The Adventures of Kipper Sallow

Part 2: The Girl With the Color-Changing Hair

                                                          Last Night

      I'm walking through the woods on the way home from school so the Robinson twins won't corner me today. I may have agreed to a fight with one of them, but I didn't do it intentionally, I just tend to panic when negative conflict arises. Which happens a lot when I feel intimidated, which for some reason is often. Then I just stutter and don't make any sense and accidentally insult people apparently. I'm told I'm very socially awkward. I don't deny that.

     It's been a while since I've been through these particular woods. Gray Forest. It's kind of an out of the way detour, but that's okay. It's definitely gray though, and a lot more eerie than I recall. Not quite the delightful nature walk I had hoped for, but still better than getting my teeth knocked out of my skull.

     The crisp autumn wind begins to blow, rustling the dying tree leaves and causing me to pull my jacket tighter around me.

     Then the weirdest thing happens. Out of nowhere, a rock comes hurtling at my face and smacks me with force in the forehead.

      I get knocked back a bit from the impact, but I don't fall. "What the he-"

      A hand covers my mouth from behind, cutting my sentence off.

     "Shhh!" the owner of the hand hisses. Blood trickles down my forehead from the gash the rock had left. Must've been a jagged rock, I think. But then I remember how hard it was thrown at me. 

      The person drags me backward until we tumble behind a bush awkwardly. "Be quiet," they whisper, removing their hand from my mouth.

     "What the hell was all that! What'd I do to you?" I demand in a whisper-yell, using my sleeve to wipe away the blood from my head. "Were you trying to knock me out or what? Who even are you? Also, how the hell did you get behind me without me seeing you when the rock came from in front of me?"

      That's when I finally look at the rock-catapulter, all ready to look them in the eye and tell them off some more. Then I discover that they are actually a delicate looking girl. An enchanting girl. With violet, enigmatic eyes; though you can clearly see the mischief within them. Her hair, a deep a deep red to match the leaves in the trees. She's really beautiful in a mesmerizing way. In a distracting way. 

     "Who I am is not important right now, Kip," she says sternly, her hair turning a dark shade of purple. Wait, how does she know my nickname? "Lives are at stake, and I require your assistance." The hair thing is ... definitely different, to say the least. So is her knowing my nickname but ... not the weirdest thing at the moment, oddly enough. 

     "Me? You can't be serious," I say in disbelief. But humor is written nowhere on this girl's face. She is being serious. That's concerning.

      "Do I look like I'm joking?" she asks, though I can't tell if it's sarcasm or just ... her.

      "No, actually, you look scarily sincere... or crazy, one or the other," I shrug, unsure. "Are you maybe overreacting a little to... whatever it is that you're reacting to?"

      "I do not overreact," she scoffs, as if I had insulted her. Her hair turns magenta, almost like she's ... embarrassed? "Overreacting would have been panicked world domination or starting an apocalypse, hoping that that'd make the problem go away. I am not that dense or careless." Her grip on my shoulder, that I hadn't realized she had a hand on, tightens in a mildly frightening way. I am now moderately concerned that this girl could probably kill me with her bare hands; do not let the first impression of delicacy fool you. 

      "Right, of course..." I trail off. "So, um, how exactly can I help you?" I ask, sounding like I work at McDonalds or something. Can I take your order? I don't have any idea what I could have to offer that she would want. "Do you need money? I think I have a five in my pocket..." her unwavering gaze causes me to trail off. It's sort of discomforting the way it feels like she's staring straight through me into my soul. Don't look at my soul, please; great, now I feel violated. 

     "Kip, you will come meet me at the museum in town tonight as soon as it becomes dark," hair turning the darkest shade of black I have ever seen, as she tells me, not asks me. Apparently she thinks just because she's pretty she can boss me around? You know, she's not wrong; I wasn't lying when I said her beauty was distracting. "You will come in dark clothes, you will be stealthy and you will tell no one." That might be a little hard to achieve when it's night, I mean, I'm pretty sure my parents probably won't just let me leave the house. 

      "Well, I don't know how exactly I'm going to be able to sneak out-"

      "You will figure it out, Kipper Sallow," she cuts me off matter-of-factly. This girl interrupts a lot. "You are  a hero. See you at the museum. You won't regret it; the world as we know it depends on it." And with that she just disappears into thin air. Like, literally. Gone. She just assumes I'll show up. 

      "Are you kidding me?" I say loudly to the now empty forest. Great, now this crazy girl expects me to meet her at the museum that, might I add, has been shut down for a few years. So it's like, basically abandoned! Also what the hell, how did she just poof! How does that happen? Pretty sure teleportation has not yet been perfected. That's when the thought is the girl even human? crosses my mind. 

      I shake my head and sigh loudly. What can I do about an abnormal girl who disappeared without a trace? I guess I'll just have to go meet her like she said, and do... whatever is the supposed hero she claims that I am is supposed to do. I really love the lack of information I have. But what could happen? She's probably just someone who's really into roleplaying and somehow got special effects to make it seem legit and by some means, I got dragged into it. Or maybe it's just an elaborate joke. Perhaps she's interested in me and it's a complicated ploy to ask me out? Nah. That's not it, that'd be weird; not to mention she's way out of my league. Who knows what's happening. Hopefully I will later.

      Anxiety from this beyond bonkers situation begins to climb its way into my mind, as I continue my expedition home slowly through the forest. I'm trying desperately to think of how I'm going to slip out of the house without anyone noticing I've gone to go see the girl with the color-changing hair.