Insignia

Insignia Chapter 1

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Title- Insignia

Chapter 1.

The drip of water coming from the cold rock was subtle and even as Kaliyah scrambled awkwardly over the wet rocky floor. She heard her own breath rasping, saw the cloud of air as it left her cold lips. Splitting into three similar paths, the cave was dreary and dark. When she heard the steps of someone--or something--behind her she quickly stumbled to her left, her shoes straining to gain purchace on the slippery rock.

Gripping tightly to the rocky wall she paused for a moment. Suddenly the rock she was leaning on semmed to give way. Losing balance in a matter of seconds Kaliya found herself sliding on a slimy wet smooth path. Landing with a thump and Kaliyah saw where the drip of water had been coming from. A flow of dark water had cut its way through the rock, making a small under ground river. As she watched the water flow her vision blurred she felt dizzy. There was sharp pain in her head; as she pulled her hand away from her hair, she saw blood on her fingers. Trying to stand up Kaliya stumbled  and  saw nothing but darkness as she fell back to the rock floor.

Looking around she saw herself in her room head and heart pounding taking a few stabbing breaths she tried to step out of bed and winced as her shoulder groaned in protest. She must have slept on it weirdly. Sinking back into bed Kaliyah thought back to her dark and scary dream but her mind was blank the only thing she could remember was a small light and a dark black stream. After a moment more of laying in bed trying to remember the her dream from that night her frustration got the better of her and she sat up and slid out of bed still wincing at the tremendous pain in her left shoulder. As she stood up she realized wiht a start that she was covered head to toe in mud! Turning around far to fast, her vision blurred and she had to grip her nightstand to steady herself. As her vision straightened out she saw her bed sheets were also a complete mess of mud and slime.

Not wanting to think anymore she Kaliya slowly walked to her bathroom and turned the shower on so the water would warm up as she undressed. Looking up and into the bathroom mirror for the first time she saw to her horror that her hair was matted with dark red blood. As she gazed at her pale face and black hair she wondered how she was going to explain this to her parents she considered telling them the truth but quickly decided otherwise seeing as she couldn't quite remember it and if she went to her parents and said-"Mum, Dad... I'm sorry about all the mud I was just climbing around caves all night being chased by huge slimy monsters that were trying to eat me"-wouldn't go over to well. She tried to peel her disgusting and ruined clothes off without making a complete mess off her small bathroom, stepping into the hot water she let out a small gasp as the heat poured over her shoulder.

After carefully washing and drying trying not to use her sore arm she rapped a towel around herself and looked into the foggy mirror trying to see the back or her shoulder expecting a large purple bruise and true enough through the fog she could see one but for a second she thought she saw something else something silvery she cleared the fog off the mirror and peered at her shoulder blade and saw a faint mark on her shoulder the bruise seemed to seep from it. assuring herself that she must have just landed on something really hard she decided to try to forget about it for now. Changing into clothes Kaliyah stared at her dirty bed wondering if she could sneak the dirty sheets into the wash without her mum noticing and decided to wait until a better opertunity arose.

Walking down stairs she grabbed a bowl and poured herself some cereal. Sitting at the kitchen table with her parents she waited for them to comment on how late she'd slept but instead her father looked up with a puzzled expression and said "isn't it your birthday soon? Are you turning 16? What do 16 year olds want for their birthdays? Oh, you probably want a car! Of course I should have known!"