“We have some dried meat but we need to save it in case we can’t find anything later. After all, we still have three more days to go and a fire would give us away immediately,” Takumi said.
“You come up here a lot?” David asked between reluctantly convulsive gulps.
“We all do,” Rie said from somewhere in the dark. “In order to prepare for this trip and to work on our other techniques, we all spend time in the mountains. Usually we go alone or in pairs.”
“Rie especially likes coming out here to play with the bugs,” Takumi said. David heard a soft thump followed by a burst of air from Takumi. “I mean she likes coming out here to play with—” David heard another punch and this time a low groan from Takumi. “OK, sorry.”
“For now, let’s sleep,” she said. “We can guard in shifts. David, take the first. We’re probably still safe.”
“Yea, when you can’t stay awake anymore, wake Ms. Touchy up,” added Takumi. Soon all David could hear was the slight sounds of light breathing. David settled himself against the moist wall and stared at the entrance. As the minutes crept by, along with far too many bugs, his mind wandered.
‘Who would have thought I’d be hiding in a hole with two other teenagers while their parents tried to hunt us,’ he thought.
David tried to remember the accident at the shrine. The memory of it was oily, slipping away as he tried to grasp it. So close to a dream, it was intensely difficult to think of it as reality, yet he could speak Japanese.
With no external focus in the darkness of the hideaway, his memories slipped away, his mind playing scenes without his bidding. All his gaijin moments replayed themselves in the dark cave, the instances where cultures clashed and he had made the same mistakes so many foreigners make in Japan.
He nearly laughed aloud remembering the first time he had entered the Matsumotos’ house and had almost stepped up to the wooden floor without first taking off his shoes. Grandpa had run at him babbling in incomprehensible Japanese, scaring him so much he had fallen back outside of the house. Helping him up, Rie had slowly shown him how to take his shoes off and place them in a little locker, and had even shown him his own pair of house slippers.
Rie again helped him during his first meal, showing him how to use chopsticks. While some people had used them back home, he had never quite gotten the hang of them. Using hand gestures, she had shown him how not to pass food from chopstick to chopstick. To use the reverse end when eating from a communal plate, and to never stand his hashi in his food. Takumi seemed to enjoy showing David how not to use them, but only when Masao was not looking. As the memories played in his mind, David closed his eyes to the darkness. Drifting, David found himself slinking though a young forest. The perspective wrong, he crept with a curiously smooth and lithe step through low ferns, mere inches above the ground. His ears twitched. There was a scent ahead. Gliding forward, he caught just a hint of gray. Freezing, David crouched, slowing his heart, and waiting for the perfect moment…
David came to pinned on his back, a knife to his throat and Rie’s hand over his mouth. She pressed against him, every inch of her body locking him into place.
“Jeeze David! I thought you were Grandpa.” She pushed away from him in an instant. “You could have just tapped me on the shoulder. No need to jump me!” Takumi brushed past them as he cautiously checked the entrance.
“It’s still light out, though it’s later than I thought it would be. David?” Takumi asked.
“I guess I must have slipped off to sleep, sorry!” David said, his cheeks flaming red. He hoped they would not ask for more of an explanation.
“It’s alright. Lie down and get a few hours of sleep. We have a long way to go tonight.” Takumi took the next watch as Rie laid back down. As he tried to find a soft bit of damp ground to lie on, David did his best to avoid thinking about the dream. Rie shifted beside him. Luckily, his utter exhaustion had him back asleep in minutes.
David awoke hungry, tired, and sore, but soon they were back to sneaking through the forest. He was thrilled to be away from the cloying smell of moss and dirt that had built up with the three of them in such a small space. As they hiked, he struggled, but with the twin’s assistance, he kept up. Something about the forest seemed to invigorate him. He had more energy and felt motivated in a way he never had in the dusty desert.
As they walked, Takumi asked him about his life in America. David told them of the hot summers and cold winters. How he had grown up with only his father and sister, and how his father, while brilliant, had the attention span of a two-year-old. They laughed when he described the popular TV show his father did for kids. He told them about how his sister had learned how to control and guide their father’s randomness from a young age, something he had never been able to do.
“I probably would have been in something like the technology club here, but I was not really smart enough. Instead I touched many groups without really being a part of any of them,” he said, finishing. Takumi grunted as he cleared a fallen tree in one lithe movement.
Later that evening, the trio began coming up against traps left so that Grandpa and Masao could track their progress. Whenever the trio stopped to rest David spent his watch carving a long stick into a makeshift sword. Although he was not convinced it would be useful, the twins had insisted he have something in case Grandpa or Masao found them. Whenever he slept, his mind seemed to run free, keeping him from getting rest. When he woke, the dreams slipped away. He was unsure why, but he soon developed a fear of sleeping, even though he was exhausted.
The constant relocations and hard surfaces also hindered his attempts to recuperate. Nearly all of Monday disappeared in a haze of sleep deprivation. His only clear memory was the realization that while Takumi often led, this was not his element. Rie seemed to be the one most adept at slinking through the woods and detecting traps. While Takumi was proficient, it came to Rie naturally. Takumi seemed better at the blunt attacks and powering through the forest when they were hemmed in. David realized it was a lot like the badminton games he had seen Takumi play. While he could be sneaky when he had to, Takumi excelled at the straightforward attack.
As Tuesday began, Takumi and Rie began to lead David back towards the Estate. They stopped again during the day, letting David recover somewhat. Waking him as the sun began to set, Rie slid next to David.
“From now on will be the most dangerous,” she whispered. “We’ll have to pick one of the mountain passes, and will probably be attacked. Stay alert.”
His mind clearer from the extra sleep, David nodded. As they moved towards the Estate, the twins detected many lures and traps. Takumi taught David to detect the faint discolorations of the plants and wood that marked them as having been manipulated, letting Rie keep them safe while he taught. The traps set for them were sometimes simple and obvious, to the twins at least. Twice they pointed out nets strung up in the trees with tripwire. Other times, the traps were cleverly hidden rocks set to develop into landsides, or branches set to fling at the heedless adventurer. After seeing so many of the traps, David realized that all they were set to hinder approach to the Estate, but did not prevent anyone leaving it.
As they moved down a hill, a soft flick was all the warning David had before a branch hit him in his face, knocking him back. Simultaneously, the ground beneath him gave way. The twins were just able to jump behind trees as David rolled by upon a bed of loose soil and stones. Exchanging a silent look, the twins hurried after.
Dangerous Shadows
May,
Although, my world was alien, the memories were not. After the initial panic and pain they caused, I recognized them as glimpses into how things should be…
The twins found David sprawled on top of a pile of stones, mud,