Unknown
An unknown facility stood in the misty woods. Each tree was the dark colour of a starless night sky, no soul and no happiness. Inside, only to screams of unknown animals that were forced to bond with terrible people. The cutting sound of a whip would force them back into submission if they went out of line again.
A man walked into a large cell area, accompanied by two heavily armed men. Each cage was as large as a studio apartment, except each one had nothing but miserable, brooding creatures that were desperate to be free. The man had black hair, lightly tanned skin, a black beard, soulless wrinkled dark eyes and wore a business suit with a black blazer. The man continued to walk down the dimly lit hall. "How is J15 doing?" he asked, sneering "Any luck?"
"I'm afraid not sir" One of the man replied "He's still a fighter."
Both men stood on each side of the cage, not bothering to look in, as they waved up to a couple of people behind a glass window, signalling to bring the cage forward to get a proper look at the beast. The cage zoomed forward and the man walked up to it. His face dropped and his eyes darkened even more. "He's gone!" he screamed.
The two men on each side of the cage finally woke up from their stone-faced expression and looked in, confirming their boss' outburst. "Idiots!" he yelled at them "Find him and find him now!"
Outside, in the woods, a creature kept running, running away from that awful place and the people inside. The loud sound of alarms went off, making its ears press flat against its head in order to block out the sound. It then took off, flapping its wings into the air. Then, as quick as it escaped, it disappeared into the misty air.
Bethesda, Washington DC
The older boy grabbed the freshman's arm as he shoved him headfirst into the wall of the bike shed, not caring about the damaged he caused to the boy or the shed. "You think that was funny what you did to me yesterday?!" he screamed, twisting the younger boy's arm. The yard was empty, as everyone was already in class, except for them. For he had dragged the boy behind the shed – the only place without a CCTV security camera - and kept a hand over mouth until everyone was gone, leaving him to torture the poor soul.
"W-what are you t-taking about?" the younger boy began to cry, as he struggled to get away from the stronger and scarier student. The older boy who still continued to give the youthful student pain had ivory skin, sickly green eyes, spiky dark brown hair and one earing in his left ear. He wore a red sweatshirt and looked like that he was at the age of fifteen.
"Don't play dumb with me!" he shrieked, grinning as the freshman began to writhe underneath his grasp "You meant it! You meant to trip me up into the janitor's bucket!"
"What!?"
"And everyone was watching! Even her…" he hissed like he had the foulest taste in his mouth "And now you're going to pay!"
"Trent I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" the boy tried to slid away, each attempt failing "It won't happen again!"
"Oh I know it won't!" Trent growled "Because I'm going to break this little arm! Then I'll break you're kneecaps with a rock before breaking your legs with my bare hands and I'll stamp on your feet until every little bone shatters!"
"No!" The boy bawled.
"Hey!" a new voice of a female filled the space before Trent turned around and had a fist colliding with his jaw.
"This is the third time this month Mr Simmons" Principal Jones paced behind his desk. His bald head shining against the sun as his brown eyes started sadly down at the man sitting at the other side of his desk. "If Juniper keeps this up, we're going to have to suspend her from this school."
"I know" The man sighed. He had light-coffee shaded skin with a brittle short boxed beard growing into place, brown eyes and a large afro with thousands of curls springing into place. He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties and wasn't half bad looking for his age. In fact, he was quite the looker. He wore a white doctor's coat due to the fact that he was pulled from his work in the hospital in order to hear about the situation at hand. "What about Trent?"
"Trent is facing a two week suspension and will be coming in for detention on those weekends." Principal Jones answered "However I will need Juniper to come in for detention on Monday afternoon after the weekend."
"I know sir" said the man, rubbing his face and sighing "Juniper is going through a pretty rough time at school right now due to Trent's behaviour."
"I understand Rafael" Principal Jones replied calmly "Just make sure you talk to her when you get home. Violence will not be tolerated here."
The door to the office suddenly burst open and in walked a woman, wearing a grey dress and blazer, holding Trent by the arm with her pasty face plastered with red. "This is the third time this month and you're still letting my son get punched in the face!" she squawked.
"Mrs Hunter, your son shouldn't even be hitting students in the first place" Principal Jones countered, his face still in its neutral position.
"Oh please, that boy is fine! That girl on the other hand could learn a manner or two." The woman recoiled.
Rafael laughed under his breathe, only to have to said woman gawk at him in the most offended manner. "How dare you?!" She bellowed "Are you the father?!"
The muscles in Principal Jones' face twitched. "Mrs Hunter" he muttered in a low warning tone.
"I'm just asking!" She shouted "It wouldn't be surprised on where she gets those violent tendencies from!"
Rafael jaw dropped "Excuse me?"
Fuming, Principal Jones shot out of his seat and slammed his hands onto the table. "Mrs Hunter!" He roared.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Rafael questioned her, using all of his might to not slam her against the wall.
