The Second Story: A Test of True Love
Title: A Test of True Love
Word Count: 2,146
Prompt: This picture!
Authors Notes: The Cercopes are a pair of brothers known in greek myth for their tricks :) Feel free to check them out! http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Cercopes/id/1950371
“Do you even have any idea where we are?”
Kevin batted at the mosquitoes flying around his head and pulled out his bug spray, wreathing himself in a toxic halo.
“Yes. I do.” Jenny scanned the horizon, hoping to spot a familiar landmark.
“Then where are we?”
“...Here.”
He rolled his eyes and tucked his hands in his pockets.
“I thought hiking was supposed to be fun!”
“It is fun!”
“This, this right here? This is not fun.”
Jenny was seriously beginning to consider whether bashing his brains in would be worth all that paperwork...
“Can’t you at least pretend you’re enjoying yourself?”
“Why should I? This is a complete waste of weekend.” He sat down on a rock and folded his arms. “I’m tired, I’m hot, and we haven’t seen another human being in hours!”
“We’ve only been out here an hour and a half.” Jenny took her pack off and threw it onto the ground. “You’re such a drama queen.”
Kevin smiled at her, the smile with the dimples that might be the only reason she was still with him.
“Yeah, but I’m a sexy drama queen.”
“At least there’s that,” She admitted, pulling out a water bottle and handing it to him. “Otherwise I would have left your ass behind five miles ago.”
Kevin drank deeply and began pouring the rest onto his head.
“Hey, watch it with that! We don’t have that much!” She snatched the bottle out of his hands.
“I’m hot,” he pouted, trying to win her over with puppy dog eyes.
“That only works on your mother.” She took a sip from the bottle and put it back in her bag. “Now come on, I want to reach the campsite before dark.”
“I hate camping,” he complained, pushing himself up the tree. “There’s too much walking.”
“Well, at least you’re not carrying the tent,” Jenny pointed out, hoisting her pack back onto her back. “Now come on you idiot.”
They began walking again, this time in silence. Jenny wondered, not for the first time, what had possessed her to bring Kevin with her on this trip. He wasn’t exactly the greatest company at the best of times and when he was cranky there was no hope. But she had to admit she liked the thought of having him around, of being able to get him to do whatever she wanted. It was a good feeling, bossing this dumb kid around and having him jump to obey her. And he had a point, he was very sexy...
“Are we almost there?”
“For the love of God Kevin, it’s been five minutes!”
“Just asking.” He pouted again, full lower lip sticking way out, and Jenny was reminded of a golden retriever.
“Well, don’t. What are you, five?”
“I’m bored! There’s nothing to do out here!”
“Well, you could look around, enjoy the scenery, just stop whining!”
“I don’t whine,” He mumbled, but at least he started glancing off to the side.
“Sure you don’t.”
They managed to go ten minutes before Kevin found something else to complain about.
“How come there are no animals?”
“What?”
“I thought forests were supposed to be full of animals, but I haven’t seen anything.”
“Hey, you’re right.” Come to think of it Jenny hadn’t seen anything either. “That is really weird... Well, maybe we’ve just scared them all off. I mean, we’re not exactly being quiet. In fact, I don’t think you’re capable of being quiet.”
“Yes I am!” He glared at her. “I’m quiet all the time!”
“Yeah, when you’re asleep. Oh wait, I forgot. You snore.”
“I do not!”
“Trust me. You do.”
“Well, just watch me! I’ll be so quiet you’ll forget I’m even here!”
And, miraculously, he was. They walked in near perfect silence, and Jenny finally began to be able to enjoy the woods. It was an old forest, the trees towering overhead and the branches twinned so thick that no light got through. There wasn’t much underbrush, just a few stubborn bushes and some dry grass. It felt like something out of a fairy story, and you could just imagine all sorts of creatures living here... Something flashed off to Jenny’s left, and she stopped. There was nothing there. But wait, there, off to the right, something was running! It didn’t seem like a deer, too small, but it was too fast to be a squirrel...
“Hey Kevin, did you see that!”
Only silence answered her. She turned, expecting to see him right behind her, but the woods were empty.
“Kevin!”
Nothing. Not even his backpack. He’d been right behind her just a moment ago, hadn’t he?
“KEVIN!”
“He won’t hear you.”
Jenny whirled around and came face to face with two young boys with identical smiles. They were very small, coming barely up to Jenny’s shoulder, with wide flat faces that reminded her of a monkey.
“Who the Hell are you! What have you done with my boyfriend!”
The boy on the right grinned at her, showing a mouth full of gaps.
“Oh, how rude of me! My name is Olus, and this is my brother Eurybatus.”
“And we are the Cercopes!” They said with a flourish, bowing to her.
“The, the what?”
“The Cercopes! “
“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of us!”
“Schools these days, so lax on teaching the Greek Myths.”
“As for your boyfriend,” Eurybatus leaned casually against a tree. “He is quite well.”
“For now,” Olus added.
“What have you done with him, where is he!”
“We’ve taken him.” They said, faces both lit up with delight. “You’ll never guess where.”
“But, why?” Jenny thought she might cry.
“Because we can!” Olus said with a laugh.
“And because he’s an ass,” Eurybatus added.
“We love playing with asses.” Both creatures dissolved into the laughter.
Jenny stared down at the two strange boys, feeling like none of this could possibly be real...
“What are you going to do to him?”
Olus shrugged.
“That depends on you darlin’.”
“Depends on how much you want him back.”
“You see, we’re here to play a little game.”
“We love games.”
“Almost as much as we love asses.”
