Chapter Three
Running From One Problem Into The Next
"Welcome to USC Ms. Anderson. Here is your number six jersey."
Sara reached out to take the gold and red soccer jersey holding her name and old number on the back. It was all coming true, she was a collage athlete. As her fingers touched the sleek material of the sports uniform they suddenly passed through as it all suddenly disappeared. It was just gone and Sara was left to stand alone on an empty field with a shattered dream and broken heart as her hand began to tremble there in the air it was held aloft in. Allowing her hand to begin its decent towards her side, her bare hand was suddenly caught within another that was gloved in black leather that was almost soft to the touch. Her eyes went from staring down at her caught hand to look at the face of the one who had taken hand in their own. Staring back at her was faceless all black helmet that held what looked like a covering mask that arched over the eye area to give it the shape of slanted and rounded eyes larger than normal as it then swept back on either side in a small ribbed fan extension that ended at the back of the helmet. This part was colored a shade of could only be described as true green. Sara's brown eyes were fixated on this helmeted face that with a hand held her own in what seemed to be reassurance that it wasn't over. That there was still a dream and a hope left somewhere. Sara felt her other hand taken up within the other of this person standing before her and raised so that she could clearly see it. There wrapped around her wrist was that same bracelet. Such a simple piece of jewelry and yet for some reason it seemed to be the cause of her problems. Looking at the helmet face once more she watched with wide eyes as the green part of the helmet started to come alive and pull itself off the black.
It twisted and shook until it was free enough to take what looked to be the form of a familiar face belonging to a creature of such great myth and legend. As it still pulled from the helmet it opened a mouth formed from the down sweeping ridges that followed out of the fins and then opened it wide as this freely formed creature face came rushing at her.
In an instant Sara's eyes opened wide and looked as though they suddenly dilated as she inhaled sharply before shooting straight up into a sitting position. Staring off into the space before her, Sara was now taking in deep shaky breathes as she was forcing herself to calm down as her heart was near pounding against her rib cage. Taking one last breath she then exhaled and looked down into her lap while closing her eyes. It was just a dream. It was all just a dream. She stated to herself while breathing in deep and looking up to stare at a white colored wall across from her. This was odd and had Sara raising an eyebrow. Weren't her bedroom walls painted a shade of electric blue? With her eyes alone Sara looked from her left to her right. The other walls were white as well and the one on her left held several paintings in brass frames straight across in one even line. With this information now taken in Sara turned her head to the left and then to the right only to be staring out a rather large bay window facing…………a forest! Her head snapped down to see that her lower body was covered by bed covering in a blue plaid pattern while she herself was still dressed in her white scrub pants and green DC sweatshirt.
Flipping the covers off quickly and jumping out of the bed she had come to find herself in, Sara touched the carpeted floor and turned about to stare at the bed. That wasn't her bed, even though it was in fact the same size – full. A sense of fear swept over her suddenly as she was starting to realize that she was now somewhere else that she wasn't familiar with. Turning to the large window she went to it and pressed up against the glass and looked around the outside from where she was. Yep, another forest that seemed to be encircling a yard and lining a gravel driveway. Where the hell am I now! Backing away from the window Sara placed her left hand to her forehead and as she did, notice something on her wrist under the sleeve of her sweatshirt. Her eyes turned upon that same silver bracelet with a horrified manner as she dropped her hand and yanked the sleeve back all the way. It was still there. That same bracelet of open webbed lattice design was still there clamped about her wrist in a comfortable manner. Looking it over frantically, Sara couldn't find a way to get it off. No clasp, no hooks, no nothing.
Something inside her clicked and she left the bracelet alone to now figure out where she was, how she got there, and how she was going to leave. First off, Sara went to the closed bedroom door and found it unlocked much to her relief. Turning the metal knob slowly and hoping it wasn't one of those loud give away knobs, she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip until she had turned the knob all the way and heard it softly click. Breathing a sigh of relief as she opened her eyes Sara found that the door opened when you pulled it into the room. The door opened without a sound and Sara pocked her head out of a tiny crack she had made. Well, it was definitely clear that she was up on the second floor as evident from the view out the bay window and now for the fact she was looking down a hall ending with a staircase landing. No one was in the hall and it didn't sound like anyone else was upstairs either from the quiet she was hearing. Down the other end of the hall she saw several other doors which were all closed. Taking this as a sign, Sara opened the door just enough to slip out and the quietly closed it behind herself.
