The perks of being a superhuman: hunger wasn't often a problem. Boredom, unfortunately, was. It was most prominently a problem, if you were with someone as dead on the inside as Everest, who was currently walking ahead of me.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAYNRxFzRlpc
"So Everest, what's your last name?" I asked. It was a brand new day, and which meant brand new ways for me to torture some answers out of the cold-blooded rogue.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAv9tFS4tOa2
Nonetheless, I received no reply.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAEjoYj3rK61
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see. "Really? You're not even going to give me that?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAZzv5Nxirfm
Silence.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAJ2nN9WGSqY
"You're so boring."
481Please respect copyright.PENANA4gOVbxoHez
"I'm not here to amuse you," He finally spoke.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAnChH11UTYu
Ah, I knew I'd crack him. "Hurray! He speaks!"
481Please respect copyright.PENANA5iwQmNLiic
"Of course I do," a pause. Then: "Just not to you."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAXBEdgzNUNe
I raised an eyebrow, even though he couldn't see it. "See, that's how you know that there's something wrong with you. Everyone speaks to me. I'm so speak-able."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAOwZQ7yQosx
"Outgoing," He corrected.
481Please respect copyright.PENANATjhw2lIayK
"You think I'm outgoing?" I gasped placing a hand on my chest.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAwCZiC4D0Hy
"And annoying," he added, walking on.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAuQRtmRFT5f
"You're annoying."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAphwv9rJdLZ
He stopped, turning around. "How?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAx2IYCU3i0B
"To me you are. You don't speak, and I find that annoying. You don't answer my questions; I find that annoying. You show zero emotions, and I find that annoying. I don't know you, Everest, and here I am following you like a lost sheep, and sure, one could easily say 'well if you hate it so much, why don't you just walk in the opposite direction', but I can't!" I exclaimed, pointing in the direction we came from. "Because in the opposite direction there's the Front. I can't go back there. I have to depend on you. I find that annoying.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAntE2Tdu575
He gave me a long look.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAEtho7ZLwuZ
Perhaps I should I have stopped at the zero emotions part.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAlTcwCkl9aH
In the duration of this long look, I observed how his facial muscles relaxed the slightest bit. But doing nothing more, he turned around and advanced on.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAr85GUXUjKm
As for me, I couldn't exactly advance forward as easily as him, thanks to this god-forsaken dress. I had told Amanda that it was a disastrous, over the top, unimaginably maddening piece of, piece of—
481Please respect copyright.PENANAUrv1uCWGwT
"What? It's perfect!" She exclaimed, delightedly. "Oh, the photographers will be all over you."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAI1XwQMQz9q
"So you want me to be blind?" I
481Please respect copyright.PENANAhfLODq4iQy
"Stop being so cynical, Emerald. This dress is a Madame Brodeur's!"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAPxXPgCdOqq
"Whatever that means," I muttered.
481Please respect copyright.PENANASzs9Zona9b
"That means, when you step out in this dress, you'd make every individual in the fashion industry bow down to you. You see, Madame Brodeur has not released a dress in two years. This dress itself is supposed to come out next spring. Do you know what that means?" Her brown eyes glimmered.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAT1cV4u4GFS
"That the Front made a time machine?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAhBKQI1HeYH
"Emerald, be serious! Madame Brodeur is high in demand. Rosalind had to bend over backwards to get this dress!" She lectured me like she always did, addressing my stylist. Why I needed a stylist was beyond me. Surely a young adult should be able clothe themselves?
481Please respect copyright.PENANAYjiqdqgE2f
"So Rosalind is a time traveller?" I joked again, much to Amanda's dismay.
481Please respect copyright.PENANA5DWNFVldhl
"Emerald," she sighed and gazed at me intently. "You need to understand that your life is going to be in the spotlight after next week. You should have been in the spotlight the moment you were born! You're the cure for cancer for crying out loud, but your parents didn't want it. However, as soon as those first snaps of photographs go off when you step on that stage, your life is going to change. You have to be serious about it."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAfOjn0wPwx1
"I am serious about it!" I protested.
481Please respect copyright.PENANADQ4GqI7O2H
"Well, the way you're behaving about something as small as a dress proves otherwise."
481Please respect copyright.PENANARa2CcoPHTZ
"That's because I don't like dresses."
481Please respect copyright.PENANASYhLSVznGv
"After the launch evening, you are going to be having dinners with presidents, you will to be meeting royalty, you are going to be invited to red carpets and awards shows, and it's going to be shown everywhere! This dress is just the beginning. After the launch evening, we're talking Elie Saab, Chanel, Gucci, Louboutins—"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAmFwihfsVxS
"No," I interrupted her. "That's not me."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAPit33HQOks
If she had listened, I would be walking in front of Everest instead of the other way round. I looked down at my dress and then back at Everest. Must be nice, trekking through a forest in joggers and a t-shirt, instead of a Madame Broduer's next year springs master piece.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAhUZYi6sTtY
"Walk slower!" I ordered, more than asked Everest.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAeB0GEmbS7Z
"This is my average speed." He replied subtly.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAcdlv3qXfyp
"Just because it's your average speed, it doesn't mean it's my average speed. And why couldn't you have just given me something else to wear before we left the Front?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANA9YhHtdE8ja
"Of course. Because we had time for a costume change." Was that sarcasm, I heard in his voice? My, my, I did not know this Everest What-ever-his-last-name-is was capable of such fine art.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAm1f7LnJ7NW
"Maybe we would have found the time if you had saved yourself all the cold glares." I shot back. Oh, that one was good!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAY5N1if6WFl
"You are intolerable." He stated.
