Helooooo, peeps. Something to say: I don't own Ninjago. There now, good bye, enjoy.
Nightmares- It is always under your desire. You just don't know it.
-Unknown
"Give me the ball!" The words formed into a murderous clash in my heart, a silent warning that let the consequences flash in my mind unwillingly. I glared at the boy that towered creepily over me like a tower, his eyes flashing with treacherous rage and clutched the shiny red ball tightly around me like it was for life.
"NO!" The scream came out in a definite tone, free of the fear that kept stirring in my stomach.
"I said give me the ball or I'm gonna hit you!"
"I SAID NO!" I screamed, and unleashed a kick as fast as I can, sending a huge effort in his shins, and he cried in pain, backing down and attempting to stable himself with one leg as he cradled the other.
"KAI!"
That miraculous shout froze the boy in front of me, and he barred his teeth at me, hungering for revenge and watched as a young girl, three years older than me with hair as black as mine, cut into Chinese bangs, ran to my side and placed a gentle hand on me, her face with worried features.
"Are you okay, Erica?" She whispered, and I nodded, tears of relief started to well in my eyes as she gave me a protective, warm hug.
"Brother Kai wants the ball." I whispered in a broken tone as she drew back. Nya looked down at the shiny new ball that I got from my parents yesterday, for the Buddha's ceremony. After knowing the situation, she spun around, facing her own brother, gripping fists.
"She's five years old, Kai." Nya said calmly, but her momentum of her breath was dangerous. "Leave her alone."
"I just want the ball! How hard is it, Nya? When would you understand me?" The spiky haired brunette hissed.
"When you start to respect!" Nya retorted, and turned back to me, before ruffling my slightly wavy hair, her lips curving back into a warm, assuring smile that made a calm aura glow around her, and I smiled too, the last of the tears slipping down my face.
Kai growled, and turned, running back to the house, disappearing into the horizon of short wooden houses, the sun already setting, turning the sky into a midsummer purple, the sky of twilight dawning upon the original brilliant blue.
"Don't worry, Erri. Everything's absolutely fine now." Nya whispered, patting me.
I sniffed, the scene of him bullying me still flashing in front of me, torturous and still plunging into my mind like waves of darkness.
Nya looked at my ball, and looked at the sky, hesitation in her eyes. The sky was starting to darken from violet to a calm deep sapphire blue, specks of light surfacing from the blue blanket, the full moon unraveling like a cloth uncovered from a gleaming pearl, signaling the night was approaching. Yet I wasn't planning to go back.
I tugged my foster sister's shirt's edge. "Sister Nya, can you sit with me?"
"Ah?" She turned to me, her face frozen in confusion.
"I wanna watch the full moon. Mom says it's beautiful."
For a moment, she looked down at me wordlessly, and finally broke it with a smile, before nodding. "It is beautiful. Come, let's sit on the cliff and enjoy the night. Then we get to go back to your mother and we get to eat sausages."
"Sausages!" I lit up, my stomach growling at the mention of my favorite food. Getting the luxury of eating meat was rare. Our family wasn't very rich, with my mom working as a pharmacist for the village and my dad as a builder. But we were happy. We get to sleep in proper beds. We get to eat fully everyday. I get love from Nya everyday.
Nya nodded. "Yes, sausages. But now, didn't you want to enjoy the moonlight?"
"Yes!" I nodded and grinned, before leaning on Nya as we traveled into the embrace of the moonlight. We continued for a few moments before she turned back, her eyes sparkling affectionately at me.
"Erica?"
"Yes, sister Nya?"
"Remember, I love you." The words melted into my heart like warm syrup, and a thrilled gleam of happiness surged into my veins.
"I love you too, Sister."
I looked back.
My speed was of nothing for the situation.
He's catching up.
Faster... faster...
My breath was already snatched by panic, my heart racing in a wild pace.
My veins leadened, like they here not of use anymore. No longer able to pump blood to my heart.
My legs had been pressed with heat so much that it felt like it was twice the weight.
Yet there was no way of stopping.
The voice had faltered from me long ago, my voice no longer a tool to my defense.
