The trek across the cool damp forest floor was filled with silence, other than the nightly sounds of course. Even though I had travelled like this before, many many times before coming to Troy's house, it felt wrong to be out here, and though I wasn't alone.. It felt like I was. 

  Regardless of how wrong it felt or didn't, the silence didn't make it any better. No one talked, or chatted. Not to me, or amongst themselves. They all just walked through the tall grass.. It was a bit off putting.

  Since we hadn't gone completely out of view of the house, I took a glance back to see some of the lights still on. Though, they only stayed on for a brief minute before turning off. Thinking of it, Troy might not even realize I was gone.. He could have assumed I didn't feel like meeting up and went back to bed.

  "Answers.. I just need answers.." An exasperated sigh left my mouth as I mumbled the words. As I turned back to face forward, I continued to remind myself I wasn't going to stay. Surely, I had no reason to.. Maybe I could convince Kila to come back with me.? Ah.. Probably not.

  My head felt like it was starting to swirl again, those draining and mindless thoughts.. though before it could really begin, something in the distance caught my eye. It was a flicker of a light, barely even noticeable from our viewpoint, but still enough to capture my attention. 

Was that where we were going?

-

  It didn't take as long as I thought to arrive to the shine.. It was from a small fire. A campfire, in the midst of a small gathering of fellow borrowers. When the whole scene had come into view, I couldn't help but be intrigued. It was like a little village in the woods. 

  There was a tree with that small fire, crackling not too far from it's base and even there it was only a small group of borrowers, it was still more than normal. Borrowers are often lone wolves after all. 

  However.. here it was like a community, similar to the city in Troy's home. It was just.. rugged and outside. There were communities, friends talking amongst each other, and younger ones running around playing with one another, even though it was late at night. Some were sitting on the nearby tree's roots that were sticking out of the ground, talking and laughing. Others were working on things, like sewing a basket or clothes from earthly materials.. some were even making weapons. There were also some enjoying food around the small fire.

  What had really caught my attention was the path that lead into the tree. It wasn't all too visible, but it intrigued me for that reason. Was that where they would all go to sleep?

  "Welcome to the Hollow." Kila finally spoke, gesturing to everything I saw. I gave her a sheepish smile she never saw, stayed quiet and continued to follow her lead to the tree. 

  For a brief moment, the eyes of other borrowers would glance in my direction and follow me. It was a strange feeling to know every one was looking at me.. it was a very different feeling than when I first arrived at the city.

  Once inside of the tree, I glanced around the room almost instinctively. It was an open space that steeped downwards; so rather than being inside of the tree, the hole was under it. In the middle, there was a set up log designed like a table where a woman was talking to another borrower. Though I couldn't hear their words, it sounded like it was something important.

  Kila approached the woman with no hesitation. This woman didn't mind at all, glanced at her and they shooed away the person she was just talking with.

  "Marxie. This is Reb.. He's from the city." The way city came off from Kila sounded as though it was the worst place to ever exist.. I almost grimaced at her tone. 

  It wasn't just Kila who had a negative tone about the city either.. Marxie's eyes seemed to look me up and down, unamused. "I could tell. Why'd you bring him here?"

  ".. He wanted answers.." Kila seemed hesitant to continue with her sentence, as her posture changed. Her voice sounded sheepish and she rubbed the back of her neck as though she were nervous. ".. and I promised I could get him those answer-"

  "Kila." Marxie started, her voice firm but then she let out a heavy sigh before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "This is why I don't let you go there. Your emotions get the best of you" She stopped and turned to look at me before continuing. 

  "Why do you want answers? Are you a spy?" She asked, an almost exhausted tone in her voice. 

  "No-" I started, unprepared for the question, "I'm not a spy.. I heard something in the kitchen and I went to investigate.. saw them and I tried to ask questions at home because I hadn't seen Kila in so long-"

"So you know this boy? That's even worse." Marxie interrupted causing an almost instant and uncomfortable silence in the room. I wasn't the greatest reader of expressions, but it felt as if they were trying to negotiate through their eyes.

  ".. I promise I'm not here for spying reasons. Troy doesn't even know I left. I don't even plan on staying.. or giving any of this information to him." I butted in, hoping to break the somewhat awkward tension.

  Marxie's expression softened a tad, another sigh leaving her mouth as she ran her hand through her hair as she mumbled his name is disbelief. "Troy."

  She took a moment of staring off into space before turning back to me. "You can go get your answers somewhere else."

 With a nod and a smile, I turned to leave. I couldn't say I was surprised, so I didn't ask again. Without any answers, my plan was just to go home. In all honesty, I wasn't even planning on telling Troy, so I guess it is a bit strange that I am out here looking for answers to questions I wasn't really looking for. It was just Kila that sparked it I suppose..

  "Thank you for your time, and sorry to intrude." And with that, I left the tree. 

  Instead of being greeted with curious eyes, no one seemed to pay any mind to me this time. It was a bit relieving. 

  "Are you really just going to leave? Just like that?" Kila's voice came from behind me, pulling my mind out of it's thoughts. She had a way of doing that, didn't she.

  "Did you really think I came to stay?" Intentionally, I responded without turning around. She went silent, so I took the opportunity to walk away, though before I could get far, she grabbed a hold of my wrist. 

  "Wait.." She started, but when I turned around to face her, she stopped for a brief second. It was like she was searching my eyes for some sort of.. something. "I can at least try to answer your questions. Walk with me?"