Escape from Binkoid Village: Ch 11 Keep Running, Unfreeze, Caring?

I kept running.
I found myself running past everything, leaving Edwin behind.
I never got tired; never once had to catch my breath.
I never stopped, never stuttered.
Never stopped to wonder about what I was leaving behind.
Should I have left Edwin?
Well, he turned out to be all right.
Well, in a second after everything unfroze.

I found myself still unfrozen, when the world unfroze.
The lights from the sun finally started shining in its unusual pattern.
The wind started whispering again.
The bushes and trees swayed with the wind again.
Everything went back to normal.
Everything.
Even Edwin, short of breath came running up to me saying “Jolie! Is everything alright? I was so worried! After the Witch-oids-” he said, cutting himself off, trying to catch his breath.

I was confused, because I thought he wouldn’t be able to see me, or think, because he was frozen in time, when I was running away.
And the Witch-oids;
Why didn’t they follow me, to let me meet my doom?
I was just happy by the way things were, so I didn’t bother asking him what happened.
I felt warm on my leg, and a little bit wet.
I looked down and realized I had a huge gash in my leg, and was cut through my pants.
Had the Witch-oids really got to me?
I looked around and realized, that I wasn’t in a different spot at all!
I was in the same spot I was when the Witch-oids were trying to slice me open.
I must have fainted! I thought to myself; I must have fainted when they sliced my leg!
I always did used to faint when I smelled blood, so I must have smelled the blood, and passed out.
It was strange, yet, I liked passing out, because that way I didn’t remember, and didn’t have to have the frightening vision in my head over and over again.
I started to feel the pain, minutes later.

“Jolie! We need to get you stitched up! Are you alright?” he said looking deep beyond me eyes.

“Why do you care?” I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

“Why? Why? Because I care about you! What? Do you think I am completely unaware oh you? Jolie! I care about you. I do because you are my friend!” he said sweetly, and not getting mad at my rather rude remark.

“Oh.” I said, and that was all I had to say, I was embarrassed for treating him with such disrespect.

I felt bad for singling him out, and for being so rude, and having the most vicious thoughts.
He was just afraid of life, that’s all. And I didn’t see that. For then on, I knew I would excuse his childish behavior.

“Umm, yeah. My leg kinda hurts.” I said, sucking it up, and not showing him the pain I was really in.

“Okay”, he said, “We are going to get this thing stitched up all by ourselves.”

“But you don’t know anything about being a doctor!” I said, looking at him like he was crazy.

“Yes, but my years of dissecting are finally going to by paid off.” He said, rubbing his hands together.

I backed up and away from that crazy old cook.
He started to walk away.

“Where do you think you are going?” I said, tapping my foot, and crossing my arms.

“I am going to get the supplies we need to get your leg in good condition.” He said, smiling and looking at me, then my leg, then me again.

“What supplies?” I asked, regretting almost letting him pass on giving me surgery, and feeling my forehead.

“Some Latex gloves, a trash bag, a needle and thread, and something rubber, for you to bite on.” He said, saying his last few words a bit more quietly than the others.

“What? For me to bite on! You-you are crazy! I don’t want it to hurt! You know what… no! No stitches! I don’t care how many frogs you worked on in the past. Not on a human!” I said, shouting.

He rolled his eyes and came forward at me. He sat me down on a tree stump and examined my wound.

“Hmm. Uh huh. Yep. I see. Okay!!” he said, acting like he knew just what he was doing.

I rolled my eyes at his obnoxious, yet humorous behavior.

“Okay, Doctor Edwin!! Since you know soooo much about what you are doing, tell me exactly what kind of wound it is, and what size thread I will need to patch this bad boy up!” I said, smiling and folding my arms. I had won the conversation, or I thought.


“Oh… well. Um… let’s see. You are going to need--” he stuttered, and folding and unfolding his hands nervously.

I smiled and eyed him as if I had won.

He rolled his eyes, and said, “Okay! I’m not a doctor! But I did go-” he held his hands up in surrender.

“Save it!” I said, holding my hand up, “I don’t want to hear it!”

“Oh okay…” he mumbled, and slightly turning his body to the left, away from me.

I snickered, and together we both walked around town, and discovered that there was no hospital.

