The Confidential Storm

Chapter 1

After three years of putting one's feet up in the life of a university student, Eilla Ivanov became acquainted with lying atop freshly cut, crisp grass beneath a towering oak tree. This became her favourite spot on campus, one she wished she could laze all day. Many students had their own designated spot to return to at the same time day after day, like clockwork, but this was a spot she herself had found. Behind the engineering building enclosed by an adjoining cluster of shrubs obscuring a duck pond, she could be alone. She liked her spot as people, students and faculty alike, rarely came. She expected today would yield more lazing and staring through the entangled branches to the sky. She didn't expect however a group of three hooded teenage boys tormenting a stray kitten that she had watched playing with the ducks everyday. She rose to her feet, overlooking the boys from above, pausing, wind blowing through her hair, she made her way to them, prowling through plains of tall grass.

"Look, its stuck in the reeds! Lets throw rocks at it to see what is does." One of the boys said to the others, face crinkled in laughter. They poked, prodded and threw anything they could find around them at the cowering kitten. Laughter filled the air muffling the agonising cries of the animal. One of the boys was readying his arm for another attempt at throwing a rock but he stopped abruptly. The boys whisked around to see why he halted. They saw his winced face and then focused on the cause. She gripped his arm as she relieved the boy of his ammunition.

"You like picking on those weaker than you, do you? Then why don't you play with me." She smirked. It was meant as a warning. The boy she held, flailed his arms around breaking free of her grip, but loosing balance and fell to the floor as a result, looking up at her as if she were the god who will pass judgement. Humiliated he picked up some rocks that he and his friends had piled together before hand.

"Well why don't we play then", he replied as he pelted the handful of rocks in her direction, expecting them to hit her and scare her off. He didn't expect for that moment to fall to a snails pace. She could see the path each stone made as they inch forward. With a swift, calculated movement she caught them one by one. Reality seemed to have resumed. The boy who threw the stones was certain, that for an instant, her eyes had changed from emerald to a deep crimson. He stood there unable to comprehend the meaning behind this change. She stared at the rocks before directing her attention to the boys, throwing the rocks in her hand up and down in repetition.

" Nice try boys, but I'm a bit more difficult to handle than a defenceless cat." She said shrugging. She paused furrowing her brow. The boy snapped back to consciousness. He and the others winced, scrambling to their feet, sprinting as fastand as hard as they could just to escape her gaze, but not before shouting, "You'll regret this!"

She returned the rocks to the shrubs and proceeded to free the poor kitten from the reeds. His leg scratched from being tightly entangled in the branches and body covered in wounds from the boys torment. His fur enveloped in mud, grass stained his coat. You wouldn't know that he was white furred, if white tufts didn't peak through the dirt. He purred and rubbed against her leg in appreciation whilst gazing at her with piercing azure eyes, Eilla crouched down rewarding the kitten for his bravery with a pat.

"EILLA!!" a voice echoed behind her. Turning she saw him. Aiden Walsh. A handsome young man, his rugged face, peering from the shadows of the oak tree. He slowly became more visible stepping out from behind the sturdy trunk. The dispersed suns rays through the branches illuminated the clarity of his golden blonde hair. He has always had a wild personality and showed his rebellion by keeping it shoulder length and unkempt. His sleeveless cardigan on the other hand, are telling a different story altogether, despite his protest he was still the perfect, model student.

Startlingly rustling emanated from the reeds below. She swallowed tightly. Hazy and with immense caution, Eilla faced the shrubs. The shrubs and reeds shot out from the ground in aimless directions, making is difficult to see what the foliage had been harbouring. Her heart stopped as the branches began to part revealing it.