The Brilliant Divisions

Chapter Two

I did regret it.

Every footstep forwards I took in the bitter night, I wanted to take two back. I wanted to be back at the shamefully dilapidated bus shelter awaiting a bus that would take me to nowhere important, but instead I found myself pacing much too closely with a boy I'd never known before this night, down the sombre, raven road, under the patched black and white sheets of sky and stars united.

Why was I so gullible, so senseless? Only I could find myself in a ludicrous situation like this in the space of a few hours. And yet, and I almost wanted to laugh aloud despite myself for thinking this, there was an indescribable pull, a resolute magnetic attraction that kept me close to this stranger, this stranger who could hurt or even kill me at any second. I didn't find myself attracted to him in a conventional way, romantically linked. I only knew I wanted, or more so needed, to stay in close proximity. I felt idiotic and needy.

His smooth whisper in the night rescued me from my sea of thoughts.

'Are you okay? You look a bit... troubled. Everything alright up there?'
He patted the top of my head gently, as though we were holding a light-hearted conversation between old friends.
I considered his question. I ought to be the one laden with queries here. Perhaps he was waiting for me to thrust my questions at him right now? I couldn't even deduce a single one, so I heard myself asking the obvious.

'What's your name?'
'You already asked that. Colden. Unusual, but you'll get used to it.'
That comment came unexpected and my breath caught in my throat with a shot of momentary surprise. I coughed it away.
'Will I? Oh... okay. Well, how old are you? I'm pretty sure I've not asked you that yet. Shame on me if I have.'
Colden actually laughed, a faint, amused smile tracing his lips.
'I'm eighteen. Just. Being 18 is supposed to open so many doors in life, but I find it to be quite the same, if I'm being honest, which I'm not always. But I am tonight.'
I raised an eyebrow. 'So you're not always honest?'
'If we're playing Twenty Questions here, pick some better questions.'
'Fine. Where are we going, why do you need me here, am I going to die tonight, and can we stop off for food soon, I swear there's a couple of café's round here that are open all night and I'd rather not perish with an empty stomach.'
Colden answered every question in one swift sentence.
'You'll find out soon enough, because I'm lonely, hopefully not, and you have half a burger in that bag of yours.'
'Oh... yeah. How the hell did you know that?'
'I can smell it. I haven't eaten since this morning. Or yesterday morning if you want to get technical. I'm practically feeding off of scent right now. And the scent is good.'
'How do you know it's only half a burger though? And you can have it if you're so hungry, I can wait.'
'It doesn't matter, we'll be close to food soon enough. But thanks.'
I couldn't help but notice he left my question unanswered. I kept it that way, for now.
'Do you really need me here because you're lonely?'
'No. But it made you feel good for a moment, right?'
'Sort of. I don't know why I should feel happy that a stranger wants me to walk with him so as to keep him from being devoured by loneliness though. Sounds more like a punishment to me.'
'You read a lot of books. I can tell.'
'Possibly. So why am I here then?'

Suddenly, a breeze, a thread of salt evident in the wind. I couldn't explain it. There was no sea around here. I'd never tasted the flicker of salt in the air before.

And then I realised where we were.

'The train station? You can't catch a train now, it's almost 4 o'clock in the morning!'
'We're not catching a train. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this isn't Harry Potter, and we're not about to go to platform 9 and three quarters, jump on a scarlet steam engine and arrive at a castle filled to the brim with whack-job wizards.'
'That's a shame. I'd love to be whisked off to Hogwarts and learn to be a witch. Then maybe I can apparate myself out of this hell hole of a world. And wizards aren't whack-jobs, by the way.'
'You really are a jolly soul, aren't you? Anyway, I believe the café here stays open all night, right? Wanna grab some breakfast?'
'Are you from around here, Colden?'
'I'll pay for breakfast.'


*

The café was almost empty apart from a man settled in the corner with a mug of steamy tea and what looked like a couple of buttery toast slices. He was sporting a very refined black suit and by his chair rested a neat black briefcase. He appeared very much a businessman, waiting for the earliest train to rattle him away to London, or somewhere equally vibrant with men attending formal meetings. However, when he turned to regard me, his face was alarmingly young, barely older than mine, and he looked quite out of place in the suit.

