Chapter 10: Ten Questions

The bruise is gone.

WHAT. I breathe heavily, not knowing how she did it. I slowly touched the spot from where the bruise was, and it's actually gone. I rub the area which the scar was in and it felt like nothing… it felt like normal human skin and nothing else. I kept rubbing it until I just sunk to the realization.

I hyperventilate, "No, no, no, no. This isn't real." I tell myself while standing up and hurriedly walking out to the cave. "Wake me up!" I yell to no one the moment I got out. There was nothing but a few murder of crows from yesterday. I hyperventilate more heavily. Then, I grabbed my phone. I hesitate before opening it. It must be about 2 minutes later, right? Right. And my phone will definitely show that, right? Right. I open it.

12:13 pm.

I screamed for a good 10 seconds until I try to gather myself and calm down. The rest of the crows come out. This reminded me of yesterday when she was giving me the book, smiling creepily and said 'Yeah, five minutes is over.' It makes sense now. But in that same sense, it also doesn't make sense. God, I feel like I lost all my senses right now.

I go back inside the cave and acted as if nothing, happened. I sit down on a rock, again, trying wisely to choose the correct words. We just look at each other normally.

"What the hell just happened?" I screamed again.

"Magic." She answers, as if it were obvious.

"Okay, so, let me get this straight. You're actually trapped in this cave because of a curse that you must fall in love, and—and time! Time doesn't exist so that's why you were teasing me yesterday!" I blurt out. "And you can do magic shit?"

Malinda gives a cheeky smile, "I am unsure of what that S word means, but your assumptions are correct."

"How can you escape? Wha—Why can't you escape? How did you even get cursed and trapped here in the first place?" I mutter to myself, "Oh God, if I'm in this cave and within your presence does that mean I'l be cursed too?!"

"Hm, I don't feel like telling you."

I snort, "Why, do I die if I find out or something?"

"Maybe."

My mouth fell to the ground and was left speechless.

Malinda laughs, "I am just joking. You will not die, I'm just lazy."

I sigh in relief.

"That was a good joke, right?" her eyes dazzled for a second, "Anyway, I do not have all day."

"Yes, you do," I exasperated, "Time doesn't even exist inside here!"

"Well, unlike you, I am a girl, and girls do not have all day, even if we do have all day." She sasses.

I groan and think, "Wh-what if I tell you about my life? Will you tell me yours?" I ask in exhilaration.

"I don't really care about mortals, but I suppose I have nothing else to do."

I ignored that and prepare my story. I cleared my voice, "Okay, so, I'm 16 years old and I live in the Winterville Interstate. I was bullied by, well, everyone ever since I was a fetus because of my family line. I don't like talking about it, but basically, my father, my father's father and my father's father's father did so much stupid things in the past, so everyone just assume that my family line is full of brain-dead maniacs. Anyway, I have a girlfriend named Jessica, a little sister named Rose and two best friends who are probably the only people who accept me in life. I like drawing, it's a good distraction and way to express myself which no one else understands." I explain quite quickly that I was practically rapping, so she wouldn't understand anything, "Okay, your turn!"

Malinda scratched her head while closing her eyes, "I did not even understand a single thing about that."

"But I explained my story, so come on! Tell me yours."

"Listen. I understand you have good intentions, but I simply do not give a fickle." She opens her eyes for a second to look at me then closes it again, "But I suppose a few inquiries are fine for lending me your sketching pad. So, how about a 'deal', like what you have done yesterday. You can ask me 10 questions, and I will do the same. Is that good?"

"Okay, fine! Where do I even begin! Wait, when were you born?"

"I was born in the year 1002."

"Wait, wh—"

"For my first question, I would like to know what does happen in this 'school' that you talk about?"

I sigh before replying, "As you said, it's an institution. We learn stuff and then we take a test if we actually learned stuff and if you don't, you're a failure." I mutter under my breath, "But most of the stuff we learn are kinda pointless. My turn! So, you're like," I stammer, "a 1018 old by now?"

"Indeed."

"That means—"

"Second question." I groan. I really should be asking better questions starting now. Malinda raises a brow, "So, the point of 'school' is to see how capable you are for memorizing facts and if you don't, then they will invalidate your intelligence even if most of it is useless, as you said?" She looked concern, "How many people go to this unpleasant institution? Why don't they have a better educating system than that?"

"I don't know! That's just how life is. People like me don't really care, we just go to parties and make out with our girlfriends and shit." I shrug, "Right, so if you're a 1018 years old, how long have you been trapped in here?"

"I believe it has been almost exactly 10 centuries." I gasp, but she ignores me and continues, "Third question. "What is this 'girlfriend' you talk about?"

I pause, "Remember Jessica, the one I told you yesterday?" I get my sketchpad and find the page of her portrait, "Well, anyone special to someone else makes them their boyfriend or their girlfriend. That can just also mean… you know, a friend that's just a girl or boy."

"So, am I your girlfriend also?"

"What?" I jabber, "Well, in a friend way, yes. But not in a girlfriend-girlfriend way." She looks at me with a confused look. "Anyway, ha! That was your fourth question. So, if you haven't been out for almost a thousand years, how come you're not asking me what's happening outside in the world?"

