This is probably my oldest idea. I think I thought it up one year in middle school and just never got around to writing it. It originally had nothing to do with Bionicle but it later just seemed to fit.
Anyone, in their right set of mind, would know that the begging of this story is pretty much of the opening paragraph of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton's 1830 novel, Paul Clifford, a book I would not pick up to save my life. Trust me, the thing is dryer that the Sahara in drought season, no lie. Do not ever, in this life or the next, pick it up. Unless you are super educated and can read things that literally put us normal folk to sleep.
Rant: Over.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle.
The Marks on Her Arm
by luv addict
Prologue
It was a dark and stormy night. The rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in a small town in Wisconsin that the story lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty light of the street lamps that struggled against the darkness.
Lightening flashed, illuminating the sky and the world below for only a few seconds. Thunder rumbled, grumbling from the lightening. No one in their right mind would, or should, be out on a night such as this.
Nokama Petit was not quite in her right mind. See, she had this love for animals. She would do anything for them. They, on the other hand, thought of her as overly affectionate and wanted nothing to do with her.
So, when this seventeen-year old girl heard that her neighbor's cat was missing, she went to go look for it. She was determined to find it and to bring it back to its owner.
"Here, kitty." she called, peering out from underneath her bright yellow umbrella. The duck rain boots she wore seemed to quack as she walked along. "Kitty! Here, kitty. Where are you?"
Lightening cracked across the sky, making her jump. Thunder followed in protest, sending shivers down her spine.
Biting her lip, she squinted. She spotted a shivering black form under a bench across the street. Smiling, she crossed the street and crouched down to the cat's level.
"There you are!" she said to it. She took a treat out from a sheltered pocket and held it out for the mammal to see. She cooed to it, "Come on, Kitty. I do not like the rain any more than you do."
The cat, sniffed the treat and picked up the familiar scent of the girl, walked out from under the bench and nibbled on what had been offered to him.
"I got you!" the girl cried and leaped at the cat. She splashed in the water that had collected on the cement and the cat ran up into the safe branches of a tree. She moaned and glared at the mammal, who seemed to snicker in a cat-like way.
It was time to call the reinforcements, her grandfather.
She placed her umbrella down underneath the tree. Whipping out her cell phone, she pressed the 'two' button and the button with the little green phone that was the symbol for 'dial.'
"Pick up." she pleaded softly into the little speaker. "Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Hi, grandpa? The cat climbed a tree... No, I did not chase it up there!... No, I did not!... I am not lying. Pops, I—... No, Pops, I need a ladder... Be here soon, I can not feel my toes... You did not tell me to dress warmer!... Fine, see you in a bit." She hung up and looked back to the cat, who seemed to be smirking at her. "Jerk."
Whether she was talking about her grandfather or the cat, one will never know.
Lightening struck somewhere nearby and the wind picked up. It was in that flash that something grabbed the cat and landed in time with the thunder.
Freaky, she thought to herself.
In the dimness of the streetlamp, she saw it was a boy around her age, maybe a little older, cradling the black cat in his arms. What surprised her was that the devious creature was purring. Purring!
She sloshed over to him and tapped his shoulder.
"Excuse me." she said, not feeling the cold rain splash on her pale cheeks that caused her blue hair to stick to them. "That is my cat you are holding."
The lightening once again cracked overhead, lighting up his face as he snapped to look— although glare would be more appropriate— her. She jumped and took a step back.
His jaw was set tight in a grimace. There was blood running down his skin and clothes. The rain was washing it off, drop by drop. His maroon hair clung to his head. But it was his eyes, gold as can be and dialated, that startled her the most. He was so feral looking, so wild and uncultivated. She knew in an instant that she wanted to tame him.
Nokama held no fear in her eyes or face. She was curious and that was what he saw.
He gently handed her the cat, who seemed quite disappointed to leave him arms, and then he ran off into the stormy night. As he did, she caught the glint of something silver swinging around his neck.
She stroked the cat's back absentmindedly as she walked back to the tree to hide from the onslaught of the rain.
Her grandfather arrived shortly after with the now useless ladder.
"How did you get him down?" he asked her as she hopped into the car. He wrapped the cat up in a towel and put him in the cage their neighbor had lent them once she found out that the man was going out to help his granddaughter.
"A boy." she said. "A boy. He was... he was taller than me and frightening. Oh, pops, I wish you could have seen him!"
"Was he cute?"
She thought about it.
"It was kind of hard to tell. It was dark." she stated, deciding that it was best not to tell him about the blood that seemed to have been dumped on him. "He was amazing. He was in the tree, I think, and he just jumped down with the cat in his arms."
"I think you might be delusional, dear." he said, chuckling. "A boy leaping from a tree to save a cat to hand him to a pretty girl like yourself. Tell me, did this boy try anything?"
"Nu-uh. He was a perfect gentleman... Except for the part where he ran off without saying anything."
"Nokama..."
"I am not making it up! Midnight," she said to the cat, "am I making all of this up?"
The cat mewed in response.
"He agrees."
"I think I should take you in to the doctor, Nokama."
"I am not making it up!"
In case you wondering, Nokama lives with her grandfather, Dume. It was kind of a last minute decision, but I like it. I will have more on why she lives with him in a later chapter.
Early happy new year!