"Mrs Hunter that is enough!" Principal Jones thundered with Mrs Hunter slowly turning her head, every inch of her body tense, to face him. If looks could kill, both men would be in heaven right about now. "Your son was violating against the school policy and you should be thankful that we're not giving him a permanent suspension! Now maybe take what I said into consideration and teach your son some manners!"
Mrs Hunter's whole face turned Crimson, as her breathing became heavier and her brows furrowed, nearly touching the bridge of her nose. "How dare you tell me how to parent!" she howled "And what about that girl?-"
"I understand you're angry about Juniper hitting your son, but you must understand that it was for the defence of a younger student!" he bellowed, his knuckles turning white "You're lucky that the parents of that young boy didn't press charges!"
The woman gawked again, her grip tightening on Trent's arm and it began to turn purple. "This is unbelievable" she snarled "My son gets a two week suspension and that girl gets nothing!"
Principal Jones noticed that if this carried on, he was certain that the office would end up in flames not too soon. He literally swore flames in that mad woman's eyes. "Mrs Hunter, maybe its best you leave and cool off" Principal Jones replied coolly.
Mrs Hunter huffed, her grip easing up on Trent as she flipped her hair and began to walk out of the office, but not before turning to Rafael and sending him the most life threating glare that he had ever seen. "If this happens again, you'll be hearing from our lawyers" she hissed and stormed out.
Principal Jones had heard this, as he let out another "Mrs Hunter!" before she finally walked out, her heels thundering against the floor.
Outside the office, a young girl hung her head low, making sure that no one could see her face. She was about the same age of Trent, with long dark blonde hair, pale skin dusted with freckles, and deep sea-blue eyes that were glued to the ground. She wore a denim blue jacket over an indigo blouse that was sewn onto a long skater skirt of the same colour that reached down to her knees that was made out of a stretchy yet smooth material. And to finish off the look, she wore black leggings with black trainers. On her left bruised hand were specks of green and blue that had dried into her skin, she ran her other hand over them as she tried hard to forget that awful thing that she did today. She knew he deserved, but that didn't get rid of that gut-wrenching feeling of guilt that built up inside her.
The door of the principal's office flew open, before slamming with an ear-bleeding shut, and Juniper glued her eyes to the ground. She felt the harsh glare of Mrs Hunter's eyes firing holes into the top of her head. If she had to think irrationally, she was definitely sure she would let her son kill Juniper in her sleep. As she heard the clicking of her heels leave the room, she felt something tumble into her hands. She then noticed the piece of crumpled paper in her hands, before she looked up, her eyes wide, noticing Trent menacing smirk as he left with his mother. She opened up the small ball, reading the words that were scribbled onto it. Her eyes then began to sting as she crumpled it back up again.
She then heard Rafael speak a few final words to Principal Jones before gently closing then door and made his way over to Juniper. It wasn't long before he discovered the piece of paper in her hands and crouched down to her level and gently placed a hand on hers. "What's that?" he asked quietly, but loud enough to now make it a whisper. Juniper said nothing. "Juniper" his tone was more authoritative this time. Knowing that he needed an answer, she held out the crumpled paper and he carefully took it from her hands. What he read next made his heart shatter.
Orphan freak!
He stood up and walked back into the office as Juniper stared at him with the same wide-eyed expression. He exited it again and beckoned her to stand. "Come on" he said with a smile "Let's go."
In the car, Juniper was silent the whole time, doing nothing put trace her hand down the car window as little rain drops stopped to fall down the glass. Rafael didn't want to say anything in case a fight broke out between them and would both end up in an accident. Ever since Juniper joined the school in January, Trent and his goons proceeded to give her a terrible time. From putting gum in her hair, to tripping her up, spitting on her, threats of violence and telling everyone that she had a violent nature. While she was never violent and repeated the same behaviour to defend herself from Trent, Juniper did have the tendency to start a fight with Trent when he was hurting other students. Maybe it was because she would try to protect other children in her previous foster homes if they got hurt, but it still didn't help with the rumours that the students in that school would spread.
Rafael pulled up into the driveway of their home and helped Juniper out of the car. As they made their way into the house and hung up their jackets, he suddenly heard small sniffles behind him and turned around to see Juniper in tears. "I'm sorry!" she croaked "I shouldn't have hit him, I'm so sorry!"
"Hey it's okay!" said Rafael, as he went over to embrace her. He led her to the couch where he let her cry more into his shoulder. "It's going to be okay, don't worry" he soothed.
"He was hurting someone else!" she sobbed "I tried to take your advice, try to stay out of it but I couldn't help it, he was threatening to hurt him!"
"I know" said Rafael "It sucks to have those kinds of people in school. And to be honest, the world would be so much better if they were like that. But they do and I'm glad you stood up for that boy."
"No you're not" Juniper sniffed.
