My Blood to Shed

Cornered

"Come out and show yourself!" I holler into the darkness. Nothing answers me. Just the silence of the forest. I strain my hearing to its limit, listening for something, anything, but still nothing. I sigh in defeat.

"Damn, that was a promising fight."

I turn away to go back to camp and I am suddenly hit over the head with a wooden plank. I’m instantly out like a light.

XXX

Waking up is seriously painful. I have a bump on my head that hurts like hell, I’m blindfolded and gagged with rags that smell of blood, and my hands are bound extremely tightly behind my back. I choke suddenly on my gag and nearly throw it up. None too gently, it is quickly removed from my mouth.

Now I can hear people whispering. I strain to hear what the voices are saying.

"An interesting specimen."

"Yes, but what should we do with it?"

"You cannot control it, master."

"Silence! I am controller of the universe! I am all powerful! Take off its blindfold so that I may take it over!" The voice commands.

‘Controller of the universe?’ I think, ‘Sheesh, talk about conceited.’

The blindfold is taken off and I blink in surprise at the sudden light. As I collect my bearings, I observe my surroundings. I’m in a lab of some sort and men wearing lab coats are all around me. There is a small chamber in the middle of the room, just big enough for me to stand in, filled with a jelly-like substance. Other chambers just like this line the walls of the room, only these chambers are occupied by different supernatural creatures. One even holds a mermaid. I’ve heard that mermaids are extremely difficult to capture, so how these men managed to get a hold of one is beyond me.

I also recognize the owner of the commanding voice. He is the only person in the room, other than me, who is not wearing a lab coat. Instead, he is wearing a black suit and red tie. He looks so professional, how could he not be the owner of the commanding voice?

I notice a boy, around the same age as me, standing in the room. Like everyone else, he is wearing a lab coat and staring at me. That’s when I realize that I’m not wearing any clothes. NOT COOL BRO! I suppose I should have seen it coming though since all the other supernatural creatures in the room aren’t wearing any clothes either.

I feel a blush creeping up my cheeks and I fight to keep it down. Mr. Commanding Voice is staring me down, so I turn my gaze on him. For several seconds I stare into his eyes without blinking.

"Why isn’t it working?!" He snarls furiously.

"I don’t know, sir, but its brainwaves are immensely strong, sir!" One of the men answers.

I’m beginning to get annoyed with these 'its' that they use to refer to me. I mean, havent any of these losers seen a chick before? I’m quite clearly a female. Not an 'it.'

Mr. Commanding Voice turns away from me to have a heated conversation with another man. I take this opportunity to pry into the young boys mind to see if I can find some answers.

‘Stop that.’

I blink in surprise. This kid can tell Im in his head!

‘Knock it off!’ he says more forcefully. I continue to push farther into his mind.

‘Will you quit it?’ he says again.

‘Why should I?’

‘Because if you do, Ill help you get out of here.’

I back off, surprised. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, really.’

I consider my options. If I go with this boy, I could either get out of here, or get into more trouble. If I stay, I could maybe fight my way out, but even I’m not that stupid. Perv Boy it is.

‘Don’t call me Perv Boy.’

‘Now who’s prying?’ I smile mentally.

‘My names Jason.’

‘Ari.’

I kind of like Jason. He has a good personality. ‘I wonder why he’s here with these losers?’

‘It’s a long story.’ He says. I send him a mental glare and he chuckles.

Back in reality, Jason winks at me and suddenly, every chamber door in the room opens and out bursts all the supernatural creatures. Quick as a flash, Jason is at my side, freeing my hands. Before I can thank him, he practically flies me out the door. Sprinting down the halls, Jason tosses me his lab coat and I slip it on. I soon find myself back out in the forest, blinking in the sunlight, completely alone.

My mind searches for Jason, but he is nowhere to be found.

‘Did I just imagine him?’ I wonder.

I slowly walk back to camp. Trista is the first to spot me and she flies at me startlingly fast.

"ARI!" Trista cries, hugging me tightly. Her eyes are wet and she has dark circles under them. “We were so worried when you didn’t return from patrolling last night! Where have you been?” When Trista finally pulls back to look at me, she starts laughing like an idiot.

I glance down to find myself still wearing Jason's lab coat. I smile, mentally, knowing that he wasn’t a dream.

"It’s a long story."

XXX

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