Rem

The Girl In The Lake

                             The Girl in the Lake

I was with my crew when I heard the water splashing. It could have been anything really, a bunny, maybe a running deer. They were a lot of those.  Or it could have been a human, a spy for my uncle. Then from the corner of my eye I think I saw Nathaniel glance at me, his long black hair covering his eyes as usual. I honestly had no definite way of knowing if he was looking at me, but you could just sense his piercing eyes behind that cloak. I turned my head when was shook his and rolled his eyes a little, then pointing at the direction of the sound. Nathan didn’t speak much but you could tell what he was saying. “Come on man, it’s probably like a rabbit or something.” I said. He brought his pointed finger up more urgent. Oh gosh.

Why was it always me who had to do these jobs. Why couldn’t Steven do it or maybe Charles, or any one of the 16 guys in our crew. But no, It was always “Alexander go check for danger,” I was unimportant. I punched a Flurd tree and kept walking forward. What could it possibly be? I mean we were only in a forest filled with thousands of animals, what could possibly the reason for that noise? If you didn’t know, that was sarcasm. I walked over to the lake, not caring how much noise I was making. And that is when I saw the raven colored haired girl.

She seemed to be looking at her reflection in the water. And then I looked at her a little more. She was wearing a white and black dress that was drenched with water. And she looked like she was about to cry, or scream, or both. “Are you okay?” I asked the young girl. She turned around startled. When she saw me, she seemed to freak out. She jumped up and quickly kicked me in the stomach. I bent down grabbing my stomach in pain. “what the heck was that for?” I yelled.

But she just kicked me again. But I grabbed her foot, stopping her before she reached my nose. But she just turned and kicked me with her other foot. I, surprised, let go of her leg, and she just kept attacking. I stood up and tried to protect myself as she kept ambushing me. I pulled out my shield and dagger. I knew I wasn’t going to hurt her, but it was instincts. I kicked her in the leg, but it didn’t seem like she noticed. She just kept on hitting and kicking. I kicked her backwards and she fell down. Oh my gosh, what had I done?

I ran to her side but she pulled out her bow and arrows and shot me in the arm. She stood up and was about to take another shot, and I knew this time, it wouldn’t be just the arm. I backed up to a tree, holding my already wounded hand. She quickly chose and arrow and was putting it in the bow. She put it in and aimed for my chest.  I cowered in fear, and a look of doubt came across her face. And then... she passed out.

                             ***

I don’t know what came over me back there, I was scared I guess, and then this strange boy just came out of nowhere. I couldn’t help myself. It was instincts. I just started to attack him, knowing he was saying something, but not knowing what... I couldn’t hear him. I couldn’t really see him either, just an enemy of some sort. I just needed to protect myself. And maybe, just a little, I needed to get out all my frustrations. I can’t believe I shot him. I really cannot believe that I shot him, and in his weakened state, I was about to take another shot, in the head. I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t thinking of the pain I was causing, or the way he cowered in fear, just about how to get rid of my enemy. Funny thing is, I’m a pacifist. I never fight. I might yell, or scream, or whine. But I would never hit anyone...what the heck came over me.

I did stop though, I stopped to think about what the heck I was doing.  I knew I couldn’t kill him, at least not for scaring me. I stopped myself, and the guilt came... but then I smelled something, pungent. That’s when everything went dark.

I awoke to the sound of two boys screaming at each other. “ I can’t believe you got yourself beaten by a measly little girl!” a deep voice shouted. But the other retorted, “ I couldn’t hit a girl... i’m a gentleman.”

That is when I scoffed, “yeah, you lost because you were a gentleman, yeah right.”

The boys both turned to me, “I think she woke up.” One whispered.

“Oh really? Is that so?” the other answered with frustrated sarcasm. The boy had long black hair that covered his eyes. He was also wearing an old fashioned black leather jacket over a black shirt and black pants. He was also wearing a black t-shirt. Man, this kid sure liked black. His skin was almost as pale as mine, but he seemed to have gotten a tan. He turned over to me, “Oh hello Ms. Vera.”

I looked at him with confusion, “oh, that is the name imprinted on your bracelet.” I looked at him again. “Vera? No my bracelet says...’ I looked at my bracelet, It did say Vera... how did that happen? Well, I was already in another person’s body and clothes, what difference is adding a name to the list?  

The other guy, the one I beat up, had a wrap around his hand,  I felt so bad... but yet, I felt some sick pride. I had single handedly beat up this muscular 5 8’ dude. He was tall, and had an epic tan, his hair was short, but cute... and he had amazing blue eyes. I looked at him and I felt like apologizing, but when I opened my mouth, I didn’t say I was sorry, I said, “You shouldn’t have frightened me. Maybe then you wouldn’t be in the pain you are in now.” He laughed it off and walked to my side with a certain swagger, “Sup, my name is mmmmmmmmh                  Alexander, but the pretty girls call me Alex.” He put out his hand for a shake.

I looked at him, “huh, what do the uninterested girls call you?”  He just laughed. “Oh, pretty and funny.” He said. With a smile that made me want to kick him in the family jewels, or get his phone number (if they had phones here...). I looked at him again and did my own little smile, just not as friendly as his... “Not to forget can seriously beat you up...” I said.  The boy walked backwards a little.

“Shish, I was just joking.” He mumbled under his breath as he walked to a tent. I looked at the other guy, he nodded and began to walk away. “Wait,” I stopped him, “and you are?” I asked with my sarcasm gone.

He stayed where he was, “I’m Nathaniel, but if you ever call me that, you would more than just black out for a couple of hours, you can call me Nathan.” And with that, he walked away.