Escape. Escape. Escape. How long will I must keep escaping? I’m a coward. Like a stupid lion whose afraid of its own shadow. Quick and nimble as I was, I could never escape anything. The sight of my helpless, fearful younger siblings being left alone in that dark territory called home caused by our so called parents made my heart consumed by guilt. I could imagine the three of them covered in their blankets trying to ignore our parents’ voice that kept intensifying with cruel remarks. My siblings relied on me. With their pleading eyes, they clung to me begging me, the oldest, to stop the arguments. What can I do? I can’t stop them. The arguments are so worse that it frightens me as well. It got to the point where I couldn’t take anymore. I ran away.
I stroked my wound with two fingers. I flinched. It still hurts. Note to self: Never go through a thick forest again. The wind was getting rougher than usual. My senses came to a conclusion that a danger was coming. With my mind telling me to find a shelter, my body couldn’t cooperate. The force of the wind was too strong. I closed my eyes waiting for the attack, knowing that my life would be the end of it.
I stood there, waiting. Waiting, but not only to hear a sound of rustling leaves. My eyes opened. I saw a girl, a girl racing with the wind. Light on her feet, it seems that she was challenging the wind. I saw her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear her voice because of the powerful wind. She seemed to be following the wind, trying to communicate.
The girl’s movements were beautiful. Although she was racing, it also seems that she was dancing. The girl was on a tree branch, her mouth moving again. Whatever she said made the wind furious and pushed her off the branch. I tried to rush in and save her, but the wind was too strong. The girl was calm; I could see it in her face. She closed her eyes allowing the wind to do whatever it wanted. I couldn’t bear to see her die. My eyes ached to see the final moment. Suddenly, the girl flipped herself and landed safely. The wind had surrendered. It was like she was one with nature. I felt the wind has died.
I fell on my butt. I couldn’t believe on what I had just seen. My eyes lay on the girl. She was smirking. She had outranked the wind as if she was second to Mother Nature. I kept staring at her in shock. The girl turned her head and her eyes met mine. Her expression was confusing. I couldn’t tell whether she was angry or embarrass. Her face flushed, then stumbled trying to get away from me. Soon, she was gone.
I sat there, blinking. My body moved up and started walking. My mind was still in shock. I still thought of the girl’s movements. They were like a dance, a beautiful dance. My eyes were looking at the ground, trapped in that memory. The sound of chattering, cheerful voices snapped me back into reality. My eyes looked around and from the looks of it, the village seemed cheerful.
A red ball rolled next to my right foot. My hands picked the ball and examined it. The sound of playing children made me looked at them. They were racing, pushing, laughing with each other. I looked at the red ball then at the children. So, I figured that the ball belonged to them. When they came toward me, they froze. I was confused. My mind told me if I give the ball back maybe they would go back to playing again. I did what my mind told me to do; I held the ball in a friendly gesture allowing them to take the ball away from me. But they didn’t take the ball from me. I sensed that the whole village was frozen as well. I looked around. I was right they were frozen.
All of the villagers’ eyes looked hostile. They looked at me like I was a dangerous trespasser. It seems that I was interrupting their balance and harmony. This confused me. They took a step back when I tried to approach to them. Their eyes were filled with uncertainty as if they were waiting for the approval of someone.
“Hey, why is everyone so quiet?” a voice said, breaking the silence.
The voice was cheery and confused. All of the villagers turned to see a young man with curly hair wearing the same clothes as the villagers. Their eyes looked at him, then pointed at me. I flinched. The young man looked at me, with his blue eyes. His eyes stared at me, calmly. Suddenly, his face grew cheery.
“Ah! So, you’re here! Good to see you again!” he said, coming closer.
I flinched as the villagers flinched as well. The young man’s arms were going to embrace me. He gave me an awkward hug. I was confused.
“You’ve grown, little brother!” he cried
I flinched again. He put his arm around neck then used his other arm to mess up my hair. I tried to get away from his touch, but he only held tighter. I felt his breath on my ear.
“Just go with the flow, okay? I’ll explain everything later.” he whispered.
I nodded.
“I see you’re still shy as usual.”
“I see you’re still stupid as usual!” I did a fake grin, judging from his personality.
He twitched then glared at me. I flinched. Guess I said the wrong words.
“You’re dead meat!” he warned with a venom in his throat.
I gulped a real gulp. I couldn’t tell whether he was acting or saying it for real. The villagers looked at us suspiciously for a second, but got back to work. The young man walked straight forward I followed after him. The route that he took was amazing. I eyed the scenery with awe. Suddenly, a blurry image went by. I blinked several times.
“She passed by,” the young man spoken.
My jaw dropped. “That can’t be.”
“Believe or not, it was her.” Then he mumbled words, I swear it sounded like: “What’s taking you so long?”
The young man looked at me then started walking. I trailed after him. As the scenery moved along with me, we came across a cottage. I heard a sound of clattering, clicking, turning, creaking, and then footsteps.
“Well, don’t just there, come in!” he snapped.
I went inside as he wished. A sound of slamming and clicking rang to my ears again. It was dark, but I could sense the outline of everything around me. Small candle lights had formed right in front of my eyes. I heard noises of opening windows then there was sunlight almost blinding my eyes. The room looked like a kitchen with chairs and tables. Something like a restaurant. He was there at the kitchen, getting two bowls of soup. I sat down at the kitchen table, propped my elbows out on the smooth wood.
“You’re a cook?” I asked, amazingly.
“Yeah, so what?” his voice was sarcastic. He placed the two bowls on the table. The soup smelled good.
Just as my mouth was about to bombard him with questions, he answered:
“My name is Matthew, I am a doctor and a cook as well. The girl, you saw, well she’s a guardian, a guardian of the forest and the village. The whole village worships her, as she was a goddess. But no, she isn’t. If you had met her, the thing that she was doing was the calming Mother Nature’s assistance. As you would call it, the five elements: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Ether. She has no name. Everyone, here, calls her Angel, but I call her Serenity. Why, you ask. The reason why is because I brought her here to this village. I named her because of her personality. Everyone before did what he or she pleases, but now everything had become worse when I brought her to the village, in my opinion. I am worried about the girl; she’s too stressed with protecting the balance and all the commotion of the villagers. She doesn’t have someone to love or calm her, besides me, she needs someone like you, your age level.”
I gasped at the long explanation he made.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“Chase.”
He smiled and stretched out his long arm, showing his palm to me. I smiled back and shook it. The kitchen shook. I felt the vibration really hard; I could hear the sounds of clattering and clashing. I looked at Matthew his face went cold with anger. His mouth moved, but didn’t make any sound; I could see that he had said:
“What have you done?”
I felt my body moving, I hold the table for support. I could see that Matthew, too, held the table.
“What’s going on?” I nearly shouted over the noises.
“Serenity must have done something wrong!” he shouted.
The vibration didn’t last it was crucial.