AVERY
When I
woke up I was lying on one of the many straw mats on the hard rock ground. I
sat up, every joint in my body aching. As I looked around, I realized I was in
some sort of tepee, and I stretched as the memories of what happened to me
before I blacked out filled my mind. I looked about frantically, spotting
Jackie, still unconscious, lying in the mat beside mine. The bandages on her
left arm were gone, replaced by an endless amount of stitching, and a small red
dot in her left arm where a needle used to be.
“Jackie, hey, Jackie, wake up,” I whispered, shaking her. She stirred
slightly, then pushed me away and went back to sleep. Annoyed, I shook her more
rapidly, and she groaned and kicked at me, causing me to stumble away, and to
my annoyance, she went back to sleep. I gave up at that point and decided to
find out where we were. Just as I was about to open up the flaps for doors in
the tepee I froze. I didn’t know what was out there. I didn’t know where I was
or if there was a threat outside this door, waiting to pounce.
I
swallowed hard and suddenly my stomach rumbled. Then only did I realize how
hungry I was; I hadn’t eaten since me and Jackie ate the two sandwiches in the
plains!! I knew I had to eat, so I searched around the tepee, found mine and
Jackie’s rucksacks, zipped mine open, and fished out a bag of biscuits I
snatched from my kitchen before I left for the journey. As I munched on one, I
kept thinking of my mother and my elder sister in college; about Stephanie
Norra, my third best friend (First, Jackie, Second, Danica) still writing those
little poems about saving the earth and kittens which she loves to write about.
I laughed a bit at the thought of Stephanie. She was a total angel; she was, with
silvery blonde hair and pale azure eyes, and her attitude too. She would help
even an ant. I wondered what they were all doing, still safely in their own
world.
As
I crunched the biscuits which had long gotten soft inside my bag, I felt a slight
pang of guilt; was my family doing okay? Where they doing fine without me?
Remembering I packed my mobile phone, I rummaged though my bag until I found
it; a simple phone I got for my birthday last year. I turned it on and wasn’t
surprised when my mom had left me, like, a thousand messages, which made me
feel guiltier. I opened the first message and it said:
Avery,
where r u?
The second one
said:
Avery, if this is a joke, I m not amused.
Where r u?
Swallowing the
lump in my throat, I read message after message, but stopped looking at them
when I reached the 10th message, which said:
Honey,
if u ran away from home, please come back. The police are searching every where
4 u. They say J is gone 2, and a classmate of yours. Cecelia has come home specially
4 u, but we can’t celebrate birthday wifout u. Come home, sweetie, pls,
wherever you are.
My
heart ached. Cecelia was my elder sister, and this message was sent only today,
which was my birthday. And the police were looking for me? I had been gone for
like just a few days, but my mom had already launched a police investigation.
If she really cared so much about my well being, I had to text her back. I was
too nervous to call her, and there was no signal, anyway, but a text…..that was
different. Quickly, I typed a message to my mother in record timing:
Mom, I’m
sry but can’t go home eva. Pls tell the polis to stop looking becos they will
neva find me. Tell Cecelia I luv her. Tell her goodbye.
Luv, Avery.
I hit the
send button quickly, and kept the phone back in rucksack. I sighed as my teeth
sunk into another soft biscuit. I was too overwhelmed my feeling then; feelings
for my mother, my sister, my special gang of friends…..I wonder how they were
all doing. Then I found myself needing to talk to my mother right this instant.
I didn’t care what she would say to me; I was in another world, right? She
couldn’t just drag me home. So I yanked my phone out of my rucksack and dialed
her number and placed it next to my ear. Please
pick up, I thought between clenched teeth.
“Avery?”
Yes!!
I was grateful I at least managed to find a bit of signal for the phone call. I
held my breath, and said: “Mom?” and she screeched, loud, that I had to hold
the phone away from my ear for awhile. “Avery!! That’s really you! Where are
you? We’ll come get you!!”
No. I
couldn’t talk to her anymore. This was too much. I snapped the phone shut when
my mother was in the middle of saying something, then dropped my phone and
biscuits and buried my face in my hands. I sobbed quietly to myself for a few
minutes before I pulled myself together. Now wasn’t the time for grieving!! I
needed to find where we were!!
My
phone rang and rang and rang before I finally silenced it, then took a deep
breath, and pulled the flaps that acted as doors in our tepee. Blinding
daylight washed over my face and I winced. When I opened my eyes again, I found
we were in the Red Indian’s camp. Tepees were dotted everywhere and tall the
red Indians outside immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at me,
the odd one out in this camp.
“Um,
hi,” I managed to mutter, but I wasn’t Jackie, so that was the only thing I
managed to say. Being the center of attention, I immediately felt my cheeks
grow red as every pair of eyes was glued to me. Then suddenly, a voice that
sounded like it belonged to a girl about my age rang around the whole camp,
strong and confident: “Missak jahar!! Sayuer jinsa mikash!!”
