You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

22

AN: Thank you so much for your support and kind words precerii, you're so sweet! (ෆˊ͈ ु꒳ ूˋ͈ෆ)

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Something buzzed terrifyingly near my ear.

"Help! Help!"

I burrowed into Nolan's back without a second thought and tried to start running. Instead of upping his pace, Nolan came to a complete stop. I shoved at his shoulder.

"Why did you stop?! Go, go, go! There's an insect—an insect! Quick! Run!"

Of all the things he could've done, he laughed. He was not in my good books right now.

"Are you serious? I thought something happened to you." Nolan turned on the spot and looked around me.

"Help! It's next to me now!" I yanked my hand out of his to run behind him. "Help!"

I buried my face into his back, as if not seeing it meant that it wasn't there. He was silent for a moment, and then I felt his back shift slightly.

"I got it," he said. "You can come out of hiding now."

Semi-disbelievingly, I opened my eyes. "You caught it? How?" In this darkness?

"There's this appendage I have called a hand." He presented his upward-facing fist to me.

I twisted away from it, my stomach doing a thousand flips per second. "What—is it inside?! Don't release it!"

He snickered. "It's just a giant beetle. Relax. Wait here."

Just?!

Nolan walked several feet away and flung his arm out, presumably releasing the hideous critter. Then he came back.

"There, it's gone."

I recoiled while looking at his right hand that had just been holding the thing. "Thank you."

He laughed again, but before I could retort that everyone had their fears, he reached over to grab my hand with his left one. This time, it was my heart that did the flipping.

"Now come on, let's go."

We trekked on for a while. In the night, the forest's darkness was foreboding and ominous. I expected that. What I didn't expect was a beautiful kind of tranquility to it, too, as the creatures that inhabited it were mostly sleeping. The soft hooting from owls nearby only added to the delicate atmosphere that tiptoed around us.

Was it because I wasn't alone?

Thinking this way about the forest would probably be impossible if I didn't feel safe in the knowledge that I was with someone who clearly knew what he was doing.

I could barely make out the different trees that surrounded us. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he said, making a left turn and pulling me along.

A soft flapping sound came from above. Even with my poor sight in the dark, I could see the outline of something swooping downwards in our direction.

I yelped and jerked back in horror. Nolan's hand had clasped mine tightly, and he refused to let go even when I flailed.

"What? What is it?" He whirled around and looked at me. "I don't see any bugs..."

It landed on Nolan's shoulder. My pounding heart slowed to a more comfortable pace when it let out a little chirp.