New Grounds -ON HOLD-

Chapter 4

          Ava sprinted away and forced me to catch up to her. She bounded over rocks and ditches perfectly. I stumbled once or twice try to follow in her steps. 

          "Are ... we almost... there?" I asked between wheezes.

          "Uhhhh... I guess so. yes!" Ava said. 

          "You guess... so?" 

          "I don't know distance ok?" She picked up her pace.

          I rolled my eyes and picked up my pace as well. My legs felt like they were about to fall off when Ava came to a stop.

          "Ack!" I yelped as I tumbled onto her back. 

          I knocked her to the ground as she coughed in suprise.

          "Watch where your going!" She said, rolling out fom beneath me. 

          I just stared at the ground, blushing intensly. I jumped when Ava started to laugh. She rolled around in the mud, coatung her sweaty t-shirt with muck from the ground.         

          "Ha ha, very funny Ava." I said.

          "You should've seen your face!" She replied, wiping tears from her face.   

          I shoved her shoulders and she tumbled back, still laughing her butt off. 

          I sighed and shoved her again.

          "Come on, we need to get to your village don't we?" I asked, trying to get her mind off of the small incident.

          She put one of her hands up. 

          "sorry! I just saw a few berries you might wanna have." She said.

          She bent down and gathered the now smashed berries.

          Now it was my turn to laugh. I doubled over, clenching my stomach as tears streamed down my face. 

          Ava threw the berries at me. 

        "Okay, okay, Let's just continue, bt next time PLEASE warn me for when your gonna stop running!" I said. 

          "Fine." 

          Before I had stood up Ava was already walking away.

           I saw her giggle as I ran to catch up. 

          When I reached her I nudged her in the side.

           "Hey, look at the stars." 

          Ava sighed and looked up.

          "I've seen these a million times before, Shilla." She said, taking her gaze back to the trail we were on. 

          "Well I haven't." 

          I looked up, only to describe the stars as strickingly bright.

          They lit up the area around them as though they were walking in candlelight.

          "Well, I think I see my village up ahead."

          I looked down to see that in fact there were little lights speckeled around in front of us.

          "Wow..." I said as I started to walk faster.

          "Hey, I go first." Ava said as she grabbed my backpack. 

          I let her pass me and she whispered something to me.

          "Just don't act wierd..."

          ***

          We entered the village through tall gates with shells and saphires decorating the marble structure.

          My jaw lay agape as I entered. Village houses made of pure marble were scatteres around. People looking human or fish-like were wandering the streets. 

          There was a lake stretching throughout the village as I saw a civivlian hop out and turn human. 

          "This place is so cool." I said.

          "Again, your acting wierd, act like you've been here before." Ava said as she elbowed me.

          "Fine, I just didn't know that the place would look this cool!"

           Ava elbowed me again, harder this time as poeple started to stare.

           "quiet!" She hissed.

          "So where are we going?" I whispered, waving to a few people who stopped to look at me.

         "my house, duh." She grabbed my arm, "This way!" 

          She dragged me thorugh crowds of people and around children playing in the roads.

          We turned a corner and stopped in front of a moderate sized house.

          "Here we are!" Ava said. 

          I smiled as I walked towards the entrance behind Ava.

          "Oh! Are you alergic to Huminchils?"

          "Huminchils?"

          "Ya' know, small? Hairy? Four legs?" 

          "A dog?" 

          "Uhhh, no, i think its called a 'cat' for you?"

          "No, I'm not alergic to cats."

          Ava pulled me through the open entryway and into a small one-roomed, three- floored home.

           I looked around to see aquariums scattered across the rooms. 

          I smiled and ran up the stairs, Ava trailing behind me. The floor was seperated by a wall, dividing it into three different sections. The smaller one was presumably for Ava, the two others were larger but seemed to be for older children. 

           "Do you have parents?" I asked, turning to face Ava. 

           "Uhh, yeah, but they left a long time ago, but I'm sure they are still alive because they send notes everyday!" 

          "Oh, I'm sorry. I kind of know how you feel, I never really met my parents." 

          A loud crash emmited from the floor below us. Ava froze and grabbed my arm, squeezing it intensly as a voice rang from downstairs.

          "Ava? Where are you?"

          "shh, hide in there." She shoved me into a closet and slammed the door in my face.

          "I'm upstairs!" She called.

          "Marin wants you!" 

          "Tell her I'm busy!" 

          I shuffled around in the tight space, my elbow scraping against a rough surface.

          "Mewr."

          I froze, hearing ruffling above me.

          "Mewr?"

          I hesitated. Eventually I looked up to see two bright eyes staring down at me in the dark.