The Warrior
The warrior plunges through the night. He heads for a house in the city. He sees his victim. The victim looks at the warrior and prays his wife and son are safe at home. The warrior sees the horror in the victim's eyes, but he knows what he must do.
"Hey hottie," Miranda says to a random guy-friend in the school halls and gives him a hug. She greets several friends and chatted a little with them. The bell rang, and she headed for class. She really hated this class. Who really cares about Ancient China? I'm not Chinese. Why should I study about Chinese people, she thought, as she flipped her long glossy blond hair. She felt her eyes begin to droop.
"Miranda!" her history teacher exclaimed. "This is the fourth time you've fallen asleep. You've gotten zeros on the last four quizzes."
Miranda rubbed her eyes and saw that nobody was in class anymore. "So, do you mean I'm failing?" she asked as the teacher nodded.
The teacher sighed, "Okay Miranda, if you do a report on Ancient China as a little extra credit, and that would probably bring your marks up. I'd suggest going to the city library for the most info."
She left the school and headed for the city library. She'd have to give up her busy social life for a couple of days. If daddy hadn't have offered me a car, I wouldn't have needed to do all of this.
She walked through the front door of the library. Suddenly, a bright red light flashed before her eyes. Specks of it began to flow towards the east wing. Miranda rubbed her eyes. No one in the library seemed to notice the light. She followed it to a door. On the door, it said, "Discards, feel free to look." She walked in to find a book on the floor. The front of the book read, "The Warrior." For some odd reason, she had a great curiosity about the book, and she decided to open it.
"BANG!" She thought she blacked out, but she felt awake. All around her was the same red light. The shelves of discarded books were no where to be seen.
The smell of blood was in the air. The warrior hardly noticed the blood stained on his clothes. He changed into some underclothes and went to wash his dirty clothes in a river by his hut. He saw something flow down the river. As it came closer, he sees that it's a girl, and he pulls her on shore. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly breathing. He shook her shoulders, and she woke up. "Girl, you should probably go home. I bet your parents are looking for you."
"What! Who are you? Where am I? Wasn't I at the library?!" Miranda looked around frantically, hoping to see those shelves of ugly old books. They weren't there. She saw a pair of dark blue eyes staring down at her. She began to feel cold beneath her wet clothes, and she shivered.
"You should probably dry up and get something to eat, "the guy said. He led her into his little hut. He went inside, probably to get her something dry to wear.
Miranda was really beginning to feel scared. It feels too weird to be a dream. This looks nothing like Canada, and that guy looks way too Chinese to speak that good of English. He came back and gave her some weird piece of fabric. "Go to the back of that room I just came out of, tie this around you," he said. So she did. The fabric was kind of rough, but she'd have to make do. When she came out, the guy was pouring tea into some cups. He motioned for her to sit across him. "So where am I?" she asked, "and who are you?"
"Well, this is obviously Middle Kingdom. You should've known that already, and my name is Kenny. Kenny Shin. My question for you is…"
"Middle Kingdom! Isn't that Ancient China?"
"What do you mean by ancient? Middle Kingdom is Middle Kingdom. There's nothing ancient about it. I was about to ask about you till you interrupted me. So, who are you? What's your name? Where are you from? Why's your hair bright yellow?"
Once again, Miranda felt scared. Why does this guy speak perfect English? "My name is Miranda. I'm from Canada, and I was born with blond hair." Kenny looked confused, as if he had never heard of Canada or blond hair. "Are you sure this is China? There's no way I could've come here. I was just in the library a while ago."
Just then, a middle-aged man came into the room. "Kenny, I need to talk to you," the man said and beckoned Kenny towards the front door. She didn't know why, but she felt that something weird was going on. The hut wasn't that big, so she was able to hear some of their conversation.
"But we need you to do it, Kenny… you're the best in the city, "said the man.
Kenny mumbled something.
"Think of the people you'd be helping. He's quite an evil man."
Kenny seemed to say something in approval. "Bye," they said to each other. The man gave Kenny something in a little cloth bag and left. When he walked back in, Miranda could see that something was bothering him. "Well, back to you, yellow headed alien. I don't understand what you mean by 'Canada'? You don't look like you're from around here. I'm surprised you can even speak our language. It's a very rare dialect of Chinese."