481Please respect copyright.PENANA4WUKUtBR0C
"You are insensitive." I fired back.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAXJnSp5ndsQ
"Your opinions mean next to nothing to me." Next to.
481Please respect copyright.PENANA0hTG7SyxgD
"No, seriously, you really are. You're not the one in this unbearable dress, so the least you can do is slow down a few kilometres-per-hour. But no, that's too much to ask of his Highness."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAc3QdGvlT1u
"If you dislike the dress so much, why don't you just take it–" He stopped mid-sentence, realising the reality of his words.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAFtFztpwhxV
I smirked. "What? Take it off? It's not a hoodie for one to easily take off when they feel like it, Everest. I'm wearing close to nothing under this."
481Please respect copyright.PENANADzkXRv4TnE
"I didn't mean–"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAcRZjudfBcz
"Of course, you were just self-assertive as usual." I teased.
481Please respect copyright.PENANA5Z2y7EfogH
"No–"
481Please respect copyright.PENANASYqKstF8EY
"Don't worry, I always expected it from you."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAfb1sjWQFbb
He gave me a bitter stare.
481Please respect copyright.PENANA0xg8yQpbBd
"Relax! It's a joke." I laughed.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAwBwAFR87Wv
He did not return the laugh.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAMD6gLStTex
My own laugh dissipated. "Oh come on, it's funny. And anyway, you brought it upon yourself."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAkMM1LvuXSP
His face remained unmoved. "Like I said; intolerable."
481Please respect copyright.PENANACQdBes7xsx
481Please respect copyright.PENANAxYSrfPNZbl
***
481Please respect copyright.PENANAIkhg0jCqf4
481Please respect copyright.PENANAkyojFRRQY5
We walked another three – three! – hours, in absolute silence. Not one word was uttered. I'm sure it was easily managed for him, but frankly, I surprised myself by staying quiet that entire time.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAlnBTLNQMcw
You may be wondering how I was able to calculate the time, having no watch. It was easy. The walk was so boring, that I counted the seconds. That's right. I counted down ten-thousand-eigth-hundred seconds. I needed entertainment, okay?
481Please respect copyright.PENANAARvN31KhUW
Somewhere along the ten-thousand-eigth-hundred-and-fifties, my brain felt like that of a university student during exam season, so I decided to stop.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAL2NfT7GazT
To pile on, my walk eventually mutated into a series of stumbles, so much so that I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said, my legs were one more step away from falling off. I couldn't help it, it was the lactic acid that had automatically built up in my legs!
481Please respect copyright.PENANA297PpACeiU
So yes, I became tired. Sue me.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAJ20I7YRyVw
When I explained this to Everest, breaking the silence, he said I should stop being tired because it was "pitiful" that I couldn't even make the remaining fifty-three mile journey on foot through a forest, without a break.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAiti2ugidHw
"Pitiful?! I beg your pardon?" I stumbled over the words, in a state of shock. Shock from his heartlessness, that was what it was!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAjOXIWdA7xL
"Then beg."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAlHPLhU5oqk
My eyes flared. "Hydrogen, one; helium, 4; beryllium, 6.4..."
481Please respect copyright.PENANA8axMrIpX8t
"What are you doing?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAeKBMES0oXd
"Shut up. Sodium twenty-three..."
481Please respect copyright.PENANA6uLKNqGx1P
"So you've lost your mind."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAtpylq7Oz2A
I took a deep breath, simultaneously fighting the urge to cut him with his own jawline. "Did it ever occur to you that some people having these things called muscles, that eventually stop contracting?!" I shouted more than asked.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAZWyf95lf6x
"Your point being?"
481Please respect copyright.PENANA3Eq1DJGFZd
"My point being, I've been walking for three hours; my legs ache!"
481Please respect copyright.PENANAJMNTZmzBy7
"I could say the same to you, but do you hear me complaining about it?" He had a point there. But as if I was going to let him know that!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAbArGBjHDCj
"That's–that's because you are inhuman. You're the incarnation of granite itself!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAzknyRjFkwi
"Really?" He sounded uninteresting. Not that he was ever interested in anything, anyway.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAda2D1xn28u
"Yes! I thought I was inhumane before I met you. But, brother, you give me a run for my own money! All I'm asking for is a break, not one of your kidneys."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAVYpG3HARWX
"I believe the past ten minutes we've stood here arguing is a break in itself. Let's move."
481Please respect copyright.PENANAlti3BASs6d
This is ridiculous!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAwNJt7qMTzW
"No," I protested.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAQEwjk2VbDs
"You constantly insist how strong you are, yet you can't even manage a hike through a forest."
481Please respect copyright.PENANApIE1XQKXGg
Alright, he got me there, I'll admit it. And the feeling sucked: this foreign feeling of defeat. It was the kind of feeling that made me want to jump out of my body entirely just to avoid it. Hence, I made my way around him, determined to show him, how wrong he was.
481Please respect copyright.PENANAxHWgSYiIao
I'll show him pitiful!
481Please respect copyright.PENANAs59e0m85e7
481Please respect copyright.PENANAQNiOoOwrSU
Author's note:
481Please respect copyright.PENANALMxnlBeVnk
Thank you for reading, please vote comment and share.
481Please respect copyright.PENANARM4Nc3Q1zw
And scene.