." he felt water climb up his ankle along the growing numbers.

Against the black air around him, Tom saw the small speckled lights he was now able to identify as stars. They shaped the small silhouette of a hill about three meters ahead of him. The numbers out of his mouth began to grow. "Fourteen... Fifteen... Sixteen."

Tom stopped. The water he stood in was still incredibly shallow as it reached barely above his ankles.Tom stopped at last and crouched, in a balanced stance, as low as his knees.  He slowly reached in front of him and dipped his hands into the water, digging them into loose, cold mud. He then clawed his hand around a smooth, cylinder-like object. "here we go," Tom told himself, "I got this."

Tom yanked a heavy harpoon out of the ground and took a final second to rest where he stood. Then, he slowly climbed up the hill with one hand on the ground and the other holding his cold, dripping weapon. He timed his lengthy steps and stopped at about the top of the hill. Readjusting his feet he took a deep breath. Without another thought, he darted. Almost speeding ahead of himself, his feet pounded at the ground beneath him. Just as he reached the top he cried out every obscene word from the top of his head at the devil that-

"-Fucker!?" Tom cursed confusedly, "Where the hell are you?"

Tom looked back, waiting for something to crawl up and attack him. His arm was sore from holding that harpoon so high in the air. He faced forward and almost jumped at the new pair of eyes staring through him. The harpoon became light now that it had shifted into the other guy's hand. "Tord?" Tom's voice quivered.

"Don't do this." Tord pleaded softly, "Please."

Filled with some sort of relief, Tom threw himself against Tord and wrapped his arms around him tightly. Tord then returned the feeling by letting the harpoon drop to the ground, and squeezing Tom closer.

Tom opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the still-dark room. Tom looked around. His eyes fixated on the warmth practically illuminating from one side of his body... And around... his waist. He yawned, still confused by what was going on. Until it hit hi-