Pant. Pant.
Step. Step.
Glance at my watch. Get annoyed because i probably won't finish for another hour, at 6:00 pm.
As a high school student, I didn't like to participate in too many sports. Most of my time was devoted to reading novels, fan fiction, and writing stories. I actually hate most sports, especially ones that involve running.
So why, you might ask, am I on a cross country team?
Well, I can honestly say the food is a major part of it.
The Coach, Lizzie Durham, treats the team to McDonald's every Thursday after practice, so that's part of the reason. The other part is my foster home.
My parents died nine years ago. I was too young to know them, so I don't miss them. Most days, I don't give two hoots about them being dead, I'm too busy being pissed at the rest of the world. The home im currently stuck in is the fifth one in the past nine years I've been floating through the system. At 15, I'm pretty sick of it, and cant wait to turn 18 and officially be able to live alone, without some stupid family pretending to care about me.
My latest foster dad forced me to join cross country. He dragged my social worker into it, and she had to give me a 25 dollar gift card to Chck-Fil-A to convince me.
If you haven't noticed already, I will do stupid things for food.
I grunted as I almost tripped over a root.
I glared in fury up at the beautiful blue sky. It was taunting me, the promise of a warm day, perhaps with a slight breeze... the perfect kind of weather to grab my notepad and sketchbook and hide up a tree from the world.
Despite my hatred for the sport, I was actually quite good at it, so no one was around to hear my swearing as I planted my foot on the edge of a hole, causing me to to slip and fall on my face. Flicking away a sweaty strand of hair that had fallen in my face, I flopped backwards on the ground. I didn't care if i did a good job at these stupid races, so who cares.
Bored, I stood up, brushed dirt off my butt, and strode into the woods, off the path. I hummed random snippets of songs under my breath, melding them together seamlessly. As I explored the forest, I suddenly felt as if I was being watched. Slowly spinning on the heel of my cross country spikes*, I glanced casually around. Seeing no one, I relaxed. I started forward again, and almost screamed. Sitting on a branch about two feet in front of me was a huge owl.
It stared at me with wide, unblinking yellow eyes. "Hoo," it called to me.
I grinned. "Hoo, hoo!" I mimicked.
"Hoo?" it twisted its neck round to look at me sideways. I laughed and started walking again, occasionally 'Hoo-ing' back to the owl.
"Hoo, hoo! Hoo!" I called.
My feathered friend didn't respond, making me frown. However, a new sound arose. A twittering call, almost as if a bird was in pain, followed by a quick 'hoo', then a shrill caw. Strangely, it all sounded like it came from the same voice...
I shook my head of stupid thoughts, and ignored it. Leaning against the tree, I tried to mimic the twittering. I twittered, hoo-ed, then clawed, in a similar manner that the bird had. I was rewarded by two shrill caws and another, urgent twitter.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I pushed away from the tree, and started in the direction I had heard the bird. After two more exchanges, I finally came into a small clearing.
On one side, there was a pile of trampled flowers, grass, and branches. Several broken branches were strewn everywhere. On the opposite side was a small, man made cave, used for cub scouts or something, i guessed.
But what scared me was the blood.
It was thick and red, staining the grass and stone a bright crimson color. I honestly thought I would be sick. As I was turning away to run, I heard the same bird call, and it seemed to come from inside the cave. Still being the curious idiot I am, I carefully step over the blood and ghost over to the cave entrance.
Glancing behind me one last time, the woods look peaceful. Two squirrels chased each other in the trees, a woodpecker relentlessly attacked its tree, and a rabbit sat next to a tree, paw in gat something i found. I checked the time: 3:49 pm.
Well, I still have time.
With that I plunge into the cave.
So tell me what you think! This chapter was just to introduce Charlotte and the setting. Don't worry, folks, theHobbit actually gets tied in next chapter! I'm trying to keep this from becoming a MarySue, so ok, yeah!
Bye for now!
~isabel