Ash and Dust

Chapter Three - Tears & Blames

LOCATION: UNKNOWN
DATE: SEPTEMBER 28th
TIME: DAY

Fallen leaves and broken branches creaked and complained as Reine's hurried feet stepped on them during her escape sprint. Golden trees passed by her in a blur and without even knowing where her feet were carrying her, she just kept on running and running. She was not just trying to run away from the strangers, but also reality and the horrible images that kept on flashing whenever she closed her eyes. She was trying to run away from this cruel world.

Finally, Reine's weak lungs forced her to stop and take a breath. After making sure she lost her pursuers, she leaned back on a strong oak tree and sank down weakly until she was sitting on the leaf-covered earth. Taking huge gulps of the cool autumn air, she felt her face burn as the chilling, cutting wind attempted to dry her tears.

What's the point of crying, idiot, Reine thought to herself, tears won't bring anyone back from the dead. It's just a waste of energy and water. Seriously, stop...

But she only found herself crying harder and harder, until her eyes turned into an overflowing river of tears. Each tear seemed to bring back another happy and warm memory of her odd but loving family. Again and again, she reminded herself that she had no right to cry about this. After all, this was all her fault. Her fault that her family was now destroyed, her fault that she was now homeless, and her fault that Henri's short life was now ruined.

All her fault.

Reine wiped away her wasted tears at this and suddenly appreciated the quietness and hostility of the forest. Only the singing birds and the humming insects were here to witness her break down. Shadows from the whispering trees above shook slightly as a gentle breeze swept across the woods, and auburn leaves began to descend gently from the branches.

Reaching up her trembling hands, Reine caught a leaf as it finished its last twirl, marking its last presence in this world.

Do the leaves know that they are finished, and that nothing could ever revive them, Reine silently wondered as she stared down at the leaf, if so then why would they give up so easily, why would they just let the wind and weather decide their lifespan?

Slowly, Reine closed her red-tipped fingers around the dying leaf and quickly crushed it until it was just tiny pieces of nature.

But then, they don't really have a choice, do they?

As soon as Reine opened her palm, the breeze blew the golden pieces into flight again. Reine's dark blue eyes followed the cloud of yellow, dancing, twirling particles of the once very alive leaf. A thought suddenly floated out of her jumble conscious as the fragments of the leaf caught the warm sunlight.

Wait a minute! Why was I able to touch the leaf without it bursting into dust right away? Reine stood up alarmingly and watched as the wind picked up again, sending the fallen leaves twirling and spinning around her.

Reine's black hair whipped around her face, following the wind's orders, blocking her view of all the twirling, falling, dying leaves. She made no move to brush away her hair away, however, because her mind was occupied with thousands of impossible theories of what was happening.

Maybe it was all a cruel joke for my sixteenth birthday... No, they wouldn't be that mean no matter what. Maybe their deaths were all a dream an- But why did I wake up in a park? May-

Crunch.

A soft crunch of leaves behind Reine jerked her back to Earth. She snapped around immediately and faced the direction of the sound.

Nothing was there. No squirrel. No bird.

Fear pumped through her body as she called out, "Who is there?"

Crunch.

After the second noise, the whole forest seemed to be listening and waiting with Reine. No songs from the flying friends above, no humming concerts from the insects on the ground, and no living soul in sight.

"Wh-"

Before Reine could finish her question, however, her stalker started breaking off into a sprint behind her. Reine had one second to decide whether or not it was wise to follow this creep. But her burning curiosity eventually got the best of her, and she turned to follow whoever was watching her.

Quite gracefully, Reine dodged all the annoying branches and jumped over occasional tree roots, while keeping a close eye on the dark figure ahead of her. Those years playing tag in their backyard wood with Henri really payed off. The person obviously knew the woods well, too, because they weaved their way across with ease and leaving Reine in his dust.

After ten minutes of running, the tall aspen trees finally opened up to a clearing. As soon as the figure reached the clearing, however. The strangest thing happened.

Reine's target disappeared. Literally. Just vanished into thin air and left no trace behind.

Slowing down her stride, Reine stepped into the clearing, too, and looked around puzzledly at the empty air around her.

What the heck? Where did he go? He couldn't have just vanished an-

Too focused in her thoughts, Reine did not notice the new voices behind her until they were almost only ten feet away from her.

"Mur, I swear, there had been someone here like," a childish male voice said, "like five minutes ago, I think."

To Reine's relief, the trees were blocking their view of her, for now at least. She had a good three minutes before they could actually see her. Three minutes to come up with an escape plan.

"First of all, don't call me Mur, Robert! How many times do I have to keep on reminding you that my name is Margaret, not Mur! And maybe there was an intruder, but that is none of our business. Right now, we have to find a solution for our quota problem. We did not reach it, again! Ugh, Boss is going to be so mad at us this time. Wh-" Margaret scolded Robert but paused when he suddenly stopped to examine the leaves on the ground, again.

"Look, at the leaves, though! They've obviously been stepped on, and-" Robert looked up, but was shushed by Margaret who had her eyes staring straight ahead. Beyond the trees. Straight at Reine.

"Well, look at that, Robert, I think I've found our little intruder."

Uh oh...

...

A/N

This is one of the chapters I added to make my book better and to slow down the pace a bit. So how did you like it?

Comments & Votes? :)

-the author