If we wander not separate
But together in heart
The path will become
More pristine

For the perilous plight
Of a cold lonely heart
Is to the wonder
And drown in the stream

It wasn’t long until the two brothers returned to the cabin they had found, perhaps it was curiosity. Or perhaps it was the fact that they’d been to The Unknown before and knew that not everything was as it seemed.

This girl did not seem as if she belonged here, yet she carried herself through the dark woods and the fields as if she had lived here forever.

“I like this place…” said Sayble, her voice quiet as she replied to Wirt’s question about whether or not she liked the Unknown, “Especially now that The Beast is gone…nobody here is really that bad.” She said, though her voice sounded wary of her words, and she glanced away from him.

Wirt opened his mouth to speak, closing it slowly as he saw her eyes cast down and her mouth drawn in a taut line. Her hands clutched to the skirt of her white dress, wrinkling the fabric.

They both watched as Greg ran ahead a little bit, before they both realized how far ahead he’d gotten.

“Greg!” they both glanced at each other as their voices rang out at the same time, a snicker escaping from Sayble’s lips. “Jinx! Now if you talk I can pinch you.” She said, a triumphant look on her face as she stuck her tongue out at him and ran ahead to catch up with Greg.

Wirt’s pace picked up a bit, but he seemed confused. This girl was so strange, one minute she could be happy, then sad and then joking around as if she’d never been sad. He shook his head, leaves crunching under his feet as he ran off after the two of them.

When they finally broke the treeline they found themselves in the clearing that housed Ms. Langtree’s white and red schoolhouse, though soon it would be Mrs. Brown’s schoolhouse.

“Blech.” Grumbled Greg as he stuck his tongue out, making a thumbs down with his hand and shaking his head. “School is no fun, we should leave!” he said, as he reached up and tugged on Sayble’s hand. Wirt opened his mouth to speak, cramming it shut as he remembered the thread of pinching. His cheeks flared red in frustration as he grumbled a noise under his breath.

“Aw, c’mon Greg school’s not that bad,” she said, smiling and reaching down to pick him up and place him on her shoulders. “I mean without school how would you get to see all your friends, and field trips are great…” she said, her words drifting from loud to quiet as that look came over her face again. She sighed, and walked towards the school house, Wirt trailing behind her.

As they reached the building, Greg jumped down from her shoulders and she spun around to look at him.

“I got enough school all week!” he said, as he turned and ran off towards a group of clothed animals, the only three that weren’t in the schoolhouse. She laughed as he did this, and brushed her hair back from her shoulder. Her braid was undone today, red hair flowing freely against white fabric.

“I guess when I was that age I didn’t want to go to school much either,” she said as she turned to Wirt, looking confused when he didn’t move to respond. She tilted her head to the side and tried to read the look on his face as he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Oh! Wirt, Wirt, Wirt!” she said loudly, as her eyes burned red at her forgetfulness. “Sorry about that.” She said, rubbing the back of her head, looking apologetic and sheepish.

“Don’t worry about it, at least I didn’t get pinched.” He smiled. “Hey,” he started, looking up at her. “Can I ask you a question?” he finished, beginning to walk towards the schoolhouse.

“Uh, yeah of course.” She said, arms crossing against her chest as she spoke, biting against her lower lip.

Wirt seemed to pause for a section, as if sensing the souring of her mood. It was just a question, why would a question make her that uncomfortable? Her cleared his throat, deciding to ask.

“Why are you here?” he asked, “I mean, how did you find out abou-”

“I already told you, didn’t I?” she snapped cutting him off, frowning, looking away from him. Her cheeks puffed out in defiance as she tapped her foot against the ground.

“Hey,” he said, reaching up and patting the shoulder of the slightly taller girl, “You can tell me your secret whenever you want.” He said, “I’ve learned that sometimes keeping them bottled up or keeping them from someone isn’t the best idea.” His mind flashed back to earlier conversations he’d had with one particular bluebird.

“No…” she said, though she quickly reached down and hugged him as she saw the look come over his face. He reached up arms awkwardly around her as she stood up and took the hat off his head, chuckling at his hat hair.

“Hey!” he said, as he reached up for his hat, stopping as she reached down and touched his head.

His face and ears were getting more crimson by the second, and she merely smiled and shook her head. Her slender fingers moving through his brown hair, smoothing it down and running her fingers through it. His face was near tomato red at this point and his hands were shaking, his eyes darting around, refusing to rest on her face.

“There, all done.” she said, as she smoothed out one final hair and pulled her hand back. His hair smoothed down into a presentable state.

“Wh-What was that for?” he asked, fumbling over his words, voice cracking. He snatched his hat back, cramming it back down onto his head.

“For being a good person…and a good friend.” She said, “I-If you want to be friends, that is.” She said, her smile growing wider. She turned, her back to him as she looked at the schoolhouse. “And ‘no’ meant not now…not, not never.” She said, “Allow me my secret, I need it right now.”

They both jumped as the large bell above the schoolhouse tolled loudly, the sound lingering in the air after it had stopped.

“Young man, young lady just what are you doing dawdling around outside my schoolhouse?” asked Mrs. Langtree as she looked back to the open door. Her eyes lit up as she saw Wirt, “Oh my, if it isn’t the sweet young man that saved this here schoolhouse and saved my broken heart from trepidation.” She said, her voice much brighter and chipper than the last time Wirt had barged into her schoolhouse.

She glanced up at Sayble, and then down at her bare feet. “Now, young lady, it is not proper for someone your age to be gallivanting about without proper footwear,” she said, tutting her tongue in disapproval as she pushed her towards the door.

