The Sky Demons Part One: Journey

Chapter Five- My day is ruined by a weirdo and an arsonist

Senka- My day is ruined by a weirdo and an arsonist

 

I can’t believe it; I won’t believe it. Serefk’na is too smart to do something like this and even if common idiocy did overtake simple logic she wouldn’t just up and run away, she wouldn’t simply desert Tigre and I without reason or warning.

Or at least, that’s what I think I believe, I’m just not sure any more; I’ve been getting a nagging feeling over it. I keep remembering how weird she’s been acting ever since she collapsed on the street several days ago. Something was definitely wrong and now I’m kicking myself for not doing more about it earlier, when Tigre and I first noticed something was different.

Even with this feeling I still fail to understand why? Why did she feel the need to run away? The really puzzling part is that she didn’t take any of her things with her. How will she survive on the streets without spare clothes or food and water? She didn’t even take her coat and it’s the middle of winter!

Even with the pain of having lost our friend and not knowing if she was okay, Tigre and I were still expected to go to school.  We decided to walk together like we always do, except today, once again, Serefk’na wasn’t there with us.

“Not kidnapping, Serefk’na’s room is on the second floor of a three story house; a kidnapper couldn’t climb up the wall into her window, kidnap her without a noise being made and then holding her climb back down the wall with one arm, so maybe-” Tigre muttered.

I felt the need to intervene, because it was getting annoying. “She ran away Tigre; there’s no doubt about that! She wasn’t kidnapped!”

“Wow, aren’t you on edge? Anyway, even if she did there must be some sort of reason for it. But Serefk’na doesn’t really do reckless stuff, so I think kidnapping’s more of an option than you’re giving it credit for.”

“Hmmmm,” I said, still feeling irritated, “and why would someone want to kidnap Serefk’na specifically, to the extent that they’ll break into a house to take her from it?”

“Well,” said Tigre, “I don’t know. Oh! Maybe she’s actually a jewel thief, but ended up deciding to keep the goods for herself and now her partners in crime want them all back!”

“What happened to ‘Serefk’na doesn’t really do reckless stuff’?”

“Maybe we don’t know her as well as we think. Maybe she even had all her memories all along but has just been biding her time and playing along- Senka! Maybe we’re her partners in crime and we just don’t remember it!” gasped Tigre in the most fake impression of shock I’ve ever heard.

“I may not remember most of my life, but I would remember if I’d kidnapped Serefk’na last night in an effort to retrieve stolen jewels. Also, if we don’t know her as well as we think, doesn’t that make her running away more possible?”

“Senka, when are you going to learn to not take what I say seriously?”

“Right after I smack you one right now,” I retorted.

“Oh, you want a fight do y- who the hell is that?”

Tigre paused in mid-fisticuffs stance to goggle at a stranger, who until that point had been minding their own business further down the street. I turned to see whatever could have produced such an amazed reaction from a person whose definition of normal is locking yourself in a cupboard for fun.

The stranger in question was standing slightly hunched over- as if they were wearing a back-pack or something beneath their cloak- and looking hurriedly up and down the street as if trying to pick someone out of the crowd of high-schoolers walking past. They were wearing a dark, hooded cape that concealed most of their figure, making it difficult to pick out any details. The cape was maybe a bit too big as the brim of the hood hung low, casting shadow over most of the person’s face. The only visible detail about them was their long hair, which had escaped the confines of the hood and cascaded over the top of the black cloak. It looked as if they’d died it pure white.