Finally, his monstrous grasp seized my shoulders, and I was pinned to the hallway wall. The remaining of my energy quickly leaked out as I made the desperate attempt to thrash in my position, before surrendering silently, letting my body relax.
'Well, lookie lookie there, a new student.'
I groaned. So much for a happy first day of entering high school.
The bully, his blond hair mowed to a military shave, made his face look like a misshapen rectangular. The emerald eyes of his was completely shaded with the need of violence. His massive hands, like they were forged to the state of steel, was grabbing my yellow jacket collar with a iron grip. His body a state of a athlete, so terrifying I had to gulp.
All I did was unintentionally annoy him by stepping on his shoe laces and made him smash his face to the ground. It was, supposedly, his fault that he didn't tie his shoelaces up, and suddenly all the blood of blame were spat on me with a growling face.
Okay, fine, I have a fault here too, for me being foolishly careless that I didn't notice I was stamping on a big bully's sneaker shoelaces. Of all the people's shoelaces I can stamp on.
I can hear the murmurs breaking the hushed, fearing silence that hung when another victim of this guy got held up again. I watched as he still held me to the collar like a mother cat biting on a little kitten's neck, and brought me to the locker hallway. As soon as he did, he scanned for mine, the shiny new blue locker that was smack in the middle of it all, with my name printed neatly on the tag that solely decorated it.
A wave of realization flushed into my mind, planting panic into my mind, the instincts finally screaming my punishment into my mind.
I wanted to scream, but as I feared, no sound came out. I wanted to thrash, but no energy was left to support me.
As he tore the lock open, he smashed me into the locker, and slammed it back on. "Happy hiding, loser!" He sneered, before slamming the door shut, banishing all light except a few rays seeping from the edges of the door, and I heard a new lock clicking back.
I muttered a curse as I shifted, tried to make some space in. Thank god the locker was wide enough to arouse only the smallest pinch of my claustrophobic personality, or else I would've been dead panicking here, inside. My heart soothed back to a slightly calm rhythm, and I breathed a long sigh of relief.
At least I'm not being shoved into the principal's office.
I sighed. I wonder if every student here has the same first day of school experience, then my soul flitted through slits of memories and comparisons as I stood still in my locker.
I rested my head on my hand, and let out a exasperated sigh. This is exactly according to the 'adventures' the stars have when they hit high school in the TV shows. Getting dumped, being so unpopular, and suddenly some miraculous light pulls them out of the hall of shame and became the King/Queen of the high school. Well, I chuckled, this might happen to me, but I don't think the King/Queen thing works for me.
I was supposed to be prepared for this. It's my first day of high school, the first day of my freaking teenage. Well, fine, not really but still... being dumped the moment I came isn't the best thing that can happen to a new student.
Now I have to just wait until someone is willing to unlock the new lock and being me out...
It didn't take me long, because after a few minutes, the noise was filling the locker hall again, and the lights that supplied my sight was temporarily blocked, attracting my sudden attention, when there was a few bangs, before I can see a little again, and the door yanked open, revealing a hunched lady in janitor uniform staring at me like I'm some kind of animal still alive in the butcher shop dangling on one of the hoops, only that she didn't scream.
Slowly, I just averted my gaze from her to break the awkward moment, and crept out of the locker slowly, like I was going out of a police car.
Finally, I thanked the woman, and she nodded blankly, before I ran to the next class that I'm probably missing: Physics.
Thank god the janitor freed me right before the class starts, and I quickly slipped into a empty seat close to the window, and pressed my raven black hair down from the incident, the sudden bully moment scrolling down into my mind, before turning my eyes to the sight beyond the window, filled with tress and grass, the warm, comforting sunlight slipping through the gaps the emerald leaves left out, like yellow banners being shot into the ground from the sky, and peaceful other objects that made me smile.
Soon, I'll be out there, playing among the creatures of nature, restoring my fed up personality in this stuffy environment. The very thought of it had placed a small smile on my lips, so assuring, so promising. Mother Nature is always promising. Not like mine and hers...
My thoughts were shattered by the sudden clatter of a pair of high heels hitting the ground in a fast pace, and I froze, ready to get up and greet the teacher, my hands slipping to the head of the back supporter.
