A/N Hey everyone, here's a new year treat =D Hope you all had/have a great New Years Day/Eve. Hope you like the story =D Oh, I've changed the ages, they're all about three years older
Thanks to PrincessJaded =P My Beta. You should check out her stories as well, I love them.
Thoughts are in italics, like 'this'
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Soccer practice had just finished. A young girl, about fourteen years old, followed her team into the changing rooms. She pulled her auburn hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall to its full length; just above the bottom of her rib cage. Her hazel eyes flicked around the room. There was only one shower left. Quickly she made a beeline for it. Another girl, with long blonde hair shoved past her and took the shower. The girl cast her eyes down and wandered to her bag, in big letters along the side of the bag it read 'Keri Hashimoto'. She'd have to wait a while for a shower now. There was no point staying, she could just have one at home.
Keri pulled a blue bandana with red and white patterns out of her bag. She tied it around her head and tucked the end of the triangle under the knot. Sitting on the bench she pulled her boots off and replaced them with sneakers. After putting her boots in her sports bag she slung the bag over her shoulder, and pocketed her cell phone. Then she left without saying a word.
Feeling her cell phone vibrate in her pocket she pulled it out.
There was a new message 'Will you start?'
'Will I start what?" Keri thought.
Under the message were two words, 'Yes,' and 'No.'
She clicked yes and the phone started speaking to her, "Catch the five thirty train to Shibuya."
Looking at her watch, she started to run; it was five twenty already. She made it to the station, bought a ticket and jumped on the train, just as it was about to leave. After getting off at Shibuya Keri's cell phone told her to take the elevator down to the basement. She did as the phone said. The elevator got down to the basement, and kept going.
"What the-" Keri murmured slowly.
Eventually the elevator crashed onto the bottom and the doors opened. Keri jumped out, glad to be in a bigger area. She looked around; it seemed like a train station, with lots of trains, all different colours and all pointing in different directions. There were heaps of kids around, her age, older and younger.
'It's up to you now. Which one will you choose?' The cell phone said.
Keri threw the phone back in her pocket and pulled the strap of her bag over her head so it ran diagonally along her chest. She walked up between two trains, a blue one, and a silver one. Turning her head from side to side she tried to decide which one to go on. The young girl jumped on the blue train just before the clock stroked six and the doors closed. There was no one else in the carriage with her. Dumping her bag on the seat she opened it up. There was a towel, shampoo, conditioner, a brush, clothes, deodorant, a small first aid kit, a soccer ball, a small wooden dagger, a drink bottle and food in it. Checking for a second time that no one was around, Keri got changed into navy Asics pants, a loose black t-shirt and a zip-up, plain blue top.
Sitting on the seat, Keri pulled out her dagger and ran her fingers along it. It was reddish-brown wood. Almost like a wooden sword, but not the cliché ones you see in movies. A real dagger, only, it was made of wood, so not as sharp. Less than a foot long, about twenty centimeters it had a straight hilt that fit perfectly to her hand. The blade was about twice the length of the hilt. There were spiral and ivy patterns all along it, carved by hand, by her father before he had died. 'My last gift to you,' he had said, 'one day, you will use it, and you will understand.'
Keri never understood what he meant. Understand what? And why would she understand when she used it?
Carefully she placed it back in her bag and zipped it up; maybe she would find out one day.
The train jerked to a halt before speeding up again on a lumpy track. Keri flew down to meet the floor as the train bumped up and down.
'Ah shit! This isn't normal for a train!' she thought as light filled her pocket.
Keri reached in to pull out her cell phone; instead she held a small green device, almost the size of her cell phone, but with fewer buttons.
"This is your D-Tector," the device said; it sounded just like her cell phone did.
'This just keeps getting weirder by the minute.'
As the train ride smoothed out Keri shoved her D-Tector back in her pocket and forgot about it. Climbing back onto the seat, she began to doze off.
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Keri hit the ground with a thud. The train had opened up and tipped its seats, dumping her and her bag beside the tracks.
"Ride's over."
Keri sat on the ground, her mouth forming a small 'o' as the train drove away.
"It just, talked."
She winced as she stood up, 'that's going to bruise,' and grabbed her bag.
'Well, I ain't in Kansas anymore,' Keri looked around, 'not that I was in Kansas in the first place.'
