Dagger

Chapter 11

The street was lined with small stores, and smelled of pavement as rain fell to the ground in the form of  mist. 

    "Where are we going?" Forest whined, as Melody smiled and dragged him along. It had been a day since Forest and the group had made it back from their mission, and he had his arm bandaged and tended to, but he hadn't stopped feeling guilty.

    "Herb's" She smiled, then turned and continue to pull him down the sidewalk.

    "Where?" He said, and almost sounded exasperated.

    Wyatt smiled wide at him. "He makes the best tea!" That did little to clear things up for him, and he was still slightly confused.

    Forest rolled his head back, he really wasn't feeling up to going anywhere, not after what happened yesterday. All he wanted to do was sleep and wallow in guilt. Melody began to slow, and to his dismay, she dropped his wrist. He turned to look at what they were all staring at. It was a small building on the corner of the street, it  was a parakeet green color and had lines of vines and purple wisteria flowers scattered across the front of it. There were two large windows on each side of the corner shaped building. A large brown sign above the glass door read Herb's in green.

    Melody pulled opened the dark wood lined glass door and motioned for the group to follow her inside. As Forest stepped inside, warmth encased his body, and it seemed to smell like a rain-forest. 

    The shop had a dark wood theme, as all the booths had dark polished wood and green cushions. The far wall had a wooden counter, and green walls. Purple wisteria flowers hung down from the walls. There was a man with handlebar mustache behind the counter, drying mismatching tea cups as he talked to an old woman. Forest noticed the man nod in thought, then the old lady exited the shop as they entered. She kept her head down, and Forest didn't think anymore of it.

    Melody made her way to the counter, "Hey Herb!"

    Herb looked up and  smiled and set the cup he was drying down on the counter, and he leaned against it. "Long time no see guys." His eyes meet everyone, and they all smiled in response.

    Melody shrugged. "Been busy."

    As Forest saw the man up close, he realized he had vibrant green eyes and freckles that dotted his face. Herb pushed himself away from the counter, and crossed his arms, and nodded in Forest's direction. "Who's this?"

    Melody turned and glanced at him, then turned back and gestured at him. "That's our new friend, Forest" Hope fluttered in his stomach when she said that. He was getting somewhere, which was better than nothing.

    "Ah," He nodded in understanding, then pointed over at an empty booth over to the far left corner. "Why don't you guys go ahead and sit down over there?"

    Melody waved at Herb as she lead the group over to the indicated booth, which was situated right under a giant window that gave them a nice street view. Forest scooted down to the end of the booth, right up to the cold glass of the window. Melody sat across from him and Jack situated himself next to her. There was a flat screen t.v mounted onto the wall across from their booth.

    A few seconds upon sitting, Herb approached the table. "What'll it be?"

    Jack halfway raised his hand. "Herbal for me."

    "Green tea for me!" Wyatt interjected.

    Melody glanced at Forest, then gestured towards him. "Jasmine tea for us."

    Herb curtly nodded, then returned to the counter. He felt bad that Melody had ordered him something, he really didn't feel like having tea right now.