"Speak your language? Why do you speak my language? What do you mean by Chinese? I thought we're speaking English!" Miranda began to twiddle her thumbs nervously. "Mom! Dad! Are you guys playing some sort of trick on me?" She stood up and paced around the table looking dazed.
"Miranda, I think you should get some rest…" Kenny began.
"Rest? How can I rest?" she began to scream. "I want to go home!" She ran out of the hut. She heard Kenny running after her, and he was catching up really fast. She felt him hit her really hard on the shoulder, and she passed out.
Miranda, a voice cried at her. She found herself in the red light again. You have opened, 'The Warrior', and now you will have to live its tale. The two worlds' have decided to punish you for your egotistic greedy ways. You would not have been in this mess if you had paid more attention in class. You will be here till the story ends. You must finish the story with the boy named, Kenny.
When Miranda woke up, she found she was in still in "China". She was surprised at the warmth of this place. She stood up and walked around. So this is some sort of basement, she thought. The house looked very old fashioned, and it was obviously not an old Western house. There was something really Oriental about it. There was a little handle on the wall. She pulled the handle and the wall seemed to move. There was a rope with knots. It was probably for climbing to the main floor, so she climbed up. She found the table from the day before put aside, and a part of the floor that was probably used for covering the hole to the basement. She covered the hole, put the table back, and walked outside.
The air was warm, but a cool breeze could be felt from the river. She could see Kenny standing in the knee-deep water catching fish with a long, thin sword. It seemed that every time he threw the sword into the water, a puddle of blood surrounded him. When he lifted the sword, three or four fish the size of his arm were flung towards a basket. At that moment, he caught her staring eye and waved. A he walked over, he said, "I got some breakfast," holding the basket. "This could last for awhile." Miranda smiled, and they went inside to eat the fish. They were laughing at the fish's head, when Miranda decided to pop the question that had been bothering her for the whole night.
"So Kenny, why's your English so good"
He had the same confused expression as before. "I don't know why you keep asking me that. I have no idea what you mean by 'English'. Does that have something to do with the fish?
"No… the fish is great," Miranda said quietly.
"Oh darn," he said, "I have to go to the market to buy some carrots. You should probably come with me. There are a lot of wild animals around here." She nodded in agreement."
While going to the market, Miranda discovered that Kenny was a very easy- going guy. She it very easy to talk to him, and her usual sarcasm was gone. Kenny seemed to like her company as well. He told her about the mountains, the trees, and pretty much everything they saw on the trail. He sounded as if he's never had someone to talk to.
The market was amazing. It was nothing like the Chinatown in Canada. There were people everywhere. People everywhere talking about the death of the town leader two night's ago. Miranda found herself bumping into someone every five seconds. Kenny finished buying his carrots, and the two headed back to the hut. All of a sudden, a tall lanky man dressed in all black stood in front of them. The man pulled out his sword and pointed it at Kenny. He looked enraged. A crowd began to gather around them.
A women said, "Isn't that the town leader's brother?"
"Wasn't the town leader about to retire and let his brother be leader?" a man said.
"The brother can't be leader anymore because there haven't been arrangements made. If the brother still wants to be town leader, he'd have to be elected," someone replied.
"What does he want with that boy?"
"Elected? No one would vote for him! Everyone knows he's evil, just like his brother."
At all this gossiping was making the tall man more cross. He said, "I loved my brother, and today in front of everybody, I will avenge his death."
Miranda began to shake, as she does when she get nervous or scared. Kenny saw her and said, "Can't you see you are scaring people friend and many people here? Put your sword down. I do not understand what you mean by avenging your brother's death. I don't even live in the city."
The man's face was bright red with anger. "You stupid kid!" he yelled as he ran towards Kenny, sword in hand.
Kenny's eyes showed no sign of fear. Just as the sword was about to hit him, he leapt towards Miranda. He put one hand behind her back, the other behind her knees and ran. The man tried to run after them, but he was too slow.
By the time he stopped running, they were already half-way back to the hut. The sun was beginning to set, and Miranda was beginning to fell hungry. "Oh my," he said, "I didn't even notice these carrots in my hands. Now they're all sweaty smelling."
