Okay, well... if you take the time to read this, enjoy. I figure i should release a little bit of my writing somewhere. (
In case you are interested, this is just over 2000 words. It isn't a novel... its barely a chapter.
Always Mean
Kiaria skipped lightly as she headed to school. She quite liked
school. Professor Carlisle always told her she was so bright for her age.
Kiaria smiled as she thought about the upcoming arithmetic test she was to take
this week.
Four plus six equals ten, she thought to herself, and
five plus seven is twelve.
Adding five and seven together had always stumped her for some
reason. She didn’t know why, it was only adding one onto four and one onto six.
One plus one equals two, so it is pretty much like putting two on top of ten.
Which is what four plus six equals.
Kiaria skipped over another rock, that’s the fourth one… Four
plus eight equals twelve too.
She girl continued to run through addition problems all the way to
the school house, keeping her eyes down as she walked.
When she reached the schoolhouse, she continued to keep her eyes down;
for fear that one of the bigger kids would send her a mean look or comment.
She gasped slightly as one of the boys flicked her arm, but she
did not speak out. She simply rubbed her now stinging skin and sank into her
seat in the back of the classroom.
“Don’t mind him,” Kiaria’s friend, Pax, said next to her, “boys
don’t know how to be nice.”
“I wish they did,” Kiaria whispered, putting her head down on her
desktop, “I wish I could be older, then the boys wouldn’t be so mean.”
“My mom says boys are just as mean when we grow up,” Pax
whispered.
Kiaria sighed, but her attention was averted to the front of the class
as Professor Carlisle walked into the classroom, “Good morning everyone.”
“Good morning Professor,” the class said in unison.
“Everyone finished last night’s assignment, I trust?” He asked,
raising his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Kiaria said loudly, expecting the rest of the class to say
it with her, but they didn’t.
Her face began to turn red as a few of the boys chuckled, looking
back at her. Professor Carlisle on the other hand smiled at Kiaria, “Well, I’m
glad at least one of you did it. Miss Cecirta, would you like to bring me your
assignment?”
Kiaria looked at Pax with a frown, she smiled and gave her a
thumb’s up. With a long sigh Kiaria got out of her seat and made her way to the
front of the classroom, grabbing her small assignment with her before leaving
her desk.
“Thank you, Kiaria,” He said as she handed her paper over.
She nodded, “You’re welcome.”
The professor lowered himself so he was eyelevel with her, and
then whispered so quietly only she could hear, “Don’t think that being like the
other kids and not doing your homework is good. You did the right thing by
following instructions.”
Kiaria smiled slightly and nodded once more, “Thank you.”
Professor Carlisle smiled, “Go ahead and return to your seat.”
After school was over, Kiaria waited a moment for the rest of the
kids to leave the schoolhouse before gathering her things. She always did that;
she didn’t want to risk anyone tripping her on the way out the door.
“Are you ready for the test tomorrow?” Professor Carlisle asked
her.
Kiaria smiled, “Yes, I studied with Pax yesterday.”
“Good, you might want to try studying again?” He offered, “It
might help you remember the answers a little better. Not that I should worry
about you forgetting any of the answers though.”
Kiaria smiled, “I was going to study a little
more…”
“Don’t use all your free time doing homework,” he replied, “play
outside a bit, will you?”
“But you just said…”
“I did,” the professor said, “but I don’t want you to spend all of your time studying. Only some.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, “Well, I’ll play outside then.”
“Thank you, Kiaria,” Professor Carlisle said, “Now run along, I
don’t want your parents to worry.”
Kiaria nodded and ran out the door, clutching her papers in her
arms.
“Hey smarty-pants,” a voice called behind her as she ran.
She slowed and then turned slowly, “Me?”
A few kids walked towards her, “Why are you in such a big hurry?”
Kiaria frowned; the leader of the group was Spencer, he was the
one who had flicked her before class. She turned back around and started
heading home once more, without answering his question.
“What’s wrong Miss Brain,” Spencer teased, “You don’t want to
mingle with kids who don’t get every answer correct.”
“No, I just don’t want to mingle with you,” Kiaria snapped. The
instant the words came out of her mouth she bit her tongue; she knew better
than to insult someone. What would her mother think?
Spencer frowned, “What’s wrong with me?”
Kiaria turned away again without answering, but she knew by doing
this she had just made things worse for herself.
“Hey!” one of the other kids said, grabbing her shoulder, “He
asked you a question.”
“I don’t want to answer it,” She said quickly.