"People did come to this cave, and they would tell me about such. But as the years go by," She shrugs slightly, "I really lost any care about the outside world. Judging by your 'school' explanation, I feel better here than out there knowing how much everyone has wrecked the generations by now." then she mumbles sadly, "Not to mention, the extravagant and horrible world war that has happened."

"Wait, so you know about the 2 world wars?"

"There were 2 world wars?!"

"Oh, so that's where you were left off. I guess information is sort of slow in here, huh."

"I do not need information. I'm doing fine on my own, thank you very much."

Considering her situation, I don't really think she is fine. "Huh. Well, okay," I say slowly, "But our language doesn't even exist at your time. I'm pretty sure it was called Anglo-Saxon or something. Tell me, how can you speak fluently in almost modern English?"

"I have a dictionary." She smiles. Oh right, she was holding one yesterday. Before I could ask again, she adds, "Now hold on, we aren't even keeping track anymore. Fifth question, I believe. How can you call someone your girlfriend or boyfriend then?

I smile at the thought of me and Jessica getting together that night of the party, "Well, you have to create a special bond together. Something that is more special than friendship. You like this person in a romantic way, and only them. If they feel the same about you, then, only, can you become girlfriend and boyfriend. Or just partners."

Malinda just stared at me with this curious, but very innocent looking expression. I squint, "What?"

"Oh, nothing. I think I understand."

"Anyway, hold on, how did you even get trapped inside this cave?"

Malinda now avoided my gaze and was struggling to answer, "Because I did something… horrible to someone." I open my mouth to reply, only then to get disrupted again, "Uh, if you love someone, do you draw sketches for them? Or… do you… make portrayals of them? Is that what that mean to love someone in this future?" she asks slowly.

"Uh, sure? But it doesn't really have to be about love. Art means whatever you make it to be. And I find that interesting." I purse my lips, "About your earlier answer, who exactly is this someone?"

In an instant, she says, "Oh you wouldn't know him."

"That's okay, I'll still listen!"

"It's… boring as well."

"I. Will. Listen. Whatever it is. If it's too personal, then no forcing. But I'm all ears."

Again, she avoids my gaze. This time, I think she wasn't even trying to answer it, but she spoke after a second, "Remember when you mentioned that you have a special someone? Well, this person was special, too." She takes her flower crown off, "He was a really good man. He loved me dearly and truly cared for me. He taught me how to do many things. He taught me how to be independent. He taught me how to live. One day, I just… threw all of that away." There was this frightening look in her eyes whilst she was staring at the crown, as if she were reliving some horrible past memory, "But I can't really complain about the past, anymore." She looks at me with a firm facade. Though I didn't know how to respond, I opened my mouth to say something until she added quickly, "So, um, you said that art is whatever you make it to be. Your other 'sketches', why do you do them?"

"It's a distraction, really." I relax my back on a surface, "I like creating things that only I can understand."

"A distraction, you say. Why so?"

I go silent. I didn't want to explain this, but no one really asked me either. Am I really going to share a vulnerable part of me to a random person I just met yesterday? I sit promptly, but my leg starts shaking.

I gather my thoughts for a minute and reply, "My great grandfather was a lunatic. He used to do all these embarrassing claims to people here in Winterville. I don't really want to know all about it. But everyone knew about him… Winterville's always been a small town after all. And everyone thought he was crazy. He tells all these stupid, made-up stories he claimed was real. Then, his son, my grandfather, went to jail a couple of times. He did some insane shit as well. Everyone despised him because of it of course. That's where the 'Like Father, Like Son' mantra started. My father, he…" I try to take quiet breaths before continuing, "He was the worst. Worst student. Worst citizen. Worst parent. He hurt us. He said it was a form of discipline. But it's bull crap. The worst of it is that he left me and my sister to travel someplace else to avoid all the gossips. Just like that, he's gone. No word. No warning. Nothing. The gossips about him didn't stop, though. That just passes them onto me. Then my Aunt told me yesterday we're actually going to see him all of a sudden," I scoff, "and God help me, I would rather take your spot than to see his face again."

Now, I go silent, as my heartbeat is raising too fast as my brain travels to different memories I wanted to avoid thinking since. I look down, trying my hardest not to cry. Men aren't supposed to cry. I need to stop this. I hate it. I hate everything. Why does it happen? Why does life happen when all we're given is pain? I always think about these things, but none of it ever made sense to it. Nothing ever made sense to me. If I try to explain my life to others, then of course it wouldn't make sense to them too. This is why I never wanted to open my mouth to anyone, or anything. It just makes everything worse. But why does it always start out bad? Why?

"Sometimes, life may does these unsolicited things to you and you never really know why," Malinda looks at the water, "and sometimes, you simply have to accept defeat and wonder why the past always brings you down," she looks at me, "or, you can learn from it and start a different future." She looks back down, "Of course I cannot do that. But you can... because you have a life. And you should let go of everything that's keeping you away from living it. Before it is too late."

I never talked to anyone about anything I've been dealing with, so I was extremely anxious of talking about it now. I don't even know why I decided to talk about it, and I regret it the moment I started. Somehow, though, Malinda just made it seem I can open up to everyone else right now. I look up at her and she gives me a careful look.

I smile at her and we stay like that for a moment.