"Yes I am" said Rafael "I'm might be might that you hit Trent but I am so glad you weren't a bystander."
Juniper sniffed again and rubbed her blood shot eyes as she stared up at him. "Really?"
"Yeah" said Rafael "When I was in high school, there were these boys who wouldn't stop bothering this girl. Each day she came into school became worse and worse until one day, she didn't show up. We kept waiting for her to but she never came. We even began to suspect the worst. The only people who were happy about it were the people who pestered her. I wish I could've done something but I didn't. Which is why I'm so glad you stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves. You're amazing Juniper, never let them take that away from you."
Juniper nodded and hugged Rafael one more time before asking "Does this mean you're not sending me back into the system."
Rafael's heart dropped as he stared at the young girl in front of him with disbelief. "Why would you think that?" he asked back.
Juniper sighed sadly and began to explain. "This happened in one of my previous foster homes. I kept beating up kids who were hurting other people and no one told me what I was doing was wrong so I kept doing it. Until one day, out of nowhere, they began to scream at me about how I was some priceless orphan that they could send back into the system. And they did…they sent me back." She rubbed her eyes again. "I'm sorry; you probably didn't need to hear that…"
Rafael then engulfed her into a big bear hug and rubbed her back slowly. "I'm not sending you back into the system just because of some little fight" he soothed "You're here and here to stay until you say otherwise."
Juniper chuckled and gently pulled herself out of the hug. "Thanks Raf" she smiled, before grabbing her bag and heading up the stairs. "I just have to finish some paintings before I go to support group!"
"Okay" said Rafael, as he smiled "It's fish for dinner, is that fine?"
"Yeah that's fine!" Juniper replied at the top of the stairs before shutting her bedroom door.
Rafael smiled before heading into the kitchen. Before he stared cooking, he took a white half of a Ying and Yang necklace from his shirt. He didn't have the other half, but he held onto the white half, half of the piece that the tormented girl from his youth gave him. It had his initials carved into the white wood with golden writing. A tear of his own then fell down his cheek as he gripped the counter. "I'm so sorry" he whispered, before gathering himself up and began to prepare dinner for himself and his foster daughter.
After she finished her dinner, Juniper headed back upstairs to finish her paintings. She sat on her stool painting on her canvas, wearing a light blue paint stained blouse with rolled up sleeves and shorts that came down to her knees covered with specks of colour. After she finished, she quickly put somewhere in her room to dry and quickly changed back into her normal clothes. Although she quickly packed the blouse and shorts into her bag as she knew that she'd be heading out to the workshop after support group. Rafael's friend Sam always let them come every Friday night after support group to let Juniper tinker while Rafael got the chance to sit down and have coffee or a cup of tea after a long week.
Juniper loved everything that had to do with creating. Whether if it was to paint over a scratch on a cup, or building something completely new, she would always take up the chance to do it. Besides, it was kind of stress relief for her and she was really close with Sam.
"Are you ready Juniper?!" Rafael called from downstairs.
"Yes, I'm coming!" Juniper hollered back. She scampered down the stairs and walked out the door to the car.
This car ride was much better than the drive home from school. This time, Juniper was just relaxing while listening to the music on her phone. It was times like this where Rafael was thrilled that he decided to foster her, she was just really sweet and made him feel relieved that she could be a real teenager while not needing to worry about getting hurt. A lot of people from work often asked if he was going to adopt her or not. Although he always said that he would think about, his mind always swayed to say yes to those questions. He really, really wanted to adopt her.
They pulled outside the church, Rafael pulled out the car keys while Juniper began packing up her phone before exiting the car and making their way into church. Once they were inside, they went down a small flight of stairs and opened the door of the basement. A woman in her mid-twenties, a brown bob and olive eyes turned her head to their direction and shot them a sweet smile. "Hi Juniper" her voice was quiet, as if she didn't want to intimidate the kids who came here "So glad you could join us."
"Hi Natalie" Juniper returned her smile and turned her gaze to the four other teenagers who sat in plastic chairs in a circle. There was Gigi, Megan, Ben and Michael. Rafael put a hand on Juniper's shoulder and she looked up at him. "I'll pick you up in an hour, okay?" he asked, although not needing an answer.
"Okay" Juniper smiled and went to grab a chair of her own. She began to feel nervous as soon as Rafael left, but tried to ignore it as she sat in the circle.
"I know we do this every time" Natalie began "But we're going to start off with saying our names and saying why we're here."
"My name is Gigi and I'm here because people would make fun of me because I brag." The first girl mumbled. Gigi has medium length red hair, green eyes and freckles that dusted over her ivory skinned nose. She wore a plain white shirt and old denim jeans and a green jacket mad out of some type of waterproof material even when it wasn't raining.