She spoke up as Wirt made a move to grab her arm, giving him a look that said it was alright. “Oh sorry Ms. Langtree won’t happen again.” She said, as she nodded her head towards the open window.

Wirt shook his head, heading towards the desk and glancing to the window. He looked nervous, the thought of getting caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to in school still made him nervous.

Sayble waited until the teacher went off on another alphabet themed song, this one about how happy she was to finally be engaged to Jimmy Brown. Sayble appeared in the window besides his desk as the teacher sang on, clothed animals glancing over to her for a second.

Sayble rested her chin in her hand as she smirked down at Wirt who still seemed a bit tense, “She won’t bother us when she’s like this.” She said, “Is perfect schoolboy gnome, Wirt, nervous to break the rules?” she asked, as she giggled quietly. “Afraid the other gnomes will tease you?” she asked, teasing him.

His cheeks flushed a bright red as he stared ahead at the blackboard that read, “Once the bell has rung, class has begun” in perfect cursive.

“Say, Wirt…how old are you, are you in high school yet?” she asked, dark green eyes studying his flushed face as she questioned him.

“U-Uh, yeah!” he said, “I’m a freshman.” He said, wondering if this was really such an interesting conversation for her, considering where they were now.

“Ah, cool…I think I’m a senior.” She said, as she glanced wistfully up at the sky, before looking back to him.

“You think you’re a senior?” he asked, catching her face fall as he said this.

“N-No, I know I’m a senior. I don’t know why I said that…” she said, rubbing against the side of her arm. “So you must be like what, fourteen or fifteen?” she rushed out as she tried to change the subject.

“Y-Yeah…well, fourteen actually.” He said, “Fifteen on December seventh.” He said, pushing the fact that he was nearly fifteen, not wanting her to think he was too young.

“Ah, I’m seventeen…I’ll turn eighteen like three days after you turn fifteen.” She said, sticking her tongue out. “Guess that makes us birthday buddies, you should totally come visit me between our birthdays. Bring Greg too, we can celebrate and maybe make a cake or something,” she grinned.

“Why don’t we visit back home?” he asked, wondering if he was pushing her too far, wondering if this was too much. “Greg and I visit back here by stopping by the place where we almost drowned on Halloween…” he said, “That’s how we figured out how to get back here, like maybe us coming back from The Unknown weakened the barriers between our world and here.” He said, glancing up at her. “Considering that, then your house or wherever you are must at least be in the same town,” he said, “like a proximity thing.”

“Were you scared?” she asked, “were you scared when you ended up back here?” she asked, her question rushing out. She realized she’d been raising her voice, and quieted down, wringing her hands together.

“W-Well…yeah, of course.” He said, “When we met you we’d visited a few more times before that, but the first time we came back…I was terrified,” he let out a shaky sigh. “Terrified that we’d be stuck here forever, and that we’d never be able to see our family and friends again. Terrified that I’d never see Sara again.Terrified that I’d gotten into another accident.” He said, clutching his fists.

“We went back to the graveyard to take a look around, we were curious, curious as to how we ever ended up here,” he said, his voice quiet as he spoke. “And we noticed that some of the tombstones had the names of people we’d met here,” he said. “I think…I think the Unknown is a place where people who died in town must go, or at least people who were buried in that graveyard. Maybe not everyone, but we don’t know how big this place is…It could be never-ending.” His words spilled quickly from his lips, as if he couldn’t stop.

“Greg and I must have come pretty close to dying…” he said, “And I think that’s why we ended up coming here.”

“The dead and dying…” she said, her voice a whisper, as she stood up and straightened herself out.

“We checked for your name,” he said, “When we went home that night, we checked the graveyard for your name, you seemed slightly different from most of the people here, but we checked…” he said.

Sayble felt the blood boiling up to her cheeks, ears burning eyes welling up with tears. “I’m not dead!” she shouted, “And I’m not dying…” she said, her voice trailing off into silence as she turned and ran. Ran straight past where Greg was playing with his animals, and into the woods. She ran until her feet hurt and bled from tearing up rough ground. She sat down in the dirt, white dress dusty and light brown in spots. Her arms clung her knees tightly to her chest as silent sobs wracked her body. Seeming smaller and weaker, as if she was shrinking in on herself.

She heard her name being shouted after her, and heard footsteps pounding after her. She refused to look up, flinching as she felt a hand reach down to touch her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Wirt said, not quite sure what he was apologizing for, though he felt as if he needed to.

“It’s fine…” she whispered, her voice muffled by tears and her arms. She didn’t look at him as she pushed herself off the ground.

“I’m still sorry, you didn’t want to talk about it and I kept pushing.” He stepped forward and hesitantly reached out to hug around her. She glanced back at him, surprised by the sudden physical contact.

“Wh-What are you doing?” she asked, wriggling a bit before she relaxed into his grasp.

“You said we were friends, and friends hug each other for comfort and stuff.” He said, both of them separating as they heard Greg’s footsteps rushing towards them. She reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Will you guys keep visiting me?” she asked, turning to glance back over at them once the tears had stopped and her face had stopped burning.

“Of course!” shouted Greg cheerily as he grinned up at her, oblivious to what had just occurred. He had been too taken with his game of Two Old Cat with the possum, raccoon and the deer.

“What he said, of course,” said Wirt as he grinned. “For alone we are not much but spirits gliding through the afterlife in search of reason, only to be drawn to the light of other searching souls,” he said, waving as hand towards the sky as he spoke.

“Well good, I like having you two around,” said Sayble, “Wanna head back to my cabin for a bit?” she asked, “I can make some more tea of questionable origins.” She looked to them, the last remnants of tears fading from her cheeks.

“We’d love to,” said Wirt as he reached down and took Greg’s arm. “Let’s go.”