Does it Hurt?

The moment Natalie shut the gate behind them, Jean turned back and stared at the gate in contempt. He expected to find something fascinating behind the gate, but the last incident that almost murdered him, made him forget about every good thing he found behind the gate.

The sun had already retreated to the western horizon. This was an indication that the night was nearing.

While he was still staring at the gate, a thought flashed through his mind.

'Did I just find out the main purpose of the gate? The mysterious spot. I think that is it.'

Jean thought for a moment.

Considering that the main purpose of the gate was not yet to be revealed to him, and the way Natalie concealed some of the information about the mysterious spot in the middle of the forest. It was easy for Jean to sense some relationships between the two.

The information about the main purpose of the gate was not revealed to him, as well as the information about the mysterious spot in the middle of the forest. Although the latter was revealed, it was only after things turned south.

According to this information, Jean might have just unravelled the main purpose of the gate. Even if he hasn't yet, he might not be that far from the answer itself.

Noticing that Natalie had been staring at him for quite some time, Jean quickly perked up and rubbed his face out of embarrassment.

"What is that look for? Do you still want to get back?"

Natalie asked with a grin while gesturing at the narrow gate next to her.

Struggling to calm himself, Jean blinked severally before glancing at the gate.

"Yeah, I can go back if I want but not now"

Jean blated out as he assumed a triumphant posture.

"I can see you are confident. But keep in mind that; when you return in there and get trapped once again, I won't have the energy to waste on your rescue mission"

With that, Natalie raised her right hand and studied the wound on it closely before gazing at Jean with contempt.

"You see the result of your madness…"

Natalie said with a mirth while stretching her injured hand towards Jean.

On seeing this, Jean scowled and turned away dejectedly. This was the moment he remembered that his mom had suffered an injury in the process of saving him.

A minute passed by without anyone uttering a word. Finally, Jean composed himself and turned to face Natalie who was still at the same spot studying her injured hand.

"Does it hurt?"

Jean asked with a scowl evident on his face.

Upon hearing this, Natalie smiled with the corners of her mouth and approached Jean.

"You see, I could have said that it hurts, but since the injury was as a result of me trying to save my only son. Then all I can say is that I'm okay. Don't worry about me, I am clearly fine, if you doubt it see it yourself"

Natalie said in a friendly tone as she stretched out her injured hand for Jean to see.

Studying it closely, Jean noticed two small openings with traces of blood on them. He then looked up to face Natalie after which they exchanged smiles. In the next moment, the two started moving in the direction of the house. This was the moment Jean felt that he should ask Natalie a question relating to her injured hand.

"Mom, if I may ask. How did you know that you needed to tear your hand for you to rescue me after you realized that my hand was stuck?"

Jean had been keeping this question for the right moment. Initially, he wanted to ask the question when they were having a moment of respite a while ago, but he felt like it would complicate things considering the mood that the two were in, immediately after the incident. Now that their moods had improved, he felt like this was the appropriate moment to ask the question.

The moment Natalie heard the question, she was puzzled for a moment as a complicated look flashed across her face.

"Please, Jean… I would request you to spare that question for another time. The best thing is that I at least saved you."

Jean lingered for a moment, and then accepted, crestfallen. Natalie had been avoiding most of his questions and he didn't know the reason behind her actions. He started being reluctant to ask her more questions, for the fear of her failing to answer him.

With a sullen face, Jean proceeded to the rear door of the house, leaving Natalie behind. He then threw a quick glance at her before pushing the door open.

He was goaded by Natalie's reluctance to answer some of his burning question, that according to him, they required immediate answers.

Noticing that this behaviour of Natalie avoiding to answer some of his questions had become common, he even doubted if her reason for avoiding more questions from him were genuine. The trust he had built for her was slowly fading away. And the only way to stop this, was for Natalie to answer most of the questions that she had initially avoided.

What dampened his mood even more, was the fact that Natalie didn't bother to give a time frame for answering the questions she had avoided initially. And he wasn't sure if she would even offer that chance to him. The only time frame he could remember that Natalie had provided, was at the end of the tour, and that was specifically meant for most of the unanswered questions during the first phase of the tour.

Walking into the house dejectedly, Jean walked straight to the kitchen. He was on his way to drink some water since he was feeling dehydrated after the long tour.

The moment he turned around to walk out of the kitchen, he saw Natalie entering the kitchen. She was surprised to find him in but noticing that he was here for the same reason she was here, she raised an eye brow.

As Natalie was drinking water, Jean walked out of the kitchen without uttering a word. Natalie seemed to have noticed his sullen mood, so she didn't bother to say a word to him as he walked out of the kitchen.

'I know you might be angry at some point, but this is for your own good, poor boy.'

Natalie thought to herself as she stared at the disappearing figure of Jean.

Entering the living room from the kitchen, Jean lingered for a moment. He was trying to figure out what could have escaped his mind that he was supposed to do. His gaze darted around the living room for a few moments. Feeling that there was nothing he could figure out, he turned to his left and entered the staircase. After making a few steps, he stopped abruptly and looked back.

'The clock.'

Jean thought to himself as he turned around and descended the staircase. He had remembered that he had forgotten to confirm the time in order for him to estimate the second phase of the tour took.

The last time he checked the clock it read 2:03PM, this was the time they were setting off for the second phase of the tour. Judging by the position of the sun, he was quite sure that it was 6PM or some minutes to 6PM.

Entering the living room with his gaze focused on the wall that the clock was hanging, Jean quickly rubbed his face immediately he saw the readings on the wall clock.

The time read 5:47PM, which meant that the second phase of their tour took at least three hours and thirty minutes discarding fourteen minutes for the time they spent charting at the narrow gate and the time taken for drinking the water in the kitchen.

'that's quite impressive considering what we encountered in the process. Not bad for a novice individual like me.' 

With that thought in mind, Jean's mood livened up as he rushed upstairs with the little energy he could muster and headed to his room.

A few moments later, Jean entered his room and headed straight for his wardrobe. He needed to freshen up. After a few minutes of rummaging through his clothes that Natalie handed him the previous day, he found a towel.

Without further hesitations, he took off his clothes, tied a towel under his waist and opened the bathroom door in his room. A second later he disappeared behind the door and shut the door.

A few minutes later, Jean was lazily lying in his bed on his back. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling. He was trying to recall every single event that took place during the tour. He did this on purpose. He wanted to retrieve what he could have missed in their tour and also note down some of his unanswered questions. He knew there would come a time when the situation would demand for the answers of those questions. So, he took them seriously.

A minute later, his thoughts were cut short by a sudden knock at the door of his room.

---(😊)---