Now in the hall she started to quietly creep towards the staircase. On the landing she peeked down to see if anyone was coming and then looked over the banister. Nothing and not a sound could be heard from downstairs. Whoever had taken her to this place seemed to either be out or possibly asleep. With quiet stealth and quick steps Sara went down the carpeted stairs and found herself on the first floor of what she now understood to be a house. From where she stood it looked as though the front door was about ten feet in front of her on the same wall she stood next to. However the door was in plain sight to what she guessed was an entryway into a living space of sorts. Taking to the wall this entryway was positioned in, Sara kept her back pressed against it and started to slowly creep along until she came to the edge. God I feel stupid. Using moves from spy movies in a real dangerous situation. Good lord what would my sister say about this? Shaking her auburn head, Sara then slowly peeked out to see if there was anyone in the next room. Nothing. Yes! Seeing as how she was basically unwatched and free to move about, Sara took this time and stepped quickly to the door and found it to be unlocked.
Something's finally going right for once! Opening the door as quietly as she could Sara stepped out onto a wooden porch, closed the door and then ran for the cover of the woods passing by a parked black jeep and old red mustang. The gravel of the driveway crunched under her shoes as she sprinted for the forest and didn't even stop once she got inside it. About a good running distance in Sara finally stopped and hunched over to catch her breath. She had gotten away and made it this far having not been seen. As she stood though with breath caught and wanting to catch her bearings, Sara groaned as she realized she was once more in a forest. "And it's like God lifted up his rain cloud and said, 'I hate you Alfalfa.', or in this case he hates me." Sara grumbled while placing her hands to her hips and started walking in the direction she knew that the gravel driveway followed. Where there was a driveway, there was a road it connected to, and where there was a road there was a way back to that town Reefside and a police station. As Sara walked she found herself rapidly blinking as things went from out of focus at one moment to seeing something that at first glance was far away now in crystal clear sight. Every where she looked this happened. Sara stopped and rubbed her eyes while still blinking. This wasn't right at all. She never had problems with her vision before.
"I don't get it, how did the stone just disappear?"
"I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with that noise we heard."
"Yeah, that was painful."
"No kidding."
"So what do we do now? I mean if that stone is gone and we have no idea where it went to, we're screwed."
"We're not screwed. It's just a minor set back."
Sara started turning around quickly as she was now hearing disembodied voices in her ears. She could hear them talking to each other but she couldn't see them even though it was like they were right there beside her. With this now added to her dysfunctional eye sight, Sara was becoming incredibly frightened as she didn't understand a single thing that was throwing itself upon her. The confusing voices were the last straw and Sara started to run in a random direction as she tried to get away from them. No longer knowing which way it was that she was headed in, she just ran not caring anymore where she was.
However, back at the house Sara had left behind in her escape from unknown certainty, her absence had finally been noticed a brown haired teen girl had gone up to the room and found no one inside. Racing back down the stairs the teen went into the side living room where in the floor near the wall was a trap door lifted up. A set of stairs led down and she took these two at a time coming to a stop in a basement like structure carved out of a cave of sorts. Inside were sets of mass computers, monitoring systems, screens, and various other things that suggested the fact that this was no ordinary basement. The teen girl came to a stop at the center of this room where four others were located; three of them teenagers like her but male and one adult male. "She's gone." And that was all it took for everyone to race up the steps and out of the house. Outside they split up and started searching for the missing girl they had brought in after she collapsed in the street the other day.
Still running from voices that were still coming in and out of her hearing like a bad radio connection, Sara soon came to a stop as her foot got caught up in an exposed root system and fell to the leaf littered ground with a heavy thud. Since she took this as a sign to stop and rest a moment before running on forever, Sara turned over on to her back and just stared up into the branches of the trees that surrounded her. "What the hell is happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve this in the first place?" Sara muttered to herself while tears started to form on her lower lid of her eye.