Miranda grinned and said, "Just wash them when we get back." She decided to ask him the impossible, "So do you have any idea who killed the town leader? That tall guy seemed really angry at you."
Kenny turned away, avoiding her. "I don't know that tall guy. I've never seen him in my life, and I don't like violence.
*****
The library was about to close. A teenage boy decided to go to the 'Discarded' section and see if there were any good books. There was no one there, and the smell of old books made him want to gag. He found a book on the floor. The title was, "The Warrior." He didn't know why, but he decided to read a bit of it.
"The Warrior decided to lie to the Foreigner. He told her he didn't know the town leader's brother. He did not think it was really a lie because he has never really seen the brother. The Foreigner told the Warrior that he looked like he would never hurt anything. At that moment, the Warrior felt warmth in his heart. He hasn't felt so good since he was a little boy with his family. He smiled at the Foreigner, and the two walked back to the hut."
*****
"I can't believe it! This is so good!" Miranda exclaimed. "Guys from where I am from only know how to skateboard and play hackysack!"
"I don't understand what you mean by 'skateboard' and 'hackysack'," Kenny said. "Is that some sort of sword skill?"
She laughed and told him to just continue eating. She really loved this place. Kenny was so kind to her, and there are no adults around. The language thing didn't bother her anymore. I'll just enjoy this until its over), Miranda thought.
Just then, the middle aged man from the previous day appeared again. "Kenny, I need to talk to you." He motioned Kenny to follow him out the hut. This time Miranda could not hear their conversation.
*****
"The Assassin, before, had instructed for the Warrior to kill the leader's brother the day after he killed the leader. This time, he tells the Warrior to hold back for a week because the Council wants the brother dead the day before election-day." This is a pretty neat story, thought the teenage boy as he touched the scar on his face lightly.
*****
When Kenny came back, he had lost the laughter in his eyes. He had, yet another small pouch filled with something. Probably money, thought Miranda. They finished their dinner, and he helped her back down to the basement. As she laid there on the bed in the dark, she thought she heard sword sounds. Slowly, she fell asleep.
"Miranda," said a loud woman's voice. Miranda found herself in the red light again.
"Am I going home already?" she asked disappointedly.
"Nope. This is just a dream. Do you want to go home?"
"That's not what I mean," she said.
"Oh…Are you starting to have some feelings for that boy, Kenny?"
"No!" Miranda blushed. She couldn't believe she was blushing in a dream. "I just want to know when I'm going back."
"You'll go back when the story end. Right now I need to tell you that in a week, Kenny will be going out. No matter what, you must go with him," the voice said.
"But when will the story end?!" There was no reply.
For the rest of the week, it rained heavily. Kenny and Miranda played indoor games together. She made playing cards and taught him how to play Go Fish. Kenny taught her how to play Chinese Chess. "This rain is so depressing!" she exclaimed. "I hate rain."
Kenny disagreed. "It's not that bad. My mother used to tell me how rainy days were used to wash away the pain and sorrow. The sun will eventually shine through."
He's sounds so sensitive, she thought. Is it really him every night practicing with his sword? There isn't anyone else around here. He said he didn't like violence. Why would he have a sword? And who is that creepy middle-aged guy? Why does he give money to Kenny?
It seemed that every night, the woman's voice would be making fun of her at night. The voice would tell her what a selfish person she was in the 'real' world, and how she was lazy. Miranda dreaded going to sleep every night. One night, two nights before election-day, Miranda dreamed of Kenny. She saw his childhood. At first, he was a happy boy in a happy family. Then she saw his parent's being killed by swordsman. He sat there on the road, as a gang of men passed by him. They took him in with them, and they taught him how to fight. People began to pay him money to kill other people. He didn't want to kill, but he felt bad because these people had saved him when he was little. His whole life is killing.
"How come I can hear his thoughts?" Miranda asked.
"You're in a book. There's a lot of information you don't know," said the voice.
"If I'm in the book, then I shouldn't know his thoughts, right?"
"You're right, but I decided to spice up the story. Now stop asking questions and go back to sleep." So she did.
The next day was the day Kenny had to go to the city. The rain was gone, and the sun was shining bright. "Kenny, could you please let me go with you to the city?" Miranda asked. "I've been in this hut for so many days now; I really need some fresh air and exercise.
