Hidden Allure

Meeting Danger 5

After I had drank enough water to fill the ocean, I stared at my reflection in the water. I didn’t not recognize the girl I saw.

Her clothes were ripped everywhere. Her tangled dirty-blond hair looked like it had been neglected for a month.

And her face was the worst. Mud was smeared everywhere, wounds were being infected, and the only pretty thing left were her bright, emerald green eyes.

That cannot be me, I thought.

I ran my hands through my extremely unkempt hair, but my fingers kept getting stuck, the tangles blocking them. Then, I realized something. Why was I feeling self-conscious? Its not like anybody was looking at me anytime soon. Well, except for Cal, but that was different.  

I was pretty sure a jackal wouldn’t care what I looked like.

I decided it was time to leave the pond. Putting my best effort into standing up without falling over, I said to Cal, “Alright, boy. I think it’s time for us to part. Thanks so much.”

I grabbed my pouch and began walking away from the pond, but  stopped after five steps. I couldn’t help it. I looked back to watch Cal leave.

He was the only thing close to a friend that I had here. I was shocked when I found Cal right behind me, looking at me expectantly.

“I’m sorry, Cal, but you can’t come with me. It’s just that I can’t afford to let you get into danger. You’re better off without me,” I forced myself to say.

The truth was that I would love to have a companion with me on this journey, to fill up the loneliness. But I knew I couldn’t be selfish enough to allow it to get in danger.

I stared at Cal, waiting for it to take off. But nothing of the sort happened; the jackal defiantly stood before me, not moving a muscle. I sighed.

“FINE!” I yelled at it. “Why do I care if you want to get yourself killed!” I stared at him, hoping that he would finally run away. But he still stood there. I took a deep breath and shouted,

“DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I’M SAYING? I DON’T WANT YOU TO COME ALONG WITH ME, SO JUST GET OUT OF HERE!”

Cal stared at me, looking a little hurt, but still not budging. I sighed. I realized that it was time I accepted defeat. I bent down and extended my arm out toward him. Cal came close and I scratched his still-damp fur. My eyes watered. I didn’t know how I would be able to to take care of a jackal, when I could barely care for myself, but I would figure it out.

It was completely worth it.

I wiped the tears away from my eyes, hoping that Cal hadn’t noticed them, and stood up. “Okay then. We need to get moving. Do you have any idea where to go?” I said.

I didn’t know what to expect from a jackal, but surprisingly he began running toward my left.

“CAL!” I yelled, trying to keep up with him.

He decreased his vigorous running speed and came back toward me. He showed me an apologetic look with his eyes, as if saying, Sorry, I forgot. Cal began to jog, then decided to walk when he saw how slow I was.

“Thanks, boy.” I said.

~~~~~

After what seemed like hours later, I finally decided that I was too tired to keep going. I stopped and leaned onto one of the trees for support. Cal apparently had not noticed this, as he kept on walking. I looked at the sky. It was getting to be sunset and we needed to get food.

“Cal! Stop! We need to rest for now!” I called to him.

But it seemed that he took the opposite effect of my words. He began sprinting forward.

“Cal!” I shouted.

But he didn’t listen. I sighed, and began limping after him just before it got out of sight.

I kept yelling at Cal to stop, but he was determined to keep going. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up with the animal for long. Thankfully, it finally stopped once we reached a very unusual place in the forest.

There was a perfect circle in between the trees that had about a 30-foot diameter. Nothing was in the circle except for a bush purple berries in the exact center.

However strange the clearing was, the only thing that caught my attention were the berries. The sweet, juicy berries which I could put into my empty stomach. My mouth watered as I walked towards the bush.

“Oh, Cal. You found these for us?” I said, distracted.

Just as I got close to the bush, Cal growled. It was a deep growl that I didn’t recognize. But I didn’t care.

All I cared about were those delicious berries in front of me. I reached down to pick one of the berries, but before my hand could touch the soft fruit, Cal jumped in front of me.

He was trying to stop me. But why would he stop me? I thought. What harm could they bring me?  The only thing they could bring me, was pure happiness. I could just stay here forever if I wanted, savoring each and every single berry for the rest of my life....

Then I snapped out of it. How could I think of such a thing?

I came into the Forest to save Maia, I couldn’t just ditch the mission for a bunch of berries. What had gotten into me?

There was something about those berries that scared me. How could they have hypnotized me like that?  Cal had already sensed that something was wrong.

If it weren’t for him, then I don’t know what would have happened to me.