Violent hints

Chapter 3: Fish lasy??

Xu Cheng

The forest kept getting thicker and thicker. We also started to go along hills. I'm still confused about what creatures we have been warned about, this all still feels like a crazy dream. We felt slightly awkward walking together, we didn't say much either. As we were walking we started hearing the faint sounds of a waterfall
"Should we go towards it," Valeria asked
"It could probably lead to people or something. But we should be careful just in case it something dangerous, like the creatures we were warned about even though this feels like a dream," I reply
    We pushed past the thick vegetation to get to the waterfall. We were astonished, it was a beautiful waterfall. The water was a clear blue that sparked with the sunlight.
Near one of the rocks was a woman with extremely long hair. She was wearing a dress made of plants. She looked normal but familiar. She got up and started walking around. I looked closer at her and her feet were backwards! Then it bit me. The ciguapa. She is known for eating the flesh of humans as she lurks in the woods. Her story originated in the Dominican Republic but she's always just been a story. She is not real but to be seeing her right here, right now, is unreal.
"What is that?" Valeria asks in shock from behind me. She rest her hands on my shoulder, "Looks like some sort of fish lady"
"The ciguapa. She is a creature disguised as a beautiful woman but is really a terrible creature that eats human flesh," I reply in a low talking voice that's not quite a whisper.
"Well what do we do?"
"Don't disturb it, let's just keep moving," I say, turning away from the waterfall. I face Valeria as she takes a step back still mesmerized by the creature. She starts to fall back, slipping on a stick. I grab her by the hand and pull her up from falling. I underestimate how much I pull as she stumbles into me which leaves us in a hug, but soon leads to us falling backward. THUD. We fall onto the ground, I'm laying on my back as Valerias on top of me on her stomach.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I'm quite clumsy sometimes. Are you ok?" Valeria apologizes quickly, getting off of me with a red tint in her cheeks and offering a hand to help me up as well.
"It's ok, but I think we have more important things to worry about. '' I reply pointing toward the ciguapa as she searches for woods for what made that noise. We spot us as we start running away with no clue where. I can hear the ciguapas rusting as she runs from behind me. Valerias in front of me so I follow whatever path she is taking while trying to think of what to do. There might be one solution possible. Cutting her hair, but I don't know where we will find something to cut with.
"Valeria! We need something to cut her hair," I say yelling as we are running through the forest.
"Well we are kinda in a difficult moment for that!" Valeria replies in frustration. "Just do anything to cut her hair? And does it matter how much?" Valeria asked for partial screening as we are mindlessly running through the woods, still being chased.
"Ummmm, all great questions but we need to do something to stop her chasing us to really figure out what to do," I reply, still freaking out that this is really happening. "What if we split up, hopefully to confuse her or at least allow one of us a moment to think," I add on.
"Ok I guess, on the count of three. One...two...three!" Valeria says as she slips right and I split left.
   
Valeria Castro

I continue running for a second before glancing behind me to see if I'm still being followed. In the slight distance I see the creature and a glimpse of Xu in front. I stop running, allowing myself to catch my breath.
I have to think fast. At that moment I realized I still carry my pocket knife with me always. The knife isn't very big because it carries other things like a nail file and bottle open, but it also carries a small pair of scissors but for my idea I need to work fast. I quickly search for a long stick that's slightly taller than my waist. I pull out my pocket knife and start shaping the end of the long sticks to a point. Once I finish, I put a pocket knife in my pocket and keep the long stick in my hand. I put an extra stick in my pocket as well.
I start searching for where the creature and Xu went. I can't mess this up. I find them and start running but paying attention to my foot placement in order to not draw too much attention to me.
Once I get close I stab her in the foot, making her whine and topple over. I quickly take the stick out of her foot and stab her again in the back to make her whine louder. I then search in my pockets for my pocket knife and kneel down to start cutting her hair which takes longer than I anticipated. Xu standing frozen, shaking.
"HURRY!" Xu screams at me as she freaking out.
"I'M TRYING!" I scream back.
I finish cutting her hair and stand back up to take a step back as does Xu. The creature gets up to her knees as she reaches to feel her hair that is gone. She looks at me in fear before wailing the loudest I have ever heard and scrubbing off.
Xu and I stand there for a second catching our breath and staring blankly at each other.

Word Count: 990