"You don't brag Gigi" Natalie informed her calmly "People were jealous of you doing so many sports that they tried to make you quit by bringing down your confidence." Gigi looked at her blankly, not believing a word she was saying and crossed her arms as she sank in her chairs. Gigi was the local tomboy at the school who was talented in the sports department, especially at swimming. Trent began to grow jealous and played mind games with her, making her believe that her confidence was her bragging that she was better than everyone else. Soon she began failing at her sports due to the lack of confidence and was eventually kicked out of the team of her favourite sport.
"My name is Megan and um…" The second girl immediately shut her mouth, scared to keep speaking. Megan has coffee dark skin with brown eyes and large hair that fell into dozens of ringlets. She was very bony as if she hardly ate a thing. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt that was covered by a pink velvet overall dress that reached to her knees. Megan hated speaking about why she came here, as she hated being reminded of what happened to her. Trent and his goons would make terrible comments about her race and took advantage of her kindness by making her do his homework for him, threatening her with violence if she didn't do it right.
"My name is Ben and I'm here because I was made fun of 'being too smart'." Ben had warm beige skin, black hair and grey eyes. He was the tallest out of all of them and sat, stood and even slouched with a straight posture. As if it would kill him if he ever slouched. He wore a dark blue blouse tucked into the waist of his denim jeans, not a single crinkle in sight. Ben was one of the smartest boys in school and even began tutoring students, even Megan – he even had a bit of a crush on her at the time - they were like two big soft teddy bears when they were near one another. Unfortunately, Trent 'warned' him about how this was taking away his masculinity and punished him by spreading rumours about how he only did it for the money and lied about terrible comments that Ben never truly said. Worst of all, he broke Megan's heart and the two never spoke since.
"My name is Michael and I'm here because people wouldn't address me with the correct pronouns." Michael had honey coloured skin, warm brown eyes and black hair that curled at the top. He wore a red checked blouse with two buttons open at the top to reveal a white shirt and black jeans. Ever since he started high school, he hid the fact that he was female at birth. But in his mind, he had always been a boy. Eventually, word got out to Trent and he began to mis-gender and turn everyone against Michael. That was how Juniper gave Trent his first nosebleed.
Every head turned to Juniper, who suddenly jumped as she remembered why everyone else was there in the first place. "My name is Juniper and I'm here because Trent would mock me because I'm an orphan." She fiddled with her fingers.
"Thank you Juniper" Natalie smiled and continued.
Halfway through, Juniper continued to become more nervous. Was it the guilt of punching Trent earlier, was it coming back to eat her up? Suddenly she couldn't keep it in any longer and cried "I punched him!"
All four teens, excluding Juniper, and Natalie turned their heads into her direction. They all had a confused looks mixed with concern on their faces, with Natalie's having more concern. "What do you mean Juniper?" she asked, her voice like silk.
Great she thought they all think you're crazy, well done Juniper, you're now making your rumours become real. "I-I punched Trent again today" she stammered nervously "He was threating to beat up another kid and my instincts took over."
Juniper opened and closed her fists. Her left one felt difficult to move. "I don't know why I'm still like this" said Juniper "I don't feel bothered when he insults me, but when he does it to someone else I just become so…mad."
Natalie's lips formed a straight line, before smiling with sad eyes. "It's okay to defend people who can't defend themselves" she said "But sometimes, we have to do it in a way that doesn't affect us or the people we want to protect. And the reason you feel angry towards Trent for hurting others and not you is because you care. And that's what makes people good. You're okay Juniper. You're a good person."
Juniper returned the smile with her own sad one, taking a deep breath and leaning softly into her chair as Natalie continued with the session.
As soon as support group, Juniper ran out and rushed into the car, excitement bubbling inside her. "Hurry up Raf!" she called to her foster father.
Rafael chuckled and shook his head as he sat into the driver's seat and started the car. "So I'm guessing therapy was alright?" he asked.
"It was great!" Juniper beamed.
Thank god! Rafael thought to himself. When he first told Juniper that she had been signed up for support group, she had a panic attack thinking that Rafael thought something was wrong with her. All was resolved after her first night and she came out with a fresh perspective, it was quite clear that she had never been to support group before and got the attention that she not only deserved, but definitely needed.
After a small drive, they finally arrived at Sam's workshop, where he greeted the teen with open arms. Apart from the teasing from school, if you told the Juniper a few months ago that she would feel at home with Rafael and the people he knew, she would tell you to go away and to stop playing games with her. But now, she was close to trusting the people that Rafael called his family and would feel obliged to do the same herself. Then she would tell herself that she was thinking ahead and had to slow down for reality to catch up with her.
Sam ran a local store that sold a bunch of animal essentials; including horse gear like saddles, reins and all that other stuff. During his spare time however, he would help Juniper with her creative mind and let her help him with making the saddles and other gadgets that she would come up with. He had short light brown hair, ivory skin and green orbs for eyes. He wore a white shirt and old jeans and trainers whenever he and Juniper would build something together. He even gave Juniper a spare key to the workshop if she wanted to work on something without him.
