Chapters 7 & 8

Whoo... we're getting into the drama! :P

Chapter 7

It took a while for anyone to speak. Lisa glared at Kira, while Kira stared into space. Lisa did not know that Kira was trying to think of an escape plan. How could she? Finally, the battle began.

“What do you want with me?” Kira asked. She was very bored.
“Oh, nothing. Torture is just very pleasurable,” said Lisa, smiling.
“What? Torturing me? How is it pleasurable? What have I ever done to you?” Kira shouted. The bindings on the rope were tight, and it hurt to move her hands.
“You bit me!” Lisa growled.
“I what?” Kira frowned. It had sounded like Lisa had said she had bitten her.
“I said: you bit me!” Snapped Lisa.
“Bite you? When did I do that?” Lisa rolled up her sleeve to reveal two scars. The kind of scar you would get if bitten by a dog – or in this case – a wolf.
“I did that?” Kira asked, dumbstruck. She remembered what she had read in Madam Meldina’s old book: Menphurs are not an evil creature although they, if in form of a human being, can be quite mischievous, as the soul inside the body may be of an animal. She had done that. She had bitten Lisa.
“I did do that, didn’t I?” Kira asked.
“Yeah. You did.” Lisa sat down. Kira averted her eyes. “Sorry” she said.
“ ‘Sorry’ isn’t going to get you anywhere, it’s done now.” Lisa snarled. The sharp words caught Kira. She growled.
“I take it back,” she whispered.
“What?” Lisa asked. She stood again, and looked at Kira. She looked awkward. Normally she would have been up right, it was strange to see Kira so helpless, and where had those amber eyes come from? Kira stared back into those sky blue eyes. Hatred swam through her head, as she stared at those eyes. Those eyes that had watched her suffer, those eyes that had laughed at her. She had finally given payback.
“I am not sorry I bit you. I’m glad. I’m glad I did!” she said.
“It’s pay-back. Pay-back for all the things you’ve done to me!” Kira smiled. Here she was, in Lisa’s clubhouse, watching the girl that had made her life misery cower against the wall. She jumped. The rope bindings had burned her wrists. They were coming away. She had to keep Lisa pre-occupied.
“How do you know I did it?” she asked. Lisa snorted.
“Do you want me to tell your life story?” she asked,
“I only know a bit of it,” Kira brightened. Perfect, it will let me get off the rope.
“Ok,” Lisa made herself comfortable. She would lure Kira into false security, and then give it to her.
“All I can remember is the day you arrived. You were raving mad, like the farmers were trying to kill you or something. When they brought you, I remember, you tried to get on my bed, so I pushed you off,” bringing back old memories about Kira scared Lisa; they also brought fresh waves of hate.
“You lunged and bit me. I went to the healer then,” Lisa finished and shuddered.
“Any other things you remember?” Kira asked through gritted teeth. At last the rope was nearly off, but her wrists had begun to bleed.
“No,” Lisa snapped. She stood and reached for the branch. She was not going to tell Kira about the sleepless nights, the long howls, and the spurts of fury Kira had created. No. Now it was Lisa’s turn to get back at Kira. She held the branch with both hands and walked slowly towards Kira.

Yes! She was free! The rope fell to the ground and Kira stood, stretching her arms. Her bleeding wrists stung, but the blood flow was stopping. Lisa took a step forward, the branch held in both arms.
“I’m leaving,” Kira said, walking towards the door.
“I know who you are,” whispered Lisa. Kira stopped in her tracks and turned.
“What?” she asked, puzzled.
“You’re not one of us. You’re a Menphur,” Lisa growled.
“How – How do you know?” Lisa laughed shrilly.
“Did I not tell you, about the sleepless nights I had, because of your howling?” Lisa shook her head.
“There is no pay-back Kira, except mine. My pay-back, for all the trouble you have caused me!” she shrieked. Lisa swung the branch hard. Kira had no time to duck, or move out of the way. The branch struck the side of her head, and she crumpled to the floor.

The figure followed the tracks to the Orphanage and saw to the right, hidden amongst the trees, a young girl emerge from a wooden hut. She had brown hair and was carrying a strong branch. He strode over to her, and asked,
“What have you done with her?” His anger bubbled to boiling point. If anything happened to the Menphur, which he didn’t do….
“Done what with who?” the girl asked.
“With…Kira,” he said.
“Oh, she’s in the hut. Why do you want her?” Knowing this, the figure pushed the girl aside and entered the hut. On the floor lay an unconscious Kira, her hair covering most of her face, her blood stained wrists neatly beside it. He smiled to the girl, who seemed confused and said,
“Is there anywhere in the Forest you can leave her for me? I have some business with her.” The girl looked him up and down and smiled in return,
“Shall I leave her by the waterfall?”
“Yes. My comrades can pick her up there,” the figure thanked the girl and strode away into the Forest.

