Chapter Twenty-Three

It didn't take us too long to find the next door. It was relitively close by, and still within the un-green green ish trees of this oddly green forest. Did I mention how weird the green was? Like, it wasn't normal green. Normal green is, like, the color of normal leaves. These leaves were not normal. Because they were a weird green. They were like if you took the leaves of a normal tree, and made them exceptionally bright, and then you ate peas for lunch and then threw up on them. That's what the leaves looked like. Anyway, I never had to look at those leaves after that, because we found the door and decided to go through it.
The green here was so much more beautiful. It was sa soft green, and the light, yet comfortably warm sunlight just barely hit my face through all the foliage and festoons. It felt like we were in some sort of forbidden garden. And I don't know my christianity too well, but it almost felt like we were in the Garden of Eden. Every single leaf, every single plant, and every single petal on every single flower seemed to be perfect in every single way: they were the perfect shape, the perfect texture, the perfect size, the perfect color, the perfect scent. Just absolutely perfect.
So as we went around searching for the majestic white and weirdly perfect horse that wore an odd and funny detective hat on its head, I couldn't help but just be completely awe struck at the beauty of the pure nature of this place. I mean, sure, I had loved seeing the sky scrapers, and being in towns with aactual people was great, but there was just something about this place that made me just want to lie in the grass, lie down, and let the sun hit me as the perfection of this place went around me like some sort of thhing that goes around people.
And so when we went under a tree, I requested Luke if we could stop.
"Luke... can we take a short break?" I asked. "I'm absolutely exhausted... and this place is so nice and perfect... come on, let's just go under this tree here." And before he could answer, I had sat down and leaned against the giant tree that cast a shadow over the perfectly green grass.
"We have to find that horse, Caity-cakes," Luke said. "Come on, we don't have time for this."
I took a deep breath. "Just for a little while. I mean, we can always catch that horse. If your motorcycle is going faster just to catch it, I'm sure that out running it will never be a problem. And the fact that we can tell when and where it dimension hops... that horse has no chance against us if we're planning to hunt it down. So just relax a bit. Sit next to me. Please?"
Luke rolled his eyes, but did what I told him to. He crossed his legs and sat right next to me so that his shoulder was touching mine. He looked at me and smiled. "This place is kind of nice. I wouldn't mind having a wedding or something here."
I raised my eyebrows. "A wedding? You? Getting married? Why, it's more likely to see... well, honestly, I don't really know what's likely to see and what isn't. I suppose everything is possible now that we can go into alternate dimensions."
Luke looked down at his hands and smiled again. "Yeah. Me, getting married. That's just such a stupid idea, isnt it? I think it is. I mean, the job was meant for me to do alone, anyway."
"No, don't say that," I said. "I mean, sure, the job is more convenient for you to do alone. But you know my dad? He got married. And he had children. And he had a family, and a life, and I knew all about his social life and his friends and all of the family friends we had who would com over for dinner. I mean, the only thing I didn't know was where he worked, and why he kept leaving for business meetings for such long periods of time and so often. I guess he just wanted to keep us all safe. But it didn't really work, did it?"
Luke put his hand on my leg. "If we get up, we can go find the person who did that to your family," he said. "And it could help you feel better. You know, the whole vengence thing."
"Doesn't revenge not solve anything?"
Luke shrugged. "It depends on how you look at it. And whether it solves anything or not, it feels damn good. In fact, vengance has to be my favorite thing right after sex and chocolate cake."
"Really? That's jut a bit sad."
"Why is that sad? It feels good, getting revenge on someone."
"Yeah, but my favorite emotion is love. I love my family. And my life. And I think that is so much better than revenge. Really."
Luke rolled his eyes. "You're a sentimental fool, that's what you are."
I shrugged. "Maybe, but I still think love is a bit stronger than hate. Hey, maybe I'll be the one to get married here."
"Yeah," Luke said. "Maybe we both will."