The World of Arie

Chapter 5

     What pounced on Ria was the size of a bear, but it looked like an alligator. It was dark brown and it had fur. Ria spat and pawed at the alligator that was on top of her, but the alligator had her pinned down.

     “Haius!” Lou spat as he picked up his paw and swung it at the alligator. It hit him and threw him into the river. The alligator splashed at the water, like it couldn’t swim. “The Haius… They are coming!” Lou growled.

     That’s a Haiu? I thought as I looked at the alligator that was struggling in the water. Why would they think that Allen and I were Haiu’s then? Allen pushed me behind him, his teeth were bared. I peeked my head around his shoulder. “I can protect myself.” I pointed out.

     He lowered his head, making his shoulders reach the height of his ears. His gaze was still on the Haius. “It’s too dangerous for you! Their alligators, and their dange-“

     He was interrupted as more Haius had sprung from the bushes. Four of them came out. Two were dark brown, one was dark green, and the last was grayish black. “There’s Ria!” The black one grinned. “Let’s get her!” They all pounced, but Lou quickly put his leg in front of Ria, they all rammed into his leg.

     The black Haiu growled deeply, jumped around Lou’s leg and pounced on Ria. One of the dark brown Haius started running toward Allen. The rest started attacking Lou. Wow, I thought. For alligators, they can run fast and jump high.

     “Stay here.” Allen murmured to me as he leaped on one of the dark brown Haius, putting his legs on both sides of the alligator as if he were riding a horse. He started punching it hard, in the neck and in the eyes. The alligator growled and tried to shake him off, but couldn’t.

     No, I won’t let them fight alone. I whispered as I leaped on the black Haiu, tossing it off of Ria. “Errr.” The Haiu underneath me growled. “Get off!” He shook me off of him, throwing me into Lou’s leg. Everything went blurry for a few seconds, but when I could see again, the Haiu was on top of me, grinning. “You messed with the wrong Setrate.” The Haiu muttered as he gapped open his jaws to bite my neck and finish me.

     I might sound brave at this point, but trust me, I was shaking like crazy. I wasn’t thinking of what those Haius could have done to me, but I couldn’t have just left them to get killed… So I went to attack and that happened.

     “Get off of her!” Allen screeched as he ran over to me and struck the Haiu in the face, throwing him off of me. The Haiu rubbed his face, and then looked up at Allen, anger in his bloodshot eyes.

     “I’ve dealt with you long enough!” He started running toward me as I put my arms in front of me and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the attack. All of a sudden I heard a scream. I looked over my arms to see that the Haiu was sinking his sharp teeth into Allen’s right arm. Blood was spilling out into the dirt.

     Allen was baring his teeth, his eyes were half closed in a frown. He breathing was quick as he was shaking. “Allen!” I screamed as I ran over to him, kicking and punching the Haiu as hard as I could. I also punched his mouth and poked his eyes, hard.

     Then he finally let go of Allen, his teeth were soaked with blood as he stepped back, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. He looked up at us. “This isn’t over…” He murmured as he and his friends fled.

     As I watched them go, I heard Allen fall to the ground, breathing hard. I swiftly turned around to see Ria coming toward us, her jaws a little bloody while their was blood on her chest fur. The Haiu had bit Allen’s right arm between his wrist and elbow. Lou stepped behind us and looked at Allen, concern in his bright orange eyes. “Get him herbs Ria, now!”

     Ria swiftly ran back into the forest behind us as Allen lay down on the dirt. I leaned over him as he looked at me. “Don’t close your eyes.” I whispered as his eyes started closing.

     He grabbed my hand. “Don’t worry.” He replied.

     I shook my head. “This was my fault though… You told me not to fight, but I did… I’m so sorry.”

     He grinned. “Although, if you hadn’t fought, then that black Haiu would had killed Ria.” He breathed in deeply. “You have done nothing wrong.” He sounded very wise as he closed his eyes.

     Ria came back with blue berries and dark green leaves in her mouth. She laid the leaves and berries in front of me. “Squeeze these berries on his scar so that the juice goes into the wound. And then press the leaves against his scar.”

     I nodded as I took the seven berries she had gotten and started spraying the juice from them into Allen’s wound. When I started pressing the leaves against his wound, Allen jumped a little.

     Before I knew it, it was nightfall. There was no moon in the sky as I lay next to Allen, worried if he would die. He couldn’t die… I would be the only human alone here, he was a good friend, and I started having feelings for him. When those Haius were attacking us, I had realized how nice and thoughtful that he was.

     Lou was lying around us, like a huge circle. Ria was pressed against Lou on the opposite side of where Allen and I were, sleeping.

     I didn’t take the leaves off of Allen since I put them on him. I couldn’t sleep, I was too worried about Allen to be tired. I looked up to see the star filled sky. “M-Mariline?”

     I turned my head to Allen to see him looking up at me. He sat up and looked at his right arm. You could see that the leaves were dark with blood. “I… I feel a little better now.” He said, tiredly.

     I smiled. “That’s good.”

     He looked up at me. “Uh…. Mariline?”

     “Yes?”

     “Since I might die… Or my arm may be cut off… I just wanted to say..” He stammered as he looked down. “I-I love you Mariline.” He blushed.

     I gasped. I couldn’t believe that Allen actually liked me back. “B-but you’re my brother’s best friend..” I pointed out as I blushed.

     “I know, I know, but we may never see Andrew again, and I just can’t…” He looked back up at me. “Stop loving you.”

     “I love you too.” I whispered.

     He leaned over toward me and kissed me. When he pulled away I didn’t want him to stop, I wanted more. I lay down a few inches from him. “Goodnight.” I whispered.

     “Goodnight.” He murmured back as I closed my eyes. I was still worried of what would happen to him… I hoped he would be okay as sleep took over me.

     Yes I know it seems weird to fall in love with your brother’s best friend, but you have to admit, I probably wouldn’t ever see my brother again. And besides, Allen is really sweet. He was always very nice and very helpful to me; wouldn’t you fall in love with someone who was like that to you? Okay sorry, I’ll get back to the story.