Giggling, the girls came out of the trees. One asked Lisa,
“Who was that?” she replied,
“I don’t know, but he sure is cute!” Gemma hurried over and whispered in Lisa’s ear,
“If you ever want to see him again, we better get Kira to the waterfall,” seeing her point, Lisa and the others dragged Kira into the Forest.

Chapter 8

When Kira finally came around, she was in the Forest. A part of the Forest she had never been before. She stood up, only to fall over again. Kira’s vision blurred, before coming back into focus again. Using a tree to stable herself and ignoring the stinging pain of her wrists, Kira finally got her senses back. Although her head was throbbing painfully it was the least of her worries. Kira made her way, slowly, to where the Waterfall came thundering down and was a pool at the bottom. The noise rang like bells in Kira’s ears. Her amber eyes of earlier had disappeared.
“What am I doing here?” she asked herself. Kira knelt down beside the pool and dunk her head into its freezing water. It rushed into her ears, and was strangely relaxing. The water, like the Forest trees in her dream, seemed to whisper again and again,
“Kiraaaaaa, Kkkkkiraaa, be carefulllll Kiraaaaaa,” they whispered,
“There are eyessss, sooo many eyesssss, watchinggg, alwaysss watching you,” Kira couldn’t hold her breath any longer. She pulled her head out of the water, gasping for air. At least her head didn’t hurt any more.
Choking she slid back in the dirt, Kira rested on her elbows. Thinking about what the water had said to her, she then crawled back to the edge. She dipped her hands into the water, and rubbed away the dried blood before asking the water,
“Who are watching me?” I must be out of my mind, Kira thought, water can’t talk to me! The water started to stroke her fingers,
“Oh, but weeeeee can Kiraaa, we can talk to you. You are not like otherssss, you take the time to listennn to ussss…”
“Then why do you only give me clues?” Kira asked the water.
“Why not tell me what I have to do and who is following me?” Suddenly, a more human voice spoke in her head, and it wasn’t her own. Kira, we can only help you. We can’t tell you what you want to know. That, you must figure out yourself.
“Wait a minute, are you my medallion?” She asked the voice out loud. Yes, I am. The voice replied.
“What am I meant to do then?” she asked it, but it was gone.
“Water?” Kira turned to the water, but its voice was gone too. Sighing she got up, and looked at the Waterfall. She went into the Forest and started to climb.

“Shut up boys!” the leader whispered to his talking companions,
“She’s coming!” From the bushes the gang watched as Kira scrambled to get to the top of the Waterfall. The leader turned to his boys,
“Let’s go”. Silent as the wind, the gang followed Kira as she climbed the hill to the top of the Waterfall.
“What are we gonna do to her Corcky?” a boy asked the leader.
“You know as well as I do what the Boss said!” Corcky snapped.
“But, she really is pretty isn’t she?” the boy asked. Corcky sighed and continued to jog,
“Yes Billy, she sure is”.

As Kira finally reached the top of the hill, she looked at the river that progressed to where the Waterfall fell. With sharp eyes, Kira was able to notice stepping-stones, all the way to edge of the Waterfall. She walked to the edge of the water, and, with the wolf inside her in control, sensed. Although she didn’t have any whiskers, the ends of Kira’s ginger-brown hair was able to sense the coming of a storm, and nose smelt the fear of the animals, as they hunted for cover. Why were they afraid? Suddenly, her fingertips tingled, and Kira spun round. There was no one there.
“Then why does it feel like there is?” Kira murmured to herself. There was the voice, it spoke again, trust your instincts Kira! Staring ahead of her, Kira reached down and grasped a stone. She flung it at the bush that was making her senses tingle.
“Oww!!!” Cried the bush.
“Thanks a lot Tom, you ruined it!” Shouted the bush next to it. The boy in the bush stood up, followed by Tom, rubbing his head, in the other bush.
“There are more of you!” Kira shouted. Gradually, more boys from bushes appeared, some jumping down from trees. Kira came out of her trance as she looked towards the boys. Surprised at how many there were she asked,
“Who are you?”
“No one important.” Said the one nearest her.
“Let me introduce myself, I am Corcky, and this is, Billy, Bobby, Nob, Mite, Tom, Ricky…” Corcky trailed off.
“What do you want?” Kira asked.
“Why don’t you come with us and we can show you?” Corcky smiled, and the rest of the boys sniggered, except one at the back that Kira didn’t notice. Instead she turned and jumped onto the first stepping-stone
“Make me!” She cried. Three of the boys followed her on the stepping-stones, with Corcky at the front, as Kira hopped from one, to the other, and the other boys ran along the bank. She was too occupied to notice that she was nearing the end of the stepping-stones. Suddenly, there she was, at the end of them, looking down, to where the waterfall ended. There was no way back.
“There, you see, there was no escaping us!” Corcky shouted over the noise of the waterfall. This was it. There has to be another way, Kira cried in her head. Then she got it.
“Yes there is. You will never, ever get me!” She snarled at Corcky. Confused, he made a grab for her, but, at the same moment, Kira made a spinning leap, and was falling down, down, down, into the water below. This is the end, she thought. Kira closed her eyes, clutched her medallion and breathed deep…