"That's a very good question my dear." A female voiced answered in reply from what seemed to be nowhere at the moment.
Sara took this as a possibility that she was hearing voices again and just decided to answer anyways as for all she knew it was hopeless to fight it anymore. "Oh yeah, so what's the long awaited answer?" she asked sarcastically with a bitter tone of voice. It was then that her line of sight was invaded by a woman's face painted with a heavy eye shadow and lipstick. Her look seemed rather cruel and uncaring.
"Why, it is fate." She smirked smugly while reaching down with a hand holding long black painted nails and grabbed a hold of Sara's collar to yank her up on her feet. Whoever this lady was, she was strong because it just took that one handed yank and Sara was up on her feet instantly and whirled about by the shoulders to look at this woman. "And fate asks that you come see him." She added in with a rather cruel smile gracing her blue lips as her nails dug into the sides of Sara's arms in a bite.
Since having that face just appear Sara's eyes had long since taken on the 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look and remained that way only to squintch in reaction to the pain in her arms. Behind the woman appeared what Sara was taking as a man in a full suit of black armor holding flecks and streaks of tarnished teal coloring in certain areas. This one didn't say a word as he came to stand just behind and to the side of the woman and then he asked only one simple question in a rather rough voice that sounded hallow and metallic. "Is this the one then?"
The woman picked up Sara's left wrist as it appeared to her that the teen was froze with fright and not about to bolt if held by one hand alone. Turning her wrist to the left and right to examine the bracelet upon it, she then lost her cruel smile and offered the teen girl a casual smirk while answering the man in black armor. "Yes she is." She stated while dropping Sara's wrist and letting her other arm go only to grab her by the back of her sweatshirt hood.
Without any warning, Sara felt herself pushed forward towards a shimmer in the air and then the forest suddenly disappeared only to be replaced by a metal hall lined along the edge of the floor and ceiling with white lights. The woman was there too with her hand still clamped down on the hood of Sara's sweatshirt along with the man in black armor. Sara didn't even get a moment to take in her new surroundings at all as she was suddenly shoved forward and marched down the hall and directed harshly when she was supposed to turn by the hand of the woman. After another three turns Sara found herself shoved into a large room that reminded Sara of a mad scientist's laboratory. The woman had now released her hold on the hood and stepped around to stand off to Sara's far left and the man in black armor did the same on her right. Looking from one to the other with fright written all over her face, Sara could feel her hands trembling.
"Now, now, my dear child. There is no need to be afraid." A smooth yet raspy voice gently spoke from in front of her. "Please excuse Elsa's manners; she's not used to handling such a cooperative teenager such as yourself." From the shadows of a shelving unit holding various vials and beakers full of strangely colored liquids carefully categorized, stepped a figure that had Sara loosing her breath at the sight of its appearance. Clad in a long black lab coat of that skimmed across the surface of the floor was what she had first though to be a man, until she saw the dinosaur shaped head and three clawed hands coming out the ends of the sleeves. If things had seemed fucked up enough since waking up the first time around after being shot in a hospital parking lot, they had completely to hell now. "You're speechless I see. I expected as much seeing as how I am an upright talking…dinosaur."
Sara nodded at this as she seemed to both agree to what it said and because she just was so scared that she didn't know what to do. The creature laughed shortly as it came towards her at a slowly advancing pace while clasping its claws behind its back. "To answer so many questions forming in that head of yours, let me begin by telling you that I am an evolutionary phenomenon in every aspect of the word." The creature stated as it stopped a few feet from her now and then bowed to her. "I am Mesagog." He introduced himself as he came back up from his bow. "You've already met Elsa." He gestured with a clawed hand towards the woman wearing blue makeup. "And Zeltrax." He motioned now towards the man in black armor. Sara followed his gestures and just stared at each he introduced. "Please, come. Have a seat." The creature stated in a gentle manner while offering her his arm.
