Zander Chronicles: Lost Helith

Chapter 4: Welcomed

I really needed to find a place to crash.

 It was getting dark. The sky turned from blue to a beautiful orange sunset. Night was getting closer, and I don’t want to be out in the open when it arrives. If there are more creatures here that are as bizarre as Alik, and much bigger, I need to find a cave or an abandoned cottage.

The man just walked calmly out of here, then maybe there’s a town or a village near. Alik wanted to go down. Half of me just wanted to hold on to him, but I had to let him down or his legs will fall asleep. Thankfully, when I let him down he didn’t fly away.

When the sun was starting to set, it was actually quite bright. There was no need to fear. You might think I’m too old to be scared of the dark, that my fear’s irrational. Well, you can blame that on Dad. As a kid, I remembered dad telling me stories about dangers of being in the dark, that I shouldn’t be alone. He said that once I’m alone in the dark, monsters would try to attack me or take me away. I think it was just a ploy for me to behave because he used to threaten me to turn off the light if I don’t sleep.

Anyway, as me and Alik walked on for what seemed like hours, we got tired enough that we decided to find a place to rest. In retrospect we should’ve just stayed near the lake. We found a thick enough tree that I could lean on it without sliding to the side. I sat down and Alik rested on my lap.

Sitting quietly now, I could examine more of my surroundings. I noticed that the plants in these woods either were all red leaves or a part of some of the leaves red.

A plant that looked like a fern bush that sat near the tree that stood in front of me had green leaves but they had splotches of red on them like blood that sprayed out of a beheading, and I quickly avoided the thought. There was a plant that looked like a lychee but in the size of a boulder that shook a little. I thought the plant itself was moving but then a squirrel sprang out and ran towards the tree I leaned on. Before it climbed up, it stopped at the base and it wasn’t really a squirrel. It had a fluffy tail and brown fur like a squirrel but it definitely didn’t have the body, head, and cute face of a squirrel.

Its eyes were big and black with fangs and ears the size of cat ears but looked like they could hear all the way out of this forest. Spikes lined down its spine and black lines that started from its back and ended on all four paws. It bared its fangs at me and that immediately made me ready myself for an all-out scurrying, but thankfully it just closed its mouth and climbed the tree at an unbelievable speed. No sooner had it climbed that it disappeared through the leaves above. I calmed myself and went back to my comfortable seat.

I didn’t know how much time passed but it the sun finally set and the moon was rising. I didn’t find the dark unsettling like normal, maybe because I was with Alik. I stood up and looked around. Despite it being night, there was a faint light.  I almost considered the moon as the source but I realized that it had an orangey color. Is Orangey a word?

I looked for my shadow and found it lying to my right. My head immediately snapped towards my left and found the source of light. A fire was lit probably one and a quarter mile away. My shadow danced with the flame, and I noticed something weird about my shadow. A lumped was formed near my feet, moving and cuddling my leg and I remembered Alik. I looked down and sure enough he was near my foot, trying to catch my attention. ”Oh, sorry little guy,” I said, feeling bad that I forgot my new found friend. I picked him up and held him in my arms. Instead of making himself comfy, he climbed up my shirt and stood at my shoulder. I didn’t know how he could sit there but he sat on my shoulder like Eeyore moping.

“Can you hold on little guy?” I asked him, wanting to make sure he’d still be there when I started running and not beaten up because he fell off. Then, as if he understood perfectly, he pierced his claws on my shirt as an anchor to me. “Okay then.” And I ran.