GREEN [complete]

CHAPTER 12: Sekam

A sheet of stars twinkled over their heads, and the face of the moon smiled down on them. A gauze of pine trees clustered around them, filled in with healthy bushes and springy grass. Sekam breathed it in—the taste of the forest, the taste of a world before the green.

Dylan was several paces ahead, looking back at her. After all their dawdling in the passage, they were suddenly very eager to be moving. "We can't stay in one place too long," they said, striding back to grab her hand. They tried to tug her forward, but Sekam wasn't going anywhere.

She never wanted to leave. She leaned against one of the trees, feeling its rough bark against her cheek. Perhaps, this could be the end of her path. She could make a home here, in the soft, soft grass, under the bright, bright stars. It had been so long since she'd seen the stars.

"Sekam," Dylan snapped. "Come on."

"But it's all so beautiful," Sekam said. She felt relaxed. Good. She couldn't remember feeling so at home since the green started taking over the world. She never wanted to let go of this feeling.

"Yeah, and don't you think that's a little odd? That everything is so perfect?"

Sekam thought it was wonderful. She didn't want to question it's authenticity—she just wanted to enjoy it. She wanted to curl up in the grass and fall asleep; let the rest of the world fade away. She didn't want to come up with bad reasons why everything might be so wonderful. As far as she was concerned, she'd stepped through a door into paradise.

"This is containment," Dylan said. "There is nothing for you here, Sekam."

Sekam leaned down to stroke the petals of a buttercup. Sprinkles of pollen clung to her fingers and she brought it back to her nose and inhaled a long breath. The sweet scent of the flower remained on her hand and Sekam sank to her knees in the grass, planting her hands in the grass and digging her fingers into the rich soil. Soil untainted with green.

Dylan knelt in front of her and grabbed her arm. "This isn't real," they said. "They tried damn hard to make it look real, but it isn't."

"It is," Sekam said. "I can smell it. It has to be real."

"Look at the stars."

Sekam could barely see them through the tears in her eyes. She thought her world had been lose when the green came, but it hadn't. It had been hiding here the whole time. She couldn't destroy this world; this belonged to her. "I know," she breathed, "I missed them."

"No. Look again. Isn't there something wrong with them?"

Sekam shook her head. "They're perfect."

Dylan pressed their lips together. They stared at her for a few seconds before they slapped her. "Snap out of it, Sekam! We need to go!" They kept their voice low, but the shout was evident.

Sekam blinked at them, touching the stinging print on her cheek. She couldn't be angry with them, not when the rest of the world was so perfect. But she did look again. And she noticed. Each of the stars were as bright as the next; each of them the same distance. And they were laid out in patterns. Not the patterns the gods cast them into, but geometric patterns. Human patterns. She looked toward the moon. Perfectly round, perfectly white. There were no blemishes. Each of the clouds that drifted across the sky was the same cloud; sometimes stretched, sometimes flipped, but all the patterns were the same.

"The sky ... it's not-not real?"

Dylan shook their head. "No. The sky isn't real. Most of this world isn't real. It's a pretty picture for those who forget what the real thing is."