As
soon as those words were finished, the whole camp resumed back to their work as
if I suddenly vanished. I looked around the camp, trying to spot the owner of
the voice. I spotted her almost immediately as she was trotting over to me, her
eyes dark brown, her hair long and dark and tied neatly with a braid, like
Danica’s. Her face was painted with strong red paint, and she had feathers in
her hair and clothes that looked like she made them herself.
“Hey,
there, Avery of Melissa,” she said, grinning at me like we have always known
each other despite this was our first meeting. Though she was smiling at me I
wasn’t focused on her; I was focused on the wooden bow she was carrying and the
sheath of arrows strapped to her back that sneered at me in the afternoon light
and knew she could kill me in a matter of seconds if she wanted to.
“Um,
hey,” I muttered, and she soon was standing right in front of me. She nodded at
me and sat down next to me and polished her blood-stained arrows in front of my
face, which made me sweat profusely. What was she doing? Cleaning the arrows so
she could kill me effortlessly? Making me watch her clean them so I would know
how sharp and dangerous they were?
But she didn’t kill me or do anything after
she was done cleaning her arrows, just slipped them back into the barrel on her
back and just stared at me while I did my best not to look her in the eye. Then
she picked herself off the ground and I hoped that she would go off and hunt or
something and leave me in peace, but instead she grabbed my hand with her
steely grip and dragged me back into the tepee. I was shocked at her strength
that I just let her drag me back inside, and while she did so I saw that the
hand she was using to drag me had two golden bangles on them. Where did she get
those?
Once we were fully concealed behind the door flaps of the tepee, she let
go of me and glared at me, and asked, not in her usual friendly tone: “Who are
you? Why did you come to Ganji plains? Are you Zeyna or faeries in disguise?
Answer me!” With that she filled her bow with a large handful of arrows and
pointed it at me, trying to threaten the answer out of me. I edged back from
her, but I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t know what she was talking
about.
I
put my hands up and muttered: “I…I don’t know what you are talking about!! What
is Zeyna? Is Ganji plains the name of this place? I honestly don’t know how to
answer you!” She narrowed her eyes at me, and to my horror, stretched the
string of her bow dangerously in my face, demanding an answer. “We could do
this all day if we wanted, Avery of Melissa.”
“I dare you to kill her.”
A
voice behind us made us both looked behind me. Jackie was awake, holding her
silver and red bow filled with a light arrow which was poised at the Red Indian
girl. She still looked a bit groggy, but other than that she looked strong,
confident with her silver bow in her hand. Man, I wish I had a bow, but now wasn’t
the time to think about that.
Jackie, with her silver bow and light arrow, had a tremendous affect on
the girl. Her eyes grew big, and she lowered her bow and dropped it to the
floor, and we heard her whisper: “The silver hawk….” And drop to the floor in a
bow. “I am truly sorry, your highness. Please forgive my foolish actions.”
Jackie
and I exchanged glances, but Jackie lowered her bow and nodded at the girl,
saying she could get up now, and she did. The girl’s face was drawn back in a
huge smile, and she said: “You…you must be the heir to Queen Mercedes, am I
right?”
“Uh,
yeah,” Jackie said, still unsure who this girl is. She must have woken up just
in time to see her hold her bow in my face. “We both are.”
“Both?” the girl said, surprised. I pointed
to me with the tip of her bow. “You mean this one is too?” When Jackie nodded
she peered at me, her eyes narrowing as she examined me. “That’s not right.
Where is your bow?”
“What?” I said, but she just waved and said: “Um, never mind. Where is
your friend then? I heard there were three heirs.” Jackie swallowed and looked
at the ground, and I felt myself doing the same. The girl pursed her lips and
said: “Um, never mind. Forget I asked that question.” She smiled widely at us,
and we nodded at her. Then she placed her hand on her chest as she introduced
herself: “I am Saysha of Nae Ganji,” she said, smiling. “But in short, Saysha
Nae.”
“Nice
to meet you,” Jackie said, dropping her bow and extending her arm out for a
shake. Saysha just stared at it and back at her and back at it. “Um, your
supposed to shake it,” Jackie said, and Saysha grabbed her wrist and shook it
so hard that when she was finished Jackie looked a bit disoriented. “Um, good
enough,” Jackie said, managing to smile. Saysha looked over at me and extended
her arm like Jackie did. “Want to shake?”
“Um, no need,” I muttered, watching as Jackie tried to bring back
feeling to her arm. I stood up and caught sight of Jackie’s bow lying there on
a straw mat and faced Saysha. “Hey Saysha,” I said, and she jerked her head up
to see me. “I’m wondering why when you first saw Jackie you whispered: ‘The
silver hawk’?”
“Ja…kie?” Saysha said, eyes wide in confusion, but she brightened
immediately. “Oh, you mean Jaclyn? That’s simple enough! Because her bow is
named: ‘The silver hawk’. It is one of the most powerful and fastest shooting
bows in the world, and only an important person like an elder or the queen
can’t get her.”
“Wow!!” Jackie yelped, forgetting her shaken arm. She picked up her bow
and stared at it, it’s smooth and silver surface glinting in the dim afternoon
light. “This bow is that valuable? It just appeared in my hand when I thought
of my archery class back home!!”