He sat with her at the wooden bench in his workshop while Rafael went into his built-on kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He trusted his best friend with the young girl so he felt safe while roaming around his cupboards. However one of the problems with Sam's house was "Ow!" Rafael cried out and pouted when he saw the tiny fleck of wood sticking out of his finger. "Stupid splinters."
"Sorry Raf!" Sam called from the workshop while Juniper sketched out another gadget she wanted to make one day.
"What about a mug that can heat up on its own?" Juniper pondered out loud to Sam, tapping the rubber end of her pencil against her cheek as she looked up to the ceiling "Y'know, in case your drink gets cold and you could heat it back up and vice versa?"
"What about an invention that can remove splinter-OW!" Rafael called from the kitchen as he tried to prod the splinter out with a needle on the counter – Sam often got splinters of his own in his kitchen.
"Seriously though" said Juniper "You're going to need to get your kitchen fixed up."
"I know" Sam sighed "But I keep coming up with ideas to work with you my little protégé!" He teased her and ruffled her hair.
"Hey!" Juniper exclaimed with a grin "I'm not that short! I'm average height! It's cause I keep hanging out with you two tall dorks."
"Agree to disagree" said Rafael, who had successfully taken the splinter out and relaxed into a chair at the other side of the workshop "You are rather short."
Juniper mumbled a groan "At least I can kick Trent's butt any time I want."
"You shouldn't" said Rafael in a warning tone.
"I know I shouldn't" said Juniper, a grin creeping onto her face "I'm just saying I could."
Rafael shrugged in agreement and sipped his tea. An idea then suddenly came to mind and he spoke up "Hey Juniper?" the girl turned round to face him "I'm going up to a nature reserve tomorrow for a girl scouts camp to perform a lobotomy on a frog and you would like to come and get some inspiration for your art?"
"Will we be staying in a cabin for a full weekend?" she asked.
"Yeah" Rafael replied.
"That depends" she said coolly, until her face shone and a smile spread across her face "Will Naomi be there too?"
Rafael chuckled. Out of all the people that Rafael introduced her to; somehow Naomi was Juniper's favourite. The woman had blonde hair that spilled over her shoulder, deep brown eyes that you could get lost in, baby pink lips and beautiful smooth Snow White skin. She wore no make-up but everyone who worked with her thought she was beautiful, and Rafael had to agree. "Yes, she will be there" he smiled.
Juniper fist pumped, nearly falling off the bench if it wasn't for Sam catching her and she continued with her drawing.
"Bye Sam!" she called before climbing into the car. The car ride was very quiet, but they were both used to that now.
Once they arrived home, Juniper packed her bags for the nature reserve and started getting ready for bed. This included a small hot shower, brushing her teeth and finally putting her long hair in a braid before putting on her pyjamas and hopping into bed. As she stared up at the moonlit ceiling, she eyes started to droop and she fell asleep with a smile on her face. Who knew a bad start to the day would lead to a peaceful night?
At the crack of dawn, Juniper was already awake and in the shower, scrubbing herself clean and brushing her teeth. She calmed down a bit while she was getting dressed into her normal clothes and remained that way while making breakfast. She watched Rafael gawk at her speed before sitting down and eating with her too.
She managed to remain patient while Rafael was getting ready, but grabbed him by the hand the minute he came downstairs with his suitcase and were already in the vehicle and heading down the road.
When they arrived, Juniper was finally calm and her natural smile remained on her face as calmness settled into her body. As they were unloading the car, they perked up when a familiar blonde was walking towards them. "Hang on" she smiled with a confused expression "Are those my two favourite people?"
"Naomi!" Juniper grinned back as Naomi walked over to her and gave her a hug "It's so good to see you."
"You too" said Naomi, pulling away from the hug before frowning "Are people still calling you short?"
Juniper pouted and nodded with an "Mmhmm" as Naomi giggled sweetly, like a soft song and her eyes twinkled in the sunlight.
Rafael could only look on at the two girls with bliss. Why did Naomi have to be so damn cute all the time? Was she really trying to kill him with cuteness? His thoughts were interrupted when Naomi went up to hug him. She was so frail in his arms. When she was standing on her own, she stood tall and confident, but whenever she hugged him she always gave off the impression of being fragile and breakable. Yet every day, she was always prepared to dig around the insides of a new person in surgery. "How are you doing Raf?" she asked during their hug.
"Good" he replied "You?"
"Eh, you know" she answered; he could feel her gesturing with her hands "Been there done that. Kind of been bored for the last few days but hey what can you expect from a boring person?"
"Oh you are anything but boring" he replied, not meaning to smell the faint aroma of coconut from her hair.
Juniper stood there awkwardly, but not wanting them to break on the ongoing hug. That went away a minute later and it just became only awkward for her just standing there doing nothing. She let out a cough and the two broke apart, fumbling with their words.
