Chapter 9 Nightfall
Allen woke up when the cold air touched his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinked, closed his eyes and blinked again. Everything was blurry. For a second, he did not know who or where he was.
The ground was lumpy as if he were on a bed of earth and rocks. His clothes felt as damp as a flower in the dew of the dawn. His entire body was covered by a blanket that looked like a sleeping bag. He looked up to the sky, under the dim light, his sky now was a canvas rooftop. Then, everything was processed. He was in a tent.
‘What time was it? How long had I been sleeping? Where am I now?’ All these questions shot through his mind as he rubbed his knuckles into his eyes. He touched his forehead, thinking about all the ‘nightmare’ he had before. Perhaps everything was a nightmare, just a dream while he had camped with his friends.
Perhaps it was not.

“Are you awake?” a familiar voice that came from outside the tent reminded Allen that everything had not been a dream.
‘Sigh’
“I could hear your sigh,” Kaien chuckled. “Sleep some more. There are still two to three hours left before sunrise.”
“I didn’t see you bring a tent with you,” said Allen.
“I didn’t,” replied Kaien. “It belongs to the dead man earlier. You can use it freely. Not like he needs it anymore.”
“. . . Leave me alone,” mumbled Allen, closing his eyes, pulling the sleeping bag up and covering half of his face. He could not believe that he had to ‘borrow’ a dead man’s tent to sleep.
“Can’t really do that,” said Kaien. “I’ll be outside the tent if you need me.”
The silence fell. The sudden silence made Allen’s blood as cold as the autumnal air. There was no whispering noise or rustling. It was as if nature conspired to keep him in the dark, not daring to whisper the reassurance he craved. When his ears became more accustomed to the lack of sound, he thought he could hear the sound of crickets chirping. But, other than that, only his rhythmic breathing broke the air.
“Hye,” Allen called to Kaien, breaking the silence.
“Hurm?”
“Tell me...” Still lying down, Allen took a deep breath. “What are you doing in the cave?”
“Hmm...” Kaien responded, thinking. “Looking for a book. Two or three books if I’m lucky.”
‘Bullshit’ Allen cursed with a low voice. He pulled the blanket to cover his face, curled into a ball, trying to sleep and forget everything. He shut his eyes tight, praying that he still was at home and everything had been just a dream.
“You don’t believe me, don’t you,” asked Kaien, pulling Allen back into reality.
“I don’t know,” mumbled Allen slowly, still closing his eyes.
“Ok,” Kaien shrugged. He took a peek inside the tent and asked, “Do you want a bird?”
“A bird?” Allen snapped. ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ thought Allen. He turned and lay straight, looking at the tent’s roof before asking, “What I’m going to do with it?”
“Why? Eating it? What else would it be for?”
“Monstrous. How could you eat such lovely things?”
“It’s all meat and gristle under the finest wrappings,” Kaien replied. “You are no different.”
“So you wish to eat me too?”
“Yaks! I’m not a cannibal,” responded Kaien. “Just go back to sleep, will ya.”
Ignoring what Kaien told him, Allen sat, grabbed the backpack that was placed next to him and looked for his water bottle.

His throat was dry and sore. Every lungful of air he took robbed more water from his body than his need. He would like to drink but his water bottle felt light. He put his eyes up to his water bottle and saw all the way to the bottom. He would not have any water left to drink anymore for tonight. Let alone for tomorrow morning. All his water in the water bottle had gone through the small crack.
Allen licked his lips, trying to wet his dry mouth. On the back of his head, he could feel the pain that threatened to grow into a powerful migraine. A sure sign that dehydration was coming. A little water, all he needed was a little water and it would drain the whole thing. But he had none and he had no idea how long he had to walk or where the next source of water was.
He would not make it. Wherever his destination would be, he would not make it. He would not make it like this though, not beyond thirsty and well into dehydration.
Allen sighed with worry and turned to face Kaien who was still staying outside the tent. He must have built a fireplace while Allen had been unconscious before since he could see Kaien’s silhouette clearly on the tent’s canvas-wall. Kaien really got the skill to survive in the forest. From inside the tent, Allen saw Kaien’s shadow looked up at the sky and Allen’s heart softened. Kaien looked so sad and... Lonely.
‘Don’t get fooled, Allen,’ Allen reminded himself. ‘He just fakes it. He isn’t what he looks like.’ Allen stared at Kaien’s shadow for a moment and he let out a sigh like a slight spring breeze - soft and gentle. His heart softened and he felt sorry for Kaien. “What are you looking at?” asked Allen, softly.
“Sky,” answered Kaien, looking up. “It’s so tragically beautiful tonight.”
“What? Tragic? What is that supposed to mean?” snapped Allen. “You lie! The trees completely cover the sky. You can't see the sky.”
“Well... Heh,” Kaien chuckled. “You can see the sky if you climb the tree. Better view than any place in this world, I bet.”
“No one would climb any tree in this forest. You want to die or what.”
“Well... I wonder what it feels like.” Kaien paused. Looking at the tent and then back to the sky. “The sky. The graveyard of the star. Where do you think the stars go when they die?”
“Talking to you stresses me out and kills me!” shouted Allen from inside the tent. He quickly lay down, turned his back to Kaien and covered himself with the blanket again. “Goodnight!”
“So grumpy,” commented Kaien from outside.
“I’m not grumpy!” yelled Allen. “I’m pissed off!”
“Ok. Ok. Go back to sleep,” said Kaien. After a few minutes, he asked, “You can’t sleep?”
“Because you keep talking.”
“Oh, sorry,” apologized Kaien. “I thought you don’t like a quiet place.”
Allen did not respond. He slowly lowers his blanket a bit and staring at the canvas-wall of the tent. He closed his eyes and mumbled, “Tell me a story. Something nice.”
“Bedtime story eh?” Allen chuckled. “I know many stories. Let me think first. Hmmm. . .”

