Lilli of the Forest: Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Goodbyes

The moment Lilli woke up the next morning, she untangled the sheets of her doll-sized bed from her legs and leapt free of their hold.  Packing would not become a problem, as she would only take the items she could carry on her back.  Everything she needed got separated into two bags: one for tools and equipment, and the other for food.  After several minutes shuffling and scampering back and forth across the space, everything she needed now lay in its proper pack.  Poppy just began to wake to find Lilli's completed progress.

"See?  Not even the afternoon yet and we're ready to go," Lilli announced with a broad grin.  Poppy merely replied with a heavy yawn.  Lilli gripped her supply bag by the handle and threw it over her back, securing it tightly.  "Well, guess it's now or never, huh?"  Just as Lilli finished her sentence, Poppy's ears flew straight up into the air, then drooped again as she gave a tiny cry.  Lilli spun around with sudden worry.  "What is it?  What's wrong?"  Poppy crept over to one side of their space, placed both of her forepaws against the surface and scratched at the wood.  She then turned and gave Lilli a bug-eyed stare along with a pitiful whimper.  It took a moment before a flash of realization lit up Lilli's face.

"You want to go say goodbye to Ethan?"  At the sound of the human boy's name, Poppy's tail immediately began to brush back and forth against the floor and her tongue panted from her jaws.  Lilli's mouth fell open for a second, but then she closed it, her jawline taut and square.

"We don't have time for that," Lilli replied as she whipped her back towards Poppy, "the sooner we leave, the more time we'll have to set up a new base wherever we land."  She crouched down and finished gathering up her supplies, all the while trying her best to shut out the sound of Poppy's claws scratching against the wooden wall.  But the moment Poppy's cries began to sound through the room, Lilli wheeled around again, her brow knitted together as a frown creased her face.

"Stop that, Poppy!" she snapped.  The fur on Poppy's back jolted as she immediately sank back to the ground and huddled up into a furry ball.  A sting of pain ran through Lilli's chest as she stared at her friend, and with a sigh, she crossed the room, bent down next to the tiny creature and cupped her friend's sunken face within her hands.  Slowly, Poppy's eyes unfolded and revealed a now glossed expression.

"Look kitty," Lilli cooed, "I know Ethan is very important to you.  He...well, he was the same to me at one point.  And I didn't think we would have to end up leaving this place.  But...after everything that happened yesterday...I know now that we can't just sit around and keep going with this same, fruitless routine.  It's time to make a change, even one that we'd rather not have to make.  But if it means finding someone...anyone that we are related to...I think it's worth the risk.  Don't you?"  Neither of them made a sound for a moment, but then Poppy lowered her head slightly and let out a tiny mew.  Filled with reassuring warmth, Lilli lightly kissed Poppy on the top of the feline's silky head.

"I'm glad you understand," she whispered into a mass of fur.  Their eyes locked the second Lilli backed away, and smiles lit up in their gaze.  As she let the words she spoke sink into her heart, water began to flood Lilli's eyes.  Just as it felt as though it would fall, she wiped her face across the back of her arm.  Poppy whimpered in confusion, but once Lilli reemerged with a flushed face, she asked in her most controlled voice "well now, why don't you go run and get something to eat before we take off?"  Tail once again thumping against the floor, Poppy yapped and pranced down the trail to the kitchen.  The second Poppy was out of sight, Lilli puffed out a sigh, looked up at the wall now covered in faint scratch marks and traced her hand across the woody surface.

Though this would be the second time that she had to say goodbye to a place she considered home, that in no way made it any easier to do.  Even if this place acted more as a base camp than an actual living space, it was still filled with memories of days spent eating, drinking, sleeping and venturing.  So, with her forehead pressed against the wood, Lilli sucked in enough air to make her chest ache and whispered as she exhaled, "it's been fun."

Once Poppy returned with a full belly and smacked her lips together with a cheerful expression, the sinking feeling in the pit of Lilli's stomach eased.

"Well then," Lilli announced with her hands firmly resting on her hips, "shall we get going?"  Poppy yipped enthusiastically in response.  Lilli securely tied the bag of food around the small creature's neck, the package a nearly as big as she was.  Lilli wrapped a belt around her waist, a batch of rope and her miniature pocketknife dangled off of both her hips.  The rest of her equipment clanked around in her backpack as she swung it over her shoulders.  Then, with one last look at their abandoned nook, the duo marched out towards the roof.

Peeling away the black slate from its resting place, a river of sunlight rushed into the darkness before they even stepped out.  The air around them remained frozen with the chilly morning air as the sun lay just above the horizon.  Misty gray clouds cloaked the sky, and birds twittered through the air as they woke from their long night's sleep.

