Once I left the forest I knew I had to get home somehow, and my parents already said that they were not going to pick me up since I did this anyway. I called my friends but they said they were too busy to come help me. I didn't have any other relatives that I could call either so my only chance of making it home was to walk.
Which really sucks because I live a couple of miles away from the school. I also had to go through the town to get there, this will be a long night. It was already dark when I got to the halfway point home. That was a really bad decision on my part. I started pondering to myself why I didn't talk to him, why I just took off like that. Even though I saw what he did to that deer that doesn't change that he is still my friend. Whatever force led me to walk away must have had a good reason to. Maybe Xeta is taking his families death worse than I thought. I don't really know but I guess he is just in a dark place now, and he needs to get out of it on his own.
Once I finished my debate in my head I noticed that I was entering the bad part of town. But this was the only way to my house so I had to anyway. There were some people on the street but thankfully none of them really paid any attention to me.
Well as it turns out luck really isn't on my side today.
"Well hello there missy, where are you off to at this time of night?" I turned around and got greeted by a guy who was about a foot taller than me. He looked like any old drug dealer that would hang out in these parts.
"I am heading home, and I have to get there soon so if you don't mind," I started to walk away but I noticed there was another guy in front of me.
"Oh come on! There is no reason in being afraid here!" The man behind me said. I ran into the alley that was next to me. I was going to take a right which was a shortcut back to the main street. But there was another guy there. I started backing up into the dead-end of the alley way and hit the wall. I was reaching into my purse when the first guy walked up. He took one of his hand and gently lifted my chin.
"Now listen, we don't want any trouble, if you play nice, and don't do anything stupid I promise it wont hurt," As he said that he didn't notice that I was reaching for the pink pocket knife that Xeta had gotten me as a gift and proceeded to open it.
"You promise?" I asked in a voice that deceived him.
"I do, not all men are that rough young lady," He said.
"Oh really? Well not all women are so gentle!" With that I pulled the knife out and jabbed the man right in the eye. As he screamed I tried to run away but the other two guys were able to grab me and keep me from running away. They held me so that there was no way I could escape. The man who got stabbed in the eye came over to me and held his hand against my cheek. He had a devilish smile that gave off so much rage that I was about to start crying.
" So I can see, well since you are such a tough girl I guess I don't need to be gentle. Hold her, I want to enjoy this," Once he said that I tried to squirm my way out. I tried so hard yet it was no use. He grabbed hold of my shirt and started to pull it off. I just started crying, there was nothing else I could do, they had me and they could do whatever they want to me. It was over.
Or so I had thought. All of the sudden this canine came down from above him and he had kicked him right on top of his head where it bent back behind his neck. The other two let me go and I fell on my knees right next to the canine and the man who was just kicked fell on his back. I looked up at my savior and saw that it was a blue, black, and tan furred canine. He stood on two legs and had spikes on the wrists of his upper paws and one on his chest. The fur on his torso was a bright tan. His arms were blue furred until they zigzagged black at the paws. The upper part of his legs had thick blue fur that made it look like he was wearing shorts. With the rest of his legs being covered in a thin black fur. All of his paws had three digits on them. He had a long blue tail that consisted of half his height, which his height was three-foot eleven. At the end of the tail it curved giving the tail an unusual shape. For the facial features his face formed a black mask that covered the top part of his muzzle with the rest of his face having blue fur. He had tall ears that on the inside had black fur coming out. He had four, black-furred, feeler like things on the back of his head that seemed to float on their own. Then to finish off the look he had crimson red eyes with the irises forming slits.
This creature was nothing like anything I had ever seemed before, the closest thing it resembled was a jackal if that jackal could stand on his hind legs. Around his waist he was wearing a harness that held a sword on his back.
"WHAT THE F*** IS THAT THING!" One of the men screamed.
"KILL THAT FREAK!" The other said.
The men pulled out knives while the canine pulled out the blade he carried. The canine ran up on them and the two men ducked out-of-the-way. But apparently it was a trick because when the canine landed he swung around and kicked one of the men into one of the alley's walls. Then the other guy tried to stab the canine but he tilted his head where the blade went by. The canine grabbed the man hand with his free paw and jumped over to where he had the mans arm was held behind his own back.
