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Chapter 2 is the second chapter of The Lonely Ones novel.
Description[]
Ruse, Feast and Mim's path is abruptly cut off by a fallen tent and broken lights. However, the fallen tent creates an opening in a brown hedge, allowing them to go through to the other side, only to find themselves in a hedge maze inhabited by a creature with multiple legs.
Plot[]
As Ruse, Feast and Mim walk down the path, it leads them to rows of worn down empty caravans with cracked and missing wheels. Ruse notices Feast looking back at the carnival's center several times. In the distance, Ruse can hear the sounds of calliope music, various indistinct voices and the rumbling of a rollercoaster. As they walk, the sound of the wood at their feet creaks and groans, reminding Ruse of her home when she laid awake in her bed, alone and scared. Their footsteps still echo a hollow sound on floorboards, the ground shifts and tilts even though they are outside now, making Ruse feel like she is constantly on uneven footing. Ruse sometimes imagines the three of them are walking up a slight incline then everything changes and it feels more like they are going down hill. Suddenly, the wind picks up and causes a tent near them to collapse across their path, with the bulbs now out, their path becomes darker.
Relying solely on the natural light, Ruse examines the fallen tent and the now broken fairy lights it pulled to the ground. Mim gets closer to one of the exposed light sockets and tries to reach her hand to it, but Feast pulls her back, shaking his head to tell Mim not to touch it. Ruse is shocked by Mim’s actions, wondering if whether or not Mim has ever seen a light bulb or electricity before. Ruse wonders if Mim has any sense at all and begins comparing her to the neighborhood kids she knew who were no better, but as she thinks less of them for following someone she knew, she shoves her thoughts away. While the kids in her neighborhood might not have known what they were doing, Ruse thinks about how she certainly did, but stops at the thought and wonders if she only thought she had, questioning what it says about her. Ruse tries to keep herself from thinking any further of her resurfacing memories and carefully makes her way past the broken bulbs and glass. Ruse catches the smell of smoke and spots an orange glow under the tent. Ruse notices Feast waving to her and points to an opening in a brown hedge parallel to their path, crushed by the top of the fallen tent. Ruse nods to Feast and they head for the opening. Mim grows curious about the brown leaves of the hedge and plucks one to smell, but frowns and passes it to Ruse.
Ruse touches the leaf and is shocked to realize it is made of paper. Feast grabs fistfuls of paper leaves and tosses them into the air. Ruse and the others enters the hedge and drops down onto a turf of fake grass Ruse feels disoriented as the impression of being both inside and outside combines with the strange sensation she's had of being both high up and down low, like she’s both here and nowhere at all. Ruse steadies her mind and forces herself to focus on the moment she is in now instead of what came before. The only thing that matters to her now is finding a place where she doesn't feel confused or alone or invisible. She wants to find a place where she can feel safe, if such a thing is even possible. Ruse does not ask Feast and Mim about their past as it is their stories to tell or not. Although she does not know what brought them to the place they are in and in turn brought them together, she views it as a beginning rather than an ending. As Ruse walks between the hedge walls, she hears a rustle. When the three of them stop moving, so does the rustling.
Ruse has two thoughts running through her mind, that they are in a maze and that something is following them. Ruse hears Mim whimper and turns to see her frantically turning her head back and forth. Feast immediately tries to help calm Mim but is confused over what is making her so nervous. Feast glances at Ruse with raised eyebrows, questioning what is wrong. Ruse taps a finger to her right ear as a way of telling Feast to listen carefully to their surroundings. Feast tilts his head to listen, but can only hear the sound of Mim’s quick breathing and the wind. Ruse gestures to them to keep moving, then taps her ear again to tell them to keep a close listen. After taking a few more steps, the hedge again begins to rustle. Ruse twists around to see if she can catch whatever is behind them, meanwhile Feast is now on alert after noticing the strange sound and begins to look for the source. Mim is trembling over the danger near them. Suddenly, Ruse sees two red eyes in the brown leaves of the wall behind them and tries to point to the glowing eyes, but they disappear by the time Feast and Mim turn to look. Feast holds out his hand to gesture the question of what was there, but Ruse doesn't answer, she simply turns around and begins running. Feast and Mim run behind her.
