Elements

Episode 18: Protesting Crowd

I finally have the chance to actually wake up. I remember opening my eyes several times but being put back to sleep shortly after. This time, I have the chance to look around. My body is still too weak to move. I can feel a breeze against my bare back. It looks like I'm in some sort of house made of sticks and hay. I'm lying on a carpet, on the dry reddish sand. Where am I? How did I get here? I'm getting tired of waking up to situations that aren't familiar to me. In places, I've never seen before. I can finally put myself in motion, as I lean on my elbows. There's no one here. I can hear people talking outside. Where are Miley and Demi? Did I get kidnapped? I look at the opening of the cabin, as I get blinded by the sunset. It was already afternoon. How long did I sleep? The silhouette of a big woman blocks the dazzling sunlight. She says something in a language I don't know. It's not English, I'd recognize that. "Kya?" I say, realizing my E-speech is gone. The woman walks towards me and grabs my upper arm. I get up quickly, preventing her from dragging me. After the garment that was put on me slipped down my upper body I quickly pull it up with my remaining arm. Who on earth put this on me? It's way too big. The woman clearly makes haste, as I have to jog to keep up. She pulls me a bigger cabin. I quickly look around to see if I can find Miley or Demi, but I only see dark-skinned people sitting on the ground. I don't have enough time to find them. The man in the cabin turns around and smiles brightly. He walks towards me and gives me a tight hug, talking to me as if I'm supposed to understand them. He is old and he has an odd smell. I don't really dare to hug back. He pulls away, holding the sides of my arms. I look at him with a scared facial expression, I can't really do much else. He looks at the big woman who brought me here and talks to her while pointing at basically all of me. He seems to be bragging about me because the woman nods severely with a smile. He turns me back to him, as he attempts to plant a kiss on my lips. Out of reflexes, I quickly draw back and frown. He looks a bit stern at me and holds my face with his wrinkly hands. Again, he attempts to kiss me, but I obviously refuse. At that moment, he does something I did not expect. His flat big hand slams across my face, hard. I try my best to keep my balance and place my hand on my aching cheek. I'm in trouble. I quickly step back and try to run out of the cabin, but two men stop me and hold me by my arms. "Nahin!" I yell, trying to free myself from their strong grip. Whatever is going on, I do not want to be a part of it. I try to kick around, hitting anything I can. I can feel aggressiveness filling my veins. I am done being tossed around like some sort of slave, like some sort of pet. "Main maanav hoon!" I scream, telling them I'm a human being too, just like them. But they ignore my statement, as the men bring me back to the old man who just tries to kiss me. I don't want this. I don't want to be harassed by him. As the man comes closer to me, I try to kick him away from me. Eventually, he seems to have had enough of my attitude. He slaps me again and throws his kneecap in my stomach. The two men let me fall to the ground, as I try my best to breathe. I look up at the old man, but before I can do anything, he slams his foot against my face. All I can do to process the pain is sob. Not a single person seems to care that I don't want any of this. That I have a say in this. I clearly don't. These people a damn sick. The old man heads towards me and gives his last kick in my stomach. Didn't they notice I had given up already? I carefully lean on my elbows. I can taste blood in my mouth. The man forces me to stand up. I quickly stand on my feet again, as the tears stream over my cheek. He grabs my chin and reaches with his lips to my face again. I squeeze my eyes shut and tense my lips, as I feel his old lips touch mine.