The boys at the top of the waterfall stared down in amazement before the reality hit them and they scrambled back to the Forest to talk about it.
“The girl is gone.”
“Yes, we know.”
“That was amazing!!”
“Why would she do that?”
“She’s dead, she’s dead, no one could live through that!”
“QUIET!!” screamed Corcky.
“Now, the girl is obviously dead and gone so there’s no point in us standing around. Let’s just get out of here!” The boys started to wonder off in pairs and groups, until there were only a few left.
“Coming Ash?” a boy asked as the last couple started to go. The boy named Ash turned from looking at the river and turned to his friend,
“I’ll be there in a sec, catch you up. Just go.” The last boys left, leaving Ash standing alone, before he turned again, looked around and jogged in the opposite direction – down the hill – to the gang of boys.

Kira plunged into the ice cold water, going down, down, down, from her impact. Do not let go of me Kira. Said the voice in her head. Kira’s eyes were tightly shut, but she knew her hands were still clasp safely around the medallion. Kira had to let go. Had to reach the surface. Her lungs were bursting, fighting for air. Don’t let go! Hissed the voice. I have to, thought Kira, reasoning with the voice. She took her hands from the medallion. She began to pull herself up, towards the surface. It was a long journey, as she was quite near the bottom. Kira let out a swipe, pulling upwards. A loud screech came from below, like the one in her dream, and scared her. She pulled up faster, but it grabbed her ankle, with what seemed like hard, slimy hands. She kicked but it held and dragged her down. She struggled, and pulled out blindly, opening her mouth to breath, and shutting it quickly as water rushed in. It will protect you. The words on the note that came with the medallion clung to her as she was dragged to the bottom. Kira took up the medallion in her hands again and thought; must get out. The hand kept hold of Kira’s ankle and screeched. Help…me…she cried; she was losing air – and consciousness with it. Suddenly, she burst to the surface and flew out, landing a few feet from the pool bank. Soaked to the skin, her clothes stuck to Kira as a child does to its mother. Kira tried to stand but was too weak. Falling flat on her front, she coughed up water. Sliding on to her back, Kira lay with her head against a tree, and heard the voice, give in to the darkness Kira. So she did. Breathing heavily, Kira fainted.

Ash crept down the side of the hill, aware that he was breaking gang code. But, he thought, I’m not in the gang, as of now. Using trees as so to not skid down the hill because of dead leaves that covered the Forest floor, at last he came to the ground. Ash edged to the opening that lead to the Water Fall pool, afraid of what he might find. He looked out, and there was nothing there. Ash stepped out into the clearing and stumbled back. There she was.
“She didn’t drown!” He told the trees. Ash stepped over roots towards Kira. He stood over her, watching her chest move up and down, breathing. Her eyes were shut, and she shivered now and again. Camp, thought Ash, but I can’t leave her here! He bent down and grabbed Kira under the arms, struggling against her weight and her heavy wet clothes. He heaved her up right and dragged her into the Forest.

The howl of a wolf sounded and was followed by the rest of the Pack. They had found an old trail of their pack leader, but were scared. The scent mingled with that of a horse, people, and a much darker force. The scents lead to the town, but the wolves could not follow. Why must their leader make it so difficult? How could she go to such a human place? Silently, the Pack turned back to the forest, and started to follow wafted old scents of the pack leader, but going around the town, hidden by trees.