Akkora

Chapter 3

Akkora: Chapter 3

I tend to make good choices.

Most of the time.

This?

This was not one of those times.

I took my camera out of my bag and put the strap around my neck. I hid it on my side, underneath my unzipped sweater. I surveyed the empty street one more time to be safe. I cautiously walked over to the fence. I listened for the crackling of electricity, but heard nothing but silence. I let out a breath as I grabbed onto the chainlink fence and began to climb. I was relieved that there was no barbed wire on it, or else this would have been a lot more challenging. I was too short to reach any branches on the tree. Not to mention I had less strength than the mystery person. When I reached the top of the nine foot fence, I straddled it before swinging my right leg over. I pushed off and landed in a crouch, quickly jumping up and brushing my hands off on my jeans.

I glanced around at the forest around me. The dirt path lay ahead of me, twisting to the left before rolling down a hill. Leaves covered the floor around the path, with some cluttering the way. I pulled my jacket tighter and took a deep breath. I had to protect what was mine.

I half jogged, half walked down the path, careful to be as quiet as possible. Nervousness creeped into my stomach, though I fought hard to keep fear at bay. The sky I could see through the leaves was gray, no sun in sight. Everything around seemed gloomy and dark, making my senses more alert and my eyes wide open.

I always went to my place, so there wasn't a real reason for being so scared.

Besides the fact that there was a stranger loose in the forest with me.

My feet moved on their own accord, the directions memorized from a year of constantly going there. I shivered when looking around again.

I have been here so many times yet now it seemed so...creepy.

Shaking those thought from my head, I continued down the path. It usually took me around five minutes to get there, but it felt like so much longer.

I came across the end of the dirt path. A clearing laid ahead, where The most beautiful pictures could be taken.

A loud crunch went off somewhere in the clearing. My heart pounded as my eyes darted around, finally landing on a shadowed figure at the other side of the twenty foot clearing. I didn't waste any time hiding myself behind a tree.

With my body shielded by the tree, I peeked out at the figure. He seemed to be observing something on a tree, his back turned from me. A small square of white attached to a string of other squares hung down from the lowest branch of the tree. Immediately, I knew what he was looking at.

My pictures.

I bit my lip. I hadn't exactly thought this out very well. What do I do? Do I go out there and confront him? Do I stay until he leaves? Wh-

"I didn't actually think this would work." A voice interrupted my thoughts. "I thought you would be smarter than that. Following strangers can be dangerous."

My eyes widened and my breath quickened. Crap! He was talking to me!

I started to slowly back away as silently as possible.

Wait--did he just indirectly call me stupid?

"No use running when I know you're here." The same voice said. It was definitely the figure that spoke which I could only assume was the boy who had jumped the fence. The voice was deep, yet I could tell he was young. I blinked in shock, before maning, or in my case, womaning up and walking into the clearing.

I felt completely exposed without the cover of the tree. Every fiber of my being was on alert. Half of my feelings consisted of fear but the other part was adrenalin. I kept my eyes trained on the figure, who still had his back facing me. I could see what he was wearing now. A pair of loose jeans and a dark jacket. His dark hair was messy from the back, but that was about all I could see. Although I was ten feet away, he hadn't turned around. My nerves made me feel jumpy.

I stood my ground, refusing to move even when he slowly spun around. My heart was pounding so hard I feared he could hear it. I willed my hands not to shake. I had no clue why he was here, or why he supposedly 'knew I would come'.

I shouldn't be freaking out. Why was I so scared anyways?

Oh nothing much, my brain sneered, just some random, dangerous looking stranger happens to be alone with you in a dark forest. No biggie.

I mentally rolled my eyes at myself. Since when is my sub-conscience so sarcastic?

A loud snapping sound pulled me away from my mental argument. I glanced over at the man, who had moved a few steps to observe the pictures better. I prepared myself for whatever he was going to do next.

"Nice pictures you have here." the guy said.

Well, that wasn't what I expected.

Actually, I don't even know what I expected, to be honest.

It took me a while, but I managed to spit out a few words. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer right away. He just stared at me, his eyes scanning over my face. "To tell you."

I frowned. "Tell me what?" I asked incredulously.

"That you can't come back here. Ever." He answered.

I made a face. "You can't tell me what to do. I don't even know you."

Taking a step towards me, he looked straight into my eyes. I noticed how strange his looked. They were a light brown-almost...gold. "It's dangerous out here. That's why there's a fence. An electric fence. Common sense would tell you that." He paused. "But since you lack that, I can understand why you come to this place. But that isn't the point."

I eyed him suspiciously. "And what is that?" Not that it'd matter. He couldn't control me.

He looked scary for a second as he stared stonily at me. "Leave. And don't ever come back."

I opened my mouth to testify, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.

And just like that, my curiosity began to overwhelm my brain as I walked home from the strange encounter.

Little did I know that would not be the last I saw of that mysterious boy from the woods.

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So yeah super late update, but I hope it was worth the wait!

What did y'all think?

Go ahead and vote/comment if ya enjoyed!

~Sasha