“Huh! I wonder why they don’t have a hospital! What kind of place doesn’t? I mean, do they not ever get injured?” I asked, losing my breath as I spoke, from walking around all day.

“I don’t know.” He said, and looking around, still full of hope.

I rubbed my leg, and it hurt extremely. I probably should have not walked on it, and got of it immediately.

“Edwin. My leg really hu-urts.” I said, trying to get some kind of sympathy.

“Yeah. I kinda figured. Maybe, you should get off of it, you know, it was pretty stupid of us to even think of letting you walk around.” He said, and smiling.

“Yeah. Say, there is probably over a hundred stars, and I’m pooped. Why don’t we go back to the fort, I’ll make something quick for us to eat, and then we go straight to bed.” I said yawing.

“I agree.” He said, yawning also.

We slowly walked back to fort, and stumbling among the way. We were too tired to eat, and I was way too tired to make something, so we ended up crashing to asleep on the ground, before we even got through the fort door.

The next morning, I felt refreshed and ready to go to work. The sun was shining onto my face, and the cool breeze picked up a bit, making me shutter, and then jumped to get going.

“Edwin!!” I said, semi-quietly.

“Huh? WHO’S THERE?!” he yelled in surprise, then sprang up.

I laughed, “It’s just me Edwin. Just Jolie!” and I put my hands up to show I was clean.

“Oh. You scared me for a sec there.” He said, embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck.

I laughed, and started to go outside to make us some breakfast.
It was my day to cook, on the negative side.

“Okay Eddie. What do you want for breakfast this mornin’? We got some Nanaboids, or some fruit from the All Around Tree-Ba-Doid.” I said, clasping my hands together.

“Oh. Tough choice. I would have to say, a mixture of both please?” he said nervously, but sure.

“Comin’ right up, Eddie.” I said kindly, reassuring him it wasn’t a hard task.

I walked over to the Nanaboids tree, since it was the closest to camp.
I pulled six Nanaboids off, three for me, three for Edwin.
Then, I went to the All Around Tree-Ba-Doid, and picked off eight little fruits, this time four for me, and same for Eddie.

“Okay Eddie! Come to the table, breakfast is ready!” I said, laughing, considering the table was a tree stump.

He chuckled a bit, too.

“Mmm. This looks wonderful. It sure will sooth my painful hunger!” he said, licking his lips and rubbing his cold hands together.

“I know! My stomach is completely empty! I think we have lost some weight! If I look down, I can’t even see my bellybutton with my shirt lifted up!” I said, laughing.

He laughing too, and nodded his head in agreement, while taking a large bite of fruit, and making the noises of approval.
I was happy I made his hunger go away.
I looked at my leg, and there was still a large gash, but this time, covered a bit up with dried blood, which you could call a scab. I smiled, because it didn’t hurt as much.

“Hey Eddie.” I said, chewing slowly.

“Yeah? What is it Jol?” he asked, smacking his lips.

“Oh… nothing. Never mind.” I said, changing my mind.

“What? What were you gonna say?” he asked, nudging at my good leg.

“It’s out of the question.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Tell me Jolie. You can’t just say ‘Hey Eddie’ and then not tell me. Now I have to know.” He said, giving the puppy dog face.

“Not going to work Edwin.” I said, “I have been teaching 1st graders for about, four years now, and I am used and tired to that face. Not gonna work. Plus, why do you care so much?” I asked, getting agitated.

“Pooh.” He said, and turning his back from me.

“Sheesh.” I said, and giggling.

“Okay, I can’t be mad at you for very long.” He said.

“Do you really want to know what I was going to say?” I asked sweetly.

“Yeah… I do.” He said.

“NO!!” I yelled, and then laughed.

“You’re a butt. I hate you.” He said, and then giggled also.

I chuckled and poked his arm to show I didn’t want to fight anymore. He rolled his eyes in anger, and then smiled.
My eyes narrowed, but then I realized he wasn’t really mad, so then I poked him again.

“Stop that!” he squeaked, “It tickles!” he yelped giggly.

I laughed and continued to poke at prod at his leg and arm. He kept giggling, and then he fell down and put his hands up to protect himself.

“Mua hahaha!” I laughed evilly but all in humor.

“Stop!! Stop!” he said short of breath.

I stopped, because I got bored, but he continued to giggle, then realized I wasn’t poking him anymore, and he looked up and smoothed himself off while I went to go get a drink at the swamp.

