Child of Earth

2

Author's Note:

For anyone who has finished the first chapter and wishes to continue reading the story, I thank you, from the bottom-most part of my fluttering little heart.

Hazel above. :D

- Em

-X-

We had survived for a few days with the few things Hazel had brought with us, which included several chocolate bars, four apples, a jumbo box of muesli bars and canned beans, fruit and soup.

She had also packed two water bottles, a camping stove, a double sleeping bag, three boxes of matches, two small canisters of gas and a few pairs of extra clothes.

Hazel had bought all that along with three backpacks with a large wad of cash that she had stuffed in her pockets.

We learnt how to shoot things like possums and rabbits by the videos Hazel had watched online in preparation for this time, but mostly we foraged for roots and berries.

One time we had to walk over to a local supermarket to buy a book about plants, cold medicine, bandages, band aids, tooth paste, tooth brushes and a hair brush. But mostly we were independent.

But one day, when Hazel told me to find a new area to live because our current camp was too close to a road she had stumbled upon yesterday, she left me to the job and went to town for more supplies. We had both agreed to meet up in an hour.

That was when I found the tree house.

I just looked up and found a house sitting among the trees. I was so excited that I almost didn't hear the sirens in the distance.

I turned around abruptly, stopping my little victory dance mid-wiggle and wondered what had happened. Then I thought of Hazel and how our Foster Parents would still be looking for us after only a few weeks.

So I dropped everything by the tree house and ran straight for the sirens, skipping between the roots and puddles like a game of silent hopscotch.

I arrived by the side of the road to find Hazel running away from two policemen who were yelling things like;

'Come back, we just want to help!' and 'I'm going to kill you!'

Which to me seemed like a strange assortment of phrases but as Hazel ran past my hiding place she told me to stay hidden, and kept running.

About twenty metres further along the road, Hazel fell over a tree root and the policemen had the time to catch up to her. They each grabbed an arm and told her to stay calm and that they were going to take her back to her Foster Parents who were very worried about her.

Just as I was about to run in and save her, Hazel's head turned to me and with a stern look and a stoic face, she mouthed the words I didn't want to hear. 'Leave me.'

But I did.

As I fell asleep in my treehouse and relived those days in my head, I realised that I had been here for a very long time...

I got out of the large sleeping bag Hazel had bought for the both of us so long ago and walked over to the wall opposite my door.

I took out my trusty torch from out of my backpack and held it up to the tiny marker lines I had drawn onto the wooden wall. There were three hundred and fifty-three marks, meaning that my birthday had been today.

With a sad smile to myself, I got out of my tiny, semi-warm home, cooked a rabbit on the fire, smothered it in wild blackberry juice, wrapped it in tin foil from the local store, let the fire die down and shoved the rabbit in the embers to marinate well. It would be done by morning.