Swallowing hard and reaching out a shaky hand, Sara took the offered arm as she didn't want to upset a talking dinosaur that stood taller than her and looked to be bigger than her as well. The dinosaur who called himself Mesagog walked her slowly over to a rolling chair near a desk littered with various things from papers to vials and everything in between. Taking her steps slowly and in a rather shaky manner, Sara managed to reach the chair without falling and sat down with the help of Mesagog. Thanking him with a small nod of her head, Sara offered a very weak smile to the thing that looked upon her with an unnatural smile of razor sharp teeth. "Child, tell me your name so that I will not have to continue on with calling you this." He stated in manner that was oddly passive and very persuasive.
"It's Sara." She answered as the Mesagog stood before her for a moment and nodded at this as he took it in and memorized it. After doing so. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned about on his heel and walked a few steps from her.
"It is a lovely name. Yes, very lovely." He commented while stopping and turning back around to look at her again. "Tell me, how did you come by that bracelet on your wrist?" he asked while taking a step towards her. Sara shook her head in answer as she didn't know. "Ah, I see. I can see now how your fear began to build from.' Mesagog mused while coming towards her. "Sara, I can help you. I know that you don't belong here. This isn't your home." He stated in a voice that showed he understood what she was going through. "You want to go home, I can see it your eyes. Those eyes. They show so much fear within them." He reached out and stroked the side of her face with a claw. It felt rough and smooth as it ran down her face. "The voices confused you and scared you so much so that you ran. I know what it's like to hear voices, but not in the way you do." Mesagog spoke soothingly.
Sara nodded her head in agreement to what he had said. She wasn't hearing the voices anymore, but yet the fear of having heard them still lingered in her mind. Mesagog nodded as well and gave her that unnatural smile once more. "Sara, may I see your bracelet?" he asked while lifting her left wrist up in indication for her to remove it.
"I don't know how to get it off." She replied with a voice cracking as her eyes started to sting with tears again at this reminder. "There's no clasp to it."
Mesagog nodded to this as he studied the bracelet on her wrist and then laid her hand within her lap. "I see." He mused while seeming to be deep in thought now. After a moment, Mesagog looked at her with a glint within his beady black eyes. "Sara, what if I told you I can find you a way home. Send you back from where you came and rid you of this bracelet as well? Would you be willing to help me with a few things as I look for your way home?" he asked in more of a proposal of sorts and then waited to see what her reply was.
Even though Sara had no idea what this creature named Mesagog was or if she could really trust him, the fact that she could go home because of him caused her eyes to light up suddenly and brought about a cruel smile from Elsa over off to the side where she watched everything between Mesagog and Sara. Mesagog saw her reaction and hid his own similar smile to Elsa's for the time being. To seem as though he were in fact a fare person of sorts, Mesagog decided upon this as he had his own hidden agenda. "I can see you find this intriguing. However, I think it would only be fare for you to have some time to think this over just so you can rid yourself of any doubts." Mesagog stated while standing Sara to her feet. "Elsa will take you back to Reefside, where it will be the safest place for you while you think." He said while guiding Sara over to the blue lipped woman who now bowed to them both.
Sara looked at Mesagog with a rather perplexed look on her face, but he shook his armored head at her unspoken question in response. Elsa offered out a hand to her and actually smiled normally rather than with cruel intent. "Come, I will take you back to Reefside." Placing her hand within the woman's Sara was then quickly ushered away and back down the hall with man in black armor following after. In the same manner as she had arrived, Sara now found herself in a back alley and looking about in wild confusion. "I leave you here at the Cyber Café in Reefside. Master Mesagog leaves you with a few gifts." She stated while in both her hands suddenly appeared to objects that materialized from thin air. One was a bar styled cell phone in a sleek olive green and grey color. The other was a black leather wallet, which after Elsa handed the cell phone over to Sara, opened to reveal that Sara now had a Reefside issued photo ID with her picture and twelve one hundred dollars bills in money pocket. "Use these gifts as you see fit. The cell phone contains already two numbers. One that is your personal number and the other is a number to reach me by if you ever need any help."
Taking these, Sara looked at Elsa with a thankful stare. "Thank you." She stated while placing both within her sweatshirt pocket. Elsa nodded to her and then disappeared along with the man in black armor within the same shimmer of air before her very eyes. After they left, Sara was suddenly struck with a thought before she left the alley. What was causing her to trust these people so quickly who had literally abducted her, while she had fled from someone or ones who had taken care of her since blacking out?
