Guardian

Chapter 5

A few days past and my wounds are healing better than I had expected. The gash on my arm is healing quite nicely, and I hardly have a limp anymore when I walk so my leg is doing fine as well. My muscles don't ache anymore after my days of rest. I'll soon be able to leap from shadow to shadow again!

I am worried about Jason though. It's been 3 days since his outburst, and although he has been a little happier since then, I still catch glimpses of brusies and scraped hands. Jason has said that he doesn't get along with the other little humans, but he didn't want to stay on the topic for long. That's what has got me worried.

Last night, after I had watched Jason go back into his home, I had decided that I would follow Jason to his 'school' and watch how he interactes with the other little humans.

As the sun rose, I made my way to the edge of the forest. I made sure to stay hidden in the shadow of the trees so no human would spot me, and waited for Jason to come out.

My sharp hearing picked up the sound of the front door opening and the shouts of little human males. I watched as a group of boys came around the corner, pushing each other around and laughing. I searched the group for Jason, but didn't see him.

Then, I spotted him at the very back of the group, trailing behind. He looked down at the ground as he walked. I wished I could walk with him instead of having to hide, but I can't be seen by other humans. They would have no trouble finding me then.

I shivered at the thought! I am never going back to them!

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and noticed that I had let them out of my sight. I jogged through the woods until I had caught sight of them again. They were approuching a long building that had a small fence around a portion of it. I thought it odd that they would only protect a small piece of thier property, but who am I to judge.

I lost sight of Jason as the group joined the flood of little humans entering the building. I guess I'll just have to wait until he comes back out. Though I would need to cross the street to get closer to the building.

If I run fast enough, I should be able to make it to the tree near the fence. All the humans shall see is a purple blurr!

I crouched down, my muscles tense and ready to spring. I glanced both ways to make sure no cars were coming. Oh god, this is going to burn!

I pushed off and bolted across the grass, across the street, and under the tree. I came to an abrupt stop and leaned against the tree in the shade. I hissed in pain as I slide down to the ground. I held my leg in pain and looked at the bottom of my feet. They were burned red from running at such a high speed across the asphalt.

I groaned and laid back against the tree, strectching my legs out. I don't think I can do that again, not in my current condition. I should get out of sight though.

I closed my eyes and focused on the coolness of the shadow of the tree, its inviting darkness. Now, become the shadow.

I felt myself become engulfed in the shadow. I opened my eyes and brushed my hand through the shadowy leaves. Above, the leaves seemed to rustle in a non-existent breeze. I grinned and closed my eyes once more, dozing off.

I woke up to the sound of high-pitched laughter and many pairs of small feet running. I walked to the edge of the shadow and peered around the tree.

On the other side of the fence, many children about Jason's age were running around and climbing on these wierd looking structures. I searched the crowd for Jason and finally spotted him sitting alone, drawing something in the sand with a stick.

I reached out to grab onto the shadow of the fence and climbed up on the pole. The fence rattled with the force of the pull, but no one payed it any mind. I walked along the shadow so I could get closer to him to see what he was drawing. I used the shadow of a passing child to get to the other side of the fence and sat down in the small shadow of a thin tree.

From here, I could see what exactly Jason was doing. I tilted my head to see the picture, and I was shocked to see that it was a drawing of me! Sure it was a little crude, but I could tell that it was indeed me! I looked up at Jason to see such a lonely expression on his face.

Suddenly, a foot kicked at the sand in front of Jason, erasing the drawing!

"Hey!" Jason exclaimed, "What was that for?"

A young human that looked to be older than Jason laughed in response. "Aww, little Jason, all alone because you have no friends! No one wants to be friends with a little crybaby!"

I surpressed the growl that was rising in fear of being heard.

"I-I have f-friends!" Jason defended.

"Oh really? Then where are they?" the boy taunted.

The boy was about to kick at Jason, but I reached out and grabbed the shadow of the boy's leg and flipped him onto his back. He landed with a thud, sending a small cloud of sand into the air.

I grinned and tried not to laugh at the confused look on the boy's face.

He picked himself up and glanced around to see that a few others were staring at him. "W-we'll finish this later, runt!" he turned to walk away.

I stuck my hand out and grabbed the leg of his shadow to trip him up, sending him crashing down face first. He stuck his hands out at the last second to catch himself.

This time more people were staring and the boy's face flushed red. He quickly got up and ran away. I couldn't help letting out a small chuckle at the quickly retreating back of the cowardly little human!

"Dark?"

I grinned and leaned away from the shadow so Jason could see me. "Yes, Jason?"

Jason's eyes widened, "How are you-Wait...did you trip him?"

My grin widened, "Maybe."

Jason smiled down at me, "Thanks."

"My pleasure!" I replied.

***********************************************************************
Wow, that was long! That must be the longest chapter I have ever written!
I think I'll have a chapter in Dark's p.o.v. once in a while because I really liked writing it! That's probably why it's so long.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and if you have any questions on Dark's abilities I'd be happy to answer them but I don't want to give too much away.
Love you all, and please Comment, Vote, and Share!