A day in the woods (1,498 views)

Arthur wanted to say something, but Susan would get on his case about it. He really hated her attitude sometimes—he hated being nice to people because he just wasn’t a nice guy.

He kept his mouth shut, pretending he couldn’t hear Chardonnay. Which was honestly unbelievable, as her mouth was rather close to his ear due to the face he was carrying her. The ground was bumpy but he didn’t trip over anything, thank god. He’d be glad to drop Chardonnay off at the foot of the building and go to sleep, but Susan would probably have him carry her all the way to the infirmary.

“Of course. Manners are very important in life.” Susan said, shining her light through the trees. It was quite dark, and the shadows were unnerving. She couldn’t wait to leave this place, and knew she’d have to cancel this assignment and give everyone a supplementary task to do instead.

Todd glanced at Ace and shrugged. “Yeah… I guess you’re right. I guess it doesn’t really matter… since I’m not alone out here…”

He thought back to a novel he read once for class- a Stephen King novel about a little girl who got lost in the woods—and felt a shiver go through his spine. Being alone out here must be terrifying.

Kara glanced at the lights and cheered.

“Yeah! We’re almost there! Ahh, I can almost feel my bed already! I’ll just sleep forever and ever! My back is killing me… I think I laid on a twig.”

Arthur kept walking despite Chardonnay’s slight groan, following the lights ahead of them. Sure enough, the rock the ripe was tied to could be seen up ahead, signifying their near arrival back to civilization.

“Finally. I’m getting sick of carrying you.” Arthur said, finally emerging from the forest. Instantly his body warmed up a few degrees—it was very chilly inside the forest.

“We’ll have to take Chardonnay to the nurse’s first, to get her ankle wrapped up. So you’re not done yet, Arthur!”

Arthur bit his bottom lip, growling under his breath.

“Of course I’m not. This is all your fault, stupid idiot.”

Todd approached the lights, seeing them all light up the dark like stars. It was always pretty to see places lit up at night, but it would be much prettier when Todd was in his house, secure and comfortable.

Kara sighed of relief. “I think I’m going to start crying!” She sniffled.

“All right!” Susan interrupted, taking a quick count of all the students. Yes, all were present! Good. This incident was a lot less severe than if someone had gotten lost. “Everyone please return to your houses and get some rest! Arthur, take Miss Nicholas to the infirmary please! I have to go and tell the dean that we are all accounted for, then I will meet you there. Okay?”

Kara glanced at Max, and waved. “Thanks for joining the search party. I’m glad we got found!”

“We’ve been over how it’s your fault.” Arthur snapped, heading into the main building rather than to the dorms. Now that Susan was gone he didn’t have to shut his mouth—which was good, because he didn’t like being silent while Chardonnay thought she won. This wasn’t a competition, but still.

He eventually reached the infirmary, where the nurse’s assistant was staying since the nurse was on vacation. The assistant turned around and looked at the kids, having already been informed of the situation. The assistant had supplies to wrap up and compress Chardonnay’s foot.

Arthur walked to one of the beds, not caring if Chardonnay didn’t like it, and put her down on it, stretching his arms afterwards.

“Don’t you dare start complaining about using a public bed, at least it’s better than dirt.” He snapped. The way she spoke about her bed earlier, he assumed there was no way she'd appreciate this medical room's cot.

--

Todd waved goodbye to the professor and then started to trek towards his house, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He’d be there shortly. Kara did the same, waving to Max, and headed towards her house. Fortunately for her she’d arrive before Arthur did and didn’t need to spend any more time with him than necessary.

She was going to make some nice tea, then relax and fall asleep in her warm, silent room.

Arthur stood there while Chardonnay was getting examined, growling lowly at every protest of pain she let out. God, it was just a little ankle sprain. He’d been through worse and still complained less. She was just fragile, like a paper machete idiot.

“Be glad it’s not broken, idiot.” Arthur snapped, to her indigent response to discovering how long the heal would take. He folded his arms over his chest and shook his head.

“No, I’m fine. Can I go to my room now? She’ll get crutches or something, right? I don’t want to be in her company any longer than I have to be.”

“The teacher did.” Arthur snapped back, a growl building in his throat. Just because she didn’t ask didn’t mean nobody had asked! Arthur started towards the door, opening it without a glance back. “Well, she’ll be here anyway. She can help. Good luck getting back to your house on those crutches.”

He left the infirmary, slamming the door behind him as he went back to his house. She was insufferable and he was thankful to get away from her, finally. He was tired by now, and he was glad he didn’t have to stay up anymore.

