After endless days and nights of rebuilding, Lania finally managed
to bring her house back to life. That didn’t stop her from spending hours
outside, scavenging the dark woods for her beloved foster father. She always
believed that her father would someday come back, but he never did, and with
each passing day, her hope had faded until it dissipated entirely. The only
thing she had left of him was a picture she kept by her desk, and even that was
gone.
And she felt angry. More than
angry, actually; she felt enraged. How could he, she thought,
tears swimming by the edges of her vision. How could he come in here
and take my things? She stomped down the stairs, startling a snoozing
Penny. The cat mewed at greeting, but Lania didn’t even react. Her mind was
blinded by fury and tears fogged up her vision. She reached for the broom at
the edge of the room and gripped it so tightly her knuckles turned white. She
would catch the wretched burglar, whether he liked it or not!
“Penny, I’m going out for awhile!” Lania
said confidently and strode out of her house, adrenalin pumping through her
veins. The soft grass crunched under her boots and fading daylight washed the
world gold. Lania swallowed hard. She had no idea where the burglar went, but
was determined to find him either how. “Where are you!!?” Lania shouted into
the darkness. “Show yourself, already!!”
Rustling could be heard as a
gentle wind blew across the land. The trees swayed in unison and the grass
brushed at her feet. No answer. But of course, she was prepared for that. What,
would the burglar just leap up and wave to her, screaming: “I’m here!”? No. She
had to find him herself, and that was what she was prepared to do. She
tightened her grip on the broom and set off towards the dark woods. The trees
drew dappled shadows across the ground as the last remaining light of day
filtered through the gaps of the trees. Chattering could be heard as a distant
insect flitted through the trees.
Dry leaves dropped at a steady
pace and Lania had to brush them away. Suddenly, from the corners of her
vision, she saw a dark figure, silhouetted against the trees. Fury washed
across her as she snuck up on the burglar. As soon as she was a close distance,
she heaved the broom up and smacked it down, hard, on his head. The figure
yelped and dropped to the ground. Lania was prepared to strike it again when he
spoke: “Wait, wait, wait!!”
Lania stopped, confused. That
wasn’t a voice she expected from a burglar. She expected a gruff, mean voice, a
man in his twenties or something like that. But what she got was a cheery
voice, a voice of a boy about her age. And she was right. Coming out of the
trees was a boy about her age with the strangest attire she had ever seen. He
had messy brown hair and a hair band was entangled within the mess. Two gold
wings protruded from the sides of the band that glinted in the sunlight.
He had blue eyes and pale skin that
was slightly dark, like he had done a lot of work, where he came from. He had
on red jacket-like attire that covered his white shirt within. The red jacket
was rimed with gold and a strange insignia was printed onto his white shirt,
which matched a tattoo at the back of his right hand. His blue trousers looked
a bit worn and he wore red and gold boots that matched his jacket. His hands
were beside his head, like a criminal surrendering to police. A bruise was
forming on his forehead, probably were she hit him.
“Please wait,” the boy
said, putting his hands at the back of his head. Lania lowered her broom, but
only a little. Boy or not, he still could be the burglar, and no matter who he
was, she would show no mercy. With that thought in mind, she tightened her grip
on the broom and raised it again. The boy yelped and backed away, but Lania
didn’t lower it, nor did she smack it down. She simply stood, the broom raised
high above her head.
“Who are you?” Lania scowled,
trying to hide the tremor in her voice. Usually people didn’t stumble this far
into the forests of Ellinia, and she was secretly quite afraid. Who was this
person? The boy gave her a brief smile and said: “Um…the name’s Evan. I…I come
from…Henesys.” Lania paused. Henesys was a town not far from here. But what was
a Henesys town citizen doing here, beyond deep in the forests of Ellinia?
“What are you doing
here?” Lania asked, more confused than angry, but she didn’t let go of the
broom. She did lower it, though, and Evan heaved a sigh of relief.
“Um….checking things out, I guess.” Lania narrowed her eyes at him and slammed
the broom onto his leg. He pounced and yowled in pain, hobbling about on one
leg as he massaged his foot. “Return the thing you stole!!!” Lania scowled,
preparing herself for another strike.
“Gah!!” Evan stuttered
as he caught sight of her heaving up the broom again. Another swipe with that
thing was so not what he needed. He shoved his hand in his pocket, still
hobbling about with his foot in the air. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry, okay?” With
that, Lania stepped back, a smug expression on her face, which changed into
bewilderment when Evan fetched a small Tupperware of butter from his pocket and
handed it to her; HER Tupperware of butter. She blinked. How could she not
realize her butter was stolen as well?
“I’m sorry!” Evan wailed,
clearly upset with himself. “My family is running low on cows, and with no
milk, we can’t make butter, so when I saw your house I decided to –” Before he
could finish, Lania slammed the broom at his feet and he jumped. “Okay, so you
took my butter,” Lania growled, tucking the Tupperware under her arm. “So where
is the other thing you stole?”
Evan blinked, clearly
confused. “But, miss,” he stuttered, eyes locked on the notorious broom. “I….I
only stole your butter.” Lania bit her lip and heaved the broom above her head
again, which freaked Evan out. He jumped back a few steps and held his arms in
front of his face. “Please! That is the truth! Really, you might not know but
that broom hurts!!”
Slam!
“OOOOWWW!!!” Evan yelped,
dropping to the ground and massaging a huge bruise that was forming quickly on
his forehead. His screech freaked out a few birds and they squawked before
taking flight, their small talons scratching against the bark of the tree they
perched on not long ago. Lania fumed and tossed her head, her long, blonde
braid sailing across the air after her. She kicked the dirt off her heels and
dropped the broom, folding her arms over her chest. This boy was being
annoying. Why couldn’t he just hand her picture to her?
“Please!” he
was begging now. “I didn’t take anything else!! I just took the butter! Please,
believe me!!” Lania was about to scream at the boy that he was lying, but then
she saw the desperateness in his eyes, the sincerity, and realized that he
wasn’t lying. Her face flushed red out of shame. How could she hurt a boy that
actually never did anything wrong? She wrapped her arms tightly around herself
and offered a hand to the boy. “Okay,” she said gently. “I believe you.”
Evan looked relieved and
grabbed the hand she offered. He stumbled up to his feet as Lania pulled him
off the floor. “Sorry about that,” Lania said quietly, her cheeks sizzling of
shame. Evan laughed and said it was no biggie, and Lania, desperate to clear up
her little misunderstanding, invited him over to her house for awhile. Evan
agreed and the two walked out of the quickly darkening forest.
*****
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