Allen heard Kaien humming from outside the tent and it gave him a chill just listening to it. He sighed. “Just tell me your favorite fairy tale.”
“My favorite. Hmm. . .” paused Kaien, thinking then he continued. “I think I like Peter Pan. He was an angel.”
“Interesting,” responded Allen. That was the first time he heard someone refer to Peter Pan as an angel. He was curious to know what made Kaien see Peter Pan that way. Was his version of Peter Pan different than usual?
“I know, right? Hahaha!” laughed Kaien. “Peter Pan was an angel that held the kids' hands when they were on their way to heaven. Neverland, I think they call it.”
“W-what the. . .” stunned Allen, regretting wanting to know Kaien’s version of Peter Pan. He should have expected it would not be something nice, but he did not expect it to be so dark. “Yah! They are not dead!”
“The kids? They were dead.” asked Kaien. “That’s why they never grew up. All those kids were all dead.”
Allen was lost for words. Not even once he would think about that. It made sense but he refused to believe it. “Thank you for ruining my childhood memories.” Kaien let out a small laugh and stayed silent after that. Allen tried again, “Alice in Wonderland. You like it, don’t you? Tell me about it.”
“U-uh. Nope. Not my favorite,” denied Kaien, which surprised Allen.
He said, “Really? No? You keep mentioning it.”
“Nope. Not my favorite,” repeated Kaien. “It’s our author’s favorite.”
Allen turned to face Kaien’s shadow. “What author?”
“Hurm,” Kaien sighed. “Have you ever thought that your life is just a story? You lived according to what your author writes.”
“Nonsense,” responded Allen.
“Not really,” said Kaien. “You didn’t fall into the hole. Someone made you fall. I didn’t suddenly find you. Someone write and make me stay there and find you.”
“Please. That’s what we call ‘fate’,” corrected Allen. “That was meant to be.”
“Beautiful lies what we call that. Hahaha. . .” laughed Kaien. “People tend to lie when they are afraid or terrified. ‘Fate’, beautiful words to hide the ugly truth. Like Peter Pan's story, people change it to make it a happy ending. Ignore the truth, just tell what people want to hear. A happy story with a happy ending, right?”
‘Nonsense’ thought Allen with mouth open.
“It’s ok if you don’t believe me,” said Kaien. “I’m just another chapter in your life. Hehehe.”
“I-it’s not like I don’t believe you,” said Allen, stuttering. After a long pause, he continued, “I-it just you like to avoid answering me.”
“Oh, that? You have too many questions. Hehehe,” commented Kaien. “It’s tiring to answer all that.”
Allen did not respond. ‘Not like you had ever really answered any of them,’ he thought. When Allen continued to keep quiet, Kaien said, “Fine, fine. Ask me a question and I shall answer it.”
Surprised by Kaien’s offer, Allen thought hard about what he wanted to know. He had little desire to play ask-me-a-question with Kaien, but there were too many unanswered questions in his head for his liking. There were too many questions that needed to be answered. ‘Who is he? Where does he come from? What was the black smoke earlier? Why or how did he know so much about this forest? About the dead man from earlier?’
But the question that Allen chose to ask surprised Kaien. “Why are you always so suspicious?” Allen questioned. “I don’t take ‘sometimes’ as the answer.”
“Oh, I did not expect you to ask me that,” Allen paused. Without having to look at Kaien’s face, Allen could ‘feel’ Kaien’s smirk on his face and he would not be able to get a good answer from Kaien. “Well, you want me to answer that chronologically or alphabetically?”
Allen let out a deep sigh. Why on earth did he even agree and play along. “Never mind. I want to sleep.”
“Yeah, you should,” said Kaien. “Nobody here will harm you. Goodnight”
‘It is not you I fear, oddly enough,’ thought Allen. Still facing Kaien’s shadow on the tent’s wall, Allen closed his eyes and tried to sleep. A moment later, he opened his eyes again when he could feel a sudden movement outside the tent.
Kaien suddenly moved away from the fire and toward the cold, dark emptiness of the fields and forest beyond. Allen watched his shadow go. He quickly moved closer to the tent’s canvas-door and took a peek outside. There was an odd sort of deliberateness to the way Kaien strode away from Allen as if he had suddenly heard something out there deep in the forest.
At first, they seemed a trick of the eyes, the little lights that began to dance in the dark. But no, they persisted and grew in number and brightness. Allen watched what seemed like a hundred glittering eyes gather in front of Kaien as if he were consulting a hidden cabal of yellow-eyed minions. A single, sharp hoot came from that direction, and it occurred to Allen that there were birds, owls, many of them flocking to that one spot near Kaien.
Allen had not heard them arrive, but he did hear them go. Facing away from Allen, Kaien gave a solitary nod. There was no telling if he had spoken to these birds or not, but then suddenly they all lifted into the air at once, and Allen knew it was no hallucination. He felt the buffering wind of their wings as they departed, and saw the dusting of feathers like snow that drifted down and down and settled softly around Kaien.
So beautiful.
Yet, in the heart of all beauty, lies something inhuman. It was at that moment when the taste of death was on Allen’s tongue and he felt something that was not from this world.