Almost as soon as he left, the door opened again, and Susan poked her head in. She didn’t see Arthur and sighed. Of course he left; he’d been grumpy the entire way here. She considered apologizing on his behalf, but no, she couldn’t do that. It meant nothing if it didn’t come from him.

“Ahh… I assume he went to bed? Well, it is late, after all…” She closed the door behind her. “Will you need any help getting back to your house…?”

“Ahh…” Susan said, shaking her head slightly. “Yes… he can be very grumpy. It’s just his personality, he doesn’t mean to be rude!”

Honestly, she thought her baby brother’s attitude was adorable most of the time. However most people thought otherwise and viewed him as rude and impolite.

She waved politely at the nurse, and glanced at Chardonnay, regarding her ankle with a forlorn sigh. Her idea of an activity really needed to be better monitored, huh? The map she provided simply hadn’t been enough…

Maybe rather than sending individual groups out, she could do a big field trip with the whole class? That certainly seemed more productive than this. She’d avoid arranging projects in the woods for a while though.

When she watched Chardonnay struggle with the crutches, Susan shook her head.

“Ahh… I hope you don’t mind, but I think I will accompany you! It is dark outside, after all, I wouldn’t want you to get any more hurt than you already are. I won’t be a bother, I hope.”

“Yes, well…” Susan sighed and held the door open for Chardonnay. “He’s always been that way, I’m afraid. I'd like to think he doesn't mean to be rude.”

She waved again at the nurse, who had been kind enough to supply Chardonnay with crutches and a bandage around her injured ankle. Susan thought it rude to not thank the nurse, but Chardonnay was probably just tired, of course. It was understandable, given the circumstances.

“Thank you for all of your trouble!” Susan said, her voice bright.

Susan sighed, but knew that she shouldn’t just keep trying to praise Arthur. Even if it did hurt that people thought about him this way; that was how he treated them. She was certain it would make no difference to Chardonnay’s already formulated opinion, and so she closed the door behind her, following Chardonnay down the hall. Fortunately, the nurse was on the first story, there were no stairs or elevators to take.

“Well… you only know the one side of him! People act differently depending on who they are with.”

She held open the building’s door for Chardonnay when she got there, stifling a yawn with her other hand. “Oh my! I’m so tired! Once I get to my bed, I’ll be sleeping like a log! You should also put some ice on that ankle… do you own an ice pack, Miss. Nicholas?”

Susan blinked, her brows furrowing slightly.

“Of course I know other sides of him!” She said, as though it was obvious. Of course it wasn’t—unless one knew but their last names, it was hard to label them as related. They had similar features—eyes, hair color—but that was really where their similarities ended.

She closed the door behind herself after Chardonnay exited the building, heading towards the student houses. They weren’t too far from here.

“Ahh… be careful if you do that. You don’t want ice touching your bare skin! You could always put the ice in a bag, and then wrap that bag in a facecloth? So the water won’t get on your bed when it melts during the night.”

The house was coming up, and Susan fell back, enough to let Charodonnay lead the way to her own house.

“It's all right if you don't, people are complex. And please do that. I hope your ankle feels better tomorrow! And I hope that in a week, it’s fully healed! Because you certainly wouldn’t want to miss the dance!”

She was so looking forward to that! Seeing all of the students dressed up… besides that, she’d never really gone to many dances herself. Her senior year of high school was when she started to raise Arthur—she didn’t have time to attend prom or any dance, really.

Susan looked at Chardonnay with a light smile.

“Oh, may I borrow your key? I’ll unlock the door for you and hold it, so you can get in. I’m sure you don’t want a teacher inside your house for too long, so once that’s done and the door is locked again, I will leave. Is that all right with you?”

She held out her hand for the key, figuring it would be easier for her to unlock it than to have Chardonnay attempt to do so with the crutches.

Susan watched her stumble, worried she would fall, but thankfully she was fine. Susan sighed in relief, and took the keys, unlocking the door. She stepped inside the house to hold the door open for Chardonnay, to allow her access into the building.

“I’m sure your foot will feel fine with a little rest… and if it’s still bothering you on Monday, just send me an email and I’ll be more than happy to write you a note to get out of class for the day!”

She flashed Chardonnay a warm, tired smile, her eyes lighting up with the dull lights the main building gave off.

“You’re welcome.” Susan said, nodding at Chardonnay. She didn’t think about the stairs, already too exhausted from the days’ events. “I hope you get some rest! Good luck!”

Susan locked the door, handed Chardonnay the keys back, and exited the house, shutting the door behind her. Susan then stretched and started to walk towards the on campus housing for teachers, she wasn’t joking when she said she could use a good old rest!