The Hidden

Chapter 27

With nothing to do but sit and wait in the tent while Connor and his dad were out in the clearing, I found myself being tempted by my curiosity. I had always been what my parents considered "too curious for my own good", and if I weren't so afraid of the humans I would be dying to ask them about their lives, what it was like out there in what some called 'the human world'. Seeing as I still felt reluctant to be asking humans anything, I considered the next best thing. There was human stuff laying all around inside the tent and with the human gone, this could be one of my few chances to investigate. A part of me warned against it, I knew it was potentially dangerous, humans couldn't be trusted and neither could their stuff, but after experiencing the wonders of the phone, I was eager to discover more. In the end my curiosity and desire to rid myself of boredom won over and I grabbed a coil of rope made out of tightly woven slivers of grass out of my bag and slipped my arm through the coil so it rested around my shoulder. I then made my way over to the big black backpack whose side pocket I had become painfully familiar with.

The backpack was sitting upright with most of the pockets zipped up tight, but the largest pocket remained open. It would take some climbing, but I had scaled much greater heights in the past, this would surely be a piece of cake. 

I grabbed hold of one of the coarse pieces of fabric attached to the zipper on one of the higher up pockets. The pocket bulged out from the contents of the bag enough so that I could pull myself up onto it. From there it would be easy to scramble to rest of the way up and then jump into the open pocket, but I'd need a way back out so I pulled the rope off my shoulder and tied one end around the metal loop of the zipper of the nearest pocket. It wasn't the most secure, but I was confident it would do the job. 

I took in a deep breath, mentally assuring myself that what I was doing was completely fine before scrambling my way up the backpack with the other end of the rope held tightly in hand. The fabric of the the backpack began to fall under my weight as I had suspected it would, meaning there was no turning back. I braced myself for impact, already beginning to have second thoughts as I tumbled down into the dark confines of the backpack.

I bent my knees in preparation for landing on a hard surface, better to absorb the shock. However, instead I was met with something soft and not entirely solid. I stumbled in the folds of the fabric, my attempt to stay on my feet quickly failing as tripped down onto my stomach without grace. 

I let out an annoyed grunt as I tried to untangle myself from the mass of fabric that I could only assume was one of Connor's shirts. The fact that I was wrapped up in some human's shirt wasn't especially appealing, I just hoped it was clean. 

There was little light in within the backpack, making it difficult to make out anything but shapes around me. I was realizing that this hadn't been the smartest idea, but seeing as I was already in, I figured I may as well make the most of it. I wrapped the length of rope around my waist and tied it tautly, that way I couldn't lose it somehow as I explored the depths of the backpack.

I noticed a large shape next to me, with the little light available I was able to tell that it was silver and had an oblong shape. I trudged my way through the thick fabric of the shirt towards the object. It looked to be about as long as I was tall and had an exterior that was cool to the touch, likely made out of metal. I had no idea what this thing was and before I could make any more inquires, the rumbling of earth shaking footsteps came near. 

"Shit!" I cursed as I began to fumble with the now regrettably tight knot around my waist. 

I heard the tent entrance zip open, allowing outside voices to flow in clear as day. "Yeah, 'night dad." Connor's voice called as his thudding footsteps entered into the tent, shortly after followed by the tent zipping back up.

I found myself frozen in place, the now untied knot now held limply in one hand. I was really stuck now, I was about to be caught in the act of snooping, my only options left being to reveal myself now and own up or wait until the human found me. Neither were particularly preferable, but the former was clearly the lesser of the two evils. However, I found myself just standing there like an idiot, seriously regretting my life choices.

"Kalla?" Connor called in a hushed tone uncertainly. I almost called out to him, to finally just reveal myself and get this over with, but before I could... "Dammit!" Connor cursed, the raw frustration in his tone sending shivers through my body.

"How the hell am I supposed to find her in the dark?" He asked himself angrily, and with that I guess he grabbed the backpack and pulled it towards him, but from my perspective it felt quite a bit different. 

The inertia of the movement sent me falling flat on my face, luckily the surface was soft, but that didn't keep me from feeling any less dizzy. I moaned quietly as I rolled over on to my back, just in time to see a massive hand descend down into the backpack, right towards me. Apparently in his anger, Connor hadn't even noticed my little lifeline hanging down into the pocket of the bag. I didn't have time to scream before the enormous fingers were wrapping around my body. I instantly felt a wave of fear and absolute helplessness wash over me as those appendages possibly longer than I was tall grip my body. 

"What the--" I heard above me before I was suddenly pulled up out of the bag, air rushing past me, stomach possibly left behind. 

I shut my eyes in the sudden brightness of a nearby lantern, when I finally pulled them open a nauseous feeling came over me at the sight of Connor's huge face looming above me, wearing a confused  look.

"Kalla? What were you doing in my bag?" He asked, his vast scrutinizing eyes making me feel incredibly tiny.

"Down--put me down!" I managed to choke out.

Connor suddenly looked sheepish as he took notice of how obviously uncomfortable I was. "Oh, right. Sorry, yeah." He said, sounding guilty as he dropped swiftly into a kneeling position. 

I felt my stomach lurch once again at the fast movement. I groaned as I was finally set down onto solid ground once again. The huge fingers released their hold on my body and thankfully pulled away, leaving me sprawled out on the ground, heart going a mile a minute.