Chapter 4: Time to hide in the forest…DON’T FOLLOW ME!

I am three years old and I am faced with a dilemma. Cecil is in my room and Bibi is getting impatient. Bibi you need to calm down. I don’t want Cecil to get suspicious. Cecil glanced all over my room. What was he trying to look for?

“Your room lacks toys.”

Well my father hates me so why get me toys.

“Don’t you have any books?”

I do have books, but I hide them in the forest since my father and mother want me to stay dumb since I am considered trash.

“Where are the portraits? Your bed coverings really suck.”

Why would I have portraits of a family who hates me? My bed coverings only suck because my father gives the best bed coverings to my sister. This is starting to piss me off. He is pointing out all the stuff that makes it clear that I am an unwanted child.

I need to maintain my composure and smile at him.

“Master Cecil, you…”

“Just call me Cecil. Adding Master seems stupid.”

“…Cecil, you can have the bed, I am going to sleep somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else, why?”

Isn’t the answer obvious? I thought it would be fine, but I am really uncomfortable around a boy like you and Bibi wants to get out.

“I just think you would feel comfortable being by yourself.”

Cecil’s stare was starting to make me nervous.

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“In the forest.”

“Forest?”

Oh crap, I wasn’t supposed to answer honestly there. I do sleep in the forest sometimes and my parents don’t seem to care and it is pretty fun since I made a little grass hut recently there and the animals keep me company. I don’t want Cecil in my small form of paradise and he might figure out my talent in the animal element.

“You sleep in the back forest?”

I nod, finding it hard to lie to him. Curse my honest heart.

“Can I come?”

“NO!”

I guess my outburst shocked him since I was so agreeable before. Cecil glared at me.

“I want to go too!”

“NO!”

He really is a child. He’s following me like a dog. I complained before that he was ignoring me, but now I want him to give me the cold shoulder so I can get away.

“I want to go!”

He is being very pushy. Before I could even retaliate again, Bibi was out of my arms and doing a flying kick into Cecil’s cheek sending Cecil flying to the ground.

“BIBI?”

Bibi was still in the bear, but surprisingly, he was controlling the body of the bear making it stand and did air punches in the direction of Cecil’s fallen form. Oh dear Lord, Bibi, you were not supposed to reveal yourself. I’m happy you were trying to protect me, but still.

Bibi glanced at me and tilted the bear head to the side making the body jiggle a bit.

“SO CUTE!”

I hugged Bibi with a smile, but my smile faded when I saw Cecil staring at me with wide eyes. So much for hiding my power.

Cecil pointed toward Bibi.

“Did that bear just move?”

I hid Bibi behind my back shaking my head.

“It moved,” stated Cecil with seriousness in his eyes. I was beginning to sweat. I need to trick him somehow, but anything I say will sound like a lie and Bibi shaking behind me is not helping me with my case.

Before I knew it, Cecil had grabbed Bibi from behind me and dangled Bibi’s teddy bear form before him. I’m not quite sure, but it seemed that sparks were flying between the two.

The next thing I knew, Bibi used the teddy bear to kick Cecil in the chin. Cecil released Bibi and Bibi ran back into my extended arms.

Cecil was once again glaring at me.

“What talent is that?” demanded Cecil in a demanding voice that sent chills down my back. I tried to inch back to get away, but the next thing I knew, I was trapped between Cecil’s arms against the wall. I REALLY DON’T LIKE THIS POSITION!

“What talent do you have?”

I need to get out of this position, but how. I want to get Bibi to attack him again, but that will only make him angrier. I just need to get him away momentarily so I can run. I know!

I pushed against his chest using my free right hand. His talent should activate giving me time to escape. I know it is mean, but I want to get out of this position…why isn’t he moving?

I look at his face and saw that his face had turned bright red. Red? Why are you red? Are you seeing something embarrassing from my past? Are you watching me undress or something? I instantly turned red myself and instead of pushing him, I punched him across the face as hard as I could sending him flying to the floor again. Bibi seemed ready to assist in the assault of Cecil, but I held him tight and ran out of my room.

What in the world did Cecil see to make him blush like that?

I ran out of the mansion making sure to avoid any servants within the mansion. I made it to the back forest and crawled into my grass hunt where animals were already beginning to gather. I sat in the hut and then pulled Bibi out of my stuffed bear. Bibi began to jiggle and all I could do was hug him with a smile. He is just too cute.

Wait a minute, I shouldn’t think about cuteness right now. Cecil discovered my talent…and he may have seen something embarrassing in my past or future. I want to die all over again! Anyway, I need to come up with a strategy.

Cecil knows I have a talent, but doesn’t know which one since Bibi revealed himself when he was still in my teddy bear. I guess that was a lucky break, but if he asks what talent I can’t just say I have all the talents, he might tell my uncle or worse my father. I don’t want to be in danger yet. I need to find a way for him to keep the secret…I better just tell him I have the animal talent, since he hasn’t seen my other talents, just Bibi. Bibi is so cute jiggling like that…I need to focus! Even if I tell him about the animal talent he still needs to keep quiet. Maybe I can blackmail him…heh, heh, I am the only one who knows about his time talent. I can use that against him. That is the master plan.

I heard a crack from outside of my hut. It must be Mr. Bear. The large bear in the back forest and I became good friends thanks to my talent and so I called him Mr. Bear. He’s not my familiar, only a good friend. My only familiar is Bibi. Bibi, don’t get jealous.

I peeked out and felt my heart stop for a second. Standing outside of my hut was Cecil with an angered expression and crossed arms. I can’t believe he found out where I was…oh yeah…I did say I was heading to the forest. I am so stupid!

