Conversing

Hunter Dul sat in his empty house, he felt angry, but not violent. What had happened to him was unfair in his opinion, but maybe he did deserve it.

Hunter writhed in his thoughts about the decision he had made and what led to these choices when someone knocked on his door. He was startled by the noise, he hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. Whoever it was, Hunter can't just leave them at the door. So he opened it.

Once he did, he saw a familiar face. It was someone he knew when he went to grade school. Her name was Emily Garcia and they haven't seen each other ever since they both graduated high school. It tossed a bit more confusion into Hunter's mind, but Emily soon reintroduced herself.

"Hey," Emily awkwardly waved at Hunter. "Long time no see."

"What are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought you went to Mexico!"

"Yeah," She scratched the back of her head. "But I got an invitation to a… thing in California. I realized that I would have to drive through Arizona to get there and thought you would be interested in coming with me."

"What is the thing in particular?" He asked.

"I-" She stops to think before continuing. "I think we should talk about it in a more comfortable area. One that isn't on your front door. So… should we take this inside?"

Hunter thinks about the emptiness of his house and doesn't want one of his best friends to see how unaccomplished he was.

"There's a nearby park." Hunter suggests. "If you're okay with that, of course."

"That'll do." Emily smiles.

"Great!" Hunter claps his hands together. "I'll get dressed, give me five minutes."

Before Emily could say anything, Hunter slowly closed the door on her. He runs into a room with a sleeping bag and a pile of clothes on the floor. He frantically looks through the pile and picks up some camo pants and a t-shirt.

Hunter gets dressed and looks into one of the only windows of the house. He doesn't do this to see what's on the other side of the window, but to look at his reflection.

The reflection fills him with a feeling of anxiety and disgust. The more he looked at it, the more intense the feeling would get. He had an urge to punch the window, but he resisted it and hurried back to the front door.

When he came back, he saw Emily looking at her phone while waiting for him.

"So," Hunter tries to look energised. "I'm ready to go."

"Awesome!" Emily looked up towards him before turning off her phone. "Since you know where the park is, you wanna drive there?"

"Um…" He froze for a moment. Hunter didn't learn how to drive. Even if he did, he couldn't afford one. "No thanks. It's not too far away and I like to be environmentally friendly."

"If you say so." she shrugs as Hunter motions her to follow him.

The pair began to walk, but it wasn't in silence. Hunter wanted to catch up with Emily. It's been only a year, but it was still a long time for him.

"How did you find my house?" Hunter asked.

"Your parents," Emily answers with a snap of her fingers. "You gave me their number in middle school so that we could stay in contact. I asked them if they knew where you live so I could pay you a visit."

"That's… oddly nice of them." He chuckles. "I know my parents used to hate you."

"Yeah," She lightly chuckles back. "Used to, used to… Anyways, How have you been?"

"I've been doing great!" He exclaims this lie. "But do you want to talk about this 'thing' you've been invited to?"

"I guess I do have to explain this to you." She takes a deep breath before continuing. "You know that thing your mom studied here in Arizona?"

"The Showers?" He guesses.

"Exactly!" She points at him. "A friend of mine is going to a university in California to study them. It's free, they pay for the housing, and I heard it's pretty exciting."

"It sounds like it." he says out loud before thinking how to respond.

"I know it's not exactly something you'd usually be interested in," Emily fidgets with her fingers. "I also know a university doesn't sound cool, but I think it could be interesting. It's just that… I can't really describe it like my friend did."

"Are they just letting anyone in?" Hunter asks.

"I-I'm not sure," She responds. "My friend said that they did have some involvement with them beforehand, but… I'm not sure."

"Well," Hunter prepares himself inside his head for a second before resuming. "I'll-I'll think about it. I have a lot to sort out."

"That's fine," Emily smiles back at him. "I was planning on taking a break here in Wickenburg anyways."

"Yeah," He starts to panic internally. "Um… Hold on, I'll be right back."

"Why?" She turns around. "I can see a park that's not too far away. Isn't that the park you were talking about?"

"Yes, it is." He scratches into his palm. "But I need to do something real quick."

"..." She stared at him. "If you say so."

"Thanks for understanding!" He waves as he runs back to his house.

Hunter quickly runs across multiple roads and through the sidewalks of his town. After not too long, he finally made it back to his house.

He opened the door and slowed down. He took a deep breath and realized that he was hurrying too much.

