Spoiler! :
My scraped knees burnt. My legs were shaking, knocking together from fatigue. I couldn’t hear anything over my rasping, panting breath, but I was sure their footsteps were getting closer. I was sure they were yelling, “Get her!” I kept running blindly through the forest.
Why must they always do this? Why me? I’m not a bad kid. I transferred so they wouldn’t think I was. But my reputation was stronger than my personality. They thought I was a delinquent, but it was really them that had no honor. They thought I was a danger to them, so what did they do? Send three guys – armed, if I might add – after one girl to scare her away. Who does that?
Something hard hit the back of my head. The green of the trees, the brown, everything blurred instantly. I felt my knees hit the ground, then my cheek as my upper body collapsed. The voices grew louder. The footsteps pounded in my ears. What should I do? I struggled to stand. Never in all my days have I given up before the end. My hand fumbled for my pocket knife. Shakily, I got to my feet.
“What’ll make you leave, girl?” A smirk was on the blonde kid’s face - he tapped a thick stick against his palm like he was so cool. I couldn’t help a half-hearted snicker, even as the other two closed in.
“I can’t believe you guys,” I rasped. My throat felt coated in sand – dry, rough. “What’s wrong with you? You do know that there’s one of me, and three of you? You’ve figured out by now that I’m a girl, and yet you still do this.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” a kid with bright blue eyes taunted. He didn’t seem very sorry at all. “We’re just protecting our own girls.”
“From what?!” I shouted desperately. I’m no threat to anyone! I wanted to scream, to make them understand. But my voice had faded away, so all that came out was an ugly sound.
A stone came shooting from one of them. It hit my knuckle, but I held fast to the knife handle. Another rock to my head. The world went spinning, my grip faltered and the knife dropped, slicing my hand in the process. I heard the boys approaching before I heard the thump of the fallen weapon.
"What a shame - she's got a pretty cute face, too."
One kicked my side, another my ribs. None of them cared that my hand was bleeding, that I was defenseless. No honor, no honor, no honor. The hate kept my mind off the pain. I was curled up now. All I saw were flashes of color; my only comfort was the cool of the earth beneath me. A blow to my head sent the world dark.
Laughing, taunting, whispers, fear. They didn’t bother to get to know me. They saw the scars on my arms. They said my eyes were beautiful - mesmerizing - yet they turned their backs in my gaze. They heard the rumors, carried over from the school I left behind, and it was enough for them. Other girls cowered, boys went after me to show off. They saw how the weight of my knife in my pocket was always there, but did they ever once think it was because of them? It was because they kept doing such unreasonable things? No, they didn’t think. They didn’t care. No one cared.
I sat up with a jolt, my chest still rising and falling rapidly. Where was I? I thought I had scoured ever inch of this forest, yet here I was in a place I had never seen. There was darkness. The canopy of the trees was denser than I had ever dreamed it could be; only the thinnest threads of light could fight their way to the floor. Fight? Oh yeah, some boys were just fighting me… if you could call three to one a fight.
A shadow was moving with its back towards me. I felt for my knife, but the leaves only crinkled in response to my search. I used the next best thing. My fist was raised as I leaped forward. My head was light and my side hurt like hell, but I felt the impact of my punch. The shadow went down with a blow to its back. It was startled, and I could suddenly see that it was a boy wearing a light grey sweatshirt, with the hood completely covering his face.
He suddenly sprang up, and the next thing I knew both my wrists were held fast within powerful hands. I thrashed about, and kicked, but he only restrained both my arms in one hand and reached into his pocket with the other. He pulled out my own knife.
I really started to panic then. I was suddenly very aware of the void in my stomach and the fact I hadn’t eaten in so long. My eyes were locked on that cold blade, my precious knife that had gotten me through… well, everything. Was I about to die by that very weapon? I was so absorbed in these thoughts I didn’t hear his low voice, talking half to me, half to himself.
“Oh shoot, maybe I shouldn’t have shown her the knife before I explained… Hey, calm down! Stop struggling so much. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not going to hurt you. Just take this and get out of here.” He let my arms go, pushing me away, and tossed the knife to my feet. His head was down, his face in shadow.
I didn’t take my eyes off him, but reached down for the blade.
“Ah,” I muttered, surprised. It was only then that I looked at my hand, to see the white bandage wrapped there. Blood spots still dotted my shirt eerily, but he was the one who had fixed up my hand, right?