“Shhhhlp!” I sucked up the nasty yet clean water from the swamp. As I wiped off my wet and slobbery face, Edwin walked up to my side.

“Hey Jol. Getting’ a drink? Don’t mind if I do!” he said in a silly, fake Southern accent.

He slurped up the water same as I did, and we both headed back to fort, to make ourselves some snacks.

“Oh boy! I’m more tired than I thought I would be!” I said, rubbing my full belly, from eating nine Nanaboids.

“Me too. You know, we really shouldn’t have eaten so much. I’m really full, I think I’m gonna be sick!” he yelped, jumping up and diving behind a tree to throw up.

“Edwin! Are you okay?” I asked concerned, and waddling over to him.

“Yeah” he mumbled. “At least I didn’t throw up like I thought I was going to.”

“Whew!” I said, waving my hand over my head to show it was such a ‘big deal’.

He started to get up, and we both went on opposite sides of the fort to sleep.

When I woke up from my nap, I left Edwin alone to get some sleep. I then walked over to the Swamp again, because my thirst hit once more.

I sipped from the water again. It tasted better than last time, and last time tasted better than the time before that.
I realized that every time I sipped from the water it got better and better. I guessed I got used to the horrible taste.

After the water, I got hungry for another snack, so I went to go pick some Nanaboids, and I left some for Edwin on a tree stump, in case he woke up hungry, and I covered them with a giant leaf so bugs couldn’t get to them.

“Jol-Jol-Jol-Jolie!! Where are you Jolie? Are you there? Where are you? Jolie! Jolie!!” Edwin screamed.

“Edwin! Edwin! Shhh! Is everything all right?” I asked worried. He sounded like he was having a nightmare!

“Yeah! Oh… I was just worried you were gone. Whew!” he said, embarrassedly.

“Hey that’s alright. I made some food, you want some? Yours is on the tree trunk table. I covered it with leaves so the bugs couldn’t get to it.” I said, smiling.

“Ohh good. I’m starving!” he said, patting his stomach.

I laughed at his and pointed to his food. He walked over to his food and tripped!

“Edwin!” I said, “Are you alright?”

“Oh. Whoops! Yeah, that was embarrassing!” he said, his face turning red again.

I laughed, and stuck out a hand to help him up.

“Thanks” he said, taking a big breath and dusting himself off.

“Your welcome! Any time… any time.” I teased.

He lifted of the leaf to get his food, when he realized there was no food under the leaf!

“Is this some kind of joke?” he muttered, and then laughed.

“No! What… where… how…” I questioned.

For a minute, I thought I was crazy, because I was beginning to doubt myself ever putting food down. But then again, I remembered putting his food down, while I almost tripped, so I knew something went wrong.

“Hmm…” I said, and pacing around the tree stump, “Hmmm…” I cooed again.

“I wonder who or what took it. Maybe a bird…” he suggested.

“No. I don’t think a bird could leave it this neat and without notice. Something had to have been smart and clever enough to cover it back up and pretend nothing was ever gone…” I said, almost being a poser of a detective.

“I agree.” I said, and clapped his hands together.

We heard rustling in the bushes and Edwin lunged towards them to see what or who made that noise.

“I see it! I see!!” he said, getting excited, “I see the thing that was eating my food!” he exclaimed in a loud whisper.

“What? Where?” I said as I jumped next to him so I could see it too.

Sure enough, there was a monkey looking thing that had a cream colored stomach, had a little heart shaped thing right above and in the middle of its two eyes. Its fur was naturally brown everywhere else.

“Bee!! Ooh ee ooh ooh ooh!!” it screeched.

“Edwin! Run!” I said as it bounded towards us.

“Baaaaaah!” it screamed.

“Wait!” Edwin yelped, “Wait! I know what it is saying!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“What? How? It is speaking in a different language!” I squealed.

“Yeah… but! Back at my lab, I had an exotic animal translator type thingy and those words sound extremely familiar! It is saying… ‘I am the Munchoid. Those were yummy Nanaboids you had.’ That is what it is saying. Huh. A Munchoid. Weird.” He said proudly.

“Wow! Oooh! I think I have seen one of these things before by the Sulky Swamp! I was sipping out of the water, and out of the corner of my eye I saw one getting loads of Nanaboids. They kind of seem obsessed with those poor, little fruits!” I exclaimed even prouder.