We stared at each other before I slipped back into my hut and used my earth talent to seal the opening of the hut with hard rock.

“Hey!”

I could hear Cecil banging on my rock door, but I pretended not to hear grabbing a book about spirits I wanted to read again. I need to escape from reality. Cecil is not here. Cecil is not here.

“Don’t ignore me! Open this door!”

Cecil is not here.

“How did you even make a door?”

Cecil is not here.

“Are you even listening?”

Cecil is not here.

“Lady Laveda, if you don’t open this door, I am going to tell your father!”

I lowered the rock door slamming my book to the ground. The moment the door was down, Cecil crawled in. I am really getting pissed about this situation.

“What do you want?” I asked losing any form of politeness. Cecil was glaring at me hard, but I refused to lose this glaring battle.

“What talent do you have and you can’t claim you have none. That bear moving proves it!” he claimed pointing toward my fallen teddy bear that wasn’t moving. Without much of a warning he grabbed my teddy bear dangling it in front of his face. I guess he was waiting for an attack, but that teddy bear won’t attack him since Bibi…

Bibi landed on Cecil’s face and by the looks of it was trying to suffocate him.

“GET OFF OF HIM BIBI!”

I can’t cover a murder! I peeled Bibi off of Cecil’s face only to see the gasping face of Cecil. I guess Cecil got quite a shock to be attacked by a low level monster. Cecil did glare at me again and I turned away avoiding his gaze, but I could sadly still hear his voice. The one time I want to be deaf.

“Why do you have a slime?”

“…”

“Could it be that you have the animal talent?”

I gulped and nodded, but flinched when he added, “Then how did you make a rock wall form before?” Shoot! I showed my earth talent as well. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?

Bibi was once again on Cecil’s face trying to suffocate him.

“DON’T MURDER HIM!”

I peeled Bibi off of Cecil again. Cecil gasped for air. I wonder if I am unintentionally making a trauma for him.

Cecil managed to regain his composure and glared daggers at me once again. He reached toward me as if to shake me, but Bibi jiggled in a threatening way making Cecil withdraw his hand…Bibi is so cute jiggling like that…I need to focus.

“Tell me exactly what your talent is and I promise not to tell your father.”

Cecil said this as calmly as he could. It seemed he was making sure that Bibi wasn’t going to pounce on him again…I guess nearly being suffocated was traumatic. I did want to only reveal my animal talent, but since I used my earth talent in front of him, I guess I really need to reveal it, but first…

“Will you really promise not to tell my father?”

“I cross my heart and hope to die.”

Such a childish remark, but I must remember that we are both young right now, even though I am mentally in my twenties.

“All right, but you must promise.”

“I promise, so tell me already.”

“The truth is that I have all the talents.”

“…All the talents?”

I nodded.

“When you say all the talents, do you mean all the talents?”

I nodded again.

Cecil stared at me and then began to scoff saying, “You expect me to believe that. Maybe I should tell your father about you having delusions.”

“I am not lying and you told me that you wouldn’t tell my father.”

“I lied.”

What a jerk! I can’t believe he was one of my favorites. If he wants to play like that then I need to bite back…not with you Bibi, you have already done enough.

“I really do have all the talents and I can prove it.”

“Prove it?”

“That’s right. I can control Bibi and you saw me make a door from earth, but you still have your doubts and even have the nerve to tell me that I am delusional, so how about I use your talent against you.”

“What?”

I can sense the fear in Cecil’s voice.

I managed to grab his arm and noticed how he flinched at my touch. I activated my time talent and for the first time saw Cecil’s past. In the game he mentioned his past, but you would never see images of his past, so this was quite exciting.

I saw Cecil when he was two laughing with his mother, my aunt. He looked so happy, but then when he touched her, his face became filled with horror. Horror? This must be when his talent first activated.

“Are you Ok dear?”

“Don’t go to the tea party mommy!”

“Cecil dear, you are acting strange. I have to go see my friends, so you stay here with Rose and be a good boy.”

“No mommy!”

I saw Cecil trying to grab his mother’s hand, but he missed and she was out the door. I knew what was coming next, since I did play the game and it was a scene I didn’t want to see.

I released Cecil’s arm with tears running down my eyes.

“Hey, Lady Laveda, what did you do? Why are you crying?”

“I saw…”

“What?”

“I saw your mother with you and when your time talent first activated; when you first saw the vision of your mother dying in a fire during a tea party.”

I could see Cecil’s eyes widening in shock. He gripped my shoulders with a desperate look.

“You saw my past?”

I nodded.

“So you have the time talent?”

I nodded and tears began to fill my eyes even more. The look of shock in Cecil’s eyes made it clear to me that he now believed my words.

“How long have you known about my talent?”

Cecil’s voice was slightly shaking. I can’t say I’ve known since I was reincarnated, so I told a lie that was not completely a lie.

“I’ve known since I first met you.”

Cecil was silent, so silent that I could hear the crickets outside of my hut. Before I knew it, Cecil was beginning to cry. Why was he crying? Did he really not want anyone to know to the point of crying? Now that I think about it, he also cried when the heroine figured out his true talent, but he was also mad at that time. He doesn’t seem mad now, only sad. I can’t believe I made a pretty boy cry. I really am the worst.

“I’m glad.”

Say what? Cecil looked at me with tear filled eyes, but there was a smile on his face. Did he go insane?

“I finally met someone with my talent. I can tell someone.”

Cecil then hugged me. Oh my Lord, Cecil is hugging me! This actually feels nice. I haven’t been hugged in years. I can feel my heart racing. Cecil stopped hugging me and I could see why…Bibi was once again on his face trying to suffocate him.

“DON’T MURDER HIM!”