Chapter 1
My eyes are heavy and slow. Barely able to lift-up. I hear the birds singing in multiple tunes. I rub my eyes once. Twice. And they finally wake-up.
I lean up and lay my hands back to balance myself. Through the throbbing headache that seems to be from dehydration and aches throughout my entire body.
When I realize something—my bed feels mushy and bumpy—like there are tons of rocks, leaves and sticks placed on it. I look to my side and I begin to feel worried.
I'm not in my frigging bed. No. I'm laying on the ground in a forest.
Maybe I'm still dreaming.
But then pain surges through me, telling me this is real.
I scurry to look for the dueling pain that hurries within me. When I spot cherry red liquid slowly changing the color of my white long sleeved t-shirt.
I lift the cotton piece of clothing up from where it's turning dark, at the bottom of my rib cage. I nearly faint from the sight of it, gasping in shock.
My skin is open.
Bleeding endlessly from the open wound. I breathe in, trying to stay calm.
As I breathe in, the scent of pine and flowers fills my mouth. Somehow calming me down.
The wound seems to be five inches deep. And thankfully I don't see any dirt mixed in it.
But it creeps me out.
It scares me.
Knowing I'm wounded.
My eyes look for anything that could potentially create a wound like this.
When a glimmer catches my eye, coming from under a large autumn leaf.
I swiftly brush it off.
Revealing a 3D metal triangle. Full of a dark cherry color liquid dripping from it.
I lean in more, taking a closer look and find it's connected to something, I lift the object up and finally reconcile what it is.
A bloody arrow. I've been shot by a bloody arrow.
which is full of my dark raspberry blood with small thin sticks sticking onto it.
Like it's jam. Oh God!
"I need to find a hospital" I think out loud. Because if I don't, I might as well die of loss of blood. I can't die like this! "But first…" I need to overlook my actions, on how I got here.
I was defending myself from the girls that tried to bully me from the back of the school building. Unfortunately I couldn't protect myself from getting bruises all over my body.
When 'Lisa'—the one with long black hair.
Threw a glass bottle right at me, breaking at the side of the large green garbage bin.
I remember looking away from them and then turning back to face them as soon as I felt a sharp pain within my left wrist.
'Savanna'—the one with red ginger hair, partly dyed light blonde.
Had stroked a piece of the glass through me, circulating pain within me.
I then remember my head suddenly feelt dizzy and blacked out. However, before I did, they said something…but what? After eight whole years of it.
How could I die? Am I dead?
Then what…How did I get here?
A slight noise brings me back to reality.
The rustling grows louder from a bush nearby. What if it's a fox or a snake, or even worse…a bear.
My mind runs through all the possible things that could jump out of that massive dark green bush. When a head pops out. My arms freeze, worried it's a predator that could somehow kill me.
Even though I'm already dying.
I squint my eyes to view the head better. It's small and white. Two large, long ears above the tiny head—a bunny.
My arms relax, knowing it's existence.
I watch it hope across the open pathway—only sticks, legs of the trees, pine cones, dirt…are in sight in the open space, where I lay further away.
Close to an edge, where all I can see from there is the clear light blue sky and different species of birds.
I try to stand up but the pain only increases. I need to wrap something tight around it, but what?
I scan the area, looking around for anything that could be an advantage for me.
Except, there's nothing except for the arrow laying down next to me—now covered in more dirt—and the clothes I have on.
Brown leather boots stopping a hand before my knee. A dark blue, navy skirt wraps around my hips and loosens up around my legs. The skirt cut delicately into creating a stripe, making it flexible to do anything.
And in the middle where my wound is, there's a brown leather vest only reaching up at the bottom of my rib cages. However, the vest has untied somehow.
The strings loose, untied to what once was tight and together, clutching the vest on me.
Now loose and nearly falling off. Only tied at the bottom.
And my shirt is a pale white, full of dirt from the ground tucked in from the vest.
My sleeves puff up at the end.
The thing is I don't remember putting this on or even having it in my closet.
I was roaming in my thoughts, when I heard muffled voices coming in my direction. What should I do?
Should I call out? No… because what if they were the people that tried to kill me. What to do…
I hear foot-steps climb closer. Without thinking I unconsciously lie back down onto the ground, my back hitting hard with a thud on how fast I went down.
The sensation of my wound opening more had me feeling worse.
The voices are more clear now, the trumps of branches cracking and leaves crunching. I could tell they were only some feet away now.
"Over here" one calls out to others. The voice is low and clear. I feel one's presence meters away from me.
I instinctively close my eyes shut, acting motionlessly dead.
"You've found her?" another voice makes out, this one's deeper than the other, yet soft.
"I think so…" the one before questions himself, not sure of his statement. "Well, come on. Someone help me" the other directs "I think she's hurt" another comes along stepping beside me. His voice is low but strong.
"How do you know?" the first questions "because there's an arrow full of blood dripping off of it and her shirt is stained red" the third explains "we need to get her back fast, then" the second mentions, with what sounded similar to a concerned tone.
"What are you all waiting around for, come on and help me" the one by my side demands, voice high and demanding.
I begin to feel drowsy. Leaving my eyes closed for so long, while I'm wounded.
That's definitely not a smart move.
All of a sudden I feel the three males lifting me up. One holding the bottom of my sore legs, another holding my upper back as well as holding my head steady, as the other does the same except instead of holding my head, he's holding up the upper part of my legs.
I feel myself moving for some minutes, when I'm abruptly laid onto something hard and uncomfortable.
I try to take a quick peek at where I'm at—dark brown wood crafted into a small wall, my head leaning on the other side. There's two men sitting on my left.
Eyes watching the forest. One's hair is long and dark giving a brown color and the other short blonde sunny hair. One turns towards my direction and my eyes run shut before I know it. All I see now is the darkness within me.
"Tale, do you think she'll be okay?" the one in the corner questions, probably the dark haired one. "Well… if she's stopped bleeding by now, she should be." The other calmly comments. "And if it hasn't?"
"We would have failed in protecting our commander" the dark hair voice unhappily comments.
Their commander?
Why would they call me their commander…do you think it's possible that they'd mistaken me for someone else.
"So, shouldn't we check if she's still bleeding, to stop it?" the blond continues on questioning. When they realize their mistake in not doing that earlier, they both hurry towards me with their feet stomping closer.
"Shit" one murmurs beside me after lifting up my t-shirt to the wounded part.
"She's still losing blood!"
"Quick pass me a cloth and you're scarf" one demands, their strong voice cutting out the ongoing tweets of birds. "Not my scarf! I just got it." Another voice beside me, hovers over. Whining.
"There's nothing else, so give it. Unless you want her dead!" The voice is flat and clear, pointing out the wining options "here…"
"Lift her up, on the count of three," one demands "one, two… three!" two pairs of hands lift me from one side, as another wraps something soothing but ruff around me. The scarf.
I'm gently laid back down on the cold hard wood. I can feel fabric dabbing around my wound. As trying to soak all the undying moisture in.
Pain swirls in my head, making me feel dizzy.
"Ahh!" I shout as one dabs the cloth onto my skin harder than before, trying to stop the blood from leaking.
"Commander Blaze!!" one mimics after the other, "are you okay? Commander-" the shiny blond hair guy begins to ask me when everything goes dark.
I can't hear anything or anyone. I'm consumed by the darkness itself.
So, I die like this.
Who would have thought…