“But – where is mum?” I asked, my voice
quivering as Danika gave me a gentle push into the safe house. Most of the people
in the safe house were kids and senior citizens. While some of the kids were
sitting in a circle, playing rock, paper, scissors and other games, most of the
kids were sitting their backs to the wall, deep in thought. Most of the kids
were crying, and some older brothers and sisters were trying to calm them down.
I looked back up at Danika, expecting an answer.
“She is to lead the Elf army
along with her brother. The elves are currently at war with the Dark Army,”
Danika said, brushing the last remains of ashes off her back, wincing as she
did so. She patted me on the shoulder and held me at arms length, staring at me
with her emerald green eyes. “So, if you wish to humor her majesty, please stay
here.” Then she turned to leave, the smoke of the crashed fireballs hiding the
world in grey.
“Wait!” I screamed, remembering
something. I pushed my hand into my pajama pocket and drew out a keychain of a
golden Cherry Blossom. Danika stopped and turned, staring at me in surprise.
“Danika,” I said, the smoke winding its way up my nostrils. I coughed a bit,
then said: “Please, take me to mum. I need to give her something. Its urgent!!”
As Danika opened her mouth to complain, I stared at her with my pleading eyes.
“Please, Danika. I beg of you. Please, take me to her.”
Danika pursed her lips tightly
together and extended her hand. “It would be better if you just handed the
thing to me, and I’ll make sure her majesty gets it.” She reached out for the
keychain, but I shook my head, not sure if the tears in my eyes were from the
smoke or the desperateness I felt bubbling up inside me. “Please, Danika, she
won’t understand unless I give it to her! Please, please take me to mum!!”
Danika just stood there, thinking
whether to or not to take me. After awhile of thinking, she sighed and extended
her hand to me. “Come on, then.”
The next thing I knew,
Danika and I were racing through the smoke-filled city of Elluel
“Mercedes! Mercedes!!”
I shrieked above the chaos. Mercedes turned back and seemed a bit shocked to
see me there. I raced towards her, still gripping the gold keychain in my hand.
As soon as I reached her, I pressed the keychain into her hand and said:
“This…this will be a symbol of home. So no matter how far you are from home,
you will still have a piece of it.”
Mercedes smiled and took the
golden keychain from my hands. I swallowed hard and said: “I – I hope you will
all win, Madam Mercedes. Do your best, okay? Win for me.” Mercedes ruffled my
hair and said: “Okay, thank you, Orchid.” With that, I took a few steps back
and then ran towards Danika, gathering the last remaining kids from the town to
the safe house. I nodded to her, and she nodded back. I waved to Mercedes, then
turned back and followed Danika and the kids back to the safe house.
Soon enough, we were back in the safe
house. I was hugging my knees to my chest and burying my head in my hands. This
cannot be happening, this just can’t be happening. All around me, I could hear the whimpering, crying, and complaining. But most of all, I could feel the despair
around me. After a moment, I stopped hearing the overhead whiz as a flaming
ball of fire scooted over the trees. I looked up onto the ceiling, the white
florescent lights flickering above my head. Have the fireballs stopped? The smell
of smoke did seem to be growing fainter…..
Suddenly, a crash could be heard as
someone – or something – tried to knock down the door. Screams rang the air and
the kids and senior citizens moved back to the wall. I scrambled to my feet and
joined them at the end of the safe house. Another crash rang the air and an
indentation of a fist appeared on the heavy metal door. I had feeling that it
didn’t take long before the door gave way.
Suddenly, on cue, another crash
rocked the building and the door was wrenched off its hinges, where it fell to
the floor with a metallic clang. The children screamed and some snuggled into
their grandparent’s arms. A dark army officer, one with a shock of black hair
mostly covered by a black hat, entered the safe house, a metal knuckle around
his right hand which obviously he used to barge down the door. Behind him stood two
warriors, faces and body shielded by black armor, hands occupied by sharp, metal
weapons.
“Hello, y’all,” the officer said in a
strange western accent. His hard black eyes fixated on the pathetic sight in
front of him; kids whimpering, backing themselves into each corner, trying to
make themselves as small as possible. He pulled a face of disgust and walked in
front of a small elf girl snuggling in her grandmother’s arms. Her grandmother
looked up at the officer with pleading eyes. “W-what do you want?”
“You all are a pathetic sight,” he
said, spitting on the old woman’s face. The old woman didn’t wipe it away and
instead hugged the little girl further into her arms. The officer spotted the
little girl, grabbed her by the collar and tugged. In one, smooth tug, he
pulled the girl free out of the old woman’s arms. The little girl screamed in
union with her grandmother, and the old woman lunged forward to free her
granddaughter from the officer’s grasp. The officer held the girl out of reach
and the old woman fell at the officer’s feet before getting stepped on.
“Foolish old woman,” he said,
spitting on her again. The girl in his hand screeched and tried to reach out
for her grandmother, but the officer just laughed and held her higher. I
couldn’t stand for this!! But I knew I would be no trouble to the officer, and
anyway, what about the two warriors behind him?
“Please, mister,” the little girl
pleaded, tears falling from her eyes. “Let me go, please. My grandmother….she
has asthma. Please stop hurting her.” The officer gave the girl a rotten look
and jerked her up. She screamed from the sudden jerk and struggled to get out
of the officer’s grasp. The officer put his face close to hers and said: “So,
where is the girl?”
