Secret of The Night

We ran as fast as our feet would carry us, desperately hoping to run fast enough to avoid the death mist. Vivi stumbled a few times, but I pulled her sleeve and set her upright. No stopping or talking, the only sound that could be heard was the slap of our sneakers thudding against the stones.

I saw a diversion in the road and quickly tugged Vivi towards it.

“What are you doing?” she hissed at me. “We can’t stop now, stupid.” I ignored her and pulled her towards the split in the road. The mist was quite a few feet behind us; I doubt that it could catch us if we made a turn.

“Look, that thing doesn’t have eyes, right? It can’t follow us if we go somewhere other than straight,” I turned around and told Vivi. Her eyes widened and she shut her mouth. I crouched down behind the bushes that lined the road. “Come here,” I gestured to her. She hesitated, then crouched down next to me. She was really small next to me and it took me forcing myself to remember the situation we were in to resist the urge to put my arm around her.

We waited patiently and soon enough, the white mist rolled down the stone path, decimating all in its way (thankfully, only a few bleached-white leaves had to suffer the incineration). As I predicted, it did not act like an actual mist, but more like a tangible entity; it pretty moved as a compressed ball of air and didn’t spread out to where we crouched, hidden.

It moved slowly but surely, and after it passed, Vivi and I let out the breath we didn’t know we had been holding in. We looked at each other simultaneously, surprised, and smiled.

“Hey, let’s find a cave or something to hide out in. We’ll wait a while, then keep going on the path,” I suggested. When she nodded, I moved out, brushing away the white leaves that obscured my search for a hideout.

Vivi spotted it first. A nice little spot under a big black tree trunk, surrounded by a family of other tree trunks so whoever sat in the center of the ring would be completing obscured from the outside. The leaves hung in such a way that made finding this place nearly impossible, except for a small opening in the back. “Darren, look. This is a perfect spot to hide.”

“Yeah, it is,” I smiled at her. She’s really good at finding these kinds of places. Last night was also her.

“You’re good at finding these places,” I announced my thoughts out loud. Vivi gave me a cocky grin and turned away, but not before I caught a glimpse of the blush threatening to consume her face. She popped her head in between the trees and came out, giving me a thumbs up signal.

We crawled inside with minor difficulties; it was a little tight but no actual problem. The space inside was just enough for the two of us to sit comfortably, at a safe distance from each other. When we had settled down, Vivi sat up straight with a sudden idea, swung her pack in front of her, and looked studiously for something. She pulled out her phone with a “Yes!”

I don’t think that works down here, Vivi, but you can try.

She pressed a few buttons and turned it around, triumphantly. An iPhone 6 picture shone back at me, the pixels the same shoddy quality as I remembered.

I’m surprised. Didn’t think the camera would work.

Our surroundings were forever captured on that little device, the jet black tree trunks, standing like solemn soldiers side by side, their white leaves contrasting sharply and terribly.

After a while, we got brave enough to venture out again. I watched Vivi cautiously place her right foot on the stone path and look both ways vigorously, like a child crossing the street for the first time. I followed with a little less drama, swinging my head from side to side 20 times, rather than 30.

On the road, we had a long laugh about our trepidation of the warrior mist creature and talked of our battle plan. She told me that demons could be killed really similarly to humans, which made them so different than vampires. Vivi highlighted the difference between Yoru, the guy she’s after, and all the other minor demons.

“Wait, so the thing that we saw yesterday, that’s a minor demon?” I questioned her, emphasizing the word minor.

She smiled. “Yeah. Yoru’s a whole lot more powerful. Also, the demon world isn’t like your average teenage romcom plot. They use guns, just like humans. Not samurai swords or something ancient magic thingies. They’re amazingly modern.”

I licked my lips and looked forward. “Ok.” We kept walking. After a minute of awkward silence, we started talking about life back up there and what we would do once we defeated Yoru.