He returned back to his newspaper and nibbled on a piece of toast as Colden and I approached the counter.

'Can I have a chocolate muffin and a tea, please?'
The lady at the counter seemed hardly to register Colden's order, nonetheless she nodded curtly and her steely grey eyes found my chocolate ones.
'Could I have two butter croissants, please? The small ones. And a regular coffee.'
'We're out of croissants and coffee. Pick something else, yeah.' She rolled her eyes in aggravation and her fingers tapped the counter repeatedly.
Colden's brown eyes flared with affliction as he stared at the rude woman.
'Do you have to be so rude? We know you're ugly but no need to take it out on her, she didn't ask to look like a model while you look like a monkey's butt on a bad day.' His face was growing crimson in anger. The woman looked ready to punch him with a giant, fat fist.
'Colden, stop it, relax! I'll just... I'll have a chocolate muffin, too. And a tea, please. Bit much for me at this time in a morning, but I'm so hungry right now.'

The woman seemed hesitant to serve us after Colden's outburst, but in the end she whipped up our orders at a deliberately leisurely pace.
The young businessman had finished his tea, toast and newspaper by the time we carried our breakfast to a table. Colden nodded at him cordially as he passed us, which the man returned before leaving the café.

'Look, I'm sorry about that just then. I... I'm quick to anger, sometimes.'
'I noticed. Forget it. Just eat your muffin.'
'People don't treat their customers like that, not where I come from.'
'Where do you come from? I want to know. Please?'
'You're so impatient, Adalyn. All in good time.'
'But I just-'. Wait a minute. My head. It was screaming quietly. Was that possible? 'How... I never told you my name, I just realised. How do you know my name?' My voice was thickening with a desire to seek some truth from this boy. I didn't quite believe he was being fully honest tonight, despite what he told me earlier.
'Shall we eat these muffins outside? And I'm sure we can take the teas with us, they're just Styrofoam cups. I don't much like the atmosphere in here.'
'I want to know, Colden. Stop avoiding truth.'
'Come on, off we trot,' and he rushed with his tea and muffin out of the café before my mind could construct something to say. I stared at him as he hastened, then turned to the grey-haired, grey-eyed, hawk-faced woman at the counter.

I grabbed my tea and muffin and followed Colden from the café as quickly as I could.


*

We sat on a cold bench beside a train track. The sky, I noticed, was beginning to drain of its ink. Morning was approaching.

Our breath was rising in wisps, small, glittering clouds in the dark. We finished our breakfast, and I looked at Colden directly. I saw someone I knew, recognised, familiar in some way I couldn't fathom. It was a peculiar feeling that made my stomach squirm a little. I looked away. It was a loathsome feeling, when you recognised someone yet could not apprehend their face.

'You know the trains don't start running until 6, right? We've got about an hour and a half to wait,' I whispered.
'We're not waiting for a train. We're waiting for Alex.'


*

Alex turned out to be somebody I did not expect.

He ambled from the train station's entrance and collapsed on the cold bench in between myself and Colden. His briefcase lay at his polished shoes.

'You! The man from the café. Well, I'd hardly call you a man. A boy, perhaps. You look about 17.'
'That's because I am.'
'I don't get it.'
'It means I've been existing in the world for 17 consecutive years. It's quite simple logic, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. You must have trouble on birthdays, not knowing how old you are. Do you even know when your birthday is?'
'Are you related to Colden or is everyone this sarcastic where you two come from?'
'Hey, don't you go bringing me into this,' chimed Colden.
'I'm sorry,' Alex said, his voice softer now. 'What don't you get?'
'A lot of things. I don't get why I'm sat here at half four in the morning with two complete strangers. I don't get why one of them is dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase. I don't get why Colden knows things he shouldn't and he wont tell me how he knows them. I don't get why my dad had to be a fool. Because if he wasn't, I'd be warm in bed right now, dreaming, fast asleep. Not... not here. I don't want to be here. I want to go home. I'm going home right now, in fact. It was nice meeting you both. Thanks for buying me breakfast, Colden. Bye.'