The little girl stopped struggling
and just managed to utter: “W-what girl?” The officer looked a bit angry and
threw the girl onto the floor, knocking the wind out of her. “The girl your
queen offered us to take as a damn peace offerin’!!!” He shouted at the girl,
and she scrambled away. He stepped away from the old woman, who was spluttering
as she got up. The little girl fell into her grandmother’s arms and cried.
“Hold on!” I said, stepping up. The
officer looked up and saw me, a bit shocked. I focused my eyes on him, and
tried to look as fierce as possible (which of course, wasn’t really much, as
you would expect). “What do you mean, girl the queen offered to you as a peace
offering?” I put my hands on hips and glared at them. The officer stared at me,
bemused.
“Ye’ queen offered a girl to us as a
peace offerin’,” he said, walking towards me and covering me with his shadow.
“To make sure we’ all don’t mess with this pretty lil’ town again.” I didn’t
believe him for a second. Mercedes didn’t do these things! She was a good
queen, and a good mother. This officer was lying, and that made me madder.
“Don’t lie to me,” I said quietly, trying to
bottle up my anger. The officer stooped down so his face was just in front of
mine. “We ain’t lyin’, pumpkin,” he said, flicking me in the forehead. I
stumbled back a few steps, and he stood up, looking me in the eye. “In fact,
the queen said to take ‘er own daughter for the peace offerin’,” he pointed to
me. “That you?”
“What?” I said as what he just said
began to sink in. Her own daughter? Did she mean me? No! No, she couldn’t have!
This was a lie, a cruel, cruel lie. I stepped forward, and with all my
strength, pounded my foot onto the officer’s. He smiled for awhile, as if
expecting something like that from a seven year old girl wouldn’t hurt at all
(I was expecting it, too) but after a few seconds his smile disappeared and he
jumped up, massaging his foot while screaming: “OWW!! Ow, ow, oww!! You…you
crazy girl! What is that boot made of, diamond?”
I looked down at my boot, then back
up at him. I lifted up my foot and showed him my boot. “Nope, leather.”
Snickering could be heard around the safe house and muffled laughter as the
senior citizens and some of the children tried to sustain their laughter. I
felt myself smile, a real smile, something I didn’t do for awhile. The officer
stomped down his foot and screeched a bad word in front of the crowd. I winced
as his screams were the type that were really painful to the human ear.
He grabbed me by my collar and I screeched,
expecting to be dragged away too, but when he pulled, it just felt like a light
jerk and I didn’t move an inch. The officer cocked an eyebrow and tugged again.
Still, I did not budge. The officer gritted his teeth, and, using both hands
this time, tugged with what appeared all his might, but to me was nothing more
than a simple jerk, but at least I moved; well, a couple of centimeters.
“What’s wrong with you?” the officer
said, out of breath. He let go and glared at me, then an evil grin stretched
across his face. “Fine,” he said, and he lifted us his right hand, the metal
knuckle glinting in the dim light. “Prepare to die!!”
Okay, maybe he can’t move me, but
with that knuckle, he definitely could kill me! Paralyzed in fear, I just
screamed and put my hands in front of my face as the knuckle came crashing
down. CRASH!! I splintering crash could be heard as something broke to pieces,
but I couldn’t get what. Gasps could be heard from around the safe house and I
slowly opened my eyes, prepared for the worst.
What I saw in front of me didn’t make
sense at first. A dark purple sphere that looked like it was made of glass was
wrapped around me, and the officer’s knuckle was wedged into the glass. He
wasn’t struggling to free it as I thought, but was instead staring at the glass
sphere, wide eyed. I couldn’t put one and one together until I saw some sort of
dark purple light – no, energy – beaming out from my right hand, which had been
the hand I put in front of my face.
Oh my god, I
thought, it’s me! I’m the one making this
thing! And it’s a dark force field!
The officer
yanked out his knuckle and looked at me in amazement. “This is her!!” he
suddenly yelled. He turned to the warriors behind him, which had dropped their
weapons in shock, just staring at me in astonishment. “I had no idea she was so
young, but its her! This is the girl that Mercedes told us to take!” I paused.
Wait, what? I swallowed hard, but even though I knew they must be lying, I had
a bad feeling that crept up into my stomach and refused to go away.
I took my hand back and the force
field dissipated, adding even more bad feelings into the pit of my stomach,
like I had swallowed a snake or something. I could almost feel the snake there,
lying in my stomach, slithering around my body……I shook my head, trying to
clear out any stupid thoughts that I knew could never be true. The officer gave
a whoop of excitement (much to everyone’s bewilderment) and pushed me onto the
ground, where I landed with a big thump.
“Grab her!!” the officer yelled to
the warriors, and before I could even sit up, the warriors were on top of me,
yelling orders to each other. The one that was on top of me drew out some sort
of vial from one of the many pockets that were tied around his belt. My eyes
widened and I tried to scramble free, but in seconds, the warrior had filled
the vial up with vicious looking red liquid and had stabbed it into my back. My
vision clouded and suddenly my head and hands felt too heavy to move. The
officer knelt in front of me and smiled, the last thing I saw before I blacked
out.
********
No comments:
Post a Comment