"I-" Hunter talks to himself. "I think I wanna go with her."

He picks up a paper bag he got from his job at a coffee shop earlier and looks for anything he could fit in the bag. The bag was relatively small and he didn't have many things he could put in it. That is except for a glass cup.

This glass cup was a gift given to Hunter by his father right before he moved out of his parents' house. He doesn't know why his father gave him this and he didn't know what to do with it… until now.

Hunter put the glass cup in the bag. He also thinks about getting a box so that he could move more of his stuff, but he changes his mind and the only other thing he takes is a toothbrush he puts in the same bag as the cup.

Hunter exits his house once again and sees a wren. He has seen wrens before multiple times, but this one had landed right in front of him and seemed to not be afraid of him.

"Hello Hunter," The Wren greeted itself. "I am Wren."

"I guess I still have a problem." Hunter chuckles to himself. "I should get a therapist."

"You don't think I'm like the deer," Wren states with an unmoving mouth, a fact Hunter just noticed. "Do you?"

"Of course…" Hunter says before he stops talking. He instead tries doing something he used to do, he tries to talk to Wren in his head. "If you weren't like Deary, you wouldn't be able to hear me. You're all in my head."

"You've got me there!" Wren boldly exclaims, keeping an expressionless face. "But I'm not here to mock you, I just want to tell you something I'd think you'd like to hear."

"I'm not doing it." Hunter telepathically told Wren. "You and things like you have already ruined my life."

"And leaving your home for some girl won't?" Wren responds. "You wanna be 'useful'? I can show you useful! I can help you prove your worth, Hunt."

"What do you mean?" Hunter gets intrigued at the offer.

"The deer has told you all your life that death is a bad thing," Wren begins. "But secretly, everyone craves it. Everyone knows that if Hell exists, we're already living in it. Death is something people shouldn't fear, yet they do. They try to escape the bliss of nonexistence, but it always catches up with them."

"That's interesting," Hunter ponders in his mind. "But what am I supposed to do? Kill people?"

"I've gotten a ton of people to do this," Wren answers the question. "But people are born way faster than we could kill. I would say that simply releasing anyone you can would be enough, but I think that university your friend talked about could help our cause."

"Emily?" Hunter's interest grows more and more. "Wait, do I have to kill her?"

"If you do this right," Wren feeds Hunter's interest in the subject. "She will only have to die last… painlessly. Remember, death is a great thing, but you should only die once you finish. You are saving billions of people from the pains of life. You know that life is painful, yourself, so you must be earth's savior. You must free everyone, my hero. OUR hero! Ready yourself for a trial of pain, for I will be with you the whole-"

Suddenly, Wren flies off to Hunter's left. Leaving him confused, yet empowered. He also realized why Wren had flown away.

Emily had run back to his house to meet back up with them.

"Hi again Hunter," Emily tries to catch her breath but still tries to converse. "I just got kinda bored so I thought I could go back here and stay in my car so I can listen to some music or something."

"Oh!" Hunter exclaims. "I'm sorry for leaving you at the park, I just needed to make up my mind. I was very stressed."

"Did you?" She says this quickly as she tilts her head a bit.

"What?" He asks.

"Did you decide on if you wanna go to the university?" She asks again in a clearer way. "Or do you still need time to think? Like I said, I'm gonna take a break in this town anyways."

"Yeah," Hunter says as he becomes more anxious. "I don't see why not!"

"That's great!" Emily's face lights up with excitement, Hunter can tell that she's holding a lot of it in. "Before we go, did you know that there's a Moonstoon in this town? I saw it on the way here and I think it's a great place to just relax and get a nice cup of coffee."

"Sure…" He tries to remain calm after he made a decision he thought was a bit extreme. "I heard they have great donuts."

"OH!" She resumes talking with Hunter as they both walk up to her car. "Speaking of donuts, I've found this really cool and underrated band called something in Japanese. I checked a translator and they're called the donut do-ers or something like that."

"Tell me more." He smiles as both of them enter the vehicle. He used to enjoy the rants Emily went on when they were in grade school, and he still does today. It fills him with a joy he hasn't felt in a while.

As Emily continued to geek-out over, Hunter notices a wren standing next to the car.

"Make us proud, hero." The Wren tells Hunter. "I'll tell you what to do and when to do it. For now, leave her alive."

Hunter nods before Emily starts the car and the Wren flies away again.