CHAPTER ELEVEN

Angela counted one to five. 

“We are here!”

Miles realized he hadn’t been looking around him. His eyes were focused on Angela but the second he took his eyes off her, he saw something magnificent. 

They were surrounded by rocks, large rocks. He didn’t know stones could be so big. There was nothing but bushes, brushes, and giant rocks. 

It was nothing like he had seen. He had only seen busy streets, rotting houses, and many more boring places but the magic rocky place he was in was something he couldn’t carry his eyes off.

“What is this place?” He kept his eyes on one giant hard looking rock in front of them. 

“I call this place repeater.”

He faced her, looking confused. 

“Repeater?”

“Sshh listen.” Angela placed her finger on his lips. 

He liked it. He felt like licking them cause they smelt and looked like lollipops but he needed to control himself or he would end up losing her. 

Angela turned forward and cleared her throat. 

“Angela!” she screamed.

Miles could now hear repeats of her voice, getting lower with every time her voice echoed. 

“That is an echo.” 

“Echo? What is an echo?” She raised a brow at him. 

What is an echo? She's never heard that word before. It was so foreign to her. She liked the way it made her mouth form an O. 

“It happens when your voice bounces up and down surfaces until it fades completely.”

Angela bit her lip feeling a bit ashamed. She didn’t know what it was.

“How did you know what it was?”

“I went to school for some time before I dropped out.” He gritted his teeth. “Did you not go to school?”

“Well, let us just say I’ve never seen a school before.”

Miles rolled his eyes in laughter.

Miles noticed she was becoming uncomfortable so he brought her closer to him. 

“It is okay, school is boring you do not want to go there.” 

She laughed, raising her head to face him. She realized she was now very close to him and it made her feel uncomfortable. It was hard for her to breathe because her breathing was getting and her eyes were kept on...  

She carried her face from him and stepped. 

He felt embarrassed at what happened. She wanted to be with him but she kept running away. She was scared and he didn’t like it. She needed to trust him and he was going to win her trust—but for now—being friends would be just fine. That was his starting point. 

“Should I take you to the next place?” she asked in a shy tone. 

“Yes, let us go,” Miles said as she took the lead and he followed tagging along. 

Angela smiled once again. 

Angela knew this forest. She had spent fifteen years of her life in the forest. She knew no other place than Tyle forest. It was her home. This was her world. She had never gone outside of the forest before, so she used her time to master everything about the forest of Tyle. 

It was impossible for her to get lost ‘cause she had trademarks everywhere that will guide her back to her starting point. Miles trusted her. He knew she knew what she was doing. Ever since Miles parents’ died, his trust for most people died with them. It was then he started to dislike and hate people. He was so innocent until the world showed him the other side of life. 

The only people he could count on were Justin and sometimes Kale but with Angela, he felt the safest he could ever be. He didn’t want to say it in his mind or out loud but he had a liking to the girl.

Everything about her was interesting. He liked her attitude but he was suspecting she would become playful in the future when she got to see the real world. He could see the signs. He wondered why she was kept in the forest. 

Was there something special about her? There has to be. Angela was too wonderful. There had to be something special about her. He did not care about that now. He wanted to be with the one he cherished the most. He knew this was going too fast but to hell with easiness and slowly.

Miles snapped back to reality when Angela came to a stop. Were they already there? His hearing senses came back and he could hear the sound of water splashing. They were somewhere high, like a mountain.  

He was glad he wasn’t afraid of heights because he would have fallen. They were beside an actual waterfall. The sound of the water splashing on each other was soothing to his ears. How did he not know they were climbing somewhere so high? 

He was engrossed in his thoughts about Angela. At least she took care of him till they got here. It was night time and the moon was full and bright. There was a reflection of the moon on the fast-flowing water. 

The scene was truly beautiful. 

“This place is nice,” Miles said softly as Angela sat on the floor.

She signaled him to sit beside her. He had sat on harder and more uncomfortable floors. Sitting on the grass would be better than what he was used to. He sat beside her, very close. She liked the way he was close to her. The splashing-filled-quietness was soothing. 

She wanted to enjoy every bit of what was happening now. Miles brought his left hand closer to her and held her hand softly. She rested her head on his shoulder which he accepted with gratitude. 

Being close to her was comforting him. He had never been in a more comfortable position. Angela moved her head from his shoulder towards his face. Miles faced her as they both entered a trance. 