“Bows of the Zeyna are supposed to appear when you call to them,” Saysha
said, polishing her blood-stained bow. “It’s us Ganji that have to hold them
normally because we’re not as magical as you.”
“Saysha, what’s with all this Zeyna
Ganji talk?” Jackie said, and Saysha laughed. “Oh, that is simple enough to
explain.” She stood up and began: “You see, we elves have two groups in this
world; the Zeyna, which you are from, where Queen Mercedes rules, and the
Ganji. We live in the plains while Zeyna lives in places like forests and
grassy places. While we are like red Indians, Zeyna are like modern people,
with buildings and this and that while we get tepees and learn the way of
hunting.”
“And does the Ganji have a ruler? And
elders?” Jackie asked, and Saysha nodded. “Of course we do! However, our ruler
is called the Village Shaman, not called queen, your majesty, king, this and
that. All of those words are for Zeyna, not we Ganji.”
Jackie scratched her head and opened her mouth to say something else,
but her stomach got in her way as it rumbled more loudly than a stomach is
suppose to, and Jackie grew bright red. Saysha said nothing for awhile, and
then said: “Um, do you care for something to eat?”
Soon we were out of the tepee and feasting on what I think is buffalo
meat, but I can’t be sure it’s buffalo because when I asked Saysha what is was
she just said it was some sort of animal called: “Bikarms.” Anyway, it taste
like beef and Saysha said she always hunted them for a snack so I wasn’t one to
complain, even though beef wasn’t really my favorite.
Jackie, with beef one of her favorites and all, was eating like there
was no tomorrow. Grabbing a hunk of it, stuffing it in her mouth, grabbing
another hunk, repeat. Even though I was doing my best to not catch anyone’s
gaze, I could still feel the village people staring at us, but more on Jackie
as she ate like a lion. She wasn’t even disgusted at the fact the meat was
freshly hunted down and wasn’t even cooked yet; therefore a huge mouthful also
results in spraying your entire face with blood. I hate blood, so I took small,
very little nibbles on the meat, but it doesn’t stop blood from oozing out.
After our rather gruesome meal Saysha showed us around the village and
introduced us to the elders. Jark, it seems, is the elder of war. There was
also this young lady that seemed the same age as Jark called Sunla, which was
the elder of peace. A little boy that was actually younger than us was the
elder of peace, named Yaen, and an elderly woman that was Saysha’s grandmother
was the elder of magic, named Sumi.
“And this is my elder brother,” Saysha said after introducing us to
practically everyone. She gestured towards a boy that looked about 15 with dark
hair and black eyes and looked a lot like Saysha. “He’s one of the best
warriors in the village. His name is Sulan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Sulan said brightly and extended his arm out for a
shake. Jackie seemed nervous at first, thinking that he shook like his younger
sister, but Sulan saw her fear and laughed. “Don’t be afraid! I know how to
shake normally, because I managed to learn the ways of the Zeyna during a few
days stay there.”
Jackie seemed to relax after hearing his words and they shook hands,
then shook with me. Sulan introduced us to a lot of interesting plants and
animals in the plains, thought us which was edible and which was not, until we
practically knew the names of all the plants and animals in the plains. Jackie
became fascinated by a rather large butterfly with indigo wings and black eyes
which sprayed what looked like glitter with every flap of it’s wings. Sulan
said the butterfly was called: “Henu Sora, which in their language meant:
“Soaring Angel.”
“That’s such a pretty name,” Jackie said, mesmerized at the sight of the
beautiful butterfly. “Can we catch it for a pet?” Sulan laughed, and Saysha
shook her head. “The glitter it sprays out of it’s wings are actually a slight
poison.” With that, Jackie leaped away from the trail of glitter it sprayed
from its wings and the two laughed.
“Don’t worry, the glitter doesn’t affect elves,” Sulan said, stroking
the butterfly’s soft wings. The butterfly made a slight squeaking noise and
flew higher into the air, the glitter sprinkling our hair white. “It only
affects the Yawsus, which is a type of worm which the Henu Sora takes as its food.”
Suddenly
a commotion rang out in the middle of the village and we all turned around to
find out what happened. Saysha tapped her brother’s shoulder and whispered
something in their language to him, and he nodded. He gestured us to follow him
as he walked towards the middle of the chaos, trying to calm people down. When
he saw what was causing the commotion he froze in shock.
“Sulan, what is it?” Saysha said, and told us to follow her to see what
happened. We nodded and pushed through the crowd of bodies until we managed to
see what was happening. What we saw shocked us too, but shocked was an
understatement. We were practically frozen and couldn’t hear what Saysha was
saying.
There, in the middle of the crowd, was Danica, still possessed by the
devil. The devil caught us looking at her and she smiled that wicked smile she
did when Danica finished the chant that made her be able to possess her.
“Hello, girls,” she said, but we didn’t answer her, but is turns out, we didn’t
need to. She lunged forward and struck Jackie in the stomach, causing her the
spit blood. Jackie stumbled to the floor and I ran to her aid. She was still,
motionless, and I grabbed her wrist and shook her, but she didn’t move.
I froze as dark
crimson blood started seeping out from a gaping hole in her stomach.
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