Marah opened her eyes. From where she lay, flat on her back, she could see a canopy of lush green leaves trimmed in bright gray light above her. An overcast charcoal sky hung heavily beyond the ceiling of tree branches. She could hear strange noises all around her: rustling bushes, squawking birds, fluttering wings, buzzing insects. Marah lifted herself up on her elbows, but fell back. Her head ached tremendously from the drug that was now leaving her system. Her leg was almost numb with pain and the wound on her forearm stung under her torn sleeve. She was still wearing what she had worn on the third date with Choobo. That seemed so far away now.
Suddenly, Marah felt very sick. The memories of the night before came flooding back in a huge, sickening wave. "Oh my God..." she whispered to herself. "It can't be true." It couldn't be real. What she had seen.... That couldn't possibly have happened. Kapri and Choobo... what had they done? And Uncle! Had they mind-warped him? Marah choked and pressed her palms into burning eyes. Zurgane had... he'd... Marah couldn't stand the thought. He was... dead...? It couldn't be. Why would Kapri orchestrate such a thing? But had it even been her idea to kill Zurgane? Or was it just that crazy org? And who had drugged her? Why? What threat did she pose? Her mind reeled with difficult questions.
Marah tried to sit up again. Her head swam and everything slid into doubles before her large brown eyes. This wasn't right. It just wasn't. Nothing made sense anymore. It all felt very surreal. Marah sat up straighter as a surge of anger passed through her. She wouldn't believe that it had all been Kapri; she refused to. Kapri was her sister. She would never betray Marah like that. The family wasn't THAT evil was it? But then why had Kapri mind-warped their own uncle?
"There must be some logical explanation," Marah said to herself, but her gut told her otherwise. She wasn't sure what to believe. She wanted to think that Kapri was doing all of this for a good reason, but she couldn't deny what she had seen, what had happened to her, to Uncle, to Zurgane. Poor Zurgane.... Marah's head spun again. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she brushed them aside. She refused to cry. What if everything she had seen was an effect of the drug? A dream? Then it would be pointless to cry over an illusion, a hallucination. Yet it had all been so real. How could Marah know what was real and what wasn't?
A drop of water fell onto her arm, its coldness startling her out of thought. That feeling of surrealness faded and all at once she felt real and grounded once more, back in reality. All she really knew now was that she was in a forest. It was probably evening, maybe a little earlier. She didn't come to Earth very often so she wasn't sure what to do next, obviously being so far from the city. She stood up and hot stabs of pain shot up her leg. She jolted and shifted her weight onto the other foot. Her ankle felt wobbly in its platformed boot. The pain caused a fresh wave of tears to press into the back of her eyes, and a knot formed in her throat. Marah stood motionless for a moment, letting the tears roll down her smudged cheeks, thinking of her uncle and of the deceased Zurgane. An overwhelming sadness engulfed her, seeming to suffocate her in its despair. Helpless, hopeless, she sank down to her knees and cried into shaky hands.
******************
"Hey Dustin," Kelly said, seeing him still working on a bike engine behind the store counter at Storm Chargers.
Dustin glanced up. "Oh, hey."
Kelly shifted a little. "So, what are you still doing here? I thought you'd already left. I was just closing up." She glanced behind her, over the counter and out the shop window, at the darkening sky. She cleared her throat.
"I'm just gonna stay a little longer and finish this up. I can lock up if you want," Dustin said, not looking up.
"Oh," Kelly sighed. "All right. Are you sure? I mean, I can stay a while. Maybe keep you company?"
Dustin stopped what he was doing and looked up. "You've probably got something to do," he said dumbly. "I wouldn't be very good company tonight anyway."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it always is with me, ya know?"
Kelly nodded a little with slightly narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows to acknowledge the odd statement. "Well, I probably shouldn't let you close up for me, but all right. Here." She extended the steel ring of shop keys. "You know which one to use?"
"Yeah," Dustin reached out and took the keys. Their fingers touched briefly. "Thanks." He put the keys on the counter and started working again.
Kelly looked around the small room for a second before turning. "See you tomorrow, Dustin," she said over her shoulder.
"You too. Bye."
Kelly walked over to the front door and opened it but didn't leave. Dustin stopped fiddling with the engine, sensing that she was still there. Kelly lingered in the doorway, thinking something over. Dustin studied the profile of her face against the dark gray sky and waited. "Dustin, if you ever need to talk or something... I'm here."
"Yeah I know... but thanks," he said and nodded ever so slightly.
"Right," Kelly said more to herself than to Dustin, turned on her heel, and left. The door swung closed behind her.
Dustin watched her walk out into the dim evening, a slightly confused look on his face. After a moment, he shrugged. "Whatever." Slowly, he got back to work, alone with one solitary light on behind the counter, all by himself in the empty store.