“Well maybe I don’t want to be friends with you either, Kiaria,”
Spencer said grabbing her things and throwing them to the ground.
She gasped quietly and instantly fell to her knees to retrieve her
papers and books. While she was on her knees one of the kids pushed her down.
She bit back tears as her elbows ground into the dirt, scraping them up.
“Leave her alone, Spencer,” someone said behind her.
Kiaria looked up to see Dezra Young walking up to her, “What did
she do to you?”
“She insulted me,” Spencer snapped.
“You probably deserved it,” Dezra said, holding his hand out to
Kiaria.
She met his brown and gray eyes for just a moment, and then looked
away. He held out his hand to her and she took it gingerly, as soon as her hand
as in his, Dezra pulled her to her feet.
“I’m not afraid of you, Dezra,” Spencer said, “just because your
Dad was put on the Council a few months ago, doesn’t mean you can push me
around.”
“If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out,” Dezra said with a
frown.
Dezra was three years older than Spencer, and it showed when they
stood in front of each other. Now that Dezra was twelve, he had started to grow
much faster, and Spencer was still only a little bit taller than Kiaria.
Kiaria wondered why someone so much older than her was helping
her. After all, she was only eight; Pax said older boys weren’t nice either.
Then again… Dezra’s brother had never been mean to her… maybe Dezra was like
Exaivier.
“What’s that supposed to mean,” Spencer snapped.
“Don’t be mean, stupid,” Dezra said, “especially to smart girls.”
Kiaria looked away from Spencer as he scowled at her. After a
moment of silence, Spencer and his friends walked away, Kiaria could hear him
grumbling as he turned.
Dezra looked at her, “Are you okay?”
She nodded, “Yes…”
“Your elbows are bleeding,” he said softly, “My mother can help
with that if you want…”
She nodded, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, “Yes, please.”
A few minutes later Dezra lead Kiaria into his kitchen, “Mother,”
he said softly, “Can you help us please?”
Mistress Young turned
with bright brown eyes as they approached her, she had a warm smile; “Of
course, how can I assist you?”
“Kiaria fell,” Dezra said slowly, “and she scraped up her elbows.”
Her smile slowly turned to a concerned frown, “Oh you poor thing,
come sit right up here, I’ll get you all cleaned up.”
Kiaria nodded and moved to sit on of the bar stools by the counter.
Just as she climbed up into the seat, Exaivier walked in, “Mother, my quill
just broke, do you know where I can find another?”
“Your father might have on in his study,” she said to him, “be
sure to knock before you disturb him though.”
Exaivier nodded, then for the first time saw Kiaria, “Oh… hi
Kiaria.”
Kiaria smiled slightly, “Hi, Exaivier.”
“What are you doing here..?” he asked, his tone didn’t sound
accusing, simply curious.
“I fell,” Kiaria said, showing him her elbows, as if that
explained everything.
Exaivier looked to Dezra and then back to her; finally he nodded,
accepting her explanation, “Okay.”
“Here you are,” Mistress Young said, moving to Kiaria with a warm
cloth.
Kiaria grimaced slightly as Dezra and Exaivier’s mother cleaned
her scratches, but did not complain.
Exaivier ducked out of the room as his mother began to help her;
but Dezra stayed beside her. He didn’t say anything, but Kiaria found herself
liking his company anyway.
“There you are, my dear,” Dezra’s mother said pulling the cloth
away from her elbows, “Feel better?”
Kiaria nodded, “Thank you.”
She smiled, “I’m happy to help.”
“Mother, can she stay?” Dezra asked as Kiaria got down from the
stool.
Kiaria looked up in surprise at Dezra, no one had ever asked her
to visit except for Pax.
His mother nodded with a small shrug, “As long as you do your
homework.”
Dezra nodded, “Of course.”
“Well hop to it then,” she said.
Dezra motioned to a doorway leading to what she guessed was the
living room, “Come on.”
Kiaria trailed behind Dezra, almost cautiously. She was surprised
to hear Pax’s laughing as she walked into the room, “Exaivier, that’s
disgusting.”
The two of them were sitting on the floor with their arms up on
the coffee table, papers spread out before them.
“And If I draw on your face, would it still be disgusting?”
Exaivier teased lightly.
“You just got a new quill!” Pax exclaimed, “I’ll bleed all over
the place, and then you will have to ask your father to heal me.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t heal such a small cut,” Exaivier said with a
smile.
Pax looked up with a grin as Dezra and Kiaria walked in, “Hi,
Kiaria!”
“Hello…” she said softly.
