• Roger decided that each day for four days, Boa, Jen, Kert, and Trek should plan what to do for a whole day so that I could get to know them better. Today was Kert's choice. He was leading us along a forest trail and we've been walking for hours. Jen kept complaining on how far it was and Trek kept teasing Roger while Boa was laughing at him. I was walking alongside Kert.
    "Where are we going?" I asked him.
    "to my...place" he replied.
    "your home?"
    He laughed a little and shook his head. "its not my home, its an abandoned cottage. I go there to invent stuff, to examine things, stuff like that. Its just a nice place to work in, very peaceful there without these buffoons in the way" he sighed. "and now they're gonna know where I'll be when I'm not around..."
    I felt kinda bad because hes going to show everyone where his secret place is at. Kert saw the look on my face.
    "its alright, you know. They'd figure it out sooner or later, so no worries"
    "oh, Kert! Is that it, is that it? Over there, way over there! I can see a tiny green house hiding between two humongous trees!" A voice yelled out from up above.
    I looked up to see who it was, and it was Trek, up on a tall tree, standing on a branch that looked too thin to hold him.
    "get down from that branch! Its gonna snap!" Boa called out. "its not thick enough, Trek! Get off!"
    "oh...how'd he get up there so fast..?" Jen said quietly to himself as he approached the tree.
    There was a cracking sound and Trek almost fell forward. Everyone was shouting out his name. There was another crack, followed by three more, and then the branch snapped off the tree. Trek screamed as he fell through the air. Right before he hit the ground, I shut my eyes, then flinched as I heard a loud thump.
    "oh man..." Roger whispered.
    "fool" Kert said.
    "poor Jen..." Boa laughed.
    I opened my eyes and saw Trek, he fell on top of Jen! I laughed out loud, hes such an idiot.
    "get...get...offa mee!" Jen started kicking and rocking his body side to side, trying to get Trek off.
    "nnn..hey!" Trek fell off him and landed on the dirt. "ouch..." he looked up at the tree. "man was that a fall! Whoowy!"
    "oh yeah, oh yeah, that was such a great fall! did you get hurt? Cause I sure did!" Jen was breathing heavily, obviously mad.
    "oh..hey, Jen, calm down"
    "what are you talking about? I am perfectly calm" Jen said through clenched teeth.
    "wha-Jen, you kn-know..you sh-should stop to actually think of ah..." he glanced over at me. "think of Anysa! We're suppose to get her to know u-us better. What would she think of you if you be-" he was cut off by Jen's loud yelling then before we knew it, Jen pounced on Trek.
    I stared at them fighting. "dont stop..the fight?"
    Boa glanced over at me then back at them. "nah, this is completely normal, harmless"
    Roger, Kert, and Boa ignored them and continued walking. I had trouble figuring out what to do, and after a few minutes past, I decided to go with the others. They were far ahead and I couldn't seem to catch up to them. My legs started hurting and I was getting really tired.
    "rahh!"
    Someone shouted behind me and before I could turn around, I got lifted up real high.
    "hello princess. Let me rest your sore feet"
    I was sitting on Treks shoulders and I felt like I was going to fall, even though he was holding onto my leg. When he started walking, I almost fell backwards but then grabbed his hair. Trek howled at the pain.
    "aye, Anysa, just lean forward and hold my head!"
    I said okay and did want he told me to do. It felt more easier, more safer. I finally noticed something so I asked Trek.
    "oh him? Jens up there with the others"
    I looked up and saw that they stopped and were waiting for us, and hes right, Jen was over there. "how did he get...there? I didn't see him go"
    Trek laughed. "because his fast like lightning!"
    Once we caught up with the others, Roger started laughing.
    "what?" I asked, worried.
    "you almost fell when Trek started walking with you on his shoulders! I saw, it was so funny" he grinned.
    Trek looked over at Kert. "oh whoops, I guess im spending more time with Anysa then you are, huh?"
    Kert didn't say anything.
    "its okay! Here, I'll lend her to you" Trek walked behind Kert, bent over, and quickly lifted me onto his shoulders. I almost fell so I held onto Kerts head.
    "wha-what are you doing?" he hissed
    "helping you so you could spend some quality time with Anysa" Trek smiled proudly.
    Kert groaned, but didn't complained. He continued leading the way with me on his shoulders. Nobody didn't say anything for the whole time. Jen was whistling a tune, Trek was climbing up rocks then jumping off them, and Roger and Boa didn't do anything, just walked. Once we past a huge, thick tree, there was a big, steep hill going downward. Everyone gasped.
    "wow"
    "amazing..."
    "cool"
    "its like a fairy tale!"
