HIDDEN

Chapter 10

Mia finally came to a conclusion.

She took a deep breath and started running, a little slower than usual because she was injured.

She left Dale behind and ran through the wall. When she passed the wall, she began to shout.
"HELP! HELP PLEASE! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! MY FRIEND NEEDS HELP! "

Her shouts were to no avail. Students had already vacated the school and not many people lived around that area. It was a shady alley with a dead end after all.

She kept shouting before noticing that a tentacle had grabbed her waist. It violently pulled her back through the wall.

"NOO!!" Dale shouted as he saw Mia being dragged back through the wall. He tried getting up and running to her but one of the tentacles attacked him, keeping him busy.

As it pulled her, she managed to pick a sharp car part lying on the ground and pierced it through the tentacle holding her.

It immediately dropped her followed by the squealing of the monster in pain.

Mia fell to the floor, holding her stomach and gasping for air because the tentacle held on to her tightly.

Dale was surprised at what he saw. He finished dealing with the tentacle. At this point, the monster stopped in its advances, trying to recover.

He hesitantly tried to reach out to Mia.
"Are...."

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop trying to handle this alone" said a female voice coming from a distance.

"Let him be. The guy wants to kill himself first. Right now, we have two problems..." said a male voice along with the first.

Mia turned back to see who were behind her. To her greatest surprise she saw it was Roxanne and Nathan.

Roxanne was wearing a sort of amazonian battle armour with her hair packed up while Nathan was wearing a black, green and white suit which was mostly covered with a black hooded cape.

"Ok I've had enough of this. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?! ARE YOU SHOOTING A MOVIE? IS THIS SOME SORT OF PRANK BECAUSE IT'S NOT FUNNY. I'M BRUISED AND SORE ALL OVER. SO SOMEONE BETTER START EXPLAINING OR I'M CALLING THE POLICE. I DON'T CARE WHO YOU GUYS ARE", Mia shouted out of frustration.

"Woah", said Nathan as he came towards her, "Most people pass out at the site of something like that...", he said referring to the monster, "...but you even had the guts to fight back. You, my dear are really something."

Just then the monster roared, springing back to action, about to attack.

Nathan looked at it and stretched out his hand. Immediately, a black and green staff appeared out of nowhere, and came on his outstretched arm. It then shot a green blast which disintegrated a chunk of the monster's body.

"Quiet", said Nathan in a serious tone, "That'll take a while to heal."

Mia moved some steps back and fell to the floor in terror.

"Still nothing", said Nathan looking at Mia, "I thought you'd pass out for sure."

"Stop it, Nathan. You're scaring her", mentioned Roxanne.

"What? It's not like she's going to remember anything later", replied Nathan.

Roxanne sighed then continued. "And you...", she said referring to Dale and walking towards him, "... What were you thinking coming here by yourself?"

"I didn't need you're help," Dale said coldly.

"You're hurt and you're saying something like this", she said sadly then immediately became angry, "ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME MAD", she said as she knocked his head.

"OUCH! What did you do that for?!"

"DON'T EVEN BEGIN TO..."

They kept on arguing and Nathan tried to calm them down.

Mia just stared at them in the distance. "What the- ... They're not taking me seriously at all," she thought, "Did that staff just appear out of thin air. That single blast almost killed that thing. And what's with the costumes". She then paused and laughed a little, "Ha- heh heh. This must be a dream. Yeah, a dream, that makes sense. All of this isn't real.... I'm so tired of this.", she said as she stood up and started walking towards the wall.

Suddenly, the creature's tentacle swiftly went after Mia once more. So quickly that before The Three noticed it, it had already reached her.

Just before it reached her, she turned her head slightly towards it.
"I said I'm tired... LEAVE ME ALONE!"

At that moment, a round shield with an almost invisible feather pattern appeared round her, so fast that it cut the through the tentacle that was closest to her.

"Oh, this again", she thought looking at it. As it disappeared, she started to breathe heavily.
"That's weird(huff). Why(huff)- do I- feel so... (huff)faint", she said falling to the ground.

"What the..."

"Huh? Is that- Dale's voice- so upclose", she said closing her eyes slightly.

"Mia, are you ok?" she heard him say as she saw his face.

"Haa- ridiculous(huff). The real Dale(huff)... doesn't even- (huff huff)know my name", she thought as she finally closed her eyes.

~■~
"Mia... Wake up, Mia."

"Huh, d-dad. What's going on? It's the middle of the night. What are you doing with those bags?"

"They're your things. We're going on a little trip. Your mum and aunty are already outside in the car waiting for you."

"What trip? Don't I have school tomorrow?"

"Don't worry about that now. Let's  start heading outside, quickly"

"Umm- ok."

...
"THEY'RE TRYING TO ESCAPE! GET THE GIRL!!" a crowd shouted.

"Dad? What was that?"

"It's nothing, don't worry. Go meet your mum in the car. She's waiting for you."

"Dad, I'm nine not stupid... They're here to take me, right."

"Hmm. My smart little girl. No one's taking you anywhere. Everything's going to be alright. You're going to be safe."

"Mia! What're you still doing here. Let's go!" her mum came in and held her hand.

"Mmmm. Ok.... Dad let's go"

"You go on ahead. I need to take care of something first. I'll be right behind you."

"Mia! Let's go!" her mum dragged her to the car as tears rolled down her eyes.

"N-NO! I'm not going without Dad! Dad, please! Don't go back!"

"DAAAAD!!!"

~■~
"Owww, my head", Mia thought to herself as she woke up with a splitting headache.

"Two weird dreams in one day, huh.... I couldn't possibly make all those bad decisions in real life", she then squeezed the sheets on the bed she laid on, still lying down though.

"Atleast I'm back to reality. I never thought I'd miss my bed and room this much."

"Wait...", she thought as she looked up at the ceiling and the bed she was lying on, "...this-this isn't my room. Where am I?" she said sitting up.

"Oh. You're finally awake".....