Elementals

Lost in the Woods

Piper's P.O.V

Walking helps clear my head and lets me think about complex things in peace. I currently walk around my school campus. The MA Fine Arts and Music College. It's rainy like every day in Seattle, but I love the city. Everything about it unique and cool.

I wasn't born here of course, I was born in North Carolina. But I love it nonetheless. As a bonus, that I wasn't expecting. Was that my three cousins ended up in Seattle as well. Sofia is the manager of the band but to make income she does theater. Jack is currently in the Police Academy, and Alex. Well she's trying really hard to do a completely online College course, and the main reason she moved to Seattle was because it's where Caleb's paper company is.

Eventually on my non-predestined walk, I and up near the woods. Since it just rained and it was warm yesterday, a large layer of mist covers the forest like a blanket. And the rain caused the wonderful smell of water and wet dirt to arise.
I walk farther in and come to a very familiar spot. It's a place where me and my cousins would meet when we wanted complete privacy. It was sometimes with all four of us, or maybe just one or two, but we felt like it was special.
Speak of the devil, Alex sits on a damp log, her head hanging low.
I quietly walk up behind her.
"Hi" I say, she whips around.

"Holy shit, don't scare me like that!"

"I'm sorry" I say trying hard not to giggle. All my life I've had a tendency to startle people with my quietness, even when I think I'm being loud I startle them.
I sit down beside Alex.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you." I state, but Alex sees through me.
"You don't mean that do you?" She looks at me with squinted eyes. I sigh along with a little laugh

"To be honest, I only half mean it. I stand by what I said...about me. As for you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that about Caleb."
It takes Alex a little while but she gives in.

"Thank you. And, I'm sorry too. I know you're only picky because you can see someone for who they are on the inside and not how they present. That's a very lucky thing to have, and I'm sure when you find the right person, they'll be worth it."
I look at my cousin smiling and slightly teary eyed. I give her a warm hug to fend off the cold and whisper

"Thank you."
Alex returns the hug. But after we stay embraced for awhile Alex says
"Alright, enough with the feels."
I let out a small laugh
"Ok"
I release her and we sit leaned up against each other listening to the sounds of the forest. A bird chirp, a rustle of leaves. Alex takes a deep breath.
"Do you remember how we met?"
I nod
"Of course, we were very young 6 maybe 7 and at a family reunion. I got board and wandered away from my parents. I found you and Sofia under a table playing hide and seek. I asked to join you and you said yes. After that-like all stories go-we were inseparable."
Alex chuckles and I continue
"You know last night, we recounted the tale of when you broke your leg falling out of the treehouse."
Alex gasps
"And I was drunk! I'm so sorry."
We both laugh
"It's ok....I still think your classy as hell." I say, reciting our 'false' complements.
She looks at me and reply's
"And I still think your a total badass."
Me and her laugh at our jokes and simply enjoy the moment.

But after awhile me and Alex hop off the log and begin the exit the forest.
"Time to go I suppose" I say hugging my cousin one last time.
"Yeah I-"
A noise from the cluster of trees behind us stops her. We both turn, towards it.
"Your not going anywhere." it says.
Suddenly, a man along with three others appear. And they have loaded guns.
Alex gasps and I feel more scared then I've ever been in my life.
"Garibaldi!" Alex says, anger coating her voice.
"You know them?!" I whisper.

"Piper you have to get out of here, I can take care of this."
I hastily nod and begin to move away from the scene, but the man speaks.
"Uh, Uh, you can't go anywhere. Your a witness and we can't have anyone going and talking about this." The mans voice is as fowl as he looks. My breathing speeds up, and Alex steps in front of me.
"Don't touch her."
Before I know what was happening a wall of fire shoots out in front of me and my cousin, blocking Garibaldi and his friends.
"Run Piper. Run!"
I nod but ask
"What about you?"

"It's fine. Like I said I can handle this."

