This Madness

I sighed. Sometimes it's really hard being me. "Don't fight over this. There are more important things to fight for."

"Like what?"

"She dreamt of a tree." This damn asshole! Deric wouldn't even let me try to explain my dream to Silas. He said it in a way that made me sound crazy; I didn't find it amusing at all. Silas looked confused and urged Deric to explain further. "The Forbidden Tree."

"Hell no!"

"My thoughts exactly."

"Kerry, you do know that shit is not real, right? It's just a part of a made-up story parents tell their children." Silas saw that I didn't believe him. Of course, he knew that the tree was real—Mom had heard about it from his dad, after all. He was just saying this so I wouldn't try to do anything dangerous. I appreciated him trying to protect me, but lying about something like this made me feel annoyed. "Alright, even if it's real, it's dangerous. No one even knows where that thing is anymore. It simply disappeared from the surface of the earth."

"That's not true. The tree is in Elthon Forest."

"Elthon Forest?" Confusion found its way across Silas' face once more. He felt like he had heard that name before, but he couldn't bring himself to remember. "It sounds familiar."

"It is. But anyway, the tree is in Elthon Forest, at least in my dream it was. I'm not saying that I am a hundred percent sure it will be there, but we can still give it a try. It's not like we have anything to lose."

"Except maybe our lives," Deric said. "I told you, it's dangerous."

"Don't worry, I have a feeling there is something else we don't know."

"So, let's assume we manage to get this branch successfully. You know that Vampires can't touch it, right? A single cut or scratch from it could be dangerous. This means you will have to get it yourself, then track down the elders one by one and stab them to death, so everything goes back to normal. Is that how you plan to do it, Kerry?"

"Stop mocking me, Silas. I know it's not going to be easy, but at least it's still a chance. If I don't take it, then I am probably going to regret it my whole life."

Silas looked like he was going to say something rude, but he decided against it. Despite the apology, it still felt like we were both waking up on shattered glass. Our relationship would never be as smooth (not that our relationship had ever been like that) as it used to be. Silas turned around and went to sit on Deric's sofa. The floor was still covered in gravel and dirt. I’m still wondering what gave Silas the idea of driving the car through a damn wall.

"I'll come with you," he said.

"That's not necessary."

"I don't think it's your decision to make."

Deric rolled his eyes and turned to walk upstairs. "Whatever." He didn't look back at me, and I knew that he was angry about something. I asked Silas to remain put and hurried after Deric. The clear displeasure on Silas' face was evidence that he still didn't like the idea of me staying with Deric. Deric, who was such a mystery to me. Yes, he had been kind to me and had protected me all this time, but I hadn't dared to think it was because he liked me. We had only been together for barely a month, and Deric didn't seem like the kind of guy to fall in love so easily. These past weeks, I had been nothing but grumpy towards him despite how well he treated me. It was because I was still depressed about what had happened and had thought I would never get to see my family again. So how come he liked me all of a sudden?

"Deric? Wait up."

"Is there something wrong?" He glanced at me over his shoulder, but he didn't stop walking. I followed him into his room and closed the door behind me. Deric went over to stand at the window, watching the sunrise. Something was definitely up.

"I should be asking you that. What did I do?"

"What makes you think you did anything?"

"Come on, I know when you are mad at me. Does it have something to do with Silas? Look, I already told him I wasn't going back with him. I know you still think he's dangerous. I'll listen to you this time."

"If you really wish to listen to me, then you wouldn't be talking about that damn tree. But, of course, that's not even the problem." Deric's tone remained detached. He refused to make eye contact.

"Then what's the problem?" I edged closer to him. I saw that Deric had no plan of gracing my question with an answer, so I decided to change topics. "I didn't... know you felt that way about me."

"You did. You just didn't care."

"Don't make me sound like an asshole, Deric. We've only been together for a short time, and I didn't think you were the kind of guy to fall in love at first sight."

"Really? When the hell did I fall in love at first sight?"

"Like I said, we have only known each other for a short time, and our relationship hadn't been that good at the beginning. So even though I suspected that you might like me, I didn't believe it because it just didn't make sense. And you tried to bite me the first time we met."

"If I wanted to bite you, your dumb brother wouldn't have stopped me from doing so. I was fucking teasing you, dumbass." He ran his fingers through his hair. I could see the anger and frustration in his eyes. So, even though I was a bit put off by the insult, I held myself from cursing him out. He obviously had something more to say, and I wanted to listen. He's always been there to hear me out for the past month. "When you were six, you and your dad used to go camping at the very edge of town. One day you left your tent while your father was taking a nap. You wanted to explore the forest by yourself. So you walked deeper into the woods, and you never thought to turn back until you found yourself so far away from your tent that you couldn't find your way back. So you cried loud until you managed to annoy the hell out of someone. He took you back to your dad to shut you up. But you always ended up going back to find that mysterious stranger every time you went camping. Even with a memory as bad as yours, you couldn't have forgotten about that."

"I... I still remember bits of it." I did remember how much my dad loved going camping. He was a hardworking man who was very busy most of the time. The little time he got off, he would spend it with me and Mom. He would take me to the woods where he said he used to camp with his father when he was younger. I recalled that he hadn't taken me back there since he complained I always strayed off when he wasn't looking. I don't remember how I got lost in that forest, though, or what happened during that time. But I did remember the cabin hidden in the forest, the handsome stranger whose features I couldn't recall, but I did remember his red eyes. He loved sitting on trees, and he was easily annoyed. So I always went back to annoy him because it was fun.

Honestly, all this had happened a long time ago, and I hadn't even thought about it until now. At one point, I had assumed that what had happened was just a fiction of my imagination. And when my dad left us, I took all the memories I had of him and buried them deep down, not wanting to hurt more each time I thought of him. I wasn't even sure where exactly he was now—was he even in Miami? I only had a number, which I was too scared to try, afraid that it wouldn't reach him and I would lose the last contact I had of him.

"That was you?" I looked at Deric, who was looking outside the window again.

"Yeah. We've met a long time ago. And we've crossed paths multiple times. Like I said before, you just never cared to pay attention."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why should I? It's not like it's going to make any difference. It doesn't change anything, Kerina."

"But..."

"No buts. I don't take it too seriously. I just told you this because you were right—I don't fall in love at first sight. I don't fall in love at all. You need to have a functional heart for that. What I feel is mere infatuation. It is an emotion which I hope will go away very soon. So don't feel guilty—not for loving him."

"Deric... I don't even know what to say. I suddenly feel like every guy I meet ends up catching feelings for me."

"I know." His hand came to cup my cheeks, and he tilted my head up so I was looking at him directly. He was gazing down at me intently, there was a serious expression on his face, like he was trying to piece a difficult puzzle together and was failing. "There is something about you. I just can't place a finger on it."

"I've heard that before."

"Right." He took his hand away and gave me a dismissive nudge towards the door. "Go get ready. You don't want to keep your love waiting."

I complied with his wishes and left the room. I went back to mine, went to the bathroom to clean up, and then got dressed. I shoved the breakfast, which was already getting cold, into my mouth and made my way downstairs, at the same time Deric came down as well. Silas was sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed, it looked like he had ran out of patience a long time ago and had only managed to stop himself from going up to drag us both out himself. He started at me for a second and then his gaze shifted to Deric who was behind me, he rolled his eyes.

" Fucking finally " He scoffed and then made his way towards his car. " Get in. Let's get this madness over it "

I didn't say anything and got into the car obediently. Deric sat in the backseat