With a loud snap it broke that mans arm. Before the man could scream it jumped up and spin kicked the side of the mans head. Then before the other man could recover he ran and jumped to where both of it's legs jabbed themselves into the man's stomach and the mans back hit the wall with so much force it made him cough up blood and knock him out.
I looked at the scene in wonder. Why would this thing save me, what purpose did he have to do this. Maybe he had a grudge against these men and was killing two birds with one stone. It quickly sheathed it's sword and looked me dead in the eye.
My body went stiff, was I it's next victim? I couldn't escape from this thing, it was fast, it was strong, so I did the only thing I could do, wait. It slowly started walking towards me, it's glowing crimson eyes not moving away from me. Then it stopped. It looked down at the guy I stabbed and crouched down. It closed it's eyes and the feelers on the back of it's head lifted again and let out this purplish-blue energy. It then opened his eyes and the feelers fell down. It then blocked my view of the body and I heard a distinctive sound of a knife being removed. It turned around and I saw it had the knife that Xeta had got for me. The knife had blood all over it. But then it did something I didn't expect. He started rubbing the blade on his arm. His fur started getting covered in blood.
He then crouched down in front of me and I shielded myself for the wrath that was sure to come… But it never did. I waited and it never came, I opened my eyes to see he had closed the knife and handed it towards me. Reluctantly I held out my hand and took it from him.
"Thank you," I said. In return I just got a nod. I then saw him have that blue energy fill his paw and he held it on the parts of his fur he had blood on. It seemed the energy made the blood burn away but not burn the fur itself. Once it cleaned up it held out it's paw, I was guessing it wanted to help me up. I reluctantly reached out and grasped it. It was soft and the fur just added to it, something so soft causing so much damage, irony.
It helped me up on my feet and then walked behind me and got my purse. It handed the purse to me and I gave a thanks in return. It then offered his paw again and I took it more trustfully this time. It then quickly swooped me off of my feet and held me like I was a princess.
"Hey! What are you doing?" I asked. It just looked me in the eyes again and it's expression that said trust me. I stopped my squirming and pondered, it just saved my life, what else do I have to lose?
So I just held on as it carried me. It then ran to the end of the alley and started running down the street at high-speed. This was faster than most cars I got into, I had to keep my eyes shut so that the wind didn't hurt my eyes. Then we slowed down and I noticed we were in a forest close to my home. It was crazy. It was jumping off the sides of the trees and traversing through the forest like it was nothing but a straight line. Then he started to slow down. Once it came to a stop it prompted it was going to put me down. I got myself ready and it slowly lowered me to my feet. I looked down at this canine that was just carrying me in wonder, what was he?
It then held it's paw out again and once again I took it. It then started walking and motioning me to follow. I followed and it just kept walking checking back at me to see if I was okay. Then as we kept walking I noticed we were at my backyard.
How did it, how could it know where I live? Maybe, maybe it read my mind! Yeah! That makes sense, I mean this thing shouldn't even exist anything is possible. I let go of my hand and took a look up at me. I looked down at it and gave a smile.
"Thank you, I know you don't know me but you went out of your way to save me, I don't care what you are but thank you!" I the kneeled down and gave it a hug. I really didn't care at this point, it saved me, the least I could do was repay it. Once I got up I noticed that it was actually blushing under it's fur and it's eyes were wide.
"What's wrong? Never been hugged before?" I asked. I just kept staring. After a moment it looked back at my house.
"Oh yeah, I guess I better get home, my parents are probably going to kill me, thank you," I then turned from it and started walking home. But I stopped myself, I forgot to ask.
"Oh wait! I never asked your n-" When I turned back it was gone. I guess that was it then. I then went inside from the back door. Of course I got hell from my parents, they asked me what happened and why I didn't call but I just told them the friend I was staying with dropped me off, even if it was a complete lie. After all the hell I went to bed to get a break from the night. I went to bed a drifted off in mere seconds.
Once the dawn broke I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I did my usual morning routine and rushed myself out the door to school. Once there I waited at the same spot I always did for Xeta. I saw him enter the school in the same jacket, scar, red eyes, and necklace. Did he ever change clothes? I did notice one thing though, when I started talking to him he was blushing and acting all shy around me.