"Alright," he said reluctantly. She could see he didn't want her to go. They set off right after they finished their breakfast. By the time they got to the city, it was already late afternoon. Kenny took her to a little restaurant. As they were sipping tea, he said, "You know, I haven't talked to someone like you for a long time."
"Someone like me?" Miranda asked.
"Yes, you are someone talks to me like a person." Miranda was a bit confused at this. "I'm sorry; I have to go for a little bit. Can you wait for me here? I probably won't be back till sunset." He handed her some Chinese money, "Here's some money. Pay the bill, and walk around the city. I'll find you, I promise." He stood up and began to walk out.
"Or maybe I will find you," Miranda said.
Miranda knew she had to follow him. She knew she had to stop him from killing this man. She paid for the food and walked out the restaurant. The streets were nearly empty. People were trying to see if they can help out at the election ceremonies for the following day. She asked a man in a shop on the street for where the tall man lived. She followed his instructions and found herself facing a big house. No body was guarding the house. She walked through the stone gates and into the garden. She heard sword sounds, men yelling in pain, and the tearing of skin. She walked further in and saw the tall man facing Kenny. Kenny had a sword in his hand. The sword was dripping with blood. There were men all around the two of them lying on the ground with blood dripping from there wounded bodies. The tall man said, "Come on, kid. Why don't you try and kill me too? Just like you did to all these other men and to my brother." Kenny gave no response. He held his sword tightly in his hand. The man charged at him. He was about to charge at the man.
"Don't!" Miranda screamed. Kenny turned around. The tall man's sword scraped across his face. Blood was on the ground. Kenny looked into her eyes. He looked scared. As though he really didn't want to kill anymore.
Miranda found herself in red light again. "The story's over," said the voice. "Congratulations, you can go back to your world."
"What? The story can't before over yet. Kenny just got injured! I need to go back," said Miranda.
"Well, the point of the story was for you to get Kenny to stop killing, and you did. So it's over." The voice stopped talking.
*****
Miranda felt herself fall onto something. It turned out to be someone. "Ow," the person said. She looked up, and saw a guy with dark brown eyes and a large scar on his face.
The warrior plunges through the night. He heads for a house in the city. He sees his victim. The victim looks at the warrior and prays his wife and son are safe at home. The warrior sees the horror in the victim's eyes, but he knows what he must do.
"Hey hottie," Miranda says to a random guy-friend in the school halls and gives him a hug. She greets several friends and chatted a little with them. The bell rang, and she headed for class. She really hated this class. Who really cares about Ancient China? I'm not Chinese. Why should I study about Chinese people, she thought, as she flipped her long glossy blond hair. She felt her eyes begin to droop.
"Miranda!" her history teacher exclaimed. "This is the fourth time you've fallen asleep. You've gotten zeros on the last four quizzes."
Miranda rubbed her eyes and saw that nobody was in class anymore. "So, do you mean I'm failing?" she asked as the teacher nodded.
The teacher sighed, "Okay Miranda, if you do a report on Ancient China as a little extra credit, and that would probably bring your marks up. I'd suggest going to the city library for the most info."
She left the school and headed for the city library. She'd have to give up her busy social life for a couple of days. If daddy hadn't have offered me a car, I wouldn't have needed to do all of this.
She walked through the front door of the library. Suddenly, a bright red light flashed before her eyes. Specks of it began to flow towards the east wing. Miranda rubbed her eyes. No one in the library seemed to notice the light. She followed it to a door. On the door, it said, "Discards, feel free to look." She walked in to find a book on the floor. The front of the book read, "The Warrior." For some odd reason, she had a great curiosity about the book, and she decided to open it.
"BANG!" She thought she blacked out, but she felt awake. All around her was the same red light. The shelves of discarded books were no where to be seen.
The smell of blood was in the air. The warrior hardly noticed the blood stained on his clothes. He changed into some underclothes and went to wash his dirty clothes in a river by his hut. He saw something flow down the river. As it came closer, he sees that it's a girl, and he pulls her on shore. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly breathing. He shook her shoulders, and she woke up. "Girl, you should probably go home. I bet your parents are looking for you."