“We are just finishing our homework,” Exaivier said, “you can do
it with us if you’d like.”
Kiaria nodded with a small smile, lowering herself to the floor
beside Pax. Dezra moved to sit beside Exaivier.
Exaivier looked up at his brother, “Did you finish already?”
“No,” Dezra said, “I did my homework in class.”
“Are you allowed to do that?” Kiaria asked with wide eyes.
Dezra shrugged, “Sure.”
“But it is homework,” Pax
protested.
“Schoolwork, homework,” Dezra sighed, “It makes no difference to
me.”
Kiaria set out her papers and hesitated, “I
don’t have a quill…”
“I’ll get you one,” Exaivier said, popping to his feet.
Kiaria watched Exaivier walk out of the room in surprise; so many
people were being nice to her. Two boys were being nice to her…
I bet it is their mother, Kiaria said, I bet they get
punished if they are mean to girls.
“You can borrow mine until Exaivier comes back,” Pax offered, “I’m
almost done anyways.”
Kiaria smiled and accepted the quill, “Thanks.”
Kiaria was nearly halfway done by the time Exaivier marched back
into the room with a quill in his hand, “Here you go, Kiaria.”
She looked up as he sat down and put the
quill in front of her, “Oh…”
“Where did you get that?” Exaivier asked, motioning to the quill
she had in her hand.
“That’s mine,” Pax said, “I let her borrow it until you came
back.”
Kiaria nodded shyly and handed the quill back to Pax.
Exaivier sighed with a smile, “Latiana you’re too nice for your
own good.”
Kiaria looked up, “Latiana..?”
Exaivier nodded and motioned to Pax, “Latiana…”
“My middle name is Pax,” she said, “but Exaivier the knob likes to
call me Latiana, which is Latiana.”
Kiaria nodded slowly, “I don’t know many people who go by their
first name.”
“Exaivier is my first name,” Exaivier said with a shrug.
“Dezra is mine,” Dezra added.
Kiaria furrowed her brow, “Strange…”
“Kiaria is not your first name?” Exaivier asked.
“No,” she said, “My first name is the same as my mother’s.”
“Oh…” Exaivier said slowly, remembering what had happened to her
mother only a few months earlier.
“What was your mother’s name?” Dezra asked softly.
“Her middle name was Friela,” Kiaria said, “but I was given her
first name.”
Latiana smiled, “That is different, so what was her middle name
then?”
Kiaria looked down as she said softly, “Isobel…”
NEXT SCENE
Okay, so if any of you don't remember, I did a little thingy to give you a feel for my characters? I asked you to give me a comment here. And then about two weeks later I posted this?Well if anyone is interested this is it.
“Tell me again why we are walking
to the campsite?” Skandar asked Exaivier, “There were four perfectly capable
horses. Or, here’s an idea, we could just teleport.”
Exaivier shook his head, “Skandar,
not even I have been to the place we are going, and it would be dangerous to
bring a horse through these trails.”
I looked around at the vast canopy
of leaves above me, rays of sunlight poked through sparingly. It was the middle
of the day and the forest around us was still relatively dim. The trail we were
walking along had protruding tree roots and half buried rocks with every other
step.
“What is that?” Skyler asked,
pointing in the distance.
“Skyler,” Skandar said to his
sister, “you should know by now, that the only one who is capable of knowing
what you see is Chandler. Mine and Exaivier’s eyesight is not as… capable as
yours and his.”
Skyler looked at me, “Can you see
it?”
I looked in the direction she was
pointing, squinting slightly. At first I thought I didn’t see anything, but
after tuning out my hearing for a moment I was able to make out a small
building about a mile away from where we were standing.
“What is it?” Skandar asked as I
blinked slowly and let my hearing return to normal.
“It looks like a house,” I said
slowly.
Exaivier
raised an eyebrow, “We aren’t near anything on the map…”
“Maybe there is a secret
civilization living right under our noses,” Skandar said with a wide grin.
“Its more likely that it is
someone’s private cabin,” I replied, thoughtful.
“Well there is only one way to
find out,” Skyler raised her eyebrows and skipped ahead of us.
Exaivier rolled his eyes, Skandar
eyed him; “You’re probably wondering why she is the Enchantress, aren’t you?”
Exaivier shook his head, “Of
course not. If Skyler were as boring as I am then Altedaron would surely be
doomed.”
By the time we caught up with
Skyler, she was already in front of the building she’d spotted. It was much
bigger than a schoolhouse, and by the looks of its condition it hadn’t been
visited in some time. The roof sagged a bit, and half of the windows were
cracked or shattered. Green moss grew along the outer walls helping the small
building blend in with the trees.