The station looked to be completely made of metal. There were furnaces dotted everywhere with small fires in them. Half a dozen train tracks met up in the station after travelling over huge holes in the ground. Gingerly Keri sneaked up to the edge and peered over. She gasped and scrambled away. There was nothing, as far as she could see, no end to it.
"I don't think I want to be here," she whispered.
She stood up and walked away, tears threatening her eyes. There had to be some way to get home, but the train had gone and there was no way she was walking on the tracks; she hated heights.
'Aw, why did I have to listen to my stupid phone? That's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever done, almost. I should've just gone back after soccer practice, like I was supposed to but noo. I was curious, I was nosy. And you know what they say, 'curiosity killed the cat'. I wanted to break the rules, stay out longer. Well, I think I'll be staying out for a while. Maybe they'll just forget about me. That'd be heaven.' Keri looked around, she hadn't even noticed where she was walking, 'And here I am, stuck in some forest, talking to myself. It's official; I really am insane along with everything else. They were right.'
Reaching into her pocket Keri pulled out her mp3, 'No point in being bored and lost, right?'
Putting in one earphone she turned it on and began to sing along in her head,
'When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.'
There are times when all the world's asleep,
the questions run too deep
for such a simple mind.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.
Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!
At night, when all the world's asleep,
the questions run so deep
for such a simple mind.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.
Keri pulled her soccer ball out of her bag and started bouncing it and kicking it as she walked. 'I may as well have some fun before I go back.'
'Things are starting to accelerate into something, never stopping always trouble bubbling –'
'Oh, this is so stupid!'
Keri kicked the soccer ball a bit too hard and it flew off into the forest. Quickly she ran after it only to stop dead as it rolled into a cave. It looked more like the entrance to a ruin than a proper cave.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Keri started to shake as she stared at the door way.
There was barely any light inside and she could hear the echoes of her ball getting further away. Keri wanted her ball back but she wasn't sure if she was willing go in there to get it.
'Okay, I am not scared, I'm not scared, I'm not terrified of this hole in the wall,' she thought as she crept towards it, 'Okay, I admit it, I'm scared shitless.'
Slowly she walked inside. Her soft footsteps echoed around and ghostly light filtered through cracks in the rock. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her dagger and held it tightly in front of her. It made her feel a little more confident.
"I can do this, I can do this."
Descending down the stairs, she spotted her ball lying in a dusty corner. She hurried forward and missed a step. The crashes echoed throughout the cave. Eventually she landed at the bottom. Through the whole fall she hadn't loosened her grip on her bag strap or her dagger, resulting in several bruises and what felt like a broken or near broken thumb.
"Oh, I can't do this."
Ignoring where she was, she trudged over to her ball and grabbed it, "This is all your fault."
A noise echoed through the cave. This time it wasn't Keri. She spun around, her back against the wall, shaking. Her eyes darted frantically around, searching for any sign of where the noise came from. There was another echo and Keri shrunk back into the corner, sliding down the wall.
"No," she murmured, "no, no, go away."
The echoes stopped. Keri glanced up from her ball, it was still dark, so dark. She hated the dark, ever since she was a child. There were voices in the distance, but they didn't echo. They were coming from outside the cave. Cautiously Keri stood up and wandered back up the stairs, holding tight to her ball and knife. She wondered who it was. Maybe the other kids had found her, or maybe it was the adults. Either way, she didn't want to be found.
Light poured through the doorway lighting up the entrance. Keri raised an arm, hiding her eyes. After being in the dark the light was blinding. She stumbled up the last few stairs and hid to the side of the entrance, peering out.
There were four people. She knew one of them, Takuya. He played soccer. Keri always called him goggle-head. There were two more boys. One about sixteen, slightly on the chubby side, with brown hair, wearing blue overalls. The other boy was eleven, also with brown hair, though his was covered by a big orange hat, and he was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts. The fourth member of the party was a blonde girl, about fifteen. Almost everything she was wearing was purple; a purple skirt, purple hat, purple top, dark purple socks. The only other colour was her short white and blue top.
Keri listened to their conversation, picking up on the names. The girl was Zoe. The boys were Tommy and JP. Keri guessed the younger boy was Tommy. Then they mentioned another name, Kouji. Keri knew a Kouji, but, hopefully it wasn't the same one.