“Hmmm. Yeah. And the last thing the Munchoid said as ‘I love Nanaboids. Do you have any more?’ Double weird.” He said, kind of spooked.

“Baaaawk! Mla! Flen! Doh dah!” it yelled even louder.

I ran back to the Nanaboid tree wit Edwin calling behind me. I picked fourteen Nanaboids off, and threw them one by one at the Munchoid.

“MMMM! Yah fla go ming!” it said, at patted its abdomen.

“It says thank you and now is going to return to its native land.” He said, confused.

I rolled my eyes in agreement to show I was weirded out too, just like he was.
We both watched the Munchoid hop away happily until he disappeared into an ever-waving green.

I looked down and saw a cute little puddle at my feet. I dipped my finger into it and a little ripple gently floated across the water. Edwin did the same, and a big ripple sailed through the little puddle, and fell over the edge and created a little river runway.

“Cute.” I said, and then cupped my hands to fill them with water so I could drink.

Edwin did the same, except this time, the water sank low, and dried up the minute we turned around to look t the fading pink sky.

“Dinner.” I said.

“Let’s” he agreed.

I went to go get some Nanaboids while Edwin went to the All Around Tree-Ba-Doid.

I picked off a couple Nanaboids, for I was getting tired of these fruits, from eating them everyday we were here so far.

“Hey Jolie! I think you’re gonna like this!” Edwin shouted.

I ran over to him, in hope there was some way of traveling back home to Wacksville.

There wasn’t.

“Hey Jolie! Look!” he said, pointing down to the ground.

Something amazing caught my eye. A little dead bird looking thing. I didn’t put much thought into what I did, but I stuck my hand on the bird, went to go get a stick, and I sliced it in half without any doubt.

“Here.” I gave Edwin half of it.

He blinked at me wide eyed in amazement, and regretfully took the half I gave to him, and bit by bit, ate it.

“Aw! This is disgusting!” he said, showing my the food in his mouth.

“I’ll agree.” I said, taking a small bite, and almost throwing up.

“We need to cook it.” He said, pulling a small stick like bone out of this teeth.

“Mm hmm.” I said, scrunching my eyebrows together to show it was absolutely repulsing.

“Oh. I cannot take another bite!” he said, putting the rest of his half on the ground, and stamping it with his foot.

“EDWIN!” I shouted, slapping his hand.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“Uhh. You don’t do that! We could have made a fire and fixed it up. Now you have no meat. I hope you don’t get sick now” I said looking at his little piece of bird, trying to see if there was any way to fix it back up.

He looked at me in hope of me sharing mine.

“Ooh no. You don’t get mine, because you ruin yours. That’s not fair. Nope. Foul!” I said, laughing, an crossing my hands.

He took a huffing breath and picked his remorseful bird back up to eat it more. I slapped it out of his hands.

“No! It’s dirty now Edwin! Gosh, your acting like a child!” I said.

He turned away from me and folded his arms to show he was in offensive mode.

“Okay little baby. I will leave you alone now little boy.” I said, giggling.

“Huuh.” He said, and I heard his stomach growl.

“Okay. Okay. You can have some of mine if you don’t throw t on the ground and stomp on it!” I said, and regretfully handing him a fragment of mine.

“Thank you!” he said gratefully and took the piece without hesitation.

He shoved it in his mouth all in one, and plugged his nose as he chewed fast on the little piece of meat.

“Hey Edwin. You know, when I was a little girl, and I used to have to take my daily liquid medicine, I would take a sip of orange juice, wash it around my mouth, plug my nose, take another sip, and then drink the medicine, so then I couldn’t taste it.” I said, laughing at my cleverness.

“Hmmm… smart. Except, there is no orange juice around here, so I don’t really think that’s possible. Sorry Jol, but thanks for the tip!” he said, and patting my back.

I snorted, but laughed. For some reason, lately I had been getting more thirsty than usual, but then I thought it had to have been because the temperature was rising and falling more often.

“Kay Edwin. I’m going to go get a drink, if you don’t mind. Wanna come with?” I asked.

“Sure. By the time we get back, it’ll already be dark so that’s good, don’t ya think?”

I nodded my head and together we both skipped to the swamp.