"S-sorry, I um…Yeah I'm just going to head back to my cabin for the evening" she stammered.
"Y-yeah" Rafael shyly agreed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Don't want to appear like a zombie in front of the kids tomorrow!" she laughed nervously.
Rafael laughed back too in the same manner before Naomi walked away after waving goodbye. "Sorry" Juniper mumbled, not meaning for it to become more awkward. She was just trying to make them aware…maybe not aware enough. "Are you going to tell her you like her or not?" she grinned.
"What?" Rafael chuckled "Naomi's just a really good friend."
Oh my god Juniper thought He's obliviously stubborn isn't he?
"Come on" said Rafael "The car isn't going to unload itself!"
Lord help me with these blind idiots she grumbled internally one more time before helping Rafael with the luggage.
The next morning, Juniper was loaded with her drawing pad, her pencils and rubbers, her bag which contained her phone, and a camera provided by Rafael. Although when she woke up, she was mildly nervous going out into the forest on her own due to the fact of the untamed animals out there. But Rafael reassured her by saying that he had asked a ranger and was explained to him that the animals were moved to another forest – apart from birds – for guests who wanted to roam the woodland scenery.
As soon as those fears were put to rest, she bided Rafael goodbye and ventured off into the forest.
While she was away, Rafael had a good time of his own with Naomi. Who couldn't help but laugh giddily whenever the children cooed while they performed their lobotomy. Each doctor that was there was given a group of children; there were four groups in total, so it would be easier to view the lobotomy.
Although he was keeping an eye on his work, Rafael couldn't help but notice the looks that the male grown-ups would give Naomi. He saw her uncomfortable shudders whenever one of the men stared down intensely at her. However, he felt a nerve twitch when he saw one of them lick his bottom lip. That simply crossed the line for him. "You doing okay there Naomi?" he asked, and all the males pulled away their gazes.
"I'm fine" she smiled, but her eyes gave him a sad yet thankful look before continuing her work.
He couldn't help for felt terrible for her. At work in the hospital, the other members of male staff would not stop pestering her to agree for a night out. Although she would give them their just desserts, it did not stop her from maintaining a hurt look throughout the day. He wanted to do more but she always told him that she could handle it. But how much longer could she take? That was the question he always asked himself.
As Juniper continued on the path, she couldn't help but always stop to take a deep breath. It was just so beautiful out here. The ambience of birds tweeting set the atmosphere just perfectly. She raised the camera up towards the canopy of the trees, with the bright sun glistening through and took a picture. The picture slid out of the bottom of the camera, before Juniper gently took it out and waved it to dry before putting it in her notepad.
That was when she heard a twig break. She froze on spot and her stomach twisted and pulled into knots. Gripping her camera tightly, she whipped round and nearly screamed when she saw none other than…"Trent?" she breathed, although the very thing was starting to become quite hard to do.
The boy's lips twisted into a smirk as he leaned against the tree. "That's me."
All Juniper wanted to do was scream. She wanted to do nothing more than screech until her throat stung and there were people were there to help her out. But help her out with what? If she did that, she would be seen as overreacting and getting this wretched boy into trouble for no reason. "W-wh-why" why was she finding it hard to talk? And why did she suddenly start sweating? It wasn't that hot. "Why are you here?"
"My mother took me up here" he replied "To get away from the stress of school."
Stress? HE'S STRESSED?! Why this ignorant little!-
"You know what that's like" he sneered "Right orphan?"
It took all her willpower to grip her jaw tight shut than not to growl and make a fool out of herself. "Of course" she replied dryly "Whatever floats your boat."
"You wouldn't mind me being here" he grinned, a bit of green showing between his gums "Right orphan?"
Juniper inhaled sharply "Of course not" she said through gritted teeth. So much for making a fool out of herself. She turned round and resumed to taking pictures, trying to get rid of the fear that settled in the pit of her stomach.
What she didn't hear was Trent removing himself from the tree, walking over to her until he stood behind her silent air flaring from his nostrils. Then with brute strength, he grabbed a hold of her wrist, making her drop everything and forced her to face him. "How dare you for doing that to me you snake" he hissed at her "Making me look like a fool by getting taken out by a stupid orphan freak!"
She tried to punch him with her other fist but he grabbed it before it collided with his skin and pushed it down. "Do you want to know what happens to people who think they can take me out?" he growled, his nails digging deeply into her skin.
"Trent stop you're hurting me!" she yelled.
"Oh you stupid orphan" he chuckled darkly, before all emotion drained from his face "What I do to those people is much worse than having nails being dug into wrists."
In a moment of panic, she used his knee to kick him in his sensitive area and spat right in his face before taking off. She ran on the path for a little while, before tripping and falling down a slope into a part of the forest where she wasn't supposed to go. But she had no choice as she knew that Trent would be hot on her heels.
