MOONLIGHT NINJA

MOONLIGHT NINJA CHAPTER 16

Chapter 16

The sky was overcast but the sun had almost claimed its throne as hinted by the streaks of silver, pink and orange above. The autumn air felt cool and comforting but it was the orchestrated voices of the birds that beckoned Yan Mei Ling to slip early from her tent into the deep forest.

As she walked on the damp ground where the grasses were bathed with nature's dew, she noticed a bird. It was a hawk or a falcon but she was not sure. The bird was flying swiftly ahead of her to a farther place.

'Does it feel trapped just like the way I do?' Yan Mei Ling silently mused.

She had spotted a huge fallen tree in front of her, blocking the way. But she opted to jump over it instead of taking another route to avoid it. The action was seemingly impulsive and dangerous but she delighted in throwing the caution to the wind, every now and then. Whenever she jumped, she loved the feeling of being suspended on the air though ephemeral the feeling might seemed to be.

Her feet had picked up another pace and urged herself faster, away from the camp that gave her nothing but the feeling of emptiness and desolation. It was somehow ironic how the urge to get as far as away from the camp could be so intense, considering that she had wished and envisioned this kind of life as a child. 

Nothing stayed constant in this world. Human emotions were so fickle. What you wished for, might not be the one that you wanted when it was already given to you.

As of this moment, she could not discern what she wanted for the loneliness that had continuously gnawed at her heart. Her depression played havoc with her thoughts and emotions. She did not want to think of her pain nor did she want to drown herself in the ocean of sadness but neither was evitable. 

All she wanted right now was to extricate herself from all the gloomy thoughts even for a brief moment in time. She wanted to go back home now. But somehow, she derived a certain kind of peace from running.

Running or moving her body had its means of liberating herself for she seemed to forget all worries as the swift breeze was whipped into her face. Every time she ran, she felt as if she was racing against something - she did not know what but she wished to out-win it. She loved to push herself to the limit. Push herself beyond the bounds of her physical strength. Fight the imaginary opponents that her active mind would conjure.

While she was running or jumping from tree to another tree, her mind had wandered to the people she loved.

'Are they safe?' Her heart could only hope.

'Are they thinking of me like what I have been doing now?'

'Have I caused them distress when I left without any further notice?'  Yan Mei Ling thought guiltily and as if she was lost in her thoughts. She stumbled upon a small rock unto the soft forest ground.

She lay still for a moment, listening desperately to the sounds of her struggled breathing against the silence of the forest. She stood up even though a sharp pain shot through her knees. It was only too late that she realize why she had stumbled. Tears had blinded her vision and worries had dulled her perception. 

She slowly touched her lips when she tasted something metallic from her tongue. When she looked at her forearms, she was stunned to see her bruises decorating them. It would have been normal for her to feel hurt as what the irritating pain of her wounds had implied but the physical pain she felt right now seemed pale in comparison to the pain she felt in her heart.

True, emotional pain most of the time ran deeper than the physical for it could hurt you in many ways you would imagine. It seemed unrealistic but when the pain was too much your heart could possibly handle, it would thwart with your sanity and torture your already baffled mind. And what would physical pain say to that? Absolutely, nothing.