I knew it was pathetic even as I said it. I didn't even move from where I stood. I simply stared at the two boys on the bench who sat looking both amused and concerned. I burst into tears.

'I'm rubbish when it comes to dealing with girls,' Alex muttered almost inaudibly.
He raised himself from the bench but merely hung back as Colden wrapped me in a friendly hug and I sobbed like a little girl into his shoulder. I could feel his cold skin beneath the thin sleeve of his shirt.

'Aren't you freezing, Colden, with just that shirt on? You need a coat,' I managed to mumble as the tears reduced.
'Pfft, forget about me. It's not too cold, anyway.' He patted the top of my reckless auburn hair. 'Your hair, eh? It's wild. Are you okay?'
'Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just... a lot is going off in my head right now. This feels like a dream.'
'Well, it's not.'
'Figures.' I regarded Alex, who looked uncomfortable, nervous even. 'Why are you wearing that suit?'
'This thing?' He pulled at his jacket. 'I like to feel important when I'm on a mission. I might over-exaggerate. At least I dress for the weather, unlike Colden here.'
Colden rolled his eyes.
'Excuse me, mission?' I actually wanted to let free a chuckle. I was slowly but surely becoming insane. It felt shockingly gratifying.
Alex piped up again, looking significantly more relaxed now. I wasn't surprised when he ignored my question. It was orthodox at this point.
'Are we gonna get going then? We need to get there before 7 yesterday morning. That gives us a couple of hours.'
'Yesterday morning?'
'That's what I said.'
'And where exactly do we need to get to before 7 yesterday morning?'
'It's mine and Colden's job to get you there. You're best not asking too many questions until then, you know. We can't really answer any of them so there's seldom any point in it. Let's get going then.'
And the three of us left at the opposite end of the station, climbed a steep, mossy hill that was stripped yellow, pink and blue due to the silent battle of morning and night up in the sky, and began our journey to wherever it was we were going.


*

It rapidly grew tedious, marching through sun-stripped forests and climbing up unmercifully muddy hills.

'If you would only have told me we'd be doing all this walking and climbing, I would have asked that foul woman in the café for a bottle of coke.'
'I never thought about that,' Colden rendered. 'Though I'm more of a cream soda person myself.'
'I'm going to pass out in a second. I need water.'
'You don't need to worry about that, Adalyn,' Alex announced. 'We're about to hit Strawberry Waters.'
'What?'
'Sorry if you don't like strawberry water, but Apple, Orange and Citrus Waters are South, East and West of the country. Strawberry Waters is North, where we are. So that's what where we're nearing now. Personally, I'm glad we've got Strawberry Waters. Last time, I had it go through Apple Waters. Tasted great but looked like pee. Frightful, it was. Put me way off drinking it. But Strawberry Waters looks great.'
'I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about.'
'I know. It's funny. You will soon though. Keep walking.'

'Soon' was earlier than I had assumed. Strawberry Waters was the most sublime, radiantly glorious place I had ever seen with my own eyes. It stepped beyond generic. Way beyond generic.

A stream of deep pink water, the sound of it soothing forwards deliciously peaceful. Scattered here and there were lily pads, a few with beautiful white lilies blossoming from them, radiating a delicate light.
There were rocks and pebbles that sat lazily beside the stream on the grass, which was also pale pink and dancing ever so slightly in the inconspicuous breeze.
A cluster of trees left, right and beyond the stream. Trees everywhere, leaving only small cracks for the rays of a sun that had just awoken to shine its weak rays through. Their petals pale and blushing pinks, salmons, rose reds, corals, even golds. Also swaying faintly in a breeze I could scarcely feel. It felt considerably warmer here. Some of the petals fell in slow motion to the grass or onto the stream.
As morning was upon us now, there was little blue left in the sky, which was now a brilliant gold and pale pink that gleamed and glistened on the stream's surface.