"What! Who are you? Where am I? Wasn't I at the library?!" Miranda looked around frantically, hoping to see those shelves of ugly old books. They weren't there. She saw a pair of dark blue eyes staring down at her. She began to feel cold beneath her wet clothes, and she shivered.
"You should probably dry up and get something to eat, "the guy said. He led her into his little hut. He went inside, probably to get her something dry to wear.
Miranda was really beginning to feel scared. It feels too weird to be a dream. This looks nothing like Canada, and that guy looks way too Chinese to speak that good of English. He came back and gave her some weird piece of fabric. "Go to the back of that room I just came out of, tie this around you," he said. So she did. The fabric was kind of rough, but she'd have to make do. When she came out, the guy was pouring tea into some cups. He motioned for her to sit across him. "So where am I?" she asked, "and who are you?"
"Well, this is obviously Middle Kingdom. You should've known that already, and my name is Kenny. Kenny Shin. My question for you is…"
"Middle Kingdom! Isn't that Ancient China?"
"What do you mean by ancient? Middle Kingdom is Middle Kingdom. There's nothing ancient about it. I was about to ask about you till you interrupted me. So, who are you? What's your name? Where are you from? Why's your hair bright yellow?"
Once again, Miranda felt scared. Why does this guy speak perfect English? "My name is Miranda. I'm from Canada, and I was born with blond hair." Kenny looked confused, as if he had never heard of Canada or blond hair. "Are you sure this is China? There's no way I could've come here. I was just in the library a while ago."
Just then, a middle-aged man came into the room. "Kenny, I need to talk to you," the man said and beckoned Kenny towards the front door. She didn't know why, but she felt that something weird was going on. The hut wasn't that big, so she was able to hear some of their conversation.
"But we need you to do it, Kenny… you're the best in the city, "said the man.
Kenny mumbled something.
"Think of the people you'd be helping. He's quite an evil man."
Kenny seemed to say something in approval. "Bye," they said to each other. The man gave Kenny something in a little cloth bag and left. When he walked back in, Miranda could see that something was bothering him. "Well, back to you, yellow headed alien. I don't understand what you mean by 'Canada'? You don't look like you're from around here. I'm surprised you can even speak our language. It's a very rare dialect of Chinese."
"Speak your language? Why do you speak my language? What do you mean by Chinese? I thought we're speaking English!" Miranda began to twiddle her thumbs nervously. "Mom! Dad! Are you guys playing some sort of trick on me?" She stood up and paced around the table looking dazed.
"Miranda, I think you should get some rest…" Kenny began.
"Rest? How can I rest?" she began to scream. "I want to go home!" She ran out of the hut. She heard Kenny running after her, and he was catching up really fast. She felt him hit her really hard on the shoulder, and she passed out.
Miranda, a voice cried at her. She found herself in the red light again. You have opened, 'The Warrior', and now you will have to live its tale. The two worlds' have decided to punish you for your egotistic greedy ways. You would not have been in this mess if you had paid more attention in class. You will be here till the story ends. You must finish the story with the boy named, Kenny.
When Miranda woke up, she found she was in still in "China". She was surprised at the warmth of this place. She stood up and walked around. So this is some sort of basement, she thought. The house looked very old fashioned, and it was obviously not an old Western house. There was something really Oriental about it. There was a little handle on the wall. She pulled the handle and the wall seemed to move. There was a rope with knots. It was probably for climbing to the main floor, so she climbed up. She found the table from the day before put aside, and a part of the floor that was probably used for covering the hole to the basement. She covered the hole, put the table back, and walked outside.
The air was warm, but a cool breeze could be felt from the river. She could see Kenny standing in the knee-deep water catching fish with a long, thin sword. It seemed that every time he threw the sword into the water, a puddle of blood surrounded him. When he lifted the sword, three or four fish the size of his arm were flung towards a basket. At that moment, he caught her staring eye and waved. A he walked over, he said, "I got some breakfast," holding the basket. "This could last for awhile." Miranda smiled, and they went inside to eat the fish. They were laughing at the fish's head, when Miranda decided to pop the question that had been bothering her for the whole night.
"So Kenny, why's your English so good"
He had the same confused expression as before. "I don't know why you keep asking me that. I have no idea what you mean by 'English'. Does that have something to do with the fish?
"No… the fish is great," Miranda said quietly.
