Just the Two of Us

All was still and silent in the forest on the outskirts of Clearspring Village, like the world was holding it's breath so as not to be disrespectful. Two young people held each other close, seeking some manner of comfort in each other's company.

After an unknown amount time passed, Charlie realized he felt much better. He still felt like an entirely different person than he had been this morning, but he was better.

Life had gotten bizarre but right now he was holding Rebecca tight and feeling just fine.

Wait...

He was hugging... Rebecca.

Charlie's head, perched on Rebecca's shoulder, flushed bright red from his neck to his scalp. Not that you could tell through the blood splatter.

'Oh, my immortals! How long have we been holding each other?! She smells so nice... like fresh laundry, and something floral?' Charlie thought and almost sniffed at Rebecca's hair to investigate further before he snapped out of it.

'Idiot!' Charlie berated himself internally. He was acutely aware of every inch of his body that was in contact with Rebecca. This was by far the most intimate contact Charlie had ever had with a lady around his own age.

'She's being so nice but she must think I'm an absolute lunatic. Immortals above...' Charlie bemoaned to himself when he thought of the state Rebecca just found him in.

"Cough... Cough!" Charlie coughed once softly and then again, a little louder.

"Oh, sorry!" Rebecca said, a little embarrassed. She quickly let go and got unsteadily to her feet. For a moment neither could look the other person in the eye.

Rebecca was the first to recall the urgency of the situation they were in.

"I know a small pond nearby where we can wash up." She said and offered her hand, helping Charlie to his feet. Rebecca could barely stand on her own so it was more of a gesture.

Charlie quickly let go when he got to his feet. He noticed that her hands were rough but very warm. She'd clearly been working with tools for many years.

"What about...?" Charlie asked and glanced back at the corpse.

Rebecca shook her head, "Leave him, he's too big for us to move and we need to hurry. I'm sure the farmers are worried since we didn't show for lunch and we can't let them find us anywhere near here."

'Im sure their worried about YOU, not so sure about me.' Charlie thought uncharitably. Then chastised himself, Rebecca could have easily run away and Charlie couldn't have blamed her, but she had come back, danger and all.

He did have other concerns though. "Shouldn't we tell someone about this...?" Charlie asked, uncertain.

"Absolutely not! We. We're. Never. Here." She stared hard into Charlie's eyes and enunciated every word. She looked dead serious.

Charlie gulped audibly and quickly nodded his head. Only then did Rebecca's expression lighten up. She gave Charlie a tired but kind smile.

"Let's start walking, we can talk more on the way." Rebecca said and took a step, then immediately lost her footing and stumbled.

Charlie was standing near and reacted in time to catch her shoulders.

"D**n foot." She cursed. "You'll have to support me as we walk."

"Ah... sure... where should I...?" Charlie asked, flustered.

"Hold me here and and try to take my weight on one side." Charlie nervously followed Rebecca's lead and was soon holding her at the waist while she rested an arm around his shoulder.

"Wow, this is working better than I expected. You're short enough to be the perfect crutch!" Rebecca said with a cheeky grin.

Charlie knew she was just trying to lighten the mood but still felt steam coming out of ears in embarrassment. He scrunched his face up and didn't reply.

"Hehe," Rebecca stifled a chuckle. "Sorry, sorry let's get moving." She said and pointed west through the trees.

Charlie let out a breath and the two began to shuffle forward. He didn't take another look back at Goerge's body and soon it was out out of sight entirely.

...

They'd been walking for a short while and except for Rebecca pointing out where to go, hadn't communicated at all. Rebecca was concentrating on staying upright and Charlie was wrestling with his continued close proximity to a very pretty girl. Somehow that was more distracting than the memory of waking up to a mutilated corpse that he was most likely responsible for mutilating.

"How do you know where we're going?" Charlie asked when he finally found the nerve.

"These woods were like my backyard growing up. Me, my parents, and our old family hound were always spending time out here. The pond ahead was our favorite swimming hole... So, I couldn't get lost in these woods if I tried."