"O-ok."
I turn and run as fast as my legs will take me. But I'm halted when I hear a loud scream.
"Alex!" I screech. I immediately turn around and run back to the scene. I see the area is scorched, but Garibaldi and his partners still stand, though he only has two men instead of three. As for Alex, she lies on the ground clutching her stomach.
Garibaldi is standing over her and loads his gun, pointing it at my cousins head.
No no no!
I think but I come up empty with what to do.
Fight
That's what my dad taught me as a child.
Maybe I can distract them and Alex can take out the rest?
Deciding not to deny any longer I walk out from behind the tree I was hiding behind. The men turn and look at me, clearly startled that I was still here.

"Well well, looks like our whiteness came back"
Instead of doing anything like I planned. I talk.
"I didn't actually see what happened, so technically I'm not a witness" I reason in a panicked tone.
One of the guys shrugs and nods.

"True. But still , we can't take the chance. And...we might have another use for you." Says Garibaldi.
The men advance on me. And as they get closer I prepare to slap them and get in a good kick to the gnards. Instead, something astonishing happens.
When I slap one of Garibaldi's men my hand becomes ice cold and a massive spike forms in my palm. Going straight through the man's face. He drops dead.
I am appalled and fascinated. I wonder if I can do it again. I look at my hand and try to envision what I want to do. I close my hand into a fist...and it happens. Massive spikes of ice come up through the ground, stabbing Garibaldi and the other man.
I don't know how or what I just did, but there's absolutely no time to think about it. I remember Alex is lying on the ground. I rush to her side sliding in the forest floor.
"Hey, Alex, you ok?"
She looks at me with tired eyes.
"What do you think? They got me and I'm going to bleed out." She says weakly.
I feel the tears fall, and I feel a terrible weight bear down on me like a massive boulder.
"I'll call an ambulance, you'll be-"

"No! Piper there's something I need you to do."
She removes her hands from her stomach, a knife sits in the middle of it. Alex holds her hands out and they seem to catch on fire!

"Put your hands in mine."
I don't ask questions, I take my cousins hands, but surprisingly the fire doesn't burn me, it doesn't feel like anything.
"Piper, tell the others I love them. And remember I love you, and you will always be my best friend."
Alex smiles weakly and exhales her last breath. My tears are a cascade.
The fire that covers my cousins now ice cold hands, engulfs her whole body. Instead of charring her, she seems to flake away in a golden ash. The ash swirls around me until it's above my head, then without warning and with great force, I begin to absorb it.
With the impact comes a growing heat. But just as I feel I'm about to lose it the ash is gone. I'd seemed to take it all. But with it gone, so is Alex. I only get a glimpse of the forest floor and my shaking hands before things become hazy and I pass out.
——————
"Ma'am, can you hear us?"
I open my eyes with a gasp. I can't move but I see two paramedics standing over me.
"What's your name?"

"P-Piper James" I manage to get out through weak breath.
They help me sit up and I see an ambulance parked at the forest entrance. Beside it, my cousin Jack. He's leaning against a tree with a worried look.
I stand up and out of the grasp of the paramedics. I walk up to Jack who immediately hugs me.

"Piper what happened?"

"I-I" before I could get the words out from the tangle of tears and snot, my hands feel hot. Almost burning. Within a second an orange spark erupts from my hands, lighting the adjacent tree on fire.
Me and Jack are startled and immediately move away from the tree. The paramedics seem frightened. They desperately try to put out the fire but nothing they do is working. I see something in Jacks eyes, he quickly turns to me and takes me by the shoulders.

"Run! And don't stop."
I carefully nod and run out of the forest, not turning back for anything or anyone. Unfortunately as I run my hands begin to randomly emit shots of fire and ice, freezing and burning various things around me.
I trip over a rock and land directly on my hand. I hear a crack followed by an immense amount of pain. I scream and a massive burst of ice comes out of me, freezing everything within a 15 foot radius, luckily it's mostly grass.
I get over the pain and holding my wrist, I keep running, as far and as fast as I can to get away from what feels like a living nightmare.