Outside, Kelly walked in a meandering fashion down the sidewalk. She wasn't really sure what had just happened. She didn't have time to wonder about it though, because, as she neared the parking lot, rain started to fall in large, cold droplets. "Great," Kelly groaned inwardly and pulled her jacket over her head, sprinting the rest of the way to her car.
*****************
Marah slopped through the muddy mess below her. Her hair was wet and hung limply against her face and neck. Her clothes, ripped and soaked through, were clinging to her shivering body. Her mind was blank and bitter now. She was lost in a cold, dismal despair. She tumbled through bushes and over large tree roots. She had been wandering for what felt like hours. It was almost completely dark now. The dark clouds overhead emptied their precipitation in huge freezing drops that splattered in great bursts of wetness as they hit the ground. Everything felt miserable. She couldn't even feel the pain in her leg anymore. The freezing rain had numbed it. Marah knew that she would have to stop walking eventually, but on she went, propelling herself forward with what seemed to be no energy. She had cried for so long, that now she was empty of every emotion, or at least she couldn't feel them anymore. Now it was just emptiness and a hollow loneliness.
***************
Hunter sat slumped against a tree with his jacket collar flipped up. His head was down turned against the wind and rain.
"I guess you were right," he sighed.
"About what?" Blake asked from the other side of the tree trunk.
"The weather. You said it would rain."
"Oh, right. I'd forgotten about that."
Hunter was silent once more. It was late, but obviously, it wasn't the ideal weather to sleep in. He tried to fall asleep, but every time he got close, a large raindrop would land on him and he would be wide awake again. As he sat dully, he thought that he saw something in the distance, on the other end of the clearing. He squinted against the rain, trying to see the dark figure approaching. It was small and obscured behind the haze of pounding rain. A silent alarm went off in Hunter's head.
"Blake!" Hunter said just loud enough for his companion to hear. "Blake, I think there's someone coming!"
"What?"
"Someone's coming!"
The two brothers jumped to their feet and stood side by side under the partial shelter of the tree, their hands in front of them in the classic starting position of ninja battle. They waited tensely as the small figure stumbled towards them, bent in the pounding rain. Blake started to move his hands down, seeing that it wasn't a kelzack or an org and didn't look like a threat to them.
"No!" Hunter snapped. "It might be a trick!"
Blake's hands were back up in position.
"Wait for it..." Hunter was telling himself under his breath. "Let it come to you...."
Suddenly, the figure stopped moving. Hunter and Blake readied themselves for the confrontation that they thought was ahead of them. Their hands were up, their bodies stiff, their hearts starting to pound more quickly. And then:
The figure seemed to wobble a little through the haze. It swayed dangerously back and forth and then toppled over into the massive puddles forming on the ground. Hunter and Blake waited for a moment, but it didn't move. All that they could see was a blurry heap of darkness, lost in the chaotic spattering of raindrops. Blake's body relaxed a little, now out of battle stance. He took a tentative step forward before looking back at Hunter.
"We should see who it is."
Hunter nodded, but his hands were still in a ready position as they stepped over to the crumpled figure. Blake reached it first. He stopped and looked down. Hunter saw something change on Blake's face and he stopped a foot away from Blake and the figure. "Well?" he asked curiously.
Blake turned his face to Hunter. It was a little pale.
"What?" Hunter asked, a little irritated... even a little nervous.
"It-" Blake said in disbelief. "It's a girl."
Hunter's hands fell out of position. "A GIRL?" he repeated, jogging over. He reached Blake and looked down. Water streamed down his forehead, splashing down onto the person below him. It was a girl all right. She lay with her face half covered under sopping wet hair. Her clothes were torn and soaking wet. There was a terrible, fleshy wound on her right forearm and her left foot was twisted at a sickly angle. Her face was pale and horrifying. She almost looked dead, but she wasn't. She choked suddenly on the water pouring into her half open mouth and down her throat. She lurched, doubled over, and coughed in a way that shook her whole body.
Not even pausing to think, Hunter bent down and scooped up the soaking wet, shivering figure. He dashed back to the tree and lay the girl down. Blake was right behind him. He had picked up a small tree branch and was now bending over to inspect the girl's ankle. Hunter just stared, taking a large step back. Where had he seen that face before? There was something about it... why was it so familiar? Blake touched her foot, gripped it lightly, and pushed it just a little so that it was at a healthy angle. The instant that he did, the girl jerked up, and her eyes snapped open. She screamed. Blake fell back in surprise, but caught himself and stood up next to Hunter.
Hunter was holding his breath now. Her eyes.... He knew where he had seen her before. He knew who she was. As the girl fell back against the tree trunk, her eyes closing once more and her arms going limp at her sides, Hunter took a deep, disbelieving, breath.