Lilli reached her arms out over her head, moaning in rapture.  "Perfect morning for flying, don't you think?" she asked Poppy.  However, when no response came, Lilli turned around to see Poppy's vacant expression staring downwards.  Following the tiny creature's gaze, butterflies began to twitch within her stomach when she realized Poppy stared towards the direction that lead to the window of Ethan's room.  A strange feeling suddenly overtook her; somewhere within her head, a voice urged her to turn around and keep going, while a different voice in her chest beckoned her to go down and at least pay one last visit to their human friend.  The intense turmoil raged on within her, but Lilli's feet made no movement to either direction.

"Poppy," Lilli murmured, finally turning around to face her animal friend.  The tiny cat-like creature gave one sad whine as her head sank and her ears drooped over the sides of her head.  Just as Lilli stretched out her hand for the little animal's head, Poppy spun around and began to head for the peak of the roof, though her head and ears remained hung.  Lilli stared, her mouth open as though she wanted to say something, as her friend reached halfway up the slope.

Finally, Lilli broke through the constriction in her chest and called out "Poppy!"  Slowly, the brown-furred creature came to a halt and twisted her head around.  The look in her wide eyes was enough to break Lilli's all ready troubled heart.  With a sigh, Lilli began to travel down the tiles as she muttered a simple "come on."  Soon enough, the sound of tiny cushioned paws pattered across the surface and Poppy raced on ahead in front of Lilli.  Although Lilli resigned to Poppy's wish, with every step she took, flashbacks of the previous day bubbled up within her mind.  As the conversation replayed on and on in her head, her pace slowed until she came to a complete halt.  However, it wasn't depression that kept her locked in place, but a scorching heat that flared up within the pit of her stomach.  The memories alone made her shake like a teapot filled to the brim with boiling water and steam.  Without another trace of indifference, she strode down the last of the rooftop and stomped across the windowpane until she stood in the exact location she had been at only a day ago.

Though Ethan had school today, Lilli didn't know exactly when he woke up.  The white curtains shielded his window, so her only choice was to knock.  She slammed her fist against the glass; though she knew that she didn't carry enough strength in her body to make it possible, she wished her fist at least made a trail of cracks decorate the window.  But all the same, only a couple seconds passed before movement appeared from beyond the glass wall.  In one swift motion, the curtains withdrew and Lilli tilted her head up to stare straight into the sleepy eyes of Ethan Walker.  The moment he focused onto the tiny duo, his half-lidded expression sharpened and he immediately hoisted the window all the way open.

"Lilli!" he cried, shock mixed with relief traced his voice, "I'm so glad you came back.  Listen, I..." His initial surprise wavered into hesitation as his voice lowered and his brow sank.  Despite the fact that Lilli all ready knew what he wanted to say, she remained still and silent as she looked at him with an unflinching face.  "I'm really sorry about yesterday.  I had no idea Colin was going to say any of that, and I...I didn't even..." His brow wrinkled as the words struggled to flow out of his mouth.  "I just feel terrible about everything.  I should have said something to stop him, but I didn't...and for that, I'm really sorry."  Ethan bowed his head down in remorse, though Lilli could still see his face through his cascading locks.

When she finally opened her mouth to speak, it surprised her to find that her throat felt tighter than usual, and the words wouldn't come out.  Once she cleared away the tension, she spoke in a strained voice, "I know that you're trying to do the right thing.  But I'm not going to forgive your...friend.  If he honestly feels bad about anything he said to me, then he should be the one to apologize.  Otherwise I won't accept it."

Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but Lilli continued on with her eyes now glued to the floor, "but that doesn't matter.  The only reason I came by...was so that I could say goodbye."  Above her, she heard Ethan make a strange gasp that sounded close to a whimper.

"Good...bye?" he repeated, his voice barely above a whisper.

Lilli needed to take a moment to swallow a sudden lump in her throat before she could open her mouth again to speak.  "Yes, Poppy and I are leaving.  We decided...it's time for us to move on."  Curiosity swelled up within her and finally forced her to look up into Ethan's eyes.  The moment their gaze met, she felt an icy chill freeze over in her chest; never before had Ethan's eyes been swelled with so much sadness.  His mouth twitched up and down several times like a fish out of water gasping for air, then he finally hung his head.

"I didn't think...I mean...it's not that..." he spouted off in quivering mumbles until he finally managed to say "I never meant for this to happen."

"I know..." Lilli replied with a tilt of her head.

"I realize that we upset you yesterday and you have every reason to be angry at us, but-"

He stopped when he noticed Lilli's hair flail wildly back and forth, "no, you don't understand.  The reason we're leaving isn't just because of what you guys said yesterday.  I will admit that thinking about that still hurts..." she lifted a hand to her heart in emphasis, then turned to the human boy as if to repel some oncoming threat, "but the reason we're leaving...is because there's so much of this world still left for us to explore.  You guys made it pretty clear that there aren't any others of my kind in this town, and after I spent some time thinking about it, I have to agree.  That's why I can't stay in this one place anymore; I have to go and find out what else is out there."

