Hey guys!
I started this back in March, but I didn't actually finish the chapter until last weekend. o.o
Anyway, this will probably be a fairly short story! I want to get it out of my system before doing the next Misfits chapter, although knowing myself I'll probably end up simultaneously writing both because I'm so behind on writing. DX
Anyway, read on! That is, if you dare...muahahahaha...
Thank you Mystics Apprentice, my awesome beta reader! :D
I was running, running as far as my protesting legs could carry me. Blood was running down my face and into my eyes. I was virtually blind.
But I didn't care; I still kept running. I had to. It was the only way to escape…
Suddenly chills ran up my spine. I shuddered. The chills were back, meaning that my running was futile.
I tripped over some sort of object and stumbled to the ground. Sand burned my eyes and filled my lungs. I gagged, I choked, I coughed up –
Cold. So cold. I shuddered violently. Fear began to fill my mind.
The chills were getting stronger. It was futile –
A shadow. Something was hovering over me. I slowly rolled over, trying to break through the paralyzing fear that came with the chills. I wanted to see it. I wanted to find –
Wait, what was that it held? It couldn't be –
The chills were intense now. I couldn't control my body, its violent shudders, its full body spasms –
Sssshhh… Everything's going to be all right.
Ah, Destiny Islands: the most beautiful country in the world. From the year-round summers to the picturesque towns, everything on the Islands is the epitome of perfection. That was exactly why I chose to attend college here – not to mention that the islanders throw wicked parties.
Today, however, was not a day to party hard; that's why I was laying on one of Destiny Islands' pristine beaches in the middle of the day, seriously not giving a care. With the academic program being as relaxed as it is, I found myself spending my time gaming on the Xbox, hanging with friends, or simply chilling on the beach as I am now. If this keeps going on, I may be as tan as the residents soon (not that I'm complaining).
Let's get, get, get drunk, let's -
Well, there goes my phone. I grabbed it from its resting place in the sand – which wasn't the best idea, now that I think about it – and hit the 'answer' button.
Beep.
"Hello?"
"Why hello, Terra!" a familiar female voice says. It's Aqua, my girlfriend from my hometown. She chose to attend Radiant Garden University after we graduated from high school in The Land of Departure, which was no surprise. R.G.U. is known for its academic rigor, which was exactly what Aqua wanted.
"Oh, hey Aqua!" I respond with a grin. It feels like she hasn't called in forever; maybe it's because I don't do much all day. "How's all that studying of yours going?"
"It's pretty stressful," she admitted. "Then again, there's not much I can do other than that. A huge snowstorm hit last night, and it's pretty much impossible to go anywhere."
This, of course, was not surprising. Radiant Garden is located in the far north, a section of the world that is prone to snow between the months of September and May. I briefly wondered if the citizens up there ever saw the sun during the college semesters.
"Dang! At the rate this is going, you're gonna be a vampire the next time I see you!" I said teasingly. On the other end of the phone, I could almost sense her dainty lips forming a pout.
"At least I'll be a knowledgeable vampire!" she retorted. "Goodness knows what you've filled your head with since your education is so lacking."
"Why fill your head when you can empty it?" I pointed out half-jokingly. After all, I had been doing the equivalent of 'emptying my head' by doing nothing education-related in practically all my spare time.
Aqua sighed heavily into the microphone. "Oh, Terra, I had always imagined how horrible your future would be if I wasn't there to push you in the right direction; however, I never thought it would get this bad."
Despite her serious message, I could hear the amusement lining her voice. It was impossible for her to get angry at me. Then again, it was hard for her to get mad at anyone.
I'd have to remind her not to be a pushover later.
"Terra? You still there?" Aqua asked in a concerned voice. Man, she was adorable when she was worried about someone.
"Of course, I was just lost in thought for a minute there," I assured her.
She giggled on the other side. "Well, it's good to know that there's still something going on in that head of yours."
I was about to make a sarcastic retort when a loud BEEEEP rang in my ear. Annoyed, I checked my phone to see who was calling.
It was Fang, the young mother with that one little kid...Sora, was it? She must want me to babysit tonight. After all, why else would she call?
I groaned mentally. I was in the middle of talking to my long-distance girlfriend; couldn't Fang call some other time? Then I remembered that I had agreed to be her son's regular babysitter ever since I was bumped down to a less-than-part-time job at the restaurant I worked at. I blame the crappy economy. Oh well, it pays fairly well. Besides, Sora's a good kid; I shouldn't complain too much.
