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Tip Taps Tip

Chapter: 2

Curses! I should have brought my rain coat. This stupid umbrella is of no use in this rain…or rather storm, not to mention how I'd return this umbrella back to Kris in one piece.
These were the thoughts of a certain green-eyed, blond 10yr old girl coming out of a shop named 'Kris' Boutique'…Maeter Thurston.

Facing the onslaught of the torrential rain, the umbrella was more of burden then help to her. And finally it snapped, the jerk causing her grip to loosen and it blew away into the distant grey skies. Now she stood alone, drenched wet and frowning.

"You useless thing…" she hollered at the disappearing umbrella. In front of her lay a long hazy path.

How am I going to get back home?

She sighed and then placing a hand over her forehead to shield her eyes, she started running. The sound of her footsteps, splashing the water on the pavement, ricocheted off the sides of the empty streets. Not a soul was visible…certainly, an eerie atmosphere.

The rumbling thunder and flashes of lightning wasn't helping and before long she was aimlessly running, looking for a place of shelter. Her destination was no longer her home but any place which could protect her from this downpour. And that's when she heard a faint voice. It was almost masked by the hissing and pattering noises all around but she could still make out the new sound.

"Hey…" came a faint, crackling voice. Maeter stopped, her hands now cupping her ears to enhance her hearing.

"Hello…is anybody there." She shouted back, her eyes blinking as water entered them.

"Hey…" came the voice once again," over here."

Straining her eyes, she tried looking at the spot from where the voice seemed to come. There she saw a small, pale hand waving to her. Cautiously, she made her way across the street and saw that the hand belonged to a hooded figure with a cloak. Judging by the height, it was most probably a kid.

"Follow me" the figure spoke, its voice shrill and deliberately suppressed. The hooded kid started running.

"Hey…hold on…" Maeter shouted and followed it. The kid led her down many twisting and turning alleyways while she struggled to keep her sight on it. Finally, it stopped at the dead end of an alley. Maeter, now panting, stood next to it.

"Where…are…you…taking…me…"

The hooded figure moved a crate from the corner, revealing a perfect hole beneath.

"In here…" the figure spoke in its fake voice.

Maeter stepped forward and peeped down the hole. It was pitch black and seemingly endless.

"Are you nuts? Jump in there?"

"You'll be safe…"

"Who are you?" she questioned.

The figure became still, as if searching for an answer. Meanwhile, Maeter looked around her surroundings and saw nothing but dark walls, not even a window marred its flatness.

Suddenly, she felt somebody grasp her hand and jerk forward and before she knew she was tumbling down the hole. Her vocal cords let loose and she shrieked as she slithered down into nothingness. Just when she thought that her descent was never going to end she saw a bright light, piercingly white and then everything started spinning into darkness.

It was hard to keep ourselves from staring at this boy who looked just like papa. He was astonished on hearing me call him 'papa' but I told him the truth that he did look like papa to which he told that other people said that he looked like some hero, Renton and that's how his name came to be so. I did not reveal that that Renton was in fact our papa. He was obviously unaware about the reason why papa or rather Renton was called a hero. He never knew because he had nobody to ask to, because for as long as he remembers he has always been alone. No family of his own and he lived in an orphanage which barely cared for him. It was saddening to see how this poor kid was yearning for love and when I hugged him I didn't know whether the wetness on my shoulder was from his wet hair or from his eyes. He lived a lonely life. The other kids at the orphanage ridiculed him and teased him. He had no one to call as a friend…and the one he seemingly had was missing. So when Linck and I offered to be his friends, the sparkle of joy in his eyes was something which gave even the observer great happiness. So for the first time we had a friend who didn't care about who we were.

The kid, Renton, now sat on a chair in dry clothes. His eyes fixed on the floor as he fidgeted slightly.

"Is something wrong, Renton? You want something?" Maurice asked

Bashfully, he lifted his head and said,

"C-Could I have something to eat?"

At the mention of food, Maurice's mind immediately reeled on to Maeter. He immediately sprang up, leaving a surprised Renton, and looked outside the window for the sight of her petite figure. When he couldn't spot it, he called up the boutique where he was informed that she had already left.

A sense of panic flooded him as he looked out and saw that the rain had no intentions of slowing down.

"Linck, I'm going out to look for Maeter. Take care of Renton." He shouted as he hurried out to the garage.

Pulling out Renton's (Senior) old bike, which Axel had recovered and repaired, he strapped on his helmet and was about to open the garage door when.

*Tap* *Tap* Tap*

Someone knocked on the door.

Who could it be…?

The first thing which greeted Maeter, apart from the darkness in front of her eyes, as she came to her senses was warmth. She felt warm all over her body. The sound of water splashing, not as in rain, but next to a lake or so reached her. This invoked a thought in her,

How could it be warm? Wasn't it raining?

She opened her eyes and saw an expanse of golden brightness stretching out in front of her. Moving her hand slightly, she felt the ground beneath her.

Sand…? I don't remember seeing sand anywhere in Bellforest.

And that's when it struck her that maybe she wasn't in Bellforest anymore. Immediately, she pushed herself into a sitting position and her eyes were welcomed by the sight of never ending water lapping in front of her. She looked behind and saw a curtain of greenery all around. Groggily, she stood up. She remembered jumping into that hole with that hooded figure.

"Ah…you're finally awake." A sweet and strangely familiar voice came from behind. Maeter turned and saw a girl standing at the edge of the water line. Her eyes went wide at the sight of this little kid.

She looked barely 5yrs old; her skin was pale and had short turquoise hairs which were tied into a lopsided ponytail at the side of her head. But the most striking feature were her eyes, it was lavender, just like…

"Mama…" Maeter whispered in disbelief.

The two girls stood there looking at each other, the older one astonished and the younger one surprised.

Chapter 2 done! Now we know about the two kids so from the next chapter on the actual story will start to shape up. Do tell me your thoughts about this and please, please do review. The favorites and story alerts are fine but reviews assure me that there are some who read and like this. Anyways, thanks for reading!

msé~