“Do you recognize this?” Skyler
asked Exaivier, he obviously being the oldest of our group, was the most likely
to have seen it before.
Exaivier shook his head, his brown
and gray eyes narrowed, “I haven’t ever been in this part of the forest, but it
has the same structure of a house that stood in my hometown a few hundred years
ago…”
“You think its that old?” I asked,
“just by looking at it?”
“It’s only a guess,” he said
simply.
Skandar stepped forward
cautiously, peering into one of the windows, “The entire place is empty…”
“Maybe whoever lived here took
everything with them.” Skyler offered with a teasing smile.
“There are more houses,” Exaivier
said, his eyes scanning the area.
“More?” Skandar asked, turning.
Exaivier was right, along with the
small house, twenty or so more buildings stood scattered around the area. A few
houses had trees growing out of them, and two of them had completely collapsed
from decay.
“This was a village,” Skyler said
with amazement, “Who would live so far away from everything else?”
“Thieves,” Skandar replied, “or
perhaps omas… depending on how old the village is.”
I spun around as a twig snapped
behind me; Exaivier raised an eyebrow in curiosity as I began to move around
the house. I wrapped my fingers
around the hilt of my sword as I rounded the corner, holding my breath.
I didn’t know what to expect, but
was relieved when I only found more trees. I turned to rejoin the group but
jumped slightly as I ran straight into Skyler.
“Skyler…” I exhaled, “please…”
She laughed softly, “What are you
looking for?”
I shrugged, “I thought I heard
something.”
Her blue and green eyes seemed to
sparkle with mischief as she laughed again, “You get spooked easily?”
I shook my head and moved around
her, “In situations like this?” I turned the corner and she followed, “Absolutely.”
Skyler continued to smile at me,
amused that I was easily spooked by being in a ghost town. I didn’t understand
why she found it so amusing, there was nothing amusing about a ghost town, even
if it was small.
“Why don’t we just stay here for
the night?” Skandar suggested with wide playful eyes, I groaned inwardly.
Exaivier shrugged and looked to Skyler
and me for agreement to Skandar’s idea. I said nothing but Skyler nodded, “We
could all use a good ghost story.”
“I’m sleeping with my sword under
my pillow,” I muttered.
Skandar laughed and clapped me on
the back, “It will be fun Chandler.”
“I don’t know about that,”
Exaivier said slowly, “but I won’t deny it will be interesting camping in the
middle of an abandoned village.”
“Chandler is afraid that an army
of undead soldiers are going to attack us while we are sleeping,” Skyler told
Skandar and Exaivier with a small shrug.
I stared at Skyler incredulously,
“I didn’t say that, I only said that staying here is little ominous…”
Skandar pulled off his backpack
and then laid out his bedroll on one of the less uneven parts of the ground,
“If I die before tomorrow morning, then you can say ‘I told you so.’”
I nodded, “Comforting.”
“Maybe we should just have
Exaivier send a thick blanket of magic into the air,” Skyler said, putting her
bedroll down a few feet away from Skandar’s, “It will make all of us giddy.”
“That is not a good idea,” Exaivier countered Skyler almost
instantly.
I dropped my pack to the ground
and laid out my bedroll. As soon as I was seated on the thin cushion of
blankets Skandar announced, “I’ll be back. I’m going to see if I can find any
dry wood for a fire.”
“I’ll help,” Exaivier said, rising
to his feet and joining Skandar.
Skyler and I watched the two of
them walk away; as soon as they were out of earshot Skyler said, “It isn’t that
bad, Chandler.”
I nodded, “I know… I just don’t
like the feeling I get here. Its too quiet.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Skyler asked.
“I can’t hear… anything.” I said
after a moment, “Birds… insects… even wind.”
Skyler looked around, she seemed
to catch on. “I suppose it is a little strange.”
“Well as long as I’m not the one
who dies,” I said, “We can stay here as long as we want.”
The next morning started slowly,
considering none of us knew what we wanted to do. Exaivier had planned for us
to camp a few miles away at an actual campsite. It surprised me that no one had
heard of the eerie town, considering how close it was.
“Exaivier,” Skandar said, digging
through his belongings, “Did you do anything with my sword?”
“Skandar, I have my own. Why would
I take yours?” Exaivier replied.
“Not to mention his is hard to
use,” Skyler uttered to me.
“I heard that Skyler,” Skandar
said with a flat stare.
