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As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked back. She leaned forward with her hands firmly pressed to her knees, a heavy feeling weighing on her shoulders as she tried to capture the sight before her. It had all happened out of nowhere. Her shortcut through the woods of Pine Ridge Park turned into a rouse of panic. A feeling she never felt walking that path. A moment in time where she could not depict reality from fantasy. The hairs on her arms rose as she felt her heart thumping against her chest.
She had been staring at the trees, admiring the bright green leaves stemming off the branches that varied in lengths and fell in different directions. She had worn the grass into nothing but dirt from years of crossing feet. A daily routine of traveling on her favorite walking path turned into a frightful scene the moment she felt the first rumble. The first rumble stopped the quick strides and caused the girl to freeze in fear. The disruption in her routine set an overwhelming fear of change in her mind as a dark cloud formed just above the trees with strikes of lightning flowering through as if they were going to strike down at any moment.
Echoes of clashing metal floated through the wind with each gust. The gusts were rough, threatening to swoop in and consume anything in sight. Shouting voices followed and drifted into her senses. Everything in her was telling her to run away as quickly as she could. To escape the lurking noises and commotion, but her subconscious pulled her in the opposite direction. Right into the commotion - revealing the most beautiful yet terrifying sight she could come across. She couldn't pull her eyes from the scene. The sight was incredible and her jaw dropped in disbelief. She remembered hearing about something like this once before but she could hardly believe the scene unfolding in front of her.
The bright suits caught her attention first. Red, Pink, and Blue figures in very distinct suits with a white zig zagged pattern centered across their chest jumped around fearlessly as they clashed their swords against the soldier. They dressed in a purple and silver metal suit that conformed perfectly to their body. They were maneuvering around statues covered in moss and overgrown vines that meticulously weaved around the crevices. Her eyes widened, watching the beings fight one another and in that moment, she knew she had to tell someone about the sight she had just witnessed - to prove to herself that she was not crazy.
She could barely make her feet move as one of them spotted her. They jumped in their direction, ready to defend them if the one they were fighting against were to come charging toward her. Anna's eyes widened in excitement and fear. She wanted to stay and watch the commotion but the hairs on her arm raised and the voices told her to get far away.
"Run!" They said, "Run!"
So, she ran to the one person she thought would believe her. She quickly darted back down the path towards her home, hopping over the rocks in her path and rushing down the concret towards her street. When her house was in sight, she picked up her pace. She barely could wrap her hand around the door handle as she busted the door open, trying to catch her breath and call out at the same time. She tripped in the doorway, catching herself on the back of the couch as her chest heaved with the air she was trying to consume.
"Dad!" her voice trembled when she shouted his name, immediately capturing his attention from another room when she stormed into the house with pure panic rushing through her body.
"Anna? What's wrong?" her dad, Kurt, rushed right over to her and started looking his daughter over for any bodily injuries that he might see on the surface.
"Dad, you're not going to believe this!" she roughly shoved his hands from her and used the couch to hold her balance as the sight played in her mind.
"Are you hurt? Do I need to call the police?" Kurt questioned as he grabbed onto his daughter's shoulder and met eyes with her.
"No-" she told him, "Wow - that was..."
"Do I need to call the police?" he repeated.
"I don't know." Anna shook her head.
"Slow down and tell me what's going on. You look like you've seen a ghost!" he stared down at his daughter, worried over whatever she might tell him.
"I was walking home from the park, and I took my usual shortcut through the woods." Anna started explaining, "But I saw the strangest sight. There were these - superheroes, I think, fighting against this other character."
"Anna Pierce, please tell me you don't seem this panicked over a daydream you had while walking." his voice was stern, almost a little annoyed.
"It wasn't a daydream! I saw it with my own two eyes. They were in suits and fighting with swords! It was a monster dad... they were fighting a monster." she explained.
"What is going on here? Why is she shouting? She woke up Aris from his nap." Linda, her soon to be step-mother, quietly entered the room and joined the conversation.