As the clattering grew louder and the students around me slowly fell into a silence, a woman in a tight bun and bright blue jacket with a ruffly cyan skirt, and a yellow high collared shirt. Her eyes were willowy grey, her lips a thin cranberry pink, a angled face, a pointed nose. Her personality was so far still unpredictable, even by her looks.
"Hello, class." She said in a sweet voice, and I softened, my hands extracting from the chair, and I settled down. "Well, I see everyone's having a good day. My name is Mrs Raynee, it's a pleasure to teach you guys." Her smile only grew wider, honeysweet. Instantly favoriting her, and I smiled back, even though I knew she wouldn't acknowledge it. "I can see so many new faces here. Well, congratulations, it's your first day of high school! How are you feeling?"
"I feel old." Someone among the students joked, and the whole class erupted into giggles and chuckles. Even the teacher was grinning, her eyes closed. "Well, get used to that right now, because that makes me feel older."
We laughed again, and the atmosphere was growing lively. I can feel one by one, the hearts were shaded with light from the dust of dullness. I grinned as well, and buried my mouth in my hands.
"Ah, let's start with a small introduction from everyone." She smiled, and scanned the room rapidly. Finally, she pointed to the girl across me a few tables, leaning on the wall across the window. "You start first, sweetie." She purred.
The girl stood up. Her hair was spiky and gracefully straight, the gleams of her hair that streaked under the sunlight and swayed. I was surprised she seemed shorter compared to the average height of all of us, but none of us seem to bother to spare a mean snicker. She wore a grey cotton sweater that seem a few sizes too big for her, but she managed to make it look just right on her. Jeans, sneakers, nothing flashy that caught anyone's eye.
"My name is Taryn McCallister. Nice to meet you all." After that soft speech, she sat down, and slumped her hand on her face, leaning her body towards the wall. Whispers started to spark a sea filled with murmurs around the class like wildfire.
Everyone knows Taryn McCallister. Who doesn't? She's the ever famous daughter of Mother Doomsday, the bestselling comic in Ninjago City. The little genius of the family, there was rumors she can invent things that exist only in scientists's dreams. There was nothing laughable about Taryn making this far, a position in high school when she was supposed to still be in elementary school when the rumors could be true.
After the teacher giving a few moments for the students to register this, she proceeded to the boy next to her. Slowly, the wave moved, and finally, the whole class's attention was turned to me. As I stood up, the sea of eyes followed as well, and I spoke softly. "Hello. I'm Erica Chandra Xeathene. Nice to meet you."
As I sat down, the crowd whispered again, some exchanging smirks, some nudging each other like there was some kind of rumor stirring around here. I bit my lip, my memories streaming to the latest moment where I was shoved into a locker. Ignoring the situation this time, my teacher proceeded to the next person, then the other, and slowly, I lost the attention towards the crowd, drifting back into my painful flashbacks...
"I need to tell you all something." My mom rose from the table which contained me and my dad. Curiosity aroused like a flower's petals shriveling open, a star starting to twinkle in the night as I stared her taking a sip of hot tea.
"My boss had promoted me. I have a new job in the city." At first my mood was enlightened, for the hope for a better environment for all of us grew.
Dad was overjoyed, clapping his massive hands, roughened from the work done as a builder, and rose to place a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Congratulations, love." he whispered. Erica has now a bright future." His smile stretched from ear to ear.
"Yes, she would, but..." She looked at me, her sudden depressed face made me confused all over again. "Why, mama?"
"Since he's desperate and proud of it, he decided to borrow me a suite in the flats until further notice, and Erica gets a scholarship for Ninjago Elementary School. That means..."
Ever since I was three, it was clear that I was gifted with the speed of thinking. Mom says I was able to think out of the box very quickly, but I don't really know what it means. Now, I wished I didn't have that talent.
"Mama...we're... leaving?"
"Yes."
"But what about Nya?"
"I'm sorry, Erica."
Mmmmph, I don't think I like this. Apologies for any terrible grammar. *kneels in extreme apology.*
If you feel interested, please review, fave, whatever crap for more stuff in the next chappie.
P.S Taryn McCallister isn't mine. She's a OC from another author from a collaboration I'm in. I'm just adding her in. XD