"Oh darn," he said, "I have to go to the market to buy some carrots. You should probably come with me. There are a lot of wild animals around here." She nodded in agreement."
While going to the market, Miranda discovered that Kenny was a very easy- going guy. She it very easy to talk to him, and her usual sarcasm was gone. Kenny seemed to like her company as well. He told her about the mountains, the trees, and pretty much everything they saw on the trail. He sounded as if he's never had someone to talk to.
The market was amazing. It was nothing like the Chinatown in Canada. There were people everywhere. People everywhere talking about the death of the town leader two night's ago. Miranda found herself bumping into someone every five seconds. Kenny finished buying his carrots, and the two headed back to the hut. All of a sudden, a tall lanky man dressed in all black stood in front of them. The man pulled out his sword and pointed it at Kenny. He looked enraged. A crowd began to gather around them.
A women said, "Isn't that the town leader's brother?"
"Wasn't the town leader about to retire and let his brother be leader?" a man said.
"The brother can't be leader anymore because there haven't been arrangements made. If the brother still wants to be town leader, he'd have to be elected," someone replied.
"What does he want with that boy?"
"Elected? No one would vote for him! Everyone knows he's evil, just like his brother."
At all this gossiping was making the tall man more cross. He said, "I loved my brother, and today in front of everybody, I will avenge his death."
Miranda began to shake, as she does when she get nervous or scared. Kenny saw her and said, "Can't you see you are scaring people friend and many people here? Put your sword down. I do not understand what you mean by avenging your brother's death. I don't even live in the city."
The man's face was bright red with anger. "You stupid kid!" he yelled as he ran towards Kenny, sword in hand.
Kenny's eyes showed no sign of fear. Just as the sword was about to hit him, he leapt towards Miranda. He put one hand behind her back, the other behind her knees and ran. The man tried to run after them, but he was too slow.
By the time he stopped running, they were already half-way back to the hut. The sun was beginning to set, and Miranda was beginning to fell hungry. "Oh my," he said, "I didn't even notice these carrots in my hands. Now they're all sweaty smelling."
Miranda grinned and said, "Just wash them when we get back." She decided to ask him the impossible, "So do you have any idea who killed the town leader? That tall guy seemed really angry at you."
Kenny turned away, avoiding her. "I don't know that tall guy. I've never seen him in my life, and I don't like violence.
*****
The library was about to close. A teenage boy decided to go to the 'Discarded' section and see if there were any good books. There was no one there, and the smell of old books made him want to gag. He found a book on the floor. The title was, "The Warrior." He didn't know why, but he decided to read a bit of it.
"The Warrior decided to lie to the Foreigner. He told her he didn't know the town leader's brother. He did not think it was really a lie because he has never really seen the brother. The Foreigner told the Warrior that he looked like he would never hurt anything. At that moment, the Warrior felt warmth in his heart. He hasn't felt so good since he was a little boy with his family. He smiled at the Foreigner, and the two walked back to the hut."
*****
"I can't believe it! This is so good!" Miranda exclaimed. "Guys from where I am from only know how to skateboard and play hackysack!"
"I don't understand what you mean by 'skateboard' and 'hackysack'," Kenny said. "Is that some sort of sword skill?"
She laughed and told him to just continue eating. She really loved this place. Kenny was so kind to her, and there are no adults around. The language thing didn't bother her anymore. I'll just enjoy this until its over), Miranda thought.
Just then, the middle aged man from the previous day appeared again. "Kenny, I need to talk to you." He motioned Kenny to follow him out the hut. This time Miranda could not hear their conversation.
*****
"The Assassin, before, had instructed for the Warrior to kill the leader's brother the day after he killed the leader. This time, he tells the Warrior to hold back for a week because the Council wants the brother dead the day before election-day." This is a pretty neat story, thought the teenage boy as he touched the scar on his face lightly.
*****
When Kenny came back, he had lost the laughter in his eyes. He had, yet another small pouch filled with something. Probably money, thought Miranda. They finished their dinner, and he helped her back down to the basement. As she laid there on the bed in the dark, she thought she heard sword sounds. Slowly, she fell asleep.
"Miranda," said a loud woman's voice. Miranda found herself in the red light again.
"Am I going home already?" she asked disappointedly.