I laughed softly; Skyler was
right, of course. Skandar’s sword had a blade on both sides of the hilt. It was
one of the first weapons he learned how to use, so he could swing it as
naturally as a normal sword, but it wasn’t something that any of the rest of us
tried to use often.
“Where did you leave it?” Exaivier
asked.
“It was strapped to my back when
we set up camp last night,” Skandar replied, “I didn’t take it off until I went
to sleep.”
“Where did you put it when you
took it off, Skandar?” Skyler said.
“Right next to me,” he exclaimed.
After a moment of staring at the three of us he began to chuckle, “Come on,
give it back. I know one of you took it.”
I shook my head, “I didn’t take
it.”
Exaivier rolled his eyes and
continued to mess with the fire, “Skandar, you don’t know me well enough if you
believe I actually hid your weapon.”
“Sky,” Skandar said in a playfully
warning tone, “Where did you put my sword?”
“I didn’t put it anywhere,” Skyler
replied with a small laugh, which practically undermined her claim.
“If I run into a bear,” Skandar
said, “and I don’t have a weapon to defend myself. My blood is on your hands,
Skyler.”
Skyler widened her eyes and
laughed loudly, “You are more dramatic than my lab partner from my sophomore
year!”
“Who?” Skandar asked, “Michaela?
Give me a break, Sky.”
I chuckled, “I only knew her for a
few weeks… but she seemed to cause drama just by walking into a room.”
“I’m not that dramatic,” Skandar
said, “Besides, you two obviously put my sword somewhere… We will just have to
go find it.”
I rolled my eyes; Skandar wasn’t
going to give it up.
He continued to search for a good
portion of the morning. He managed to look through every building and around
each of their corners by the time noon had come and gone.
“What did you do?” he asked Skyler
as he finally sat down in front of the fire, defeated. “Did you burry it?”
Skyler stared at her brother,
“Skandar, I didn’t take it.”
Exaivier glanced at the three of
us, “Well someone did. You want my best guess? Skandar is trying to fool us all
into believing a ghost took his sword.”
I grinned, “That is what makes the
most sense if you ask me.”
Skandar frowned, “That is taking
it a bit too far.”
Skyler shrugged “I would not put
it past you, Skandar.”
Skandar shook his head; “This is
what I get for being the one of the four who likes to laugh the most?”
“I’ve known you since you were
sixteen years old,” Exaivier said, “You have tried to pull pranks on me and
whoever else is around during any time of the day.”
Skandar looked around, his
expression a bit serious, “Not this time.”
It was safe to say, that none of
us believed him. Skandar had
probably strung his sword up into a tree above his bedroll to retrieve after
convincing us all of what happened.
àààà
Skandar was right. It had taken
three more days for him to prove it. But by then Exaivier’s cloak, Skyler’s
dagger, and my sword as well as Skandar’s were all missing. Each morning we
would wake up, and something else would be gone. Now that more than just
Skandar’s sword had disappeared all of us knew we couldn’t leave until we
retrieved our things. My sword and Skandar’s especially.
After another day of searching all
of us decided that if another one of our belongs went missing then it would be
worth it to get the sleep that we’d been lacking for the past forty-eight
hours.
Despite our worries, I fell asleep
within five minutes. The night was soundless, quiet, and went by too quickly.
After what felt like barely an hour I felt something kicking me lightly in the
side.
“Chandler,” it was Skyler’s voice,
her foot was continuously tapping my rib cage. “ Chandler, get up.”
I opened my eyes and suddenly shot
up, “What happened? What was taken?”
“Nothing that belongs to me is
missing,” Exaivier said behind Skyler.
Skyler nodded, “Nothing of mine is
gone either; we need you to check your things, make sure everything is there.”
“Nothing is missing,” I announced
as soon as I was done thoroughly searching my bag. “Did Skandar check his
things yet?”
“He’s out getting firewood,”
Skyler said, “I haven’t seen him yet.”
“You haven’t?” Exaivier asked her,
“I thought you said you knew where he went.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Skandar woke
up before both of you?”
“He was gone when I woke up,”
Skyler replied, “You and Exaivier were still asleep though. I assumed he’d gone
out to get wood to fuel the fire enough to make breakfast.”
“He has been gone for too long to
be collecting firewood,” Exaivier said, “He should have been back by now.”
Skyler and I stared at him, I
could tell by Skyler’s expression she feared the same thing I was thinking.
“Let’s not worry just yet,”
Exaivier said, “but it wouldn’t hurt to go look for him.”
I let out a small sigh, “I am
never going camping again.”
LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but you knew that already:)
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