“And the game is this.”
“You have two choices before you.”
“Choice number one, you walk out of these woods, none the worse for wear, and forget all about the loser. It’ll be like he never even existed.”
“Or, you take our challenge, and try to get him back.”
“It’s very simple sweetheart.”
Jenny stared at them, brain whirling.
“So, you mean, if I leave, I won’t remember any of this?”
“That’s right,” Olus said. “No guilt, no remorse, and no ass-face boyfriend.”
“And if I don’t leave?”
“Then you take the challenge.”
Jenny tugged on the straps of her backpack, feeling the weight of the tent and Kevin’s water bottle...
“What is the challenge?”
Olus and Eurybatus smiled.
“That’s the best part,” Eurybatus said. “You don’t get to know.”
“Until it’s too late.”
“Choose quickly now, or we’ll choose for you.”
“But, wait, I mean...” Jenny bit her lower lip. “How can I, I mean, I can’t just leave him...”
“Then you accept the challenge?”
“I, I mean...”
“Excellent!” The brothers grinned identical grins and clapped their hands together. “The challenge it is!”
“Wait! I didn’t...”
“The challenge of true love!” Olus crowed. He began spinning slowly, then faster and faster, his shape nothing more than an indistinct blur.
“The test of loyalty!” Eurybatus began to spin as well, and suddenly they were both gone, vanished as if they had never been there.
Jenny stood staring at the spot the brothers had once been in, unable to process any of this. What did they mean, the test of true love?
“Oh shit.”
She wondered what it was she was supposed to do. Did she just, wait here? Would this test just show up? Or was she supposed to go looking for it? Well, one thing was for sure, she couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. She put her pack down and began digging through it, trying to find anything that might be useful. The first thing she pulled out was her Swiss army knife. She tucked it into her pocket and wished for the first time that’d she’d let Kevin bring the machete.
“I am so screwed.”
She shouldered her pack and started walking. Maybe if she was lucky she could find her way out of this damned forest and get some help. She walked for hours, constantly on edge, waiting to hear the sound of something horrible about to rip her to shreds... But nothing came. The silence was beginning to get oppressive, bearing down on her like a living thing. She knew it must be getting darker, but it was hard to tell in this place. She hadn’t seen the sky in forever it seemed. Logically she must have passed the campground two hours ago, but she hadn’t seen it. She hadn’t even seen any smoke in the distance, or heard any kids. There still weren’t any animals; it was like the entire forest was just waiting to see what she would do.
Jenny stopped suddenly, staring at the trees in front of her that looked exactly like the trees she had just passed, and she lost it. She flung her pack down with a cry and pulled out her knife.
“Come on then! Whatever you’re going to do to me, do it!”
The silence was her only answer. With a stifled sob she sank down onto her heels and rubbed her face with her hands. What was she even doing here? Why didn’t she just go home...
“Jenny! “
She leapt to her feet, looking around wildly, but there was no one there.
“Kevin!”
“Jenny!”
His voice sounded like it was coming from her left. She grabbed her pack and started running. Every few minutes Kevin would call her name, he sounded so young and scared...
“Just hold on Kevin!”
“Hurry Jenny!”
But the minutes went by and she didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Finally she had to stop, hands resting on her knees and gulping for breath. What if this was just another one those creatures tricks? What if the idea was for her to be lost in here forever, chasing after something that she could never find.
“Jenny! Jenny, please help me!”
She took a deep breath and started running again. Whatever they meant she couldn’t just leave him in here. She couldn’t. Maybe, maybe if she just kept going she’d find a clue, a hint, anything!
“I’m coming Kevin.”
And so time went on. What felt like minutes were really hours and what felt like hours were really days. Jenny ran as long as she could, stopping only to fall asleep wherever she landed. And always she heard his cries, heard him begging her to find him, to save him. Day after day, she ran through endless woods that all looked exactly the same and never got any closer. Finally one day she didn’t get up.
“I can’t.” She lay on the soft ground, staring up at a tiny piece of sky just visible between the tree branches. “Please, I can’t...”
“Poor thing. She looks all worn out, doesn’t she Eurybatus.”
“Oh yes. Completely spent.”
“What do you think? Will she keep looking?”
“Please.” Jenny couldn’t take her eyes off the sky. “Please, I’ll do anything...”
“What if we told her that she was very, very close? That any moment now, if she would only get up, this could be over.”
“What if we told her that the boy was just over the next hill.”
“Or the next one.”
“What would she do then?”
“Would she keep running?”
“Is her love strong enough?”
“Please.”A bird was flying up there, just a tiny speck in the sky. “Please.”
“Oh very well.”
“This stopped being fun a long time ago.”
“Pity.”
“Jenny? What are you doing?”
Jenny sat up, smacking her head on something right above her. A large piece of wood. No, a bunk bed. She’d hit her head on the top bunk...
“What?”
“Christ, were you sleeping?” Emily laughed, throwing a pillow at her roommate.
“I’m tired,” Jenny replied, trying to figure out just how she’d gotten here...
“Man, what did you do last night? Must have been come crazy party!”
“Party?”
Emily laughed again and helped Jenny stand up.
“Come on Jen, let’s get some coffee in you.”
“Coffee. Yeah.”She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Coffee would be great.”
She and Emily headed down to the dining hall, and Jenny felt much better after a large cup of coffee.
“So, did you meet anyone last night?”
Jenny frowned.
“I, I don’t remember. I don’t think so.”
“Lame!” Emily punched her in the shoulder. “Jen, we have got to get you a boyfriend.”