"Blake."
Blake looked over.
"I know who this is. And you do to, bro."
Blake looked inquiringly, but there was something else there that Hunter couldn't quite read.
"Blake," Hunter said again, "this is Marah."
Suddenly, Marah felt very sick. The memories of the night before came flooding back in a huge, sickening wave. "Oh my God..." she whispered to herself. "It can't be true." It couldn't be real. What she had seen.... That couldn't possibly have happened. Kapri and Choobo... what had they done? And Uncle! Had they mind-warped him? Marah choked and pressed her palms into burning eyes. Zurgane had... he'd... Marah couldn't stand the thought. He was... dead...? It couldn't be. Why would Kapri orchestrate such a thing? But had it even been her idea to kill Zurgane? Or was it just that crazy org? And who had drugged her? Why? What threat did she pose? Her mind reeled with difficult questions.
Marah tried to sit up again. Her head swam and everything slid into doubles before her large brown eyes. This wasn't right. It just wasn't. Nothing made sense anymore. It all felt very surreal. Marah sat up straighter as a surge of anger passed through her. She wouldn't believe that it had all been Kapri; she refused to. Kapri was her sister. She would never betray Marah like that. The family wasn't THAT evil was it? But then why had Kapri mind-warped their own uncle?
"There must be some logical explanation," Marah said to herself, but her gut told her otherwise. She wasn't sure what to believe. She wanted to think that Kapri was doing all of this for a good reason, but she couldn't deny what she had seen, what had happened to her, to Uncle, to Zurgane. Poor Zurgane.... Marah's head spun again. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she brushed them aside. She refused to cry. What if everything she had seen was an effect of the drug? A dream? Then it would be pointless to cry over an illusion, a hallucination. Yet it had all been so real. How could Marah know what was real and what wasn't?
A drop of water fell onto her arm, its coldness startling her out of thought. That feeling of surrealness faded and all at once she felt real and grounded once more, back in reality. All she really knew now was that she was in a forest. It was probably evening, maybe a little earlier. She didn't come to Earth very often so she wasn't sure what to do next, obviously being so far from the city. She stood up and hot stabs of pain shot up her leg. She jolted and shifted her weight onto the other foot. Her ankle felt wobbly in its platformed boot. The pain caused a fresh wave of tears to press into the back of her eyes, and a knot formed in her throat. Marah stood motionless for a moment, letting the tears roll down her smudged cheeks, thinking of her uncle and of the deceased Zurgane. An overwhelming sadness engulfed her, seeming to suffocate her in its despair. Helpless, hopeless, she sank down to her knees and cried into shaky hands.
******************
"Hey Dustin," Kelly said, seeing him still working on a bike engine behind the store counter at Storm Chargers.
Dustin glanced up. "Oh, hey."
Kelly shifted a little. "So, what are you still doing here? I thought you'd already left. I was just closing up." She glanced behind her, over the counter and out the shop window, at the darkening sky. She cleared her throat.
"I'm just gonna stay a little longer and finish this up. I can lock up if you want," Dustin said, not looking up.
"Oh," Kelly sighed. "All right. Are you sure? I mean, I can stay a while. Maybe keep you company?"
Dustin stopped what he was doing and looked up. "You've probably got something to do," he said dumbly. "I wouldn't be very good company tonight anyway."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it always is with me, ya know?"
Kelly nodded a little with slightly narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows to acknowledge the odd statement. "Well, I probably shouldn't let you close up for me, but all right. Here." She extended the steel ring of shop keys. "You know which one to use?"
"Yeah," Dustin reached out and took the keys. Their fingers touched briefly. "Thanks." He put the keys on the counter and started working again.
Kelly looked around the small room for a second before turning. "See you tomorrow, Dustin," she said over her shoulder.
"You too. Bye."
Kelly walked over to the front door and opened it but didn't leave. Dustin stopped fiddling with the engine, sensing that she was still there. Kelly lingered in the doorway, thinking something over. Dustin studied the profile of her face against the dark gray sky and waited. "Dustin, if you ever need to talk or something... I'm here."
"Yeah I know... but thanks," he said and nodded ever so slightly.
"Right," Kelly said more to herself than to Dustin, turned on her heel, and left. The door swung closed behind her.
Dustin watched her walk out into the dim evening, a slightly confused look on his face. After a moment, he shrugged. "Whatever." Slowly, he got back to work, alone with one solitary light on behind the counter, all by himself in the empty store.
Outside, Kelly walked in a meandering fashion down the sidewalk. She wasn't really sure what had just happened. She didn't have time to wonder about it though, because, as she neared the parking lot, rain started to fall in large, cold droplets. "Great," Kelly groaned inwardly and pulled her jacket over her head, sprinting the rest of the way to her car.