He started muttering again. “Sorry I couldn't do anything about the bruises on your side. I mean, I put some ice on the bump on your head, but I really didn’t want to lift your shirt to… oh never mind. I probably sound like a perv right now. Just leave, please, and go get your wounds treated.”
I stared blankly, but he said, “Go!” again, so I started to turn away. But…
“Hey,” he added, timidly. “If you’re ever in this area, and those guys bother you again… Well, I’m… eh… just call me Shadow. Yeah, I know it’s a stupid name, but I’m sure if you yelled it, I’d probably hear. I mean, I’m always here, and…”
“Thank you,” I rasped in my still-strained voice. “Thank you.”
A sun rose and died before I walked to that same forest.
“Shaaaaaaadow!” My voice rang out, echoing off the air. I listened. Nothing. “Shaaaaaaaadow!” All my heart and soul, I poured them into that one call. I had just gotten my voice back, and now I’d probably lose it again.
There! I spun around to be greeted by the sight of a running Shadow, his aura utterly serious. He slowed down as he reached me, panting, but not nearly as much as a regular person would. The grey hood of his sweatshirt still blocked his face.
“Hi!” I greeted, uncharacteristically cheerful.
He peered around suspiciously. “You aren’t in trouble, are you?”
“Uh, no, not at the moment.”
He breathed a sigh. “God, you got me all worked up for nothing. I was seriously expecting a fight.” He scratched the back of his neck; he ran his fingers through his hair. Was he… embarrassed?
Shadow turned back to me. “So what did you want?”
“I wanted to say thank you, um, to you. For fixing my hand and not leaving me alone,” I said, awkwardly. “I also feel kind of bad for waking up and immediately hitting you…”
“Ah, don’t worry about that,” he replied, looking down as always, that hood constantly blocking his face. “I probably would have done the same in your situation.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. Silence fell. After a minute, he broke it.
“So, how are your injuries? Are you okay?”
I laughed it off. “I’m fine. I’m pretty used to it actually… Well, I, uh, I don’t go looking for fights or anything…”
“I know what you mean,” Shadow said, but in a way that was so serious, solemn, that I found my head turning to look at him. He jumped at my gaze. “Well, um…” He couldn’t find what to say.
I looked over at this boy, this Shadow. I knew nothing about him, but for some reason I felt an overwhelming urge to learn. What's wrong with me? I might just be stupid, but it only recently occured to me that he could be some kind of creep, some kind of child molester. I felt so naive with my guard down, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't picture him that way. Then again, if he wanted to hurt me or do something bad, you'd think he would have done it yesterday when I was injured and defenseless.
"Your eyes," I suddenly said. "Can I see your eyes?"
That's right... Eyes are a gateway to a person's soul. I felt like I've read that somewhere, and I really wanted to look into his soul, to see what I would find there.
"No."
"Why not?"
He touched his face, in the shadow of his hood, then stared at his hand. "My face is a mess. You really don't want to see it."
I blanked. How was I supposed to respond to that? My mouth started blabbing on its own.
“I bet it’s not. I bet I’ve seen worse. I’m really not big on looks, as you can see from my appearance. I really want to see your face, I really–" A hand clamped over my mouth. It was warm, and I immediately stopped talking.
“I’m sorry, I should go now. I need to say good-bye while we’re still on good terms. So… bye.” The hand slipped away.
He started walking.
“Shadow’s not your real name, is it?” I shouted after him, desperate to continue talking.
“No, but it’s what I usually go by. What’s your name?” He turned back towards me. For some reason I felt a wave of… relief.
“Well, since you’re not using your real name, I’ll just tell you what everyone calls me. Disgrace, or Scray, for short.”
“What kind of name if that?”
“It’s my name.” Why did I care so much for a name that was supposed to be an insult? I’d had it for so long, I guess.
“Disgrace… Scray…” He tested out the words on his tongue, but he kept cringing. “I don’t want to call you that. How about Wolf? You look like a wolf to me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Something about your stance, and you look like a good fighter, too. I bet you could have inflicted some damage to those guys the other day if you weren’t so exhausted. Not that I’m an expert on this stuff or anything.”
“Wolf and Shadow, huh? Okay.” Wolf. Wolves are strong, they have a system and a code of honor, not just senseless fighting. I could get used to being called something so noble.
