“I don’t know what that means and quite frankly, Suze, I don’t give a damn!” Congratulations, Vurhg, you’ve just earned yourself a mocking forever nickname. At least until I get my ass moving back home and leave his mangy ass in the dust.
My glare continued, until Vurhg had enough sense to grow uncomfortable under my blackened stare and his gaze darted away.
Turning back to testing out taking a few steps, I found three sets of surprised eyeballs blinking at me. “What?!” I grumbled. Yes, I’m churlish. Can a being blame me?!
A grunt left the male who’d been crouching but was now towering over me. The beast with the woman was a bit of a giant himself too, the woman looking ridiculously small standing beside him.
With a sigh, I closed my eyes and carefully felt around my head.
“Vurhg not make hairs fall out. They stick to hat,” he cut in.
“My hair fell out when I was a small child, shut up about my hair already!” I snapped. Forcing myself to gentle my tone, I added, “It was a hat with fake hair sewn into it, okay? Drop it with the hair.”
Vurhg meekly nodded but, my god, the look in his eyes was starting to alarm me.
Was he- Did that weirdo think- Was my surliness turning him on? Ew. No thank you.
“I need to get home,” I stressed.
“She ‘lone. No have people,” Vurhg argued. “All by self, Vurhg see female.”
“Call me female one more time, Suzy,” I growled.
Vurhg shut up, at least for the moment. I held little doubt that would last very long.
“Not Sudezee. Name Vurhg.Vur-guh.” Grumbling petulantly, he mumbled under his breath, “Won’t tell Vurhg fe- Won’t tell Vurhg name. Vurhg ask, she say mind own bizzed-ness. Vurhg not bad male. Vurhg not Sude-zee- Vurhg-”
There was more but I was just kinda over it. “Does he have an off switch?” I muttered as my hand came up to rub at the spot between my eyes that was starting to throb.
The woman laughed, her beast along with her. It died a quick death as I got one look around, realized this looked nothing like the forest near my house, and blurted, “How far is your village from my house?” Smoke stacks puffing away in the distance, weird colored trees, that sky, all of this was foreign to me.
The horrible, awful, no good feeling I was not in fact in my forest somewhere near home hit me. “Where, uh- Where, uhm, exactly am I?” I whispered, fear lacing my tone.
Don’t panic. It’s not what you think. It’s not. That’s impossible.
“Vurhg brought you through a portal that leads to this world,” the woman said slowly.
“Where?” I croaked, emotion thick in my voice. “Where is it?” So my ass could run back through it.
“It close,” Vurhg added unhelpfully. “Come through, it close ‘hind us.”
“Maybe you not talk now,” the male with the woman grumbled at Vurhg. He didn’t sound impressed with him either.
It closed behind us. “When will it open again?” I managed out as I found it suddenly hard to breathe. My god, has it gotten hot out here? I was feeling very warm and nauseous.
Vurhg started to speak but the male that had been arguing with him gave him a look that shut him right up. My god, this time it worked. I could kiss this stranger for it.
“I don’t belong here,” I blurted. “This… I don’t know this place. I can’t stay here. I have to get back home!” I wasn’t really referring to my physical house so much as the people back on my planet. Cy was back home. He’d be waiting for me once he got up off his ass and returned to my place to claim me. He kept pics of our fake childhood wedding all these years, one in his emergency duffel bag. He had a ring- He- He called me his. I’m his Pru. He’d claimed me. He’d meant it. I might never seen him again, or Elm, or any of the Trees…?
“Portal closed,” the male beside the woman murmured softly.
“What does that mean? It closed? Tell it to open!” I was panicked, babbling, and I knew it. “I have to get back there- Get back to my-” A pain stabbed my chest, causing me to stumble where I stood. I was lightheaded but that was easily explained from all the panting and internally freaking out. Had I cracked something in the fall?
The fear and the pain morphed as I stood there, gaping and rapidly blinking back tears as three sets of eyes watched me with what I could only describe as pity.
“This can’t be it!” I was shouting, an outburst of anger, but it was the only thing that made sense right now. My fingers slipped into my hoodie, curling around the black box with that fat rock in it, sitting right next to the fake wedding day Polaroid.
“Vurhg-”
