"Hey, are you okay?" The girl asked him, seeing the distressed look on his face.
Now facing the ground, tightly gripping his black shorts, Dennis was still too busy trying to challenge his terrifying theory, so much so that he couldn't hear her calling him.
"Hellooo?" She tried again, now waving at his face.
Seeing her waving hand, Dennis snapped back to reality, then awkwardly replied, "Oh, sorry, I was just... lost in thought." He then paused for a while before asking, "By the way... what's your name?"
"Maya" She replied. "What's yours?"
"...Dennis"
***
Once the sun had fully risen and the temperature started to rise, Dennis and Maya went back into the cave. They went back to their familiar silence, although this time, it was Dennis with the somber expression on his face.
Seeing this sudden change in his demeanor, Maya asked him, "What's wrong?" But Dennis didn't even acknowledge her question.
"Hey... Dennis?" She called out again, but once again no answer came from Dennis, it was almost as though the two had switched roles. She gave up after that attempt, deciding to leave him alone. She went back to spacing out in her usual, huddled up position.
'Alright, let's just stop thinking about it. Although it makes total sense, if 10 million people really were sent here, shouldn't we have all been sent to the exact same place?' Dennis however, was still fighting with his thoughts.
'But what about Maya? I mean, we didn't land at the exact same spot, but it was still close.'
'But then the forest would be filled with over 10 million people, no matter how big this forest is, that's still a noticeable number, especially since they're all humans. I didn't see anyone when i first arrived, and even when i went out yesterday, apart from Maya, there was no one else there'
'Maybe it wasn't 10 million, but just us. But then, why is Maya here too, she was just a viewer, I'm the only one who should be here. I tried that ritual!'
'What even was that ritual?!'
'How did it work?!'
'Why did it work?!'
Dennis paused his internal conflict, took a deep breath then decided to push the topic, and all the questions and theories he had to the back of his mind. Then once he was done he decided to try and change the subject.
'Okay, calm down. Let's just change the subject for now'.
He went into some deep thinking for a subject that could fully distract him, then after a few seconds, he found it.
'I'm hungry'.
He tried to look around the cave for anything he could eat, but quickly remembered that the cave had no food. He breathed a sigh of dejection before leaning back against the cave wall. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, opened them, then looked towards the ground.
'Hm, what's this?' He thought as he gazed at the small insect on the ground.
At this point, it was now the second day in a row in which Dennis hadn't eaten. He had ignored his hunger before this, but now that he had made it his central focus, it was near impossible for him to ignore the empty feeling in his stomach.
And with there being no real food in the cave, combined with the fact that he was too lazy and scared to go back out into the forest to look for something, he was somewhat desperate to fill his stomach, and in his eyes, he only had one option for food left, which was also the safest choice compared to the other one.
He reached his hand out for the bug, which was larger compared to the ones he'd seen before, and once he had it in his hand, he tried to convince himself to go through with it one last time.
'Alright come on, do it! Just put it in your mouth and swallow, otherwise we'll have to go back out there!'
He stared at it some more, then slowly and hesitantly guided it towards his mouth. Then, when it was right infront of the entrance of his mouth, he gulped, closed his eyes, slowly opened his mouth, then threw the bug in his mouth.
Unfortunately for him, the bug was too big for him to just swallow down, and when he closed his mouth, he ended up accidently chewing the bug. When he felt the crunch of its exoskeleton being crushed by his teeth, Dennis closed his eyes tighter and even cleansed his fist. Although that didn't last long.
'Wait... this actually tastes... good!'
Once the taste had settled in Dennis's mouth, he found that it was actually an enjoyable taste, way more enjoyable than he had initially thought it would be.
He chewed some more then swallowed, then, immediately looked around the cave for more. After a bit of searching, he gathered a bunch of different bugs and leaves, then began eating them. One by one, or a whole bunch at once, it didn't matter, the bugs tasted so good that Dennis forgot all table manners and was just stuffing his face at that point.
'This is so good!' He thought, clearly enjoying his mini banquet. Once he had finished his snack and began his return to reality, he looked to his side and saw Maya staring at him intensely. Her jaw hanging so low it looked like it was about to fall off. Her eyes open so wide, it looked like she had seen a ghost.
Finally noticing her strange gaze, Dennis asked in a flat tone, "what?"
"Are you... eating bugs?" She asked, trying her hardest not to believe what she was seeing.
"Yeah... no look! They actually taste really good, like they're magical or something!"
She had no words. She just kept staring at him, not even changing her expression in the slightest.
"No! look! Just try it and I promise you it won't taste bad okay they are actually pretty good!" Dennis continued, trying to defend his actions.
"I can not believe you" Maya said with a disgusted tone and expression.
"Come on, I mean, there's no food here. What am I supposed to do, just not eat and starve to death?!"
"You won't starve to death until about two weeks!" Maya retorted.
"How do you know?!" Dennis pressed on.
"Because I once had to go tendays without food and here I am still standing. Perfectly fine."
"Ten days?!" Dennis repeated in shock.
"Yeah" Maya answered.
'Why would she need to go ten days without food. And how did she even survive that long. Even if she didn't die, it still must've been extreme torture.' Dennis thought in his head.
"So stop being a drama queen and relax. What we really need to worry about is water. So let's go out and look for some." Maya suggested.
"There's no way I'm going back in that forest!" Dennis stated firmly.
"And why not?" Maya asked in a stern tone.
"Because I don't wanna get eaten by the monsters that live here!"
"So in other words, you're scared" Maya teased.
"Of course I'm scared, I was almost killed and eaten by one of the monsters that live here!" Dennis retorted.
"Big whoop! I spent the entire night in the middle of the forest and I didn't get a minute of sleep, while you got to sleep peacefully in your little cave. Yet I'm not scared." Maya said while crossing her arms.
"Yes you are!" Dennis snapped.
"At least I'm still willing to go!" She retorted before to mocking him, "Are you really gonna let a girl be braver than you? Mr. I'm so strong?"
Now grumbling in a mix of annoyance and embarrassment, he finally conceded to Maya's provocations.
"Fine, let's go" Dennis said after a sigh of defeat.
"That's what I thought" said Maya, crossing her arms in victory, with a cocky grin plastered on her face.
Before getting up, Dennis saw another bug, this time a long, red, worm like creature, crawling on the floor, he looked at it, picked it up with his fingers, and started directing it towards his mouth.
"Don't you dare!" Maya shouted in a threatening tone.
But, Dennis didn't listen. Instead, he looked Maya dead in the eyes, put the worms head in the entrance of his mouth, then sucked the rest of it inside and swallowed it like spaghetti.
Maya tightly clenched her fist then brought it closer to her face, which was now expressing deep annoyance and a pinch of murderous intent. She then turned around and began taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"Calm down Maya, calm down" She kept repeating.
Dennis, seeing this, started laughing softly.
"What the hell are you!-' Maya tried to shout, but before she could finish, she was sent into shock by what she was seeing, and her mouth flew open with a gasp, faster and wider than before.
"What?" Dennis asked, her sudden shock brining an ubrupt end to his laughter.
"Y-you... you're glowing!" Maya forced the words out of her mouth, still shocked and a bit frightened.
"What?" Denis asked before immediately looking down towards his hands, arms, feet, then the rest of is body, which was glowing with what looked a white energy.
Seeing this, Dennis smiled in amazement, still looking at his hands, before he looked back at Maya and said to her,
"I told you! These bugs are magical!"