“I’m gonna focus a little less on my grades. This whole thing makes me think. It’s so easy to die. A demon could show up and seduce you and drink 80% of your life away, and then all you have to show for your life are some grades you got in school,” Vivi blurted out, then covered her mouth hastily and tugged her side bangs. She made me smile.

“Same, I guess. I’m gonna try to become better friends with people. Before this, I was only really friends with Danny, Jack and Richard. I wanna get to know more people. They’re pretty interesting,” I stared at Vivi hard. The corners of her lips tugged and the tip of her nose flamed up.

I wonder if I can tell her. But then she’d be pissed, wouldn’t she? She’s so easy and fun to tease.

A deeper voice inside of me chimed in:

But I wasn’t teasing.

I heard a twig snap and looked behind us. “Ah, crap. Vivi, Sergeant Mist is here again.”

She turned around. “What?” The mist creature/ball headed towards us; this time it had taken a more spherical form, smashing into the trees with its ‘head’ using brute force. Vivi acted fast and took out her own mist weapon before I thought of a possible way to run, turned the nozzle to make it a hose (holy shit, that thing could do that?) and started spraying the hell out of it.

She would be one hell of a Febreeze mom, I quietly thought.

There was no effect on the mist creature. It just turned towards her and moved a little faster. Vivi backed up and stuffed her now-useless weapon back in her bag.

“Ok. I tried. Not working. Time to run!” She started running at full speed and grabbed my hand as she passed.

The mist chases us at our speed, but a few hundred feet behind. “Let’s split up,” I volunteer. Vivi nods. “Good idea,” she says. I let go of her hand and start running to the right, while Vivi turns to the left. I plow headfirst through some trees and hide behind a really fat trunk, watching the mist. It stopped after we split up, swinging its ‘head’ from side to side. If it weren’t trying to kill us, I’d have thought it was pretty cute.

It doesn’t move from that spot, which kinda sucked because now Vivi and I couldn’t meet up. It was also becoming more translucent, rather than fully see through. I thought I could see the outline of an old man in the middle of the mist. I remember what Vivi told me. Minor demon.

It seemed to be losing power. Vivi must have thought so too, because she stepped out from her hiding place and brandished her hose/spray gun again. I held my breath in anticipation. If she got eaten, I’d have no way to go home. I ran out into the path, revealing myself as well. Vivi aimed and pressed the top.

The man mist thing looked at her once, as if to say, Really? And then fell apart. We could see the street again. Vivi turned to me and laughed.

“That’s the guy who told me everything about this place! I don’t think we killed him but he’s gone now! We did it!” She jumped up and hugged me. I stood really straight, taken aback by the suddenness of her affection.

“Oh,” She let go fast when I didn’t respond. “Sorry. Too excited,” she turned away, mumbling.

I blinked then spun her around to face me. In one motion, I cupped the back of her neck with one hand and her waist with another. I bent my head and met her lips with mine. They were plush and delicate.

Vivi didn’t miss a beat. As soon as I bent my head, her arms went up and around my neck to pull me in. I grinned against her lips. It was a closed kiss, keeping it nice and modest. Sweet yet passionate, sincere and deep. I pulled back first and we stared at each other.

Vivi started blushing a deep crimson red, so red it matched the color of the Barron’s SAT II P/S Chemistry review book back in my room.

“Um,” I rubbed the back of my neck. “That was nice.” I avoided her eyes, instead choosing to fixate on how her shoelaces were untied. I bent down and tied them and then untying them and double-knotting them.

Now I don’t know what to do. Should I tell her?

She bent down to my height and lifted my chin. “Hey, look at me,” she said. My eyes flitted up. Vivi gave me a smile and kissed me again. Quick peck. Then she turned around and started walking again, like nothing had happened.

I touched my lips and grinned wide. She liked me too! I was so happy I was suddenly glad I had followed my instincts and stepped into the closet after her.

I’m not telling her, I decided. She’s a prize worth chasing.