I wanted to take off my jacket and stuff it into my bag, but there wasn't enough room. It occurred to me that this was probably why Colden hadn't brought a coat or jacket with him – he knew we would be coming here. He'd obviously been here before, both of them had.

The sound of Alex's low voice dragged me wistfully back into reality. Well, some kind of reality. Nothing felt real anymore.
'We swim through it. Well, the stream's current makes swimming unnecessary. Just lie back in the fruity water, enjoy the sights and relax. We all need to keep a look out for green grass. The grass stays pink for a while, but at one point it quickly jumps from pink back to green. At that point, get yourself out of the water, and fast, otherwise the current will sweep you all the way to a very large waterfall which you wont survive should you find yourself in it.'
I stared incredulously at Alex.
'Glad we've got that out the way. Let's jump in, then.'

The water was cold at first. Bittersweet, however, as I drank some of the water with the two boys as we floated on down the stream. It tasted like strawberry juice. Cooling to my throat, my dehydrated body. It tasted like a heavenly liquid. I lie back on the water, Colden a little behind me and Alex ahead of us both.

The water seemed to grow warmer the farther we floated, to the point it felt like I was lying on a warm, sandy beach. It was luxurious. The scents of roses, pine, and for some reason, sugar. Several petals collapsed onto my hair and stomach. Dragonflies and butterflies, flapping their glittering wings. I could have drifted off into an everlasting sleep right there. Apparently, so could the boys.

Alex cursed.
'Guys! Guys, wake the hell up! Jump out, to your left, NOW!'

All at once there was a clash of splashing water as the three of us scrambled onto the green embankment moments before we would have been swept away to our deaths.

'Now that was a close one,' laughed Colden.
We were sopping wet, pink pearls running down our faces. Admittedly, it was a rather comedic sight. We raised ourselves into standing positions, and Alex and Colden began walking forwards, off towards more grass that eventually came to a halt at yet another horribly steep hill.

'Wait, I need to take a picture of this place with my phone. I never, ever want to forget it.'
'Er, Addy-' Colden began.
'Please, I want to.'
I snapped a perfectly angled picture with my phone. I waited a few apprehensive seconds as it saved and loaded, desperate to see it. I yelled in astonishment.

The picture looked not a thing like what I was seeing with my own eyes. The stream was blue, not pink. The surface wasn't coloured with dazzling light, just a faint white glow. The lily pads remained, though they didn't radiate light. The dragonflies and butterflies ceased to exist in the picture. The trees were not concealed with blankets of gold, pink and red petals. Instead, they were bare, naked. Just branches. Trees that looked like a tree would look in Winter. But then, I thought, it was Winter. It was almost like everything I was seeing was a lie, or even imaginary, and that the picture on my phone was the only thing depicting any truth around here.

I turned to the boys.
'Why?'
'I told you it's best not to ask questions, we can't answer them,' Alex reminded, and they began walking again. With one more glance back at the wondrous Strawberry Waters, I ran to catch up with their quick pace, still completely with my puzzled thoughts.


*

We were almost to the top of that horribly steep hill. I could taste that thread of salt in the air again. I knew why the second I reached the surface of the hill.

An ocean. A palette of rich, glimmering, burning colours, so profusely effulgent it caused my eyes to ache as I squinted at it. A dance of deep golds from the premature sun rising, warm yellows, a thin blanket of the palest pink, laced with a creamy white from the disappearing stars above. I felt considerably humble and useless as I stood atop the grassy hill, staring at it as though it were a person that deserved countless respect and reverence.
I could also spot the waterfall, the one the stream lead to, pink water gushing quite elegantly down the cliff and splashing like a war amongst water into the ocean. The boys had been quite right – we'd never have survived the sheer force.

There was a much stronger breeze at the top of the hill. My long, fiery hair was licking the air from every angle and direction as it thrashed ferociously in the vigorous winds.
'You see it? The ocean?' Alex was looking at me curiously as he spoke. They both were.
'Of course I see it, I'm not blind. Do we... are we swimming across it?'
'We're not swimming across it. We're swimming down it.'