In My Dreams || ✔

Did We Get Them Back?

Life really likes to pile things up until they all come crashing down.

°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°°

Bree and Conner searched minutes for Arthur and Alex. Then hours. Then a full day passed. Well, almost. It was nearing the end of a day when the met back up with each other at their meet-up point in the woods.

"You went everywhere I told you to?" Conner asked Bree after they dismounted.

"Yeah, no sign," Bree said.

"There is only one more part of the woods we haven't been," Conner said.

"Where's that?" Bree asked, ready for any new lead on the whereabouts of Arthur and Alex.

"A dreadful place," Conner said.

-

Alex was riding through the forest to their meeting point. She had taken a wrong road and wasn't sure where she was. She thought she knew every part of The Land of Stories like the back of her hand. Apparently she didn't.

She tried to turn her horse around, but when she looked back, she couldn't see the path she was on. She remembered it being there clearly defined, but now it was the same as the forest floor around her. She turned in every direction, but now she couldn't see any path. Nothing was defined and it seemed like the trees were closing in on her.

She steered her horse toward an opening in the trees, and her mind alert went of. She could smell smoke. Not a forest fire, but like a cottage fire. Maybe she could seek refuge there and get a map.

She steered her horse around and forged on towards the smell of smoke. She found a sweet looking cottage within due time. She dismounted her steed and went up to the door. She rapped three times, a universal knock of peace. She thought she heard struggling from inside. She rapped agin after a moment and put her ear to the door when she heard the noise again.

"Hello?" She called. "Is anyone home?"

She heard the noise again.

"May I come in?" She asked. If the person was in trouble, she wanted to help. She heard a louder grunt this time and so she tried the door. It wouldn't budge. She pulled her wand out of her hair, it falling to her back in result. She sighed at her carelessness, but pushed it off for later. The struggling person came first. She waved her wand at the door and heard it click. She urned the handle and entered. At first she didn't see anything, then she saw a sack moving on the floor.

She walked over to the sack and poked it.

"Huh," came a man's voice from inside. He grunted and shifted in the bag.

Alex took her wand and waved it at the bag, magically untying the top. She pulled the tops aside and looked in apprehensively. She crumbled in relief.

It was Arthur. He whole body relaxed at the sight of him. She waved her wand at the binds holding him, practically crying in relief.

"Alex!" He said and reached forward, enveloping her in a hug. The moment Arthur touched her, Alex caved. She started crying. For everything. All the built-up emotions she had been carrying around from the curse and then the ones added to that from Arthur's disappearance came tumbling on her.

Arthur didn't question anything. He just held her while she cried and cried. She just couldn't stop.

"Alex," he started, pushing her a slight bit away from the embrace. "We need to leave, now."

Alex nodded and brushed her tears away. She stood up and led him outside it her horse. He mounted and helped her up after him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his neck.

-

Conner and Bree had ventured into the treacherous part of the forest silently. They were staying as quiet as they could in order to not attract the wrong kind of company. Then they heard sniffling. Both perked up at the sound and looked to the other to see if they had heard if too. They both had heard it.

They forged on, more slowly this time, and a horse with two occupants came into view. As they peered closer, the saw it was Alex and Arthur.

Conner and Bree rushed forward and met them.

"Alex! Arthur!" They said, joy coursing through their bodies.

"Hi, Conner, Bree," Alex said, not as perturbed as they thought she'd be. "I was just coming to meet up with you, I got lost and found Arthur! I'm sorry for being late. But, I found Arthur!"

Bree and Conner looked at each other. Alex has been gone for a whole night and yet she didn't even look bed-rambled in the slightest. She looked the same as when they had left her to go searching two days prior.

Arthur didn't look all that good, though. He was dirty and muddy, as if he'd been in a scuffle. He held Alex close, though, so that wasn't a change.

"Alex, we've been so worried about you," Conner said.

"And you too, Arthur," Bree added, side-eyeing Conner for his ignorance.

"Yeah, we've been worried about both of you," Conner amended. "You've been gone for days!"

"What? You mean Arthur's been gone for days," Alex said, surprised at Conner's choice of words. "I'm only a few hours late to our meet-up."

Bree and Conner exchanged looks again.

"Alex, you've been gone for two days," Bree said gently.

"What? No...," Alex said, trailing off. "I was just in the woods trying to find Arthur and then I got turned around. I couldn't find my path again, and so I went toward the smell of smoke, and that's how I found Arthur. I was only an hour or so late."

Arthur looked at them with large, worried eyes. "Guys," he started. "We need to get out of here, now."

Everyone looked at him, but if the look in his eyes was any indication, they needed to leave that instant.

-

~ edited 25/6/2022