"Hey Anya!" a voice called from across campus, drawing the attention of the girl who was being hailed, "Wait up for me,"
Anya stopped and waited for her friend to catch up, before laughing and telling her frankly, "Man Sarah, you're out of shape,"
The petite brunette looked up sharply, "Yeah, well you would be too if you had to spend the entire summer working in an old person's home. I mean great pay, but all I did was sit in the kitchen and cook-" she cut off, making a face, "I'll just stop there. What about you? How was your summer?"
They had entered the hallway and were heading towards their first period class, and Anya was momentarily distracted as she turned to greet a few other friends, "What? Oh, nothing much. Just kind of sat around the house," she made a face, "summer homework is a drag," they entered the small room and rushed to grab two seats in the back of the class.
"Hey," a third member, Michael, sat down in a desk in front of them, "We're big bad seniors this year,"
"Not like it's going to make much a difference," Anya retorted darkly, "with all the AP classes I'm taking…" she let her head drop down on her desk.
Michael turned to Sarah, "I told you she was going to regret signing up for the hardest classes imaginable,"
"I know, but I couldn't talk any sense into her," she laughed, "You can always change your schedule, you know,"
"I know," Anya groaned, and sat up slowly, "I'll manage… somehow."
"Hey, did you guys see the paper this morning?" Sarah yanked one out of her backpack and slapped it down onto the desk, "Some escaped convict from the Kilroy Penitentiary. I guess he was transferred here last week, but he managed to get out,"
"How? My uncle works there and he says the place is as tight as a screw," Michael scanned the article mildly, "Hmmm… hey, listen to this- the escape was only surprising in the fact that there were no signs as to how the convict was able to get thought he bars. The door was locked and there was no other way out of the cell except for a window which was securely bolted in and immovable." He set the paper down, "Creepy."
"What's the guy in prison for?" Anya asked sleepily, trying to keep her eyes open, "I mean, if he's loose in Kilroy…"
"The article doesn't say. I don't think it's anything to worry about, Kilroy's a pretty big town…" she stuffed it quickly out of sight as the teacher began taking roll, "Whatever. I really just wanted to show you guys the article because his name was funny,"
Anya and Michael raised their eyebrows, before Anya asked quietly, "Which is…?"
"Get this- Rasmus Rodas," she broke into laughter, "who names their kid that these days? Ridiculous," she shook her head, and stared at the other two (who, to her dismay, didn't seem very amused), "You're no fun…"
"Too tired," Anya mumbled, "nap good…"
"God," Michael muttered to Sarah as the two watched their blonde friend sink into a shallow sleep, "First day of school and she's already sleep deprived…"
Michael had offered the girls a ride home after school, but they decided to decline and take that short walk to their neighborhood instead. It was a nice walk- you passed through the park before taking a little dirt path through some isolated woods, and then entered into a suburb- their suburb. The summer day was warm and dry, as it had been all vacation long. Just a normal day in Kilroy.
Nothing out of the ordinary…
Anya had been waking up little by little all day, and by the time they had reached the wooded part of their walk, she was quite animate in their conversation. She was going on about how her computer kept shutting down on her last night when there was a slight screeching noise off in the distance. They stopped, and looked ahead curiously. The screeching stopped, and was followed by a dull thud that seemed to reverberate in the air for a few seconds. Sarah looked around frantically and grabbed Anya's steady arm as the two of them continued down the path towards the noises.
Something ahead of them rustled, gave a weak cry, then silenced.
The two girls had frozen in their tracks, staring at the dim path ahead of them. After a moment of silence, Sarah asked, "Just firecrackers, and a rabbit probably. We're being dumb. Come on," she began to walk forward again, but stopped when she realized Anya wasn't following, "Hey, what's the big deal? Let's get in before it starts to get dark,"
"Sarah…Anya was staring at the bushes to the right of the trail, her eyes unwavering and wide with surprise, "it's… it's a person."
Sarah looked over casually and leapt a good three feet into the air, "Holy- What the! Oh my god, Is he okay?"
Anya had already rushed over and knelt down beside him. The man groaned softly as she moved the shrubbery aside to reveal his entire body. Though he was immobile, he didn't appear to have any apparent wounds, except for a little cut on the corner of his lip. His breathing was even, and he didn't wince when they dragged him out onto the bare path.
"Oh god, are you okay?" Anya was leaning over his face, "Excuse me? Mister?"
"Wha…" his eyes seemed to come into focus and fix on her face after a couple of seconds. They were a piercing shade of blue, haunting.
Must be wearing contacts, Anya thought to herself as she and Sarah helped him up into a sitting position, "Are you okay?"
He rubbed his head and blinked up at them curiously, before standing up shakily and dusting the leaves and dirt from his khaki pants and white shirt. As he did so, the two girls got a good look at him.
He must have stood about six feet tall, with bronzed skin and a little bit of a sunburn on his cheeks. His hair was an incandescent golden blonde color, accenting the intense cobalt shade of his eyes. He couldn't have been too much older than they were- probably nineteen or twenty years at most.
Sarah seemed a little taken aback by his good looks, but still managed to parrot Anya, "Are you alright?"
He blinked down at them for a second, before stuttering, "I'm fine… thank you," there was something alien about his voice… as if it were being heard from far away, yet very close. It was also thickly accented- though neither of the two could put their fingers on exactly what it was.
Anya looked back into the bushes where they found him, and noticed a golden gleam. Gingerly, she reached down and pulled it out, revealing from beneath the many dead leaves a long, unstrung, golden bow. She handled it awkwardly, not quite sure how to hold such a weapon, but presented it nonetheless to the stranger, "Um, here. You dropped this,"
He looked at her stridently, and took it from her hand with a prolonged motion that strongly resembled the movements of someone who had just woken up, "who are you?" he asked, still looking as though he was unsure why they were there at all. Not in the least bit grateful for their assistance.
Sarah was a little dumbstruck, so Anya stepped in, "We were just walking by, and we heard this rustling… and we saw you so we dragged you out. Are you hurt?"
He shook his head, his eyes still fixed on her as if her were trying to figure her out, "I'm fine…" he replied evenly, his voice slowly losing it's accent like it was fading away with his sleepiness, "Thank you for helping me… I've been there for a while," a small whimsical smile lit his face, a very pleasant sight, "Though you should not be in these woods. There are many dangerous… animals… about this time of year."
"Why were you in the bushes?" Sarah asked, recovering a little from her timidity.
He began to walk away, "I fell." He paused, than turned back to them, his eyes meeting Anya's, "though I would like to know the name of those who helped me…"
Something about his gaze demanded her honesty, and before she knew what she was doing, she found herself blurting, "My name is Anya, and this is my friend Sarah. We live in Greenwich, the little suburb just down the path,"
He smiled warmly, "Thank you Anya, Sarah. Goodbye," Before either of them could step in to stop him, he had vanished into the woods.
They stood side by side in silence, watching the direction in which he went. Anya had a strange cold feeling up her spine, and suddenly felt naked and exposed to the wilderness around them. She found herself rubbing her arms with anxiety.
Sarah finally shattered the solitude, "Did that strike you as… really really weird?"
Anya nodded, "Yeah. Really weird…"
Sarah shrugged and elbowed her friend, "Oh well. Let's go, I'm starving," it was suddenly as if the brunette had forgotten about the stranger. Anya, however, found his memory a little harder to lose. Those eyes… unnatural… something in the back of her mind told her that she had just had an encounter that was less than normal.
But Sarah was right. They needed to get home. Whatever had just taken place was something she didn't want to dwell on.