Underneath Us

chapter three: lucas

I wasn't planning on having such a bad day, but, you know, you can't really plan these things. My day wasn't too bad (which isn't saying much because the only thing I did was sleep) until around five in the morning when I decided to go on a run to clear my head.

I always have bad luck. And not just that harmless stuff like 'oh, i stepped on dog poop without shoes on' but more like, 'oh, I stepped on a porcupine without shoes on'. Yeah. It's great to be me.

I live on the outskirts of Los Andava, Illinois in a small split level house. My father works at a power plant 30 minutes away from our house. I have three sisters. Ara is a year older than me and she looks exactly like me except for her hair which she keeps in braids all the time. Clar is a year younger than me and she has frizzy black hair. She is the bravest person I know. Mala is three years younger than me. She shaved her head when she was five, and kept shaving it ever since, so she looks exactly like me. We even have similar glasses.

None of my family was awake when I crept out of the house to go for a run. I grabbed an orange and left.

I'd been running for around a half an hour when my bad luck kicked in.

A huge, black beast melted out of the shadows right as I turned a corner.

I knew a little about wild animals, so I knew to not run or make any loud sounds or sudden movements. The monster and I stared at each other in a trance. I was too dazed to think to walk slowly backwards. When the animal realized I could be food, it broke the trance and lunged for me.

That was when I saw the woman. She too melted out of the shadows, falling towards me and the beast from one of the rooftops, I assume.

She was upon the beast in a second, and wrestled with it before pushing it to the ground and pulling a knife from her clothes. The beast realized what she was doing before she unsheathed the dagger, but it was too late. The woman stabbed it once before plunging the knife into its heart and twisting. The beast roared and screamed, but within seconds it hit the ground with a thud and stopped twitching.

The woman slid off the creature and dusted herself off. She was tall and thin and covered in splatters of bright red blood. Her dark brown eyes reflected the lights from the streetlights. Other than that, it was hard to tell, because beneath the blood was a black bodysuit. The woman wore a black hood and mask to top it off. She stopped attempting to clean herself, and turned around.

I couldn't get any words out of my mouth so I just stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Wha—Wha—Who—" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves and slow my speeding mind. "What happened? Who are you?"

She sighed and put her knife away as she carefully stepped over the body.

"I'm someone who probably shouldn't be here." She glanced around suspiciously.

"And what is that?!" I asked, louder than intended.

She started walking towards me.

"What are you doing—Stop! Stay back!" I yelled. I mean, she has a knife and I just saw her use it. She sighed again, but stopped.

"Will you calm down?" She hissed, trying and failing to calm me down. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just saved your life."

She did not need to remind me about that traumatizing experience even though it happened only a few minutes ago. I narrowed my eyes.

"That doesn't mean you're not about to stab me right now!" I really don't trust her. Why should I? For all I know, she could be a psychopathic serial killer! I took a step back.

"Actually, it does. It'd be much easier if I'd let the Knarl rip you to pieces." She hesitated. "You don't know who I am, but I know things you can only imagine."

Wow. That's not disturbing at all.

"Okay, that's creepy. Also, do I want to know what a Knarl is?"

"It's that," she said, sounding irritated, and pointed to the creature. "and I'm going to tell you this once. I am not someone you should mess with." I think she tried to be ominous for this, and, honestly, it worked.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I've done things you could only imagine in your nightmares." She mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"I said, 'this guy's an idiot.'"

"Hey!" That was unnecessary. I can't believe she has the audacity. I was only at the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not my fault!

"What? It's true. I'm done here! Goodbye!"

"Wait!" I pleaded.

"What?!" She nearly screamed. I think I might be making her mad. You could practically see steam coming out of her ears. "I'm busy, you know! I can't just explain everything to you all day!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do? You can't just leave me here!"

"I can and I will. You'll figure it out. Just leave or something."

And then she left. Great.

I figured I should just leave like she said. I started home.

I hope the rest of my day isn't this bad.