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"Stop!" I yell as I try to get through the cheering crowd. Kyra simply looks at the man and points at me. He finally notices me and silences the cheering people. "We have the plant!" I yell, climbing up the stage. The man looks around and seems to think for a moment. He then looks at some men and points at me and Demi. As soon as both of my feet are on the stage, two men grab me by my arms. So do two with Demi. Kyra seems to protest against this action, as she tries to get loose from the old man holding her wrist. The man simply kicks with his foot against the back of her knee, which makes her kneel to the ground. He then slaps her in the face. "Ah!" "Stop!" I scream. The man turns to me and quickly holds his hand up. One of the muscled guys lets go of my arm as I quickly hold up a small stack of the plant we were supposed to find. As soon as I hold it up, the crowd begins yelling and protesting as well. They seem to care about the plant, it really is the right medicine. The old man looks at the crowd and wants to snatch the plant out of my hand, but I manage to flinch. "Kyra first." I say determined. He looks confused at me. "The girl!" I yell, pointing at her. The crowd now seems to understand the deal we had made, and so does Kyra. She looks a bit offended. The crowd simply start chatting. They don't agree with the deals the chief has made, you can see that clearly. At least we have them on our side. You do not trade a human being for a plant. The man takes long, discussing things with other men standing by his side. I quickly look at Demi, who raises her eyebrows for a moment. She hints at me, and I immediately understand what she means. If they do not cooperate, we'll have to use force. Demi signs the same at Kyra. The man looks back at me and states without hesitation. "The deal is off." He did not expect us to find the plant and simply wanted us to get lost. He never wanted the medicine, he just wanted his slave. It's the spark that makes the fire going. Demi quickly pushes the men away by pulling earth out of the ground. I follow, scaring the men off by letting fire fly around in the air. The crowd starts screaming. We should've done this a long time ago. The old man quickly pulls Kyra away from the mess, but Demi sees it happening. She quickly grabs the backpack from her back and throws it toward Kyra. Kyra puts pressure on the water bottle inside, making it explode. It scares the man, making him let go. Kyra quickly gets up and uses the water to force the men away. Demi starts running to the cabin where Kyra has been kept asleep, she looks at me and points at Kyra. The crowd quickly climbs onto the stage and tries to hold the muscled men back, it gives me enough time to run to Kyra and grab her wrist. I quickly lead her outside the village, holding her hand. I keep my head up to find Demi, who runs out of the cabin and follows us with Kyra's stuff in her hands.

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I threaten the dark-skinned men by letting water shoot in the air really fast. Back and forth, and with every step I take, they take a step backwards. They look at it as if they see witchcraft. I suddenly hear footsteps running closer and closer to me. I quickly turn around, as Miley swiftly grabs my hand and pulls me off the stage. I jump off and follow her through the yelling people. All I can see is Miley's back, as she coordinates the fastest way to get through. She still stinks from when she got dragged into the swamp back at the forest. Her clothes are filthy and torn. All I do is holding tight to her hand while trying to hold up my rag of a dress with my other. My eyes are stuck on her back, with her damaged hair waving behind it, concentrating on following the footsteps she makes. For a moment I feel safe. Protected. As if nothing bad can happen to me, because she's here to catch the bullet. As we reach the end of the crowd, Demi joins our row, holding my clothes in her hand. We quickly flee into the forest and hide. We only dare to speak as soon as we're sure we're safe. "They're gone. Are you okay?" Demi turns to me and cups my face for a moment but then pulls me into a hug. "Haan." I say, nodding. I place a hand in front of my mouth, noticing I still didn't have my E-speech. "Oh, yes, here." She grabs my clothes and takes the E-speech out of her pocket. I quickly put it on. "I'm fine." I answer. "My god, what did they do to you?" Miley asks, carefully feeling underneath my eye. It hurts and feels a bit swollen. I didn't want to come across as weak. I fought, I really did. "It's nothing." "Did they beat you up?" She asks further. I didn't want to lie to them either. I carefully nod, looking at the ground. Demi helps me put on my clothes quickly. "Where were you two? What happened? I mean I... I suddenly woke up in that cabin and that old man kept wanting to kiss me and stuff." I say, making a sour face. "We woke up in another cabin, that man was the chief of that village and he wanted to marry you." Miley answers. "Marry me?!" "He told us he would let you go if we could find this plant." Miley takes the branches out of her pocket. "You still have them?" Demi asks surprised. "I didn't really have time to think. Besides I think they might be useful. They could cure our wounds just like that ointment, remember? Anyways, we went into this strange forest to find this plant, and we encountered Erus." Miley explains. My facial expression turns shocked. "She told us that Selena was dead and that we shouldn't make deals like this and just fight." She shakes her head in full disbelieve. "I saw Selena as soon as I tried to attack Erus. I saw it in her eyes, she was scared. Erus would never make a face like that." "You're sure?" "Positive." I think for a moment. "We don't have much time left. Erus is starving her. She's literally eating her from inside. She must be in a very critical state at the moment." I state. "I agree. But first, we need to find a way out here. I'm sure it's not that way." Demi pointed that that path we are heading towards. "We walked that path all day and I didn't recognize that surrounding one bit." "Then let's make a big circle around the village and try the other way." Miley suggests. "Let's hope we'll find something familiar there."