Bram's Hollow
Chapter Ten

Tobias waited up as late as he could, waiting for Jerome to come and check in on him. At around three in the morning exhaustion got the better of him and Tobias fell asleep in the living room couch and he began to dream.

It was late at night in a patch of forest that Tobias recognized immediately. The trees were thick and close together he stood among them, looking out on a small cleating where the stars and the moon shined their light down on a small well. It was in much better shape than when Tobias fell down in it. The well seemed newer with no sign of decay or overgrown vegetation. Tobias was about to step into the starlight for a close look when he heard footsteps snapping twigs and crunching leaves. Tobias turned around and watched as two men walked to the edge of the clearing. One of them he recognized immediately as the vampire Richter while the other remained in the darkness of the trees.

Richter looked at the well with a malicious grin on his face. He began to move his mouth as if he was talking but Tobias heard only a muffled drone of a voice. It wasn’t the wind or some ruckus that drowned out the voice but rather it was an odd drone. Tobias should have heard Richter speak, but he could not.

The man in the shadows now spoke with the same muffled tone that made it impossible to understand. Both the man in the shadows and Richter talked a bit more. It was unclear what they were discussing but what it led to caught Tobias by surprise. The shadow man raised his arms and in the sky a stream of light streaked into the clearing and down into the well. The light was luminescent with twisting shapes of a sickly yellow color moving within it.

Without hesitation Tobias ran toward the well, the stream of light began to thin before fading away into the well completely. He turned back toward Richter and his shrouded cohort but they were gone, without a trace. The forest clearing was only silent for a couple of seconds before Tobias heard the most blood curdling of screams the bottom of the well. Screams of what sounded like at least a dozen people echoed up the well wall, it was loud and filled with pain and sorrow. The outcry was so loud Tobias’s ears began to ring. He pressed his hands to his ears but felt the tickle of fur in his canals. Frightful, he looked at his hands and saw two black, large, furry paws in their place.

He was frightened, for the lost souls in the well and for himself. His shoulders felt as if they were being prodded. Tobias tried to swat whatever it was away but the poking continued. He heard his name whispered among the trees, light but somehow clearer than the screams from below.

“Tobias?” The voice said in a sweet and relaxing voice. It was gentle and soothed Tobias. He fell to the ground and closed his eyes as the voice roused him from his slumber.

As Tobias opened his eyes he found himself greeted by a familiar looking white rabbit looking down on him from the edge of the living room couch he had fallen asleep on. Being roused from such an unusual dream by a sweet looking creature was an odd transition. He cleared his eyes and stooped his black eyebrows down. “You really have no sense of boundaries do you?” Tobias said as he sat up next to the bunny.

“You left the door unlocked.” Isabelle said as she hopped on to the couch cushion next to Tobias. “I saw you thrashing about. Were you having a bad dream?”

“Something like that.” Tobias said as he looked at his hands, just to make sure.

“Did you want to talk about it?” The rabbit said with a concerned look.

“I don’t think so. I’m not even sure what it was.” Tobias stood up and starched his back as he spoke.

“Well, did your uncle come see you?” Isabelle asked.

Tobias looked at the white rabbit for a second before frowning and looking away. “No, and I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

“Okay, mister grumpy pants.” Isabelle transformed back to her cute, pointy eared self. She walked up behind Tobias and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

It was clear that Tobias was still a little bit grumpy. “I don’t know Isabelle.” He turned and looked Isabelle in the eyes, her emerald colored, twinkling mind changers worked their magic. Tobias found it hard not to smile just a little bit. “Alright, what is it?”

She grasped his hand and pulled him toward the front door. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

No matter how many times he asked, Isabelle had no intention of telling Tobias where there were going or why. She led him threw the sloping streets of the hillside residential district of Bram’s Hollow. There were lots of small mysteries that plagued Tobias’s mind, but he found some comfort in this new adventure with Isabelle in the driver’s seat. The mid-morning sun was warm but was constantly hiding behind large puffs of cloud. A cool breeze was the perfect complement for great weather.

It was quite a hike as Isabelle led Tobias down Main Street toward the lakeshore. From there they walked alongside the water passing by fishermen, picnickers, monsters and beasts. They had ventured about a mile away from town, and as Isabelle guided the journey she and Tobias talked. Tobias told her about his upbringing in the suburbs, about his friends he left behind and the school he’ll never attend again. Isabelle told him about her shape shifting father and how he met and fell in love with her human mother.

“I assumed that humans were not allowed in to Bram’s Hollow.” Tobias said as they walked along the shoreline.

“It’s not common,” Isabelle picked up a fallen leaf and held it up to the sun. “My mother is a school teacher. She was asked to move here to teach at the elementary school.” She flicked the leaf into the air and was caught by the wind and carried away. “My dad always told me that he loved her the first time he saw her.” Isabelle took a deep breath and continued toward a small creek that pulled away from the lake and delved into a large meadow.

Long, uncut grass and wildflowers were scattered all around the meadow. The flowers blanketed the ground looking like a gigantic watercolor painting with patches of purple, yellow, pink and blue blotched about in random formations. The creek was thin and ran across rounded stones through the middle of the land back to the far end where is collected into a small pool. Tall, thick trees surrounded the meadow on three sides with the lake taking the fourth.

“It’s just gorgeous here.” Isabelle said while running her hand over the tops of some flowers. “Don’t you think so?”

It was obvious to Tobias that Isabelle was sharing something special to her. “It’s great. Do you come here a lot?”

