Born to Change [Completed]

7: Being Graceful

"One, two, three!" Travis, the sort-of next-in charge to Will stands in front of a huge crowd yelling orders.

The people spread out. They pair off and get ready to play-fight. I wanted to join in, but Will wouldn't allow me. He said that it was just too harsh for an innocent young girl like me. Psh.

"Everybody ready?" When Travis sees that everyone is in position, he yells, "GO!"

The smell of blood immediately hits my nose. I scrunch up my nose, I hate blood. Little red gooey stuff. Gross.

I suddenly feel thankful that I'm not participating that... bloodbath.

I watch in disgust as a boy lunges at a man and bites him.

I don't watch anything else after.

"Okay!" Travis claps his hands together, calling for attention. "I want everybody washed up and comfy before dinner! Capische?" Everybody gets up and goes back in the mansion.

"They all live there?" I have always thought that they were only at the mansion to eat. It seems like I was wrong.

"Yes." I hear Will's reply.

We walk back to the house.

~•~

"What's going on?" I groggily say. The lady from yesterday is in my room again, doing the same things but more carelessly. She seems to be on edge. She zips around the room with inhuman speed.

"I think that you should stay here for a while," she says urgently.

"Why?" I watch her as she opens the curtains hastily.

"Just, please, stay." She hurries out.

I shake away the sleep in my system and walk over to the bathroom. Might as well freshen up and see what was the fuss about.

I change into shorts, much longer this time, and a sweater. I roll up the sleeves of the sweater while walking over to the full-length windows.

I peek and see chaos. People are running around and into the woods. I see Travis barking into a handheld device and Will shouting orders at the people, probably telling them to not panic. But it seems like they aren't listening to him.

Not wanting to miss the action, I sprint downstairs. I run through deserted hallways until I come to a dead end. Not again. This is a bad time for me to get lost. Damn these people and their big house.

I continue running in that direction, hoping to find a door at the end. I don't see any door. I lose control of my running and trip. I grab a candelabra to keep my balance but the candelabra only follows me as I fall. I hear a sound, stone to stone when I fall. I think that was my body.

"Ouch." I wince as I sit up. I stand and dust myself off and stop. I am in front of an opening in the wall. I could swear that wasn't there just a minute ago.

I peek in. I see darkness. I slowly inch my way in. Seriously Elle? I think. I shouldn't be going in here. Heck, I shouldn't even be here.

But me being me, I walk in and feel around for a switch. I come across with a slimy thing. Gross, I definitely don't want to know what that is.

I keep feeling around. I touch something soft and tickling. I jerk away and trip. I am really the most clumsiest person in the world.

But instead of hearing a thud, I hear a woosh. I wait for the impact, but none comes. Instead I feel the air rushing up to my ears and I realize, I'm free-falling.

I scream but the sound just bounces back and forth on the walls. Wherever they are.

I somehow sense that I'm near the bottom and all I could think is on your feet.

I position myself feet-first and brace myself for the impact. I close my eyes and I land on my feet just like a graceful cat. I sigh in relief and take a step. Big mistake.

I slip and slide down a slope. Somehow I get hit along the way. When I reach the bottom, two torches, on each side, light up. I take another step and wince. I must have banged my left leg too hard.

I see a door to my left. I see another on my right. I enter the one on the right.

It's an empty room. I see a trapdoor on the ceiling in the middle of the room. I jump up and try to pull the string thingy dangling from it.

At first I fail, and I feel the sharp pain flare in my leg. I yelp and try again. This time however, I managed to grab the pullstring.

Now it's open. Now what?

I scan the room and it seems like I was mistaken that the room was empty. In a corner I see a ladder, just tall enough for the trapdoor.

I limp over to the ladder. I am careful not put too much weight on my leg, since the pain has multiplied when I jumped. I grab the ladder and hop back over to the hole in the ceiling.

I set it so it leans on the opening of the trapdoor. Let's just hope that I won't be in too much pain.

I grab a rung and pull myself up. I was fine until I used my left leg. Tears stream down my face as I try to not scream.

I grit my teeth and quickly climb up. At first I am blinded by sunlight. I pulled myself out of the hole and sat there panting. I look around and see that I am in the forest. How the trapdoor leads here I have no idea. I suddenly regret pushing myself to climb when pain shoots through my leg.

I close my eyes wishing the pain would go away. I am chanting prayers when I hear twigs snapping causing my eyes to snap open. I hurriedly stand and ignore the pain I feel.

I find a hollow tree in which I am able to fit in. I squeeze myself in and wait. I hear scuffling of feet and laughter. I peek in a hole and see teenage boys laughing and slapping each other on the back. I recognize them as the boys from earlier.

I wait until they have passed and are too far away to notice me. I inch my way out of my hiding spot and run. I get scratched by branches that appear out of nowhere but I don't stop. I stumble over fallen logs and roots.

I only stop when I arrive at the mansion. The chaos from earlier is replaced by utter silence. The adrenalin rush from earlier has escaped me and I am left to feel every cut, every bruise, and not to mention my leg. I don't mind this and I start to walk to the door when I see the house spinning. I wonder why. I stop and the last thing I see is the cloudy sky.