Fearing for the worst, she stood up and ran. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't care, she just had to find a place to hide or keep running until either she or Trent are forced to stop. She tried to think of a plan, maybe a trap that could fool her attacker. But she was too panicked and too busy thinking of the worst that it clouded her mind. She could feel her heart racing, her lungs burning, the blood thundering in her ears and her ankles were starting to ache. She felt like she was going to give out any minute.
A growl. That's what made her stop in her tracks. This wasn't a growl of a wolf or any other wild animals. No. This growl was unearthly, unnatural, and not normal in the slightest.
A great force hit her on the side of the head during her distraction and she fell to the ground. She touched where she was hit and saw the blood on her fingers. A heavy weight kept her hands and legs trapped as she desperately fought for freedom, but was given a slap to the face for those attempts. Trent then bent down until they were nose to nose and she held her breath. She growled and kept wriggling, not caring about the stinging on the right side of her cheek. The scrape of a knife was heard and her eyes widened with fear as Trent's lips brushed her ear. "This is what happens when you try to take me out" he whispered, before giving her a deafening screech with the word "Understood!"
A cloud of black invaded her vision and the weight was taken off her. She then sat up as quick as she could, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat. In front of her, a creature had Trent pinned to the ground while he let out screams of fear to be let go. The creature was covered with black yet shiny scales, had large wings that resembled those of a bat, two cat-like ears with two smaller nubs as thin as twigs on the insides of its ears and one on each side if its head. She also could make out the blue from the corners of its eyes. Wasting no time, she picked herself from the ground and began to run again.
She continued to run with no idea where to go, until she heard an earth shattering roar that made her trip over a rock, skidding her leg against the rough surface before tumbling down another slope and down through some kind of rock tunnel until she made the edge of a puddle of water. She looked up and so no puddle, but a large pond inside some kind of large, circular ravine enclosed with rock walls.
She heard the roar again and tried to get up, only to be stopped by a sharp pain that shot through her leg. She let out a yell and rolled up her legging, only to be met with a bleeding scar. Hearing the roar again, she limped over to a large rock and hid behind it. This was a bad and dumb idea, but it was the best one she had. She heard large footsteps enter the area and warbles of an unknown animal. It was definitely the one she saw earlier. She could hear the footsteps increase in sound and felt the soft thuds coming towards her. This is it; this is where Rafael, Naomi and all those innocent girl scouts would find her dead body. She could hear sniffing from behind the rock; no doubt it was coming from the creature.
But in a moment of blind curiosity, she could feel her head turning slightly. The creature was only sniffing her; it wasn't blasting her to pieces. What was she thinking, wanting to face the creature that probably blew Trent to smithereens and would no doubt do the same to her! But unfortunately, curiosity killed the cat and she turned round slowly. She then met face to face with the creature as it stared at her with large blue eyes and large pupils that almost dilated to the size of moons.
Juniper let out a gasp and fell onto her backside, trying breathing in and out slowly, but to no avail. The creature then made its way towards her, its pupils slitting slightly as it stared at the girl with curiosity, its hot breath puffing in her face. Juniper squeezed her eyes shut and began to prepare herself for a quick yet painless death. But instead of what she expected, she found the creature was sniffing her face. She opened her eyes and saw the creature making its way up to sniff her hair. Why would it wait to kill her to stop and smell her hair? Maybe it was because of the shampoo and conditioner she used, she could always smell a faint aroma of caramel and vanilla floating around her head. She would also be lying is she didn't say that, with its big blue eyes, the creature looked really adorable, yet so was lion but you don't see anyone stopping to pet it.
Now that she had a closer look of the creature, she knew now she couldn't keep calling it 'the creature'. Due to its size and resemblance, Juniper had no trouble knowing that what stood in front of her…was a dragon.
The dragon then stopped sniffing her hair when it saw the fresh wound on Juniper's leg and let out a small whine. It then made its way over to the edge of the pond before looking back at Juniper. Juniper raised an eyebrow in confusion. What was the dragon up to? The dragon then motioned its head towards the pond as a low grumble gargled in its throat. That's when Juniper caught on; the dragon wanted her to wash her wound in the pond water. With great strength, she picked herself up and limped towards the pond as the dragon eyed her carefully. She sat herself back down again and scooped up handfuls of water and washed the blood of her leg. She didn't want to get the pond water dirty in case it was the only place where the dragon could stay hydrated.
After fully washing the blood of, she quickly took her denim jacket off and pressed it against the wound. The dragon then motioned its head again as if to lift the jacket from her leg. She didn't know if it was the smart choice to take advice from a dragon, but the wound did sting…a lot. She carefully removed her jacket and the dragon licked over her leg. Juniper gasped in surprise and recoiled, tumbling onto her back. The dragon warbled in surprise and made its way over to her. Juniper started to prepare herself again for death, until she felt the stinging slowly fade away. She sat up again and noticed the wound had stopped bleeding. The saliva must've had something to do with it if the pain stopped so suddenly. With a nod, she let the dragon continue.