I grudgingly brought the phone back to my ear to give my goodbyes to Aqua. "Sorry, I've got a work call I have to answer. I'll call you back as soon as I'm done."
"Work? You mean you have a job?" Aqua asked with feigned surprise.
I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic remark. "Gotta pay for the parties somehow. Love yah."
"I love you too, Terra."
Click.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hey there, Terra!" Fang greeted me casually. "I was wondering if you were free for babysitting duty tonight."
"Uh, yeah, free as usual!" I replied.
I could hear Fang squeal in delight on the other side. Squeal? Fang? Those two words never went together. Never. Something big must've been going on.
"What's the special occasion tonight?" I asked the happy young mother.
There was no hesitation in her response. "I'm going on a date with Hope!" she exclaimed happily.
Ah, that would make sense. A man finally decided to go on a date with the single mother; that man being the one called Hope made it even more special. Hope is a junior at Destiny Islands University, just a couple of years older than me. Despite his current label as the "hottest upperclassmen on the Islands" by the girls, he is a bit of an introvert. I've only met him once; he was my assigned partner in my Al Bhed class, and let's just say that I felt like I was talking to myself the entire period.
"Anyway, since he'll be out with me, I hope you don't mind if you watch Hope's little brother as well; he's a friend of Sora's. Don't worry, I'll pay you double the regular rate."
Double the regular rate? Never mind the fact that she already assumed I would babysit for her — I was going to make twenty munny an hour tonight!
"Consider it done!" I said smoothly, which caused Fang to sigh in relief.
"Thanks again, Terra; I knew I could count on you! Could you be at my place a little before seven?"
Of course! Anything for those precious colorful munny coins. Munny was a god to poor college students like me. I hurriedly uttered a "yes" before we said our good-byes and hung up.
Okay, so now I had plans for tonight at seven. That gave me a couple more hours of free time before watching the kiddies — for a fee, of course. I decided to call Aqua back, but it went directly to her voicemail.
The snow had probably destroyed all the cell phone towers or something up there. Being Radiant Garden and all, it was rather likely that something along those lines occurred there.
I went back to lying on the beach and allowed my thoughts to drift towards Aqua. For someone so focused on school, she was actually pretty sexy. She had features that many a girl would kill for: crystalline eyes that always appeared to be smiling, silky blue short hair, fair skin on a curvaceous body; what guy wouldn't go after her?
Don't worry, I'm not just after her physical appearance. We were actually close friends in the sixth grade, so I got to know her personality before the whole hormones ordeal. For someone as smart as her, she was a fairly down-to-earth person with a great sense of humor.
Plus, she grew to be pretty darn good-looking overtime. Did I already mention that?
I checked my phone once more for the time, which read 5:30 p.m. I still had an hour and a half; perhaps I should head back and get some Battlefield 3 playing time in, that way I wouldn't take any anger I had out on the kids I was babysitting.
Totally kidding, by the way.
Hurry up, Terra! I cursed myself mentally as I ran down the street. Quickly, I checked my phone for the time: 6:58.
BOOM.
Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, I tripped over a large rock and face-planted on the sidewalk. Seconds later, I felt a cool liquid both running down my nose and filling my mouth.
Great, just great; now I had to run to Fang's house with blood all over my face, in my mouth, and probably on my legs. At this point, I was probably going to be very late.
If time didn't fly so fast while I was gaming, I wouldn't be in this mess.
As I was dragging my beat-up self to the apartment complex where Fang resided, the sprinklers sprung to life and began watering the complex's lawn — and me, of course.
Normally, I would throw this type of event under the "Murphy's Law" category. Today, however, it was just what I needed to try to wash up a bit after my tumble.
To heck with it! I thought, and then did something I hadn't done in a while: I charged through the sprinklers head-on.
I arrived at Fang's apartment sopping wet, but I sure felt a lot less scary with all my cuts washed out. Now, I was prepared to handle the little kids feeling refreshed. I approached the door and lifted my hand to knock when the door flew open and a small being tackled my legs.
"Terra!" the said small being cried. It was none other than Sora, Fang's four-year-old son. He looked up at me with a huge grin. Sora was a pretty cute kid, with his wide blue eyes and crazy brown hair. He was just, well...distracted and talkative – VERY talkative.
"Hey there, kiddo!" I said enthusiastically as I rustled his hair. "How've you been?"
