Zander Chronicles: Lost Helith

Chapter 3: Hunted

I hate being in the dark, but only for a long period of time.

This kind of darkness is just short-lived. And I wasn’t alone. I still had my grip on the girls leg. I felt her squirming; trying to get free, but there’s no way I’m letting her go because of two reasons. One, is because I want to know who she is and why she kept showing up, and two, because I don’t want to be alone in the dark just for one second.

Just seconds have passed I can feel the familiar warmth of sunlight, and altogether rays of sunlight penetrated the darkness. I felt my grip loosening on the girls’ foot. I covered my eyes with my hands and waited for them to get used to the light. I heard panting and feet hitting the ground.

When my eyes finally recovered, I lowered my hands only to find that the girl was gone. I listened carefully for any sign of where she went, but all I heard was trickle of a nearby river and a strange combination of chirping and growling. I really didn’t hope there was a lion in this place because by the looks of the trees, there’s a slim chance for me to escape. I barely looked at the trees when I noticed something unusual about them.

The tree bark was in the shade of gray and yellow mixed together. Faint black lines were on them like tiger claw marks. As I worked my eyes up to the tree tops, I noticed that the branches were higher up making it impossible for anyone to climb up. Now I really wished there weren’t any dangerous animals here. When my eyes finally rested on the treetops, it took my breath away.

Red leaved covered the treetops. Not autumn leaves red, they were blood-red. Leaves shaped like teardrops filled almost every space above me, though with their color they looked more like blood drops. The sky was completely bloody-looking except for patches where leaves parted big enough to let sunlight penetrate and give view to the blue sky above. I could Silhouettes of little things from above. Acorns, maybe? This place couldn’t have acorns, it’s way too weird for normal acorns to be here.

Then I heard something move. I listened carefully so I could tell if it was close, and suddenly I felt something tug at my pants that made me jump out of my skin.  I looked down and saw a strange, but cute kitten. “Aw,” I said, “Hello little fella’” I chuckled to myself before I picked him up and immediately saw what made it odd. His fur looked like that of a tiger, only the marks were thin lines and gray fur. I looked into its eyes and saw the normal shape of a cat’s eye, but instead of yellow they had the color of blue. It opened its mouth and I saw small fangs, but thankfully it was friendly.

“Okay, this place is really weird,” I said to myself. I’m not complaining but, a place where creatures like this doesn’t harm anyone? But then again, he looked so cute to even hurt a fly. I held him in my arms like I did with my puppy when I was a kid. He rubbed his face onto my arm and purred. You get comfy easily, huh?” I said, smiling. He looked up at me with those cute eyes, and if he could smile, at that moment I think he did.

Since he seemed to be ownerless, I decided to keep him. “I think I’ll call you…” I paused for a minute, thinking of a name that would fit him, “Alik” I know, It’s really not that good but It was the name of my puppy that ran away. Actually, dad named him. He said that name was a special name to him, then he chuckled and mom went along with him.

My knees were getting weary and there weren’t any rocks to sit on so I decided to sit down on the green leaf-covered grass. Wait, green? I looked down to see if I was just seeing things, but the leaves were really green. Why didn’t I notice them before? Maybe it’s because I was too busy gawking at my new surroundings at eye level. Carefully, with Alik on my right arm, I touched the leaves with my left hand. They were dry, like dead leaves. They disintegrated when I rubbed them between my fingers.

I didn’t notice my mouth was slightly open until I choked on something that flew into my mouth. I thought it was a fly or a mosquito, but when I coughed it out it was a really, really creepy bug. It had a round body like a ladybug’s, yellow outer shell, small spikes that grew down its spine and a tail that of a scorpion but only smaller and it had the size and wings of a fly. Since it was small, I thought it was only a baby. Something inside me hoped it was still alive. Fortunately, it twitched and just flew away again.