"There were four of them. All in different colors... Only three of them were working together and fighting against the other person..." Anna rambled on still trying to gather her breathing into a normal rhythm.
"I love your imagination, Anna, you know that... but this is starting to get out of control. I seriously thought something was wrong and that you were hurt. You can't just come running in here and tell some story that you daydreamed like that." Kurt shook his head.
"But dad-" he quickly cut her off, looking even more annoyed than he first did when she returned home.
"I've got to get back to work," Kurt sighed, "No more fibs like that. K?"
"But dad, I'm telling you the truth. I really saw them! They were like - like those people from Coral Harbor.... The Power Rangers! They were Power Rangers dad!" Anna nearly gasped as she stood up and connected the dots, thinking about a faint memory she had of a nearby city having similar stories.
"Anna, the Power Rangers destroyed Evox almost two years ago and disbanded. It's improbable that you saw that. I highly doubt that you saw them here in Pine Ridge. If they were, we'd know about it. It would be all over the news." he looked down at her.
"They were Power Rangers. I'm sure of it! It might not be on the news yet because they just arrived here. Did you consider that?" she questioned back.
"I think you need to take some time in your room to calm down." Linda suggested, "Quiet down please so I can try to get Aris back down for his nap."
"I'm telling the truth! I know what I saw." her shoulders slouched when she knew that neither of them believed what she was telling them.
"I think you've been spending a little too much time writing those silly little stories of yours." Linda faintly smiled at her.
Anna pursed her lips in a frustrated frown. Two things about that entire conversation bothered her. The fact that they didn't believe her, and the fact that Linda referred to her writings as mere silly little stories. In fact, Anna felt offended by that but hid the feeling from them. She didn't have enough energy in her right now to argue with them about either subject.
She sighed, turning on her heels and began walking towards the stairs that lead up to her bedroom. She stopped and turned back momentarily, looking to see if either of them had even the slightest expression of belief in their stances. They had already exited the room and Anna just rolled her eyes as she started up the stairs. She skipped every other step, counting them as she jogged up to the top.
"One, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen."
Thirteen steps exactly from the living room to the second floor. Skipping each even step was only a momentary challenge created in her mind as she flung her bedroom door open the same way she had done the front door. Everything was exactly in its place as she took her shoes off and placed them at the bottom of her closet.
"There has got to be something about this out there on the internet... I know what I saw"
Anna carefully pulled out her desk chair and sat down before pressing the power button on the modem to her computer. She glanced at all the contents lined on her desk, making sure all her writing utensils were still laid out by color and style. She made sure her keyboard was exactly in arms reach and the computer mouse as to her right for easy reach.
She watched the modem click on and a small white swirl appear on the screen as the computer turned on. As she waited, there was a light knock on the door and she turned slightly to see Linda peeking her head in, "Did you take your medicine today?"
Anna thought to herself for a moment, trying to think past the sight of what happened and remember if she had taken her medicine. Most days she could function if she had forgotten to take it, but some days her symptoms were uncontrollable even if she had forgotten.
"I don't think so," she shook her head, "No."
"That explains a lot." Linda muttered.
"My O.C.D. has nothing to do with the fact that I just witnessed Power Rangers." Anna shook her head.
"Well, no," Linda agreed, "But I noticed you skipping the even numbers on the stairs again. Come take it."
"So you acknowledge that there were Power Rangers?" Anna raised her brow in suspicion.
"Darling, I was not there to know what you saw," Linda paused, "Come down and take your medicine please. You've got to remember to take it otherwise you'll have days like this."
"It's too late to take it." she answered.
"Come down for dinner in twenty minutes then." Linda sighed.
"Sorry for waking Aris," she apologized, "Dinner in twenty minutes. Noted."