*****************
Marah slopped through the muddy mess below her. Her hair was wet and hung limply against her face and neck. Her clothes, ripped and soaked through, were clinging to her shivering body. Her mind was blank and bitter now. She was lost in a cold, dismal despair. She tumbled through bushes and over large tree roots. She had been wandering for what felt like hours. It was almost completely dark now. The dark clouds overhead emptied their precipitation in huge freezing drops that splattered in great bursts of wetness as they hit the ground. Everything felt miserable. She couldn't even feel the pain in her leg anymore. The freezing rain had numbed it. Marah knew that she would have to stop walking eventually, but on she went, propelling herself forward with what seemed to be no energy. She had cried for so long, that now she was empty of every emotion, or at least she couldn't feel them anymore. Now it was just emptiness and a hollow loneliness.
***************
Hunter sat slumped against a tree with his jacket collar flipped up. His head was down turned against the wind and rain.
"I guess you were right," he sighed.
"About what?" Blake asked from the other side of the tree trunk.
"The weather. You said it would rain."
"Oh, right. I'd forgotten about that."
Hunter was silent once more. It was late, but obviously, it wasn't the ideal weather to sleep in. He tried to fall asleep, but every time he got close, a large raindrop would land on him and he would be wide awake again. As he sat dully, he thought that he saw something in the distance, on the other end of the clearing. He squinted against the rain, trying to see the dark figure approaching. It was small and obscured behind the haze of pounding rain. A silent alarm went off in Hunter's head.
"Blake!" Hunter said just loud enough for his companion to hear. "Blake, I think there's someone coming!"
"What?"
"Someone's coming!"
The two brothers jumped to their feet and stood side by side under the partial shelter of the tree, their hands in front of them in the classic starting position of ninja battle. They waited tensely as the small figure stumbled towards them, bent in the pounding rain. Blake started to move his hands down, seeing that it wasn't a kelzack or an org and didn't look like a threat to them.
"No!" Hunter snapped. "It might be a trick!"
Blake's hands were back up in position.
"Wait for it..." Hunter was telling himself under his breath. "Let it come to you...."
Suddenly, the figure stopped moving. Hunter and Blake readied themselves for the confrontation that they thought was ahead of them. Their hands were up, their bodies stiff, their hearts starting to pound more quickly. And then:
The figure seemed to wobble a little through the haze. It swayed dangerously back and forth and then toppled over into the massive puddles forming on the ground. Hunter and Blake waited for a moment, but it didn't move. All that they could see was a blurry heap of darkness, lost in the chaotic spattering of raindrops. Blake's body relaxed a little, now out of battle stance. He took a tentative step forward before looking back at Hunter.
"We should see who it is."
Hunter nodded, but his hands were still in a ready position as they stepped over to the crumpled figure. Blake reached it first. He stopped and looked down. Hunter saw something change on Blake's face and he stopped a foot away from Blake and the figure. "Well?" he asked curiously.
Blake turned his face to Hunter. It was a little pale.
"What?" Hunter asked, a little irritated... even a little nervous.
"It-" Blake said in disbelief. "It's a girl."
Hunter's hands fell out of position. "A GIRL?" he repeated, jogging over. He reached Blake and looked down. Water streamed down his forehead, splashing down onto the person below him. It was a girl all right. She lay with her face half covered under sopping wet hair. Her clothes were torn and soaking wet. There was a terrible, fleshy wound on her right forearm and her left foot was twisted at a sickly angle. Her face was pale and horrifying. She almost looked dead, but she wasn't. She choked suddenly on the water pouring into her half open mouth and down her throat. She lurched, doubled over, and coughed in a way that shook her whole body.
Not even pausing to think, Hunter bent down and scooped up the soaking wet, shivering figure. He dashed back to the tree and lay the girl down. Blake was right behind him. He had picked up a small tree branch and was now bending over to inspect the girl's ankle. Hunter just stared, taking a large step back. Where had he seen that face before? There was something about it... why was it so familiar? Blake touched her foot, gripped it lightly, and pushed it just a little so that it was at a healthy angle. The instant that he did, the girl jerked up, and her eyes snapped open. She screamed. Blake fell back in surprise, but caught himself and stood up next to Hunter.
Hunter was holding his breath now. Her eyes.... He knew where he had seen her before. He knew who she was. As the girl fell back against the tree trunk, her eyes closing once more and her arms going limp at her sides, Hunter took a deep, disbelieving, breath.
"Blake."
Blake looked over.
"I know who this is. And you do to, bro."
Blake looked inquiringly, but there was something else there that Hunter couldn't quite read.
"Blake," Hunter said again, "this is Marah."