    There was a big lake covered in a bunch of green things and it shimmered under the patched up sunlight. It reached from one side all the way across to the other. The trees there were enormous! Its roots were so long, and big, some were as thick as my height but the rest are even thicker. The ground was covered in the crawling roots. There was also a lot of butterflies flying around, some orange, some blue, some white, and some yellow. Right behind it all was a small white house with an orange tiled roof. It was covered in vines that swirled and curved.
    "breathtaking, isn't it?" Kert asked me. I didn't say anything, just stared in awe.
    Everyone leaped with excitement and started running down the hill. Kert knelt down and took me off his shoulders, then we started going down the hill too. There was a log over the lake, so we walked across it to get to the other side. Once we got to the house, we waited for Kert to open the door.
    "now to the rules, first off, don't touch my things, second, don't touch my things, and third, don't tou-"
    Everyone yelled and ran inside the house. Kert ran in after them, afraid that they'll break something. I smiled, then went in.
    It was extremely small, probably as big as a normal sized bedroom. The walls where white and cracked.
    "hey hey, stop it!" Kert begged. "I told you guys not to touch my stuff!" everyone said yes but continued rummaging around.
    "oho, what's this?" Trek was holding a yellow spring that circled something that looked like a mint colored gun. It had a strange, thin grey tip and a red trigger.
    "..experimenting..." Kert grumbled.
    "how about this?" Boa pointed to a weird object that had a lot of different colored wires connecting from one bulb to another.
    Kert didn't say anything, just groaned.
    "what's under those sheets?" Roger and Jen said in unison as they pointed.
    "oh..I found that somewhere out in the forest. It was jammed under some roots but I managed to pull it out"
    "but what is it?" they said again, in unison.
    Kert sighed as he went over to it and pulled the sheets off.
    Me and Roger gasped.
    It was a silver, metal box with the red symbol placed on the very front.
    I took a step forward, then another, and another, until I slowly reached the box. Kert eyed me strangely as I cautiously examined it, but I wasn't the only one doing it because Roger did the same.
    "wow, thats so cool!" Trek said cheerfully as he reached for it.
    "stop!" Roger roared, loud and quick, serious. That made everyone come to a stand still, you could almost feel the tension in the air.
    "usoda..." I whispered quietly but in this heavy silence, it seemed as if I shouted it out.
    I was mere centimeters away from my fingertips to the cold steal box, but then Roger grabbed my wrists and stopped me. I looked at him and he seemed very uneasy about this. An attempt to try and grab the box is impossible because he had a firm grip on me.
    "don't do it...don't...what if it happens again...Anysa?" Roger said in a steady voice, not taking his eyes of the box.
    "it wont" I tried convincing him.
    "you dont know that"
    "I do" I lied.
    "no, you don't!" he was shouting now. "You don't know because last time, it happened without warning! That thing on your arm..you didn't even know what it was! And by the look on your face when my mom mentioned it, im guessing that you never had it on your arm, like..like it poofed out of nowhere!"
    I glared at the others, telling them in my mind to leave, and as if they heard me, they obeyed. Once the door closed on their way out, the symbol on my arm started beating loud and quick.
    "I have to know" I said quietly.
    "know what?"
    "somethings happening, Roger, and I'm scared"
    He didn't say anything.
    "it's true, I never had this symbol on my arm before. At first it was a small, red unoticable dot, but now.." I bit my lip, trying not to stutter. "I just know something is happening but I don't know what" tears started flowing down my cheeks freely and trying not to shout when I talked was getting hard. "I just want to know whats happening to me!"
    "nothings happening"
    I thrashed my arms around until Roger let go, then turned and faced him, unable to hide the fear and anger in my voice. "somethings happening and you know it! This symbol..usoda..I think its related to him. The story your mom told me made the sign burn like a flame, and you said it yourself! When you told me what I kept repeating over and over when I wasn't even conscious! Can't you see whats going on?! This..this isn't normal, Roger!" I was weeping even louder now and the tears came down even more. He didn't say anything. "I..I need this box. It's important..please" I hugged Roger really tight, he didn't even lift his arms to hug me back, he just stood there. "please...please!" I begged, repeating those words over and over until he finally spoke.
    "no" he said it in such a cruel, cruel voice. I let go of him and he said it again, "no"
    My mind went blank, I felt like I've been tricked or betrayed. As Roger turned and left the house, the others ran in and came to me. I could see their mouths moving but I didn't know what they where saying, and it wasn't just them I couldn't hear, it was everything. The world to me seemed like a mute void, empty, out of life. Boa tried to wipe the endless tears on my cheeks. Everything started to spin, unable to even feel anyone's worried touches.
    Then black, everything went black. The rhythm of two beating hearts echoed throughout me. I can feel my heart thump in my chest-I can feel the symbol thump in my arm. I'm alone again.
    ...Roger...why'd did you leave me?

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