After a few revolting licks on her leg, the dragon stopped and stared at her again. Juniper took her jacket and fastened it around her leg, tying it tight so it wouldn't fall off. The dragon made some sort of happy noise without moving its lips and walked off, not too far from Juniper, and blew some fire onto the ground. It stomped on it for a little bit and laid down. Juniper was about to stand up to leave, until the fear of Trent settled back into her system. If she left now, there was a good chance that he might still be looking for her. That is if the dragon didn't eat him. Wait a minute, if the dragon ate Trent alive, then why did it waste its timing helping her with her wound rather than gobbling her up right this second?
It didn't make sense.
But Juniper didn't want to question it any further and made what was probably the most stupid and reckless decision that she has ever made in her entire life…she was going to stay with the dragon for a while. She was about to reach for her sketchpad and camera when she realised that she had left them in the woods! Damn it! She couldn't go back though, just in case Trent was still there. Biting her lip in a nervous state, she curled up onto the ground and closed her eyes. Maybe a nap would help clear her mind. She let out a breath and dozed up.
A little while later, she woke up and stretched her limbs. She looked over to look at the dragon…only for the scaly beast to be gone. Had she just dreamt the whole thing? She couldn't have, her jacket was still there as well as the smell of dragon spit. Where could it have gone? She went into her bag and dug out her phone, only to be met with an armada of texts from both Naomi and Rafael.
Where are you?!
Are you okay?!
Trent just appeared from the woods, screaming that you were both attacked by a dragon!
Juniper please text me back!
Juniper gulped, thinking of the conversation she would have with the two adults. Hi Naomi, Hi Raf! Sorry I couldn't text you back because Trent tried to attack me and a huge dragon attacked him back and helped me with a huge scar on my leg with magical spit!
She grumbled and stood up and walked to the exit of the ravine, noticing that the sharp pain on her leg had now fully disappeared. Her breath caught in her throat as she climbed out. She noticed that the pale yellow from the bright sun had faded into an orange colour with a hint of pink sky. How long was she asleep for? No wonder Naomi and Rafael were bombarding her with texts!
After finding the path again, making sure Trent was truly gone, picking up her stuff – including a broken camera – she found the exit of the forest. The police were there, as well as an ambulance, Trent with his mother squeezing him and Rafael and Naomi tightening their grips on each other's hands. Rafael looked up and let out a cry of relief as he ran up to Juniper and gave her a bone-crushing hug. "Where have you been?" he cried "There was a search party in the forest and they said they couldn't find you?!"
"I'm so sorry Raf!" Juniper cried back "I got lost and I hurt my leg!"
Naomi ran up and joined the hug, Juniper could feel her shaking, or was that her? "Trent says that you were attacked in the woods by a dragon!" Naomi exclaimed "Is that true?"
"Well not really attacked" said a police officer as he walked up to him "Doctor's said that he wasn't injured but he did look like he was in shock."
What could Juniper say? The dragon certainly didn't hurt Trent, and he had no injuries. Plus the dragon did help her. Did the dragon really just scare Trent in order to get him to leave Juniper alone? Juniper gulped, it was now or never.
"There was no dragon" she answered "But Trent did try to attack me in the woods with a pocket knife, he had me pinned down and I couldn't move. Luckily I fought him off and found refuge. Unfortunately it was in a different part in the woods."
The officer eyed her leg with the bloody jacket and held up a plastic bag containing the pocket knife. "Is this it?" he asked. Juniper nodded.
"My son would do no such thing!" Trent's mother screeched.
"Ma'am this knife has your son's fingerprints on it" the police officer explained "And the girl came back from the woods with an injury."
"Actually I tripped but Trent still attacked me" Juniper mumbled. It wasn't a complete lie but she didn't want to fully push Trent under the bus.
"See!" His mother screamed "You have no proof!"
"Ma'am" said the officer "The knife is all we need to know that your son attacked this girl and was making up the dragon story. We're going to need a few questions with you young man."
"This is outrageous; my son is a good kid!" She yelled as the officer led him away "My lawyers will hear about this, did you hear me?!"
Juniper sighed, though she didn't know why. Was it relief, fear or just stress? She didn't know. Naomi led her over to the ambulance and sat her down before removing her jacket. There, on her leg, was the scar all fully healed.
"Woah" Naomi breathed "You got this today?"
"Weird" said Rafael, walking up to the girls "Her leg wasn't injured yesterday, how did it heal so fast?"
Juniper bit her lip and her stomach flipped and danced around. She gave them a confused shrug while Naomi checked her over and spotted the dried cut on her head from where Trent hit her. Rafael told her that they would be going home that night, saying that her own bed would help her with what happened today. Although Juniper nodded in true agreement, a little part of her curiosity wanted to stay and search for the scaly beast that slept in the unsearched part of the woods.