When her computer finished loading, she turned back and started typing into the search engine. She heard the quiet shut of the door behind her and she tried to ignore the urge to get up and reclose it herself. Key after key, she pressed letters. Nothing came up on any of her searches and it only made her look like a liar to her parents. She knew what she saw, and she was determined to find some sort of proof about it.
Having a wandering mind like her own, she knew how to keep reality and dreams separate from one another. Linda's comment floated to the top of her thoughts. She honestly felt offended - her stories were not silly at all. Anna was very passionate about her abilities to create stories that go wild beyond imagination. And she knew that this was not one of those cases right now. What she had seen was real.
When nothing promising was revealed in her searches, she shut her computer down for the night and prepared for her family dinner downstairs. She could smell the food all the way up in her room and it made her stomach growl. This time when she went down the stairs, she skipped the odd numbers - her brain telling her that if she steps on an odd number going down that she's going to break a bone. A totally irrational thought that she couldn't control as she skipped stairs until reaching the bottom.
She skipped right into the kitchen and over to the sink. Her father was placing Aris, her almost one year old brother in his high chair, before taking his place at the table. Linda was setting the plates as Anna turned the water on and pumped a handful of soap into her palm. She had to wash her hands twice before eating a meal. An unintentional habit she formed when her symptoms started growing worse. Anna had always had a mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder, but it grew worse when her mother passed - causing her to have to go on medication just to help control it.
She scrubbed her hands together before towel drying them and turning towards the table. She froze in place when she saw Linda take her spot at the table. Anna always sat on the right side of her father. She swallowed hard as she took the seat to the left instead. She carefully moved the fork from the left side of her plate to the right and moved the napkin in the spot of the fork.
The small television that sat on the wall inside the kitchen sounded in the back and Anna tried to focus on what was playing to distract her from feeling unsettled at the table as their meals got prepared on their plates. It sounded like the news was on to her and she nearly fell out of her chair from turning around as quickly as she did when the anchor confirmed her sighting earlier in the day.
She jumped out of the chair and quickly turned the television up, pointing directly at the screen while looking at Kurt and Linda, "See! I told you!"
The anchor was describing almost exactly what she had seen in the woods, only it had traveled out into the park. Her eyes locked on the screen, listening to every word and feeling slightly overwhelmed when she gained the confirmation she needed.
"Well," her father scraped his silverware against his dish, "I guess you were right."
"I knew I was!" She turned around and sat back down at the table.
"This only means that you have to be more careful when you leave now. I know it's summertime and you love to go for your walks through Pine Ridge Park, but after hearing this news, you'll probably have to find a new spot to walk." Kurt told her.
"Why? If the monsters show up, then so will the Power Rangers." she shrugged, picking at her own food.
"They called them Sporix Beasts. We don't know when or if they'll show up again, but like your father said... you have to start being more careful now." Linda added.
"I will," Anna nodded, "I promise. Wow - this is so cool! The Power Rangers... What did they call them again? The ones before were Beast Morphers right? And before that the Dino Charge ones... What did they name these ones?"
"Dino Fury." her father answered with a mouth full of food, "You're not understanding though. You could have gotten seriously hurt today when you saw that commotion. I mean it Anna, you have to be more careful. You should have never been walking that path anyways."
"I'm not going to stop walking it," she huffed, "That was our favorite path."
"I know," Kurt huffed back, "Just be more careful. Okay?"
"This is so cool." Anna nodded, seeming more excited than she probably should about new monsters moving into town.
Linda and Kurt only rolled their eyes at Anna and quickly changed the subject. Anna quickly tuned her voice out. She never cared to hear about the things Linda and Aris did throughout the day because it made her jealous. Their conversation about her baby brother was her que to rush through dinner and then head off to bed from her exhausting afternoon.
She turned her lights off and climbed right into bed, mentally preparing her next morning in exact detail to ensure that she would not face any disruptions like she had earlier in the day. Anna was curious about what she saw, and that curiosity racked her brain as she tossed and turned - fighting the sleep that was slowly falling upon her as she settled down from the excitement.
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