Whatever is hiding in the hedge is no longer trying to be sneaky. Ruse hears the sound of skittering footsteps inside the hedge wall, rushing past her right. Ruse notices a sour, earthy smell fill her nose. Ruse begins taking any random path that leads her away from the skittering and rustling of the paper leaves. As she runs deeper into the hedge maze, Ruse knows there is no hope left of retracing her steps back to the entrance they came in. She slows to a long shadowed corner and listens, she can't hear the sound of too many feet scurrying, only Feast and Mim catching up to her, gasping. Ruse advances with the others cautiously, but the long path leads them to a dead end, a red brick wall stretching up higher than the hedge maze. Ruse is beginning to realize that the thing in the hedge might have steered her to the dead end.
Despite not liking the sound of the creature chasing her through the hedges, things feel even worse not hearing it at all, meaning it is waiting somewhere. Ruse considers returning to the entrance of the corridor before the creature arrives, she tries to tell Feast and Mim about her plan but doesn't see them beside her, panic hits her as she looks around for them and fortunately finds them on her right, near the hedge tugging at something sticking out. Feast and Mim pull out a pair of closed rusty gardening shears, together they pull and push their handles, making the blades snap close. Ruse notices the small break in the leaves where the clippers came out of and has an idea, she runs to Feat and Mim and mimics the scissors with her fingers, suggesting they cut through the hedge wall. While Feast is happy about the plan, Mim looks doubtful but she cooperates and coordinates her movements with Feast to begin cutting through the hedge with the shears.
Ruse looks on but then hears rustling and a louder, faster slicing sound. She calls out to warn the others as she spots something crawling out of the hedge wall just down the corridor, it's a Centipede making its way towards them, Ruse looks at the hole in the hedge the others made, it's just big enough for them to crawl into one at a time. Ruse crawls into the hole first and is surprised to find a cavernous room, it doesn't take her long to figure out that the hedge wall is hollow in the middle. Ruse helps Mim get inside and tries to help Feast too, but he shoves the shears through the hole first for her to grab hold of the handles. Feast enters the hole just before the Centipede arrives. Ruse spies at the Centipede through the hole, watching it search through the use of its front and back antenna.
The Centipede is blind and is attempting to locate them through sound. Ruse puts a finger over her lips, gesturing to the others to remain quiet and begins stepping quietly towards the start of the corridor. As she walks with the others in the cavernous space, she notices the large translucent eggs shells and shed skin resembling the Centipede's segments, reminding her of the brittle pieces left by the bugs who shed their skin in her Nanny’s garden, beside the swimming pool. The memory makes Ruse shudder. Ruse understands now that the Centipede lives in the cavernous space. Suddenly, the sound of Mim stepping on an egg shell alerts the Centipede to them. The Centipede knocks Feast and Mim down, along with the shears. The Centipede lunges towards Ruse but she manages to dodge. Mim's choking sounds grabs the Centipede's attention towards her, it wraps one of its long front legs around Mim and tries to drag her away, but Feast reaches for the shears and swings them at the Centipede’s leg, detaching the limb from the body. Mim frees herself from the leg's grip and retreats to the hedge wall. Ruse tries whispering to the others to not move, but her voice draws the Centipede’s attention to her again.
The Centipede wheels towards Ruse, lashing its legs and slapping the ground in front of her, but Ruse manages to stay still, until its irritating stench hits her nostrils, nearly making her sneeze. Before it can take her, the sound of Feast dragging the heavy shears quickly catches the Centipede’s attention. Ruse wonders what Feast is doing. Feast holds the shears up and the Centipede prepares to attack, but when it pounces at Feast, the shears deal a blow and crack its hard underside. The force of the attack knocks Feast to one side. The shears land between him and Ruse. A dark fluid drips from the cut in the Centipede's third segment. The Centipede nears Feast but Mim creates a knocking sound to try and draw the Centipede's attention away from him, proving successful. Ruse takes the chance to run for the shears, and even though she also attracts the Centipede’s attention, it struggles to decide where to attack next. The Centipede moves its body in a circular motion to release its stench. Feast and Ruse head for the shears at the same time and each grab hold of one of the handles, but they struggle to work together to make use of the shears, pulling them back and forth, opening and closing them.