Angela remembered the dream. It was all happening again but unlike the dream she wished she actually got the chance to kiss him this time. 

All they could see were each other. Everything else around them disappeared as the butterflies in Angela’s stomach became more and more. They were getting fiercer by the second. Their faces were getting closer and closer to each other. 

Her lips began to tremble as he scooted closer to her wanting to place his lips on hers. He had never actually kissed a girl before so he didn’t know how to act. Angela hadn’t kissed a boy before either. She barely knew him and now she didn’t know what was happening.

Why did she feel like placing his lips on her? She had read this in many fairytale books. When one of the princesses fell in love with a handsome prince and they wanted to kiss. Was this what she wanted to do now? 

How would it feel? She did not know what she was doing. She hoped Miles would take the lead. Miles breathing had become faster. They were moving closer and closer to each other like he was a slow magnet and Angela was the pretty little nail. 

Her eyes were glued on his lips. She couldn’t handle this pressure. She wanted to get it done. Their lips were just a few millimeters from each other, so close, almost there. Two seconds more and their lips will touch and feel a memorable and tasty satisfying feeling.    

Angela’s nose had turned completely red and her breathing had taken a great pause. Again, this was just like her dream when she wanted to kiss him but in the dream, they were wearing beautiful clothes and amid riches. 

While here they were in front of a waterfall, sitting on the floor with tattered and dirty clothes. Their lips touched a bit but the snapping of sticks brought them out of their trance. Angela caught her breath and began breathing heavily. 

The only thing they were thinking about now was who or what was out there? Miles was annoyed. Why did something have to disturb the moment? It was about to happen. Their lips had already touched. 

A little brush was all they had felt before the unknown came to disrupt them. They both stood up hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Miles stayed in front of Angela. He would protect her till the end; no matter what. 

They were waiting for what was out there to show up. Miles couldn’t handle such anxiety anymore. He needed to know what was out there. He was not a patient boy. 

“Show yourself!” Miles shouted waiting for a response. 

The bushes shook like the creature was fighting with another. They knew it wasn’t a human now but what might have been out there could be a dangerous animal like a wolf, or a snake, perhaps a fox that wanted to devour them. 

Both of them screamed when the figure came into sight. They didn’t even open their eyes to check what was there. Angela was afraid. Opening her eyes would mean seeing something unknown but keeping her eyes closed was just as bad. 

She opened her eyes and alas, it was a little white bunny with bright blue eyes. It was pretty. She did not know why but the bunny looked familiar.  

Angela walked over to the bunny. The bunny didn’t move but when she got close to it, something happened. Blue sparkly dust surrounded the bunny spirally and when the dust cleared, they didn’t see a cute little bunny but instead Angela saw her alarm. 

“Whoa,” Miles exclaimed with widened eyes.

“I know that bird. It has been waking me up for the past two days but it always flies away when I try to get close to it.” Angela bent down, moving closer to the bird. She was surprised the bird didn’t fly away like it usually did. She placed her finger near it and the bird hopped on her finger. She stood up as Miles walked to her. “Is it not pretty?”

“That…thing was a bunny right now. Now it is a bird! Should we be worried?” Miles asked looking at the bird suspiciously. Magic does exist. She had confirmed that now. She wondered how many more magical creatures and things lied in the forest. She wanted to know. The bird flew from her hand as it turned into a big brown eagle. “I am still worried.”

His words made Angela giggle which made Miles smile. 

She sighed facing Miles again. She remembered what was about to happen then. It began to feel awkward being around him at the particular moment. 

She hoped the awkwardness they were feeling would die out. Miles cleared his throat. 

“We should head back to…the house,” Miles said in a sly voice.

One minute ago they were acting normal but now they were feeling shy and…

“Yes yes we should,” Angela said licking her lips. She wanted to know how it felt to kiss him. She had been dying to know how it felt ever since they entered that trance. Why did the bunny have to pop out at that time? She wished she could relive the moment but something like that was not going to happen in a while. “I will lead the way.”

She did not wait for his response before walking away. Miles caught up to her staying by her side. They walked silently to their home. 

*** 

BACK in the house, the Bells and Inks were worried. They hadn’t seen Angela and Miles for most of the day. Where could they have gone? Living in the forest had made Angela’s parents worry much.