First period started and of course we did our work together. It was simple enough, Xeta and I working together made work in our classes a breeze. I did notice something though, two things actually. One everyone kept talking about how there were guys found beaten and dead in an alleyway, seems like news travels fast. Then the other thing was Xeta, not only was he blushing and acting shy but, he was being distant. It was like he was in extreme thought. It scared me really, he would usually give notes to me during class, but he wasn't as much now.
The rest of the day ran it's normal course as it would for us now, but before I went to the front of the school Xeta was there and he walked up to me.
"Hey Xeta what is up!" I yelled out. Since we were outside this time it didn't really matter. My tone went sower when I saw his expression. He seemed depressed and saddened.
"Hey! What is wrong?!" I asked scared. He kept staring down. I started to reach out for him but he backed up.
"Xeta?" I asked really scared now. He then just lifted his hand and gave me a note. I looked at what he wrote on the note and it said, "Sorry Elizabeth, but we can't be together, and you can't be near me, it is for the best."
OH HELL NO!
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!?" I had tears streaming down my face. His expression turned to one of shock when I said that. I got up in his face.
"HOW COULD YOU DARE SAY THAT!? AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH, YOU THINK THAT A NOTE IS SOMETHING THAT WILL JUST FINISH WHAT WE HAVE!" I was making a fool of myself but I didn't care.
He started shaking his head at me, trying to tell me no, or to stop, didn't really matter because both of those choices were not an option.
"X-Xeta y-you are a-all I have l-left, you telling m-me that this is the best, my p-parents don't care, they o-only care about k-keeping their family business going, p-please you are the only one who has given a damn about me in my l-life, please I… I love you," With that I saw his eyes start to water. He started to turn around and was about to walk off when I grabbed his arm.
"PLEASE!" I begged. He just stood there for a minute before he put his hood on and turned his head to me. When he did I wasn't greeted with the same person I had known for all of my life, but instead to the canine I saw from last night.
-Please! Let go!- I heard his voice! I heard the same voice I had come to know, but instead of hearing it, it was in my head. I don't know how but it was! When he turned it scared me so much I let go and he took off.
If he was the canine from last night that means he is who saved me last night. I couldn't just let him run so I chased after him. It seemed like he was going slower than normal, was he trying to hide his speed? If he was then that meant he has hidden this the entire time! When did this happen!? How did this happen!? I don't really know and I don't really care, now I was about to figure things out! Once I got to the forest I still saw him running. He was doing the same techniques the canine from last night used to get around the forest. No question now, it was him.
I noticed his head turn and he must have seen me chasing him. Then I saw something insane! All of the sudden this glowing, blue staff formed in his hands. It was in the shape of a bone but was still a staff. Then he took it and hit a dead tree with it so hard that the tree snapped. I stopped myself but he kept going. The tree fell in front of me and some of it broke on impact. Once that was over I climbed over the tree and continued moving.
I had lost track of Xeta once the tree fell but I was not planning on giving up this time. I kept searching for him but I just couldn't find him. But as I searched I came across something. It was a cave, just a simple cave set up from some of the taller hills that were in the forest. I decided I would go ahead and look in there, what else did I have to lose?
I entered the cave and it seemed to go a bit deeper down but not far. At the end I noticed there was light coming from the left of the cave. I walked down the slope as my feet made loud footsteps as I continued. As I got to the corner I took a look around it.
Sitting there next to a fire was Xeta. He was shorter than normal but had his hood up. In the cave was a fire lit. I took a look around the cave and saw all sorts of things. There was a gas generator in one of the corners and next to it was a couple of appliances such as a fridge, microwave, a television, lamp, and a game system. On the other side of the cave I saw there was a bed, a nightstand with pictures on it, and a desk with a laptop. After my look around the cave I looked back at Xeta who still just stared at the fire.
"Xeta?" I asked.
-Yes, Elizabeth?- He replied in that same mind voice from before.
"Do…. Do you live here?" I asked again.
He waited a minute before speaking, -Yes, I do,-
My eyes widened in shock, "But… But why?"
He then slowly got up from the fire without turning towards me. From the back of his coat appeared a blue tail. Then as he moved his arms up I could see he had the same black paws that the canine from last night had. Then he took hold of his coat and let it fall. Once he did he slowly turned around to face me. When he did I saw the same crimson eyes I had come to know, along with the muzzle of the canine from last night.
-This…. Is why.-