I guess I was a little hyped up on the pleasure of my new name, because I felt like wandering back into dangerous territory. “You can call me Wolf – but only if you show me your face.”
I couldn’t see it, but I could practically sense his frown. The light in his voice disappeared. I noticed he didn’t turn away again, though.
“No. I’m serious; you don’t want to see it.” I inched closer. “Please. Can’t we just talk?” Just a little more. A couple feet. “I haven’t talked like this with anyone in a long time.” There! I lunged at the hood, pulling it back. I had to prove I could accept him.
His reflexes hit me hard. I flew off him, but not before I could snatch a glance.
He ran over to where I lay on the ground. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Don’t do that ever again. I’m sorry,” he babbled as I clutched my side and coughed.
“I saw it.”
He froze. He let go of my shoulder. He backed away. “No,” he whispered. His hands reached up, they pulled down the hood.
Eyes like slivers of ebony looked down at me. They were the eyes of an animal – a snake or a cat. Their firery irises struck through me; the color almost seemed to be moving like some kind of writhing thing. The part of his eye that should have been white was the complete opposite. It was the dakest, shiny black, like a deep pool of night. Grayish-silver scales surrounded them like a mask, branching off in various sizes, in various patterns across his face.
Dull, but incredibly strong-looking fangs stuck out from his mouth. They were ivory – they glinted dangerously in the light. But even as strange as these features were, my eyes were drawn immediately to the enormous burn mark running from the bottom of his right eye, across his cheek, down past his ear. It was so thick that the first thing I thought was, What could’ve done that? The scar wasn’t properly healed either – it was a dark brown and crusted with blood.
Shaggy, matted black hair hung into his face. It looked like it’d been clumsily cut.
He crouched down in front of me. Those animal eyes of his suddenly started to weep. The fangs bit into his lip.
"I didn't want this... to happen... again," he choked. His voice grew loud. "Damn it! This is so frustrating!"
He was stuck somewhere between anger and sadness. The tears still flowed and his voice was laced with sorrow, yet a rage flew from his mouth. I looked at his burn, his scales, his eyes, and I couldn't help feeling a little pang in my chest. But I couldn't figure out what it meant. He must have built up so many of these same memories. So many people must have left him. I wanted this memory - of me - to be different.
He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, a little bit calmer. “Why do I have to be like this?! Shoot... I'm gonna be alone again.” The tears raged forth again, silently, down his strange face. I was afraid if he bit his lip any harder, trying to keep in his sobs, it would start to bleed.
“D-Don't cry!” I urged. Comforting wasn’t my strong point. I scooted closer to him, petted his black mane. “It’s okay,” I cooed. “I’ll stay with you. Look. Shh… It’s all right.”
His face was soaked with his tears. My eyes were soaked with the image of him. After a time, he looked up again. “You’re still here,” he observed, rubbing his piercing eyes.
“I guess so,” I replied, quietly.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Like I said, I’ve seen worse. And it’s hard to be scared of something crying so pitifully.”
“Thank you… Wolf.” He looked up to see my reaction to the name. I smiled. He blushed… I think.
I coughed. “Well,” I said. “I could take you home and brush your hair and cut it. That would do wonders, first of all. Then, I could clean up that thing on your face. It looks like it could get infected, and that could be bad. Geez, why are you so great at cleaning up other people’s wounds, but not your own?”
He looked away. “Are you curious to know why I’m like this?”
“Frankly, yes, but I thought you’d tell me if I waited. I’ll accept any story at this point.”
“I’m the son of a dragon.” Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.
“Is it hard?” I asked. He nodded.
“I’m always confused. What am I – a human or a dragon? The answer is neither. People think I’m freak when they see me, they never want to look. Dragons call me Reject. It’s a constant fight.”
“Well, you son of a dragon, can I fight beside you?”
“Would you?”
I nodded. He grinned, but suddenly remembered he was baring his fangs and looked away in embarrassment. I laughed.
Disgrace and Reject.
Wolf and Shadow.
Extra Stuff:
Spoiler! :
There is nothing I dislike about and it was written very well. It was a really sweet story and sounds like something you could continue if you wanted to.
Maybe the arms observation would be better suited for a later time, when they know each other a bit better.
Well other than that, this is a good start. Good luck. Keep Writing!! XD
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