Rebecca kept her eyes focused forward while she answered but she didn't seem bothered by the question. This gave Charlie the assurance he needed to continue the conversation.

He started with their immediate concern. "I can think of some good reasons to not let the village know about Goerge but why do you think we shouldn't?"

'Getting possessed by a ghost and killing someone.' Charlie thought but decided to keep that one to himself.

Rebecca looked over at Charlie with an expression that said, 'it should be obvious'. "Probably the same reasons you can think of. We can't prove that our lives or safety were in danger. They'd only find a murdered mercenary and I don't know about you but I'm not betting my life and future on the Dancing Wyrms being impartial."

Rebecca ducked under a branch, Charlie was short enough to not have to.

"Also," she continued. "If the village falls out with the Wyrms because of this it would mean the end of an alliance that has lasted generations. Not to mention the real danger we'd all be in before an agreement with another merc band was reached."

"In the end, its better for everyone that Goerge had an unfortunate 'accident' while out on patrol." Rebecca concluded. "The forest beasts should take of that just fine." Rebecca was matter of fact in her assessment, her voice didn't betray any emotions.

"Right... right." Charlie agreed, stamping down his nausea at the image of Goerge's corpse getting ripped to shreds by a group of wild animals.

Next, he felt a wave of shame. Rebecca had all of Clearspring Village mind while he was only concerned with saving his own skin and keeping his secrets.

"We're almost there now." Rebecca said and pointed through a group of densely packed conifers. Sure enough, Charlie could see the light reflecting off water on the other side if the trees.

Charlie had one more burning question that had been pushed to the back of mind in all the chaos so as they manouvered through the branches he asked, "Why did you decide to meet with Goerge in the first place? I overheard something about money but doesn't your grandpa still run the butchers? Do you really need money that badly?"

Rebecca stopped in her tracks and Charlie stopped with her. For a moment she didn't respond and Charlie felt increasingly uneasy. He turned his head slightly and panicked when he saw that she was sniffling and starting to tear up.

'She seemed so calm just a second ago!' he thought. It then occured to Charlie that maybe Rebecca had been putting on a brave face. That she was only 16, and like him, was struggling to cope with all this.

"Ah, don't cry! I'm sorry, don't cry! You don't have to answer!" Charlie had no idea how to handle this.

"Waahhhhhh!!" Rebecca's tears started to flow. Charlie was still supporting her and was stuck. He felt extremely uncomfortable but recalled how Rebecca had just comforted him and started to gently stroke her back.

"I didn't want to meet Goerge, I knew he was creepy but I went anyway!" Rebecca started speaking rapidly through her tears. "I don't want to be a butcher! I want to be an artist! But Clearspring is too small to make a living with art and I need money to move anywhere else! I thought I could add bit on my savings but Goerge turned out to be a monster and then you had to go through all that! Its all my fault! Waahhhhhh!"

She said everything in one breath and then cried a few more times. Charlie continued to pat her back as she regained her composure, it was like she let out everything she'd been holding inside in one go.

Charlie processed what she said, despite everything Charlie felt he'd found a kindred spirit, someone who also wanted to have a life outside the village.

"Careful, or I'll start crying again too." Charlie said awkwardly.

"Ha," Rebecca smiled at the lousy attempt at humor. She wiped her eyes one at a time.

"Hey, I still don't know what to make of everything that happened but I do know this was only one person's fault, Goerge's. And we're both alive, I think that's pretty great!" Charlie still wasn't feeling anywhere near his best but he meant what he said.

'Also, it might be that insane ghost's fault' Charlie thought.

"Yes, you're absolutely right." Rebecca said and suddenly pushed Charlie away.

He was worried he'd done something to offend her until she turned around and had a big silly smile on her face.

"Race you to the pond!" She yelled and hopped forward on leg. She grabbed a tree branch to help swing herself forward. It looked... really silly.

"I'm about to winnnnn." She turned back and said to taunt Charlie.

"Hahahaha." Charlie burst out laughing. He ran after her and almost tripped. He was still really sore and aching but he found his footing and kept going, still laughing.

It was all pretty silly.