"You're all wet," he pointed out, poking my leg that he was still clung onto. "Did'ja go swimming before? You didn't do a good job of drying off. You smell funny too, like grass or somethin'. Hey, wanna go play in the grass outside? It's reeeaaaalllyyy fun to roll down the hills..."
As Sora continued rambling, Fang appeared in the entryway. She couldn't have been much older than me, judging by the looks of her. She was incredibly cute, with her deep brown hair and smoky green eyes. She wasn't exactly lacking in the curve department either, something I hadn't noticed until today; it was probably due to that slightly revealing outfit she was wearing today... Anyway, I admire that woman a lot. I mean, she works full time, raises a kid single-handedly, and still manages to look great while doing so. It takes a special kind of strength to pull that off.
"Hey there, Terra," she called to me, wearing an amused grin. Then she looked down at her kid glued to my leg. "Sora, get off of Terra and let him come in."
Sora obliged and slowly detached himself from me, allowing me to finally enter the apartment. "Your knee is bleeding," he commented as he left my leg. Sure enough, the scratch from earlier was bleeding once more; it was as if I had never rinsed it off at all.
Fang raised an eyebrow, which I returned with a sheepish grin. "I, uh, took a stumble outside your apartment," I explained nervously.
"That doesn't explain why you're soaking wet," she pointed out, crossing her arms.
"The sprinklers turned on then," I told her. "I blame Murphy's Law." Briefly, I wondered how Murphy discovered his law; he must've had horrible luck, or something along those lines.
"Ouch," Fang commented with a grimace. "That bites."
I nodded, running my hand through my hair to dry it off some. "Well, it happens to the best of us."
Just then, two silver-haired figures appeared in the doorway. One was Hope, my classmate and Fang's date. He was dressed in a nice orange button-down shirt with dark jeans. A bouquet of assorted flowers was under his arm. The shorter one came up just above Hope's knee. He couldn't have been much older than Sora, so I assumed that he must've been Riku. Both of them had deep aquamarine eyes, which kind of creeped me out when they were both focused on me.
"What's up, Hope?" I said casually. He responded with a slight shrug and muttered something I couldn't quite make out. He was being as quiet as usual, I guess. Ignoring Hope, I knelt on the floor to Riku's level.
"Hey there, buddy! You must be Riku, right?" I asked him.
"Rikuuu!"
The next thing I knew, Sora had jumped onto my back and over to tackle Riku. The two of them promptly fell to the floor in a fit of giggles. I couldn't help but smirk at the sight.
Above me, I heard a soft chuckle coming from an unknown person. After a minute, I realized it was Hope who had made the sound.
Who knew the guy had a soft spot for his brother?
"Well, you two lovebirds go on your date; I'll take care of the kiddies," I assured Fang and Hope. The two of them blushed at the statement, to which I had to hold back a snigger.
Finally, Fang spoke up. "Okay then, we should be back in a couple hours. Feel free to take them to that play island at any time; it'll wear them out."
She slipped on a navy blue jacket and began to head towards the doorway before whipping around once more. "I forgot to tell you that I left some munny on the kitchen counter; it should cover the cost of a large pizza."
I nodded. "Will do; see you two tonight!"
She waved goodbye to me and the boys — who had stood up and were now jumping on the living room's beat-up sofa — and then left with Hope.
I turned around to face the boys as they tore up the sofa. "So, what say you two about eating a pizza?" I asked them enthusiastically.
"Pizza!" Sora exclaimed happily. "That sounds yummy right now! Do you want some pizza, Riku?"
The little silverette scratched his head thoughtfully. "Only if it's plain with just cheese on it," he finally said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Yes, only cheese! Cheesey cheese!" Sora chanted, bouncing up and down on the sofa.
"Well, I guess that's settled," I said with a chuckle. I whipped out my cell phone and called Uncle Scrooge's Perfect Pizza, the only pizza place on this small island. The bored teenager on the other line informed me that it would be at least an hour until they could deliver our pizza, and picking it up would take even longer. I argued with him for a couple minutes, trying to explain that I was babysitting and couldn't keep hungry kids happy for an hour when I felt a tug on my shorts.
"Riku and I want to go to the play island instead," Sora informed me. Beside him, Riku nodded rapidly.
Well, that worked out perfectly. I could take them to the island and wear them out before feeding them and sending them to bed. I stopped arguing with the guy and ordered some pizza, and then herded the kids out the door.
Maybe, just maybe, Murphy's Law was growing tired of messing with me today…