Test of Courage (1)

"He'll say no, I'm sure of it!" A 13-year-old blond-haired boy exclaimed to his black-haired friend.

"He is afraid of everything and then never leaves the house," he then added.

"Precisely for this reason by testing him with us, we will make him courageous again, you too remember it... he was the most reckless of all..." Said the other boy of the same age.

"it's his grandmother's fault, she made him a scared and boring girl".

At these words, the other boy nodded convinced.

"It is our obligation as friends to get him out of that house" the young man then added, finding the absolute consent of the other.

Thus, two boys were walking on the edge of a small road, in a southerly direction of the small town where they lived called "Letzte Straße", so called because it was the most north-eastern city of the kingdom of Darar, a city born in a valley to the west of the very high mountain range of Sur, to visit an "old" friend of theirs.

The blond, blue-eyed boy's name was Rick. He was taller than other boys his age and had a sporty physique, popular with girls, and the flagship of the town's basketball team.

The other boy with straight black hair was called Taro. Slightly below average height for his age and with oriental features, his father, in fact, comes from the "far east".

Mediocre in sports and in almost everything else, apart from human relationships.

"There it is!" He pointed to Rick.

"It's identical to how I remembered it..." Taro added.

After walking along a degraded street, with mostly abandoned houses and shops, the two boys arrived at their friend's house. An independent house with walls almost completely in light wood and with evident signs of little maintenance, and the roof, also in wood, was of a dull red color.

In front of it, there was a small unkept garden, which, being unfenced, overflowed on all sides, invading the houses adjacent to it and the road on which it bordered.

In the garden, a weeping willow with pale leaves that looked sick made everything even more melancholy and sinister.

"Um... it was your idea, you go knock on the door..." Taro said.

"A-are you scared? I remind you that tomorrow we're going to have a test of courage..." Rick answered with a trembling voice.

"It's that… her grandmother…"

The reason why the two young men were reluctant to go and knock on the door was not due to the disturbing shapes of the house in front of them, but due to the memories they had of their friend's grandmother.

"Perhaps it is no longer as we remember it..." Rick suggested, with a look, however, not very convinced.

*Gulp

Both young men gathered courage and faced together the narrow dirt path to reach the entrance of the house.

"One… Two and…".

*Knock! Touch! Touch!

They both knocked on the door, using the rusty sun-shaped knocker on the front door.

After a few moments, they heard light footsteps approaching the door from inside the house.

*Hiiii!

The door opened amid various creaks. To the surprise of the two young men, it was not an old woman as they feared who opened the door, but a frail short boy with curly brown hair, ocher yellow eyes, and a graceful face.

"Rick? Taro? What are you doing here? Do you know that-" He said shyly. His voice, despite his appearance, sounded almost adult, especially in terms of tone.

"Kristian! Ehm yes... since you haven't gone out with us for a long time... and you're always locked up in the house... we decided to take you with us tomorrow!" Rick said exalting the words.

"Hmm?" Kristian looked at them confused.

"Tomorrow we decided to do-"

In mid-sentence, Taro nudged Rick with his elbow, who spun around.

"Wha-"

Taro's gaze was terrified as he stared at a window with old yellowish shutters on the second floor of the house.

Rick looked in the direction his friend was looking.

A shiver ran down his spine.

"What are you looking at?" Kristian asked baffled.

"E-um… your grandmother…"

Kristian turned to look at the window, his grandmother was there with wide eyes watching them.

Kristian, seeing his grandmother with such a creepy face, didn't seem surprised.

"It's best if we get away a little…" Rick said.

Having said that, the three walked a few meters away from the house.

"Your grandmother is really creepy," Taro said sharply. Rick nudged him in the side with an elbow.

"W-what did I say wrong… you sure thought that too!" He added then.

Kristian looked at them, their comments didn't seem to bother him. More than anything, he seemed upset about leaving his home without his grandmother's consent.

"Well, back to us… tomorrow, after school, Would you like to come with us to test your courage?" Rick asked as persuasively as possible.

"Um… t-test my courage?" Kristian asked puzzled and a little intimidated.

"In what sense?" He added soon after, still troubled by the fact that he had left his house without his grandmother's consent.

"We want to go to the forbidden forest! It will be an amazing adventure!" Taro replied enthusiastically.

At his friend's words, Kristian blanched and his eyes widened.

"T-the forbidden forest?!" He said in a shaky voice.

Rick and Taro didn't seem surprised by Kristian's reaction. They knew their friend was a coward.

"Don't tell me you're scared!" Taro said, trying to get his friend to follow them.

"N-no I'm not scared… But!" Kristian was clearly afraid, but not so much by the proposal of his two friends.

"Come on! You're always at home, now we only see you at school... your grandmother made you a girl, so come with us and be a man!" Taro added.

From the face that Kristian made now, Rick and Taro knew that Taro's words had made inroads into their friend. After all, Kristian, although mature for his age, was just a kid.

"What Taro means is that we miss going around with you... once you were the most reckless of all... now you always stay at home... don't you miss the adventure?" Rick asked.

Kristian's heartbeat quickened.

Reliving the past, Kristian smiled.

His grandmother, when Kristian turned 8, began to prevent him from leaving the house, the only place other than home where he could go since then was school. His grandmother had become paranoid for some reason and instilled in Kristian a fear of the outdoors. Over the years that followed, Kristian's heart closed more and more in a blanket of boredom and fear. However, inside this cloth, an ardent adventurous spirit was still hidden, which was now trying in every way to get out.

"Do you remember? when we were younger you always said that your dream was to be an adventurer and discover all the mysteries of this world… well, the forest is the most mysterious place that is near where we live…" Rick added then.

Kristian remained silent. Inside him, his desire was colliding with his grandmother's influence on him.

"Mmh... O-okay..." he said in a not-very convinced voice, "I'll go with you..."

Taro and Rick turned to look at each other, then smiled with a look of satisfaction and victory.

"Well then, bring a change of shoes and a sunstone torch in your school bag tomorrow!" Rick said enthusiastically running away, Taro said goodbye to Kristian and then followed Rick.

Kristian turned to his house and looked up, his grandmother was still at the window staring at him with wide eyes and expressionless gaze.

'What have I done…' a shiver ran down his spine, he couldn't imagine what her grandmother would have done if he found out.

'I shouldn't have agreed to go with them…but…' With these second thoughts, Kristian walked through the door of his house. Her grandmother, who had just been in her room, was now there waiting for him just beyond the front door.

"Who were those." said the grandmother. Her voice was hollow and croaking, shrill at the end of words. Her face was sunken around the eyes and marred by age. Her eyes were wide open, it was as if they were looking behind Kristian.

She had tousled white hair and a hunchbacked physique from old age which she supported with a wooden stick with a handle in the shape of a golden eagle. She was dressed in a pink and blue checkered sweater and dark green baggy pants.

"Um…" Kristian became agitated when he saw his grandmother, 'she mustn't know about tomorrow's test of courage…'

"D-don't you remember them? It's Rick and Taro…" Kristian added.

Her grandmother's gaze remained impassive, she didn't seem to deign the importance of the two names mentioned by her grandson.

"You did not ask permission to leave the house."

"Ehm-"

"The world out there is dangerous and you know it, It killed your parents when you were two, do you want It to kill you too?" her grandmother asked.

These words sent a lump in young Kristian's throat, and he looked down helplessly.

"We'll eat in an hour, go do your homework if you have any." Then added his grandmother, who had never blinked an eye during the whole speech.

Kristian nodded, then ran to his room.