But when they see Mim run towards them with the Centipede in close pursuit, Feast and Ruse quickly cooperate. As Mim passes them, Feast and Ruse slam the shears shut to catch the Centipede between the blades, then close the shears together to slice between two of the Centipede’s segments, before the shears break apart completely. As Ruse holds the handle and blade of one part of the now broken shears, she can feel the stinging pain in her arms from the impact. The front of the Centipede scurries away with its organs stretching behind it, dragging its motionless section along the floor. Ruse and Feast drop their halves of the shears, but despite the loud sound, the Centipede ignores them and continues crawling away from them, leaving nothing but a dark, wet trail. As the three of them stare at the gory sight, Mim covers her eyes while Feast crouches, his head down. Ruse, however, continues to stare at the Centipede even though she would normally look away from such a sight, but the Centipede's efforts to save itself fascinates her.
Ruse can help but feel fascinated by the Centipede's determination even with its body broken and dying. Ruse also can't help but admire the fact that the three of them were actually able to defeat the Centipede. Ruse thinks about how the three of them aren't helpless anymore and can actually survive together. Ruse looks back on Feast's heroism and doesn't understand why he risked his life to fight the Centipede to save her, but she is sure it was the first time someone has ever protected her from anything without a selfish reason. Ruse watches the Centipede until it finally stops moving. Mim urgently tugs at Ruse’s shirt sleeve, making Ruse notice the air getting cloudy. The orange glow and smell of smoke make Ruse realize that the collapsed tent caught fire and now the fire has reached the paper hedge maze. Ruse knows they have to get out of the hedge maze before the fire reaches them, but with the shears broken they can't cut a new exit. Feast tries to pull Ruse towards the hole in the hedge wall they cut previously, but Ruse knows going back will only lead them back to a burning maze. Ruse follows Feast as her mind races then looks back at the dead Centipede and questions its reason for crawling to the red brick wall at the end of the hedge.
Ruse deduces that the Centipede was not merely trying to get away from them, it was trying to go somewhere to get to safety. Ruse lets go of Feast and runs over to the Centipede. Feast and Mim stay where they are and look on as Ruse strands in front of the Centipede's head. Ruse turns to face the direction the Centipede was crawling towards and runs to the brick wall to look for any cracks or weaknesses. Feast and Mim join her at the brick wall, wondering what she is doing. As Feast looks at the wall, he spots a gap, he kneels down to specify to the others a narrow space between the ground and one of the lower bricks. Feast lowers himself inside and climbs backwards, dropping himself below. Feast tells the others the fall is not far so Ruse decides to go next, she sits and slides her feet and legs into the narrow space, butt hesitates before hearing the word “Jump”, but she's not sure if it's her own inner voice or Feast trying to encourage her to drop down or an echo of a memory. Ruse jumps, her feet instantly land on a wooden floor.
After Ruse helps Feast steady himself, he tells Ruse to help Mim instead. Ruse turns to see Mim slipping down next and quickly catches her. Now in a crawl space and too dark to see, Feast takes the lead and offers to be their eyes. Ruse questions if Feast can actually see in the dark, but regardless if he can, Ruse considers if she is even willing to follow him and rely on him. Ruse thinks about the last time she trusted someone completely, someone she knew, and how it ultimately left her paying a terrible price. Feast squeezes Ruse’s hand and she squeezes back as a way of agreeing to follow him. Ruse reaches behind her with her left hand for Mim and she grabs hold. With the three of them linked hand in hand, Ruse takes a moment to wonder what else keeps the three of them connected in such a place. Feast slowly steps forwards to guide them into the darkness beyond.
Characters[]
- Ruse
- Feast
- Mim
- The Centipede
- Ruse's Nanny (mentioned)