"But...there's no way you can explore the entire world," Ethan protested.

"Perhaps.  But even so, as long as I go out there, at least I can say that I tried."

"So...does that mean you won't be coming back?"

"...Yes."

"And I'll...never see you again?"  The second that Ethan ended his sentence, a sudden and strange amount of pain swelled within Lilli.  Although she all ready accepted the fact that this would be her farewell to Ethan, just hearing the words out loud made the daydream she imagined all too real.  Before long, she came to the realization that tears were forming in her eyes.  She furiously blinked them away and then turned back around to face Ethan.  Summoning her boldest voice, she looked up at him and answered "yes."  Just when she thought her pain subsided, it resurfaced as she took in a similar sensation in Ethan's eyes.  She could see the muscles in his neck tense and the surface of his eyes began to gleam, turning his blue eyes into a pair of crystal clear puddles.  She could only stare with shock as he turned his now pink face away, cleared his throat and then slowly returned to his original position.

Silence filled the air for a prolonged moment until Ethan finally said "before you leave, I have something I need to give you."  Lilli tilted her head to the side in surprise and confusion.

"I'd really rather get going."

"I won't let you leave until you accept my gift."  Lilli's eyes shot up to see Ethan's eyebrows knotted together almost in anger.  The sight left her breathless, but she soon recovered and gave a chaste nod.  Without another word, Ethan rose from his bed, pulled out one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out something.  Once he sat back in his original position, he opened his hand before Lilli.  On his fingertips lay a blue, cylindrical object about the same length as Lilli's pocketknife.  One end had a ring dangling off it, but the opposite end is what confused Lilli most of all.  It seemed to curve into itself so that this end was only half as thick.  This thinner end also contained two holes: one square hole on top and another at the very end of the tube.  From what Lilli could see, the inside appeared hollow.

"What...is this thing?" she asked, her body leaning away from it.  Her stomach flipped when Poppy began to approach the item with a twitching nose.

"It's called a whistle," Ethan replied in a monotone, "I want you to take it."

"Yes, but...what does it do?"  Ethan's opposite hand appeared from the other side of the window and his trunk-like index finger pointed at the thing end of the strange item.

"When you blow into this end, you'll..." at Ethan's pause, Lilli looked up to see his eyes shifting as if searching for something, "you'll...drive away danger."

Lilli snorted, "I don't need anything like that.  I can get out of any danger just fine."

"Oh?  What about humans?"  A jolt of fear raced up Lilli's back, making her shiver slightly.  "Trust me, this is what you'll need if you ever want to frighten any sort of enemy you could encounter."  Though she kept a pout on her face, Lilli took hold of the whistle's ring and looped it through her belt next to her knife.  It was only when it dangled from her waist that she realized how heavy it truly was; now one side of her belt went down to the top of her thigh.  A truly troublesome item, Lilli thought, but if it keeps humans at bay, I suppose it's worth it.

"Well," Ethan spoke, his voice still flat, "I suppose I best let you leave."

"Right," Lilli replied with a solemn nod, and then she turned to Poppy, "you ready now?"  Poppy trotted up closer to Ethan, sat on her hind legs and then reached her fore paws up into the air like a child who wished to be carried.  A faint smile crossed Ethan's face as his hand reached out and gently rubbed the tiny animal's exposed stomach.

"Goodbye Poppy, take care of yourself, okay?"  Poppy purred as her tiny, pink tongue quickly darted across a small patch of Ethan's skin.  Lilli allowed the two a few more seconds before Poppy broke free and slowly made her to Lilli's side.

"Well," Lilli said with her eyes facing towards the path she would soon tread, "thanks for showing me that...at least not all humans are destructive creatures."

Lilli felt the puff of air from a scoff tremble strands of her hair before Ethan gave a quiet "right."  She began to march away with the thought that all the threads between her and the human world would break once she disappeared from Ethan's sight.

"Lilli?"  Her confident strut came to a stop, though she did not dare turn around for fear of what she would see in those blue eyes.  "Even if it was only for a short time, I'm glad we met.  And I'm even more grateful that I had the chance to find out that something....that someone as amazing as you really exists in this world."  Her heart drilled against her ribcage with a pain that felt as though her chest would burst open.  She had to bite down on her bottom lip just to hold back a sudden spring of tears, but she finally dashed away.  From behind, the faintest sound of Ethan's voice muttering "goodbye" trailed behind her, yet she did not slow down or look back.

With a shot of energy, she sprinted up the hillside of the rooftop, Poppy keeping pace at her side.  Once they grew closer to the peak, Lilli blew a sharp whistle through her teeth.  Within seconds, the form of a fowl came into view, and Lilli and Poppy boarded their avian friend as quickly as they possibly could.  Before long, all three departed for the sky until their figures blurred with the gray morning sky.