Ready to Run → KathQuen AU

P R O L O G U E

I tried to make myself comfortable under the sun's blinding light without covering my eyes with anything out of my reach while warm wind kissed my exposed body parts. On every move I took without any hesitation, I felt the damp grass brush my fragile skin; it just made me sad that I even spent an hour and a half to meticulously apply a new body product my aunt just bought me from a store, waiting if something ominous would occur to my skin, so I could report it to her immediately. It was just one of my habits to do things perfectly since I was one of this so-called perfectionists.

I was looking up to the vast, blue sky and regaling myself with its nothingness when something hairy made a slight contact with my left elbow, which was in between the grass and my head while my other hand was resting peacefully on my stomach - causing me to sit up abruptly in panic. I did not think I was sane anymore because of the things happening within my body; my brain was thinking about the possibilities - few are truly disgusting, not to mention - of what the furry creature might be; my own heart was pounding like an angry, desperate man knocking on the door of a person who owed him something significant and hasn't paid him yet after a great amount of time; my arms and legs had gone stiff as a silver metal that even Superman can not bend.

"Darn you, Carrot," I said under my breath, looking razor sharp at the wild bunny that was averting its dark eyes from me as if he was innocent. It was just a rabbit that was constantly hanging out here at my aunt's lawn, and she was an animal lover so she let this creature do what it wanted to since it helped her make her garden look clean by eating a couple of weeds. Sometimes I wondered if she actually loved animals because she did not like to keep any kind of domestic animals as a pet even though my cousins were dying to adopt a dog some day and, oh, Carrot was not really this evil bunny's name. The world may never knew what its real name was and besides, who cared?

As the wind continuously slapped me from my back, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I put my arms around myself and stood up, leaving Carrot - or whatever its name was - on the ground.

It was getting cold in one of New York's little, insignificant towns even though it was around noon of July, and I was starting to feel a twinge of regret of accepting my aunt's invitation of staying here for the whole summer - needing to leave sunny California behind for more than a month. I could had asked for the cash she used for buying my plane ticket, so I could spend it on shopping instead. Oh, things I did not come to think of until now.

Speaking of those things that I-did-not-come-to-think-of-until-now, I wish I still had my mom, my oh-so-caring mom, beside me right this moment, so I didn't have to depend on her sister for guidance, but it's not my fault she died in a car crash three years ago, and it's not my fault why my dad, who always seemed like a mystery to me, left us when I was still an infant either. Sometimes I asked myself: what would my life be like right now if my dad didn't leave us? Would Mom'd be still alive? Would we be a wealthy and happy family?

I shook my head, casting those thoughts away. I needed to keep myself away from any stress right now or else I wouldn't be able to enjoy the rest of my summer break, and it would be utterly worthless for me to spend two months here. I didn't need those since school year was always the main source of my depression.

I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood since I had nothing else to do and had set to return before dinner. Maybe I could make few acquaintances here by just taking a tour on the peaceful streets, and maybe I could meet new enemies, too.

Yet I did meet an enemy, I supposed. I was just walking down A. Sun Street, singing Cali Girls softly to myself, when a peculiar man holding a cane gave me a razor-sharp look as if he was looking through me. Like me, he was taking a little tour by himself, but he was sniffing the air like some kind of predator smelling its prey's presence, and that sent a chill up to my spine. I was not a prey, was I?

Then, he smiled at me, showing off his crooked teeth. Oh God, he was not that type of guy who liked to go to a dentist, was he? At that moment, I stopped singing, afraid of what he will do with that teeth of his- I mean, with his crane that he just broke. He didn't need one anyway because he stood there standing as straight and as high as a soldier.

I thought maybe Creep Cane was a good nickname for him.

I averted my eyes from him and tried to continue walking. Notice I said the last sentence with the word tried? Yep, I tried to reach the end of A. Sun Street without looking back because I abruptly realized I was running for my dear life instead of walking since Creep Cane started going after me like a predator would.

The next thing I knew, he began changing his form. Creep Cane's eyes turned as dark as pool balls; his toe- and fingernails became sharp as hawk's; and he had longer neck, arms, and legs now. He started to develop wings, too. Not just that: his clothes ripped at the same time his entire body changed shape. He looked like some sort of pterosaur, which was a Greek word for a winged lizard.

I closed my eyes shut, hoping this was all a dream. A very, very bad dream. A nightmare. Then, I opened my eyes and realized this was definitely not a dream because I saw the transformed Creep Cane in front of me. Gosh, it sure was scaly... and fast.

I took a step back, but it didn't lung after me. It said something that was classified between a groan and a gasp. If I guessed it right, it said, "Cassandra."

"How did you know my name? You stalker!" I shouted at it. I found it amazing I wasn't even afraid to face it - just a twinge. It roared loudly. I think I just made it mad. "Just kidding!" I said, trying to sound at ease. "You could call me Cassie for short, but I don't think we could be friends, though!"

I guess that was not the right thing for me to say because it immediately lunged at me once I closed my mouth. Good thing I can always rely on my instincts and had time to took a step to the right before its nails touch my oh-so-precious skin. Just an inch more it could have had given me a scratch!

"Have you gone mad? You could have had marked me with my own blood! How dare you?" I started to run as fast as a cheetah but ended up looking like a mad lady who was stuck in Jurassic times. How ironic.

As much as I wanted to keep myself unharmed by this creature, I tripped over a road hump while I was running. How idiotic of me, right? I could had given myself a face palm right now, but then it gave the monster a chance to hook me up with its soul-piercing nails.

I thought this was going to be the end of me - the last of Cassandra Hiraani - before a good-looking young man intervened between Death and me. At first look, you would thought he was one of those innocent bystanders in a crime scene, but, man, better think again because he had a knife. Yes, a glinting bronze knife.

"Put that young lady down immediately," said the lad, sounding simultaneously brave and dangerous, "or you know what'll happen."

I felt the monster's eyes bore into me after looking away from the anonymous young man - don't ever ask me how because I swore I had no idea!

Former-Creep Cane roared that sounded like, "Both of you will suffer!" In addition, it made a screeching noise that I'm pretty sure was a laugh, and it was a type of laugh you didn't want to hear.

"Oh yeah?" challenged Courageous Lad, looking- what was the word? Oh, there you go. Good.

"Don't challenge it, you idiot!" I shouted, now trying to squirm my way out of its grip. "You'll get us both killed! I have a life to live, you know!"

"As if she knows how to disintegrate this creature," he murmured but enough for me to hear.

"I heard what you said, young man!" I shouted, still trying to reach freedom.

"Don't you know that you'll fall if you continue wiggling your way out?"

I stopped right there. I didn't think of that, but, oh well, better die accomplished than die a failure. Because of that, I proceeded on what I was doing.

"Idiot!" he shouted.

"At least I'm not an idiot who is flipping shit!" I shouted back and instead of continuing our argument, he just shook his head and threw his bronze knife at- wait, did he throw that at me? "What were you thi-"

I didn't get to finish because dirt went into my eyes. Where did that come from? The next thing I knew, I was falling within a great speed. I collided with concrete big time and saw the young man's panicked expression before blacking out.