"Nope. This is just a dream. Do you want to go home?"
"That's not what I mean," she said.
"Oh…Are you starting to have some feelings for that boy, Kenny?"
"No!" Miranda blushed. She couldn't believe she was blushing in a dream. "I just want to know when I'm going back."
"You'll go back when the story end. Right now I need to tell you that in a week, Kenny will be going out. No matter what, you must go with him," the voice said.
"But when will the story end?!" There was no reply.
For the rest of the week, it rained heavily. Kenny and Miranda played indoor games together. She made playing cards and taught him how to play Go Fish. Kenny taught her how to play Chinese Chess. "This rain is so depressing!" she exclaimed. "I hate rain."
Kenny disagreed. "It's not that bad. My mother used to tell me how rainy days were used to wash away the pain and sorrow. The sun will eventually shine through."
He's sounds so sensitive, she thought. Is it really him every night practicing with his sword? There isn't anyone else around here. He said he didn't like violence. Why would he have a sword? And who is that creepy middle-aged guy? Why does he give money to Kenny?
It seemed that every night, the woman's voice would be making fun of her at night. The voice would tell her what a selfish person she was in the 'real' world, and how she was lazy. Miranda dreaded going to sleep every night. One night, two nights before election-day, Miranda dreamed of Kenny. She saw his childhood. At first, he was a happy boy in a happy family. Then she saw his parent's being killed by swordsman. He sat there on the road, as a gang of men passed by him. They took him in with them, and they taught him how to fight. People began to pay him money to kill other people. He didn't want to kill, but he felt bad because these people had saved him when he was little. His whole life is killing.
"How come I can hear his thoughts?" Miranda asked.
"You're in a book. There's a lot of information you don't know," said the voice.
"If I'm in the book, then I shouldn't know his thoughts, right?"
"You're right, but I decided to spice up the story. Now stop asking questions and go back to sleep." So she did.
The next day was the day Kenny had to go to the city. The rain was gone, and the sun was shining bright. "Kenny, could you please let me go with you to the city?" Miranda asked. "I've been in this hut for so many days now; I really need some fresh air and exercise.
"Alright," he said reluctantly. She could see he didn't want her to go. They set off right after they finished their breakfast. By the time they got to the city, it was already late afternoon. Kenny took her to a little restaurant. As they were sipping tea, he said, "You know, I haven't talked to someone like you for a long time."
"Someone like me?" Miranda asked.
"Yes, you are someone talks to me like a person." Miranda was a bit confused at this. "I'm sorry; I have to go for a little bit. Can you wait for me here? I probably won't be back till sunset." He handed her some Chinese money, "Here's some money. Pay the bill, and walk around the city. I'll find you, I promise." He stood up and began to walk out.
"Or maybe I will find you," Miranda said.
Miranda knew she had to follow him. She knew she had to stop him from killing this man. She paid for the food and walked out the restaurant. The streets were nearly empty. People were trying to see if they can help out at the election ceremonies for the following day. She asked a man in a shop on the street for where the tall man lived. She followed his instructions and found herself facing a big house. No body was guarding the house. She walked through the stone gates and into the garden. She heard sword sounds, men yelling in pain, and the tearing of skin. She walked further in and saw the tall man facing Kenny. Kenny had a sword in his hand. The sword was dripping with blood. There were men all around the two of them lying on the ground with blood dripping from there wounded bodies. The tall man said, "Come on, kid. Why don't you try and kill me too? Just like you did to all these other men and to my brother." Kenny gave no response. He held his sword tightly in his hand. The man charged at him. He was about to charge at the man.
"Don't!" Miranda screamed. Kenny turned around. The tall man's sword scraped across his face. Blood was on the ground. Kenny looked into her eyes. He looked scared. As though he really didn't want to kill anymore.
Miranda found herself in red light again. "The story's over," said the voice. "Congratulations, you can go back to your world."
"What? The story can't before over yet. Kenny just got injured! I need to go back," said Miranda.
"Well, the point of the story was for you to get Kenny to stop killing, and you did. So it's over." The voice stopped talking.
*****
Miranda felt herself fall onto something. It turned out to be someone. "Ow," the person said. She looked up, and saw a guy with dark brown eyes and a large scar on his face.