Avatar Rose: Dawn

Ch.38: Nathan

'The wind whips across my face as the world around me goes in fast-forward. "Isn't this fun?" Rose yips in between her grizzly dog's leaps.

"Sure is!" I yell back, clawing my grip onto Luna's fur. Flocks of birds soar into the sky as we approach them, and little creatures of all kinds hustle into their homes. We make really good time, traveling more in two minutes then 30 minutes on foot. Although it kinda hurts...

"Something wrong?" Rose asks, seeing my pained expression.

"Nah," I lie. "It's nothing."

Rose nods unsurely. We travel for another 5 minutes before Rose brings Luna to a halt. "Luna's getting tired," she says. "And I gotta go pee. Let's make camp and stay for lunch."

"Sounds great," I say, relieved to feel solid earth below my feet at last. I slide down Luna's back, and limp pathetically over to a fallen tree branch.

Rose takes off into the forest to do her buissness. My eyes light up, and I pull some water from a group of weeds and set the water on my skin. 'Heal!' I think, staring at my scratched up, bloody arm. Heal! You stupid, little, pathetic, spurting, useless, good-for nothing- "Oh hi, Rose," I say to Rose as she pops her head into the clearing. I subconsciously let the water drop, funnelling it back into the earth.

"What's up?" She calls.

"Oh, I don't know..." I reply. "Think I'm gonna take a little nap. My body's really weak."

She immediately nods her head. "Yeah, sure," she says. "I'm gonna take Luna out for some play time." Turning to Luna she says, "Good job, girl. You did so well today. Did you miss me? Let's go play, Luna! Let's go play!"

And she scampers out of the clearing and I'm left staring awkwardly after her.

I lay down. And I couldn't have been asleep for more than 10 minutes before the ground under me starts to rumble and quake, shaking me back to life, and I stare at the ground. It's not natural. This is no earthquake. I look at to where my friend and her dog disappeared minutes before.

"Rose."