“Oh, at least once a week.” She knelt down and sniffed the freshly opened bud of a large pink flower. “I like to sit in the grass and look at the clouds, listen to the rush of the water. If there is a better way to shut the world out for a bit, I don’t know it.”

“Is that why you brought me here,” Tobias asked. “To shut the world out?”

“Not exactly.” Isabelle walked to a small patch of grass, sat down and patted the ground next to her. “Come here, sit down.”

Tobias saw a look in Isabelle’s green eyes. No one had ever looked at him that way before. It made his stomach flutter and his skin feel as if it were going numb. He walked over to the patch of grass and awkwardly sat down. He felt like he had no real control over himself, like everything was happening on auto pilot and he was only there to watch. Isabelle looked up at the sky and let the sun bathe her face in light. Apparently Tobias’s body took this as some sort to cue and he face mover closer to hers. The inside of Tobias’s mind was racing with flashes of excitement and panic. He was aware of every last bit of his body and what it was doing. He had to remind himself to breath he felt a blade of grass touch his ankle in the small area between his sock and his pant leg. And still his face moved closer to Isabelle’s, right up until she noticed and looked down from the sky and into his eyes for a fraction of a second. Suddenly Tobias felt foolish and pulled his head back and looked at the ground and brushed the grass away from his ankle.

“Sorry.” Tobias said as he stood up.

“What are you sorry about?” Isabelle confusingly asked.

“I don’t know, I just am.” He stepped over to the small creek and watched the water trickle around the rocks. The moment was bizarrely quiet. Neither of them knew what to say though both of them desperately wanted to break the silence. “The trees sure are tall here.” Tobias hated himself as soon as he said it.

“Yea,” Even Isabelle was finding it hard to talk about something. “I don’t really know why but they are taller here than they are by town.”

Now it felt like they were strangers who just met and felt obligated to speak to each other. Isabelle joined Tobias by the creek and stood next to him. She looked at the water and placed her arms at her side. Tobias did the same. A few seconds passed by like it was an hour. They each stood there and willed for the other to move their hand first. Tobias could feel his heart pound so hard he thought Isabelle could see to move under his t-shirt. A chill flickered down his shoulder past his arm and into his hand where it made his index finger twitch. The movement was just enough to brush against Isabelle’s hand then it happened. Neither one of them knew grasped first but there they stood, by the creek, holding hands.

Tobias’s insides were popping like fireworks. It was like he had broken down a barricade. His head was flooded with thoughts of Isabelle and her hand in his. Her skin was smooth and warm, it was nice to hold. She gripped his hand firmly and brushed his thumb with hers. Slowly they turned their heads and faced each other. He saw Isabelle’s face tint pink as the smiled the sweetest smile Tobias had ever seen. This time it was Isabelle who started moving her face ward his. Tobias’s own cheeks were tingling. It felt like some vivid dream that he was interacting with. Isabelle closed her eyes, and Tobias’s widened. There was a green head poking out of the pool where the creek collected. It had large black eyes and a small beak and it was pointing with a webbed scaled hand. It was laughing.

“Hehe, lovers, lovers.” The creature jumped out of the water, as it spoke with a water filled mouth. “Lovers going to love?” The thing was no taller than a toddler but was some sort of fish like being covered in green scales. The taunting snapped Tobias and Isabelle back to reality. Isabelle let go of Tobias’s hand and turned toward the small fish man.

“Get out of here.” Isabelle angrily shouted out of embarrassment.

“Me get out?” The creature asked, its mouth still spitting water as it spoke. “This is my bath, you get out.”

“I’ve never seen you here before.” Isabelle barked back. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“I see you girl. I see you.” The creature walked toward Isabelle and Tobias as it spoke as if doing so while gargling. “I see you pick my friends from the ground, sniffing my friends. They do nothing to you first.”

“Are you talking about the flowers?” Tobias asked.

“I talking about friends, I help them grow and keep them nice.” The fish creature pointed at Isabelle. “You never keep them nice.”

“I, I’m sorry then.” Isabelle calmed down as the look on her face softened. “I didn’t know they were friends of yours. I won’t pick them again, I promise.”

“See you don’t.” It snapped back. “They my only friends.”

“What’s your name?” Isabelle asked.

“Name?” The creature asked.

“What do people call you?” Tobias tried to clarify.

“When people yell they call me leave or go away.”

“That’s not a name.” Isabelle said. “Do you have a mother?”

“I did, she die when I young.”

“What did she call you?”

“She call me?” The creature quickly paces back and forth as it thought. “Bibby.” It jumped when it realized. “She call me Bibby.”

Isabelle took a couple of steps closer to the creature. “Then Bibby is your name. Mine is Isabelle.”

“Bibby. Isabelle.” Bibby looked at Tobias. “Are you Isabelle too?”

“Tobias, actually.” He said a bit confused by the situation.

“Bibby.” He pointed to himself. “Isabelle.” He pointed at Isabelle and then at Tobias. “Tobias.” Bibby looked at each of them before hopping about like some mad thing. “I like Bibby best.” Isabelle laughed as Bibby splashed in the water, full of excitement. “Bibby be my name and you be my friends!”

Isabelle and Tobias couldn’t help but giggle at Bibby’s excitement as the splashing dampened their clothes. “Of course we’re your friends.” Said Isabelle.

Bibby’s Dark eyes grew larger as he stopped splashing, his small beak hung open. “You come to my tree with me.” He jumped out of the water and started pulling Tobias and Isabelle by the hands. “Come with Bibby, I have the bestest tree for playing.” His beak gargled with cackling laughter as he pulled his new friends into the forest of tall trees.

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