Eyes

Capture the Flag

"This forest is really thick. How can we find anything here?" Timmy complained. "I hate the outdoors. I should have never left home." Marazine said, 

"I dunno, the outdoors is pretty awesome." Jasper said, jumping onto another branch. "Yeah! It's perty fun!" Midori agreed, hopping around. "Whaddya think, Cal?" 

"I guess it's okay." He replied. "I've never been in a forest until yesterday." "Oh, that's right. You lived in Alaska." Angel said. "The northern part where there are few trees and all snow."

Cal nodded. "Hey! I see something!" Jasper said, hanging upside down. Hanging on a branch was a red handkerchief. An older girl swung over to their tree with some sort of cord. She looked about 16. "Sup." 

"Where'd you get the rope?" Jasper asked. "Well, there are some trees here with supplies." She replied. "If you actually look for something strange about them, there's a possibility that it can hold supplies." 

"Hmm... Well, I guess since there's like 7 of us--" Timmy started. "No," Cal interrupted. "There's possibly twenty in each group. 1900 out of 2000 never tried to or couldn't for either rebellious or other reasons. So that makes 100, divided by five, 20." 

"Okay Einstein, so what if the other teams have more than ours, hmm?" Timmy asked. 

"Then enjoy the game." Cal replied, jumping onto another branch. Because we're screwed. He thought and rolled up the sleeves of his sweater.

"Um... what does he mean by that?" Marazine asked. 

"How the hell should I know?" The girl said. "I'm Christa by the way." 

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"Mother, what if one of them get hurt?" Lilith asked. "Lilith, why do you care so much about them? You have barely known them for a day." Her mother replied. 

"I do not know, it is strange. But-but still! What if that young boy gets hurt?" She complained. Stacy turned to her. "Is that what this is about? A boy?" 

"Oh, no no no! Not like that!" Lilith said, backing up a bit. Stacy shook her head,"Then what is it about?" 

"Well, it's just that, what if he gets hurt and falls off a tree branch? I mean, it's possible that any of them can break something." 

Stacy rolled her eyes and grabbed Lilith's wrist. She dragged her into the laboratory and put up a holographic screen. It showed the children still inside the forest. 

Stacy waved her hand in the air and a row of holographic options opened up, then a keyboard. "What's this boy's name?" She asked. 

"Carnelian Flavian." Lilith replied, shyly. Her mother shot a glare at her. "You mean that small child who beat you in the Heart Beat challenge?" Lilith nodded slowly.

"Jesus, Lilith! I cannot believe that you would waste my time telling me about a stupid kid psychic. He's probably crying his heart out about being stuck in the forest aga--" Stacy cut off when she saw the short boy jumping around the trees like it was nothing. A small smile on his face. His orange eye flickering like fire. 

"Is... Is that him?" She asked. "Yes, mother. That is Carnelian." "Lilith... Go get Uncle Cruz. Now." 

"Wait, wh--" Lilith was inturrupted. "Just go! Now!" Stacy screamed at her. Lilith nodded and scurried off. "Uncle Cruz! Uncle Cruz!" Lilith exclaimed through the halls.

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After twenty minutes of jumping and swinging around the branches alone, Cal sat down and took a break. "I'm so hungry..." He muttered and fell backwards. He hung upside down from the branch he was on. "Hunger, getting, stronger." He complained to himself.

The sixteen year old girl who he had encountered before sprung in front of him. "Hey!" She squealed. Cal screamed, his voice cracking. He sat upright.

The girl was tall and lean. She had dark brown hair and freckles. She wore a t-shirt with a mouse and the word, "Disney" with black jeans. "Oh, sorry if I startled you."

"Y-Yeah." Cal replied. "Y-you're the girl w-with the cord..." She nodded. "Mhm, and you're the boy who likes games apparently."

"W-well, I g-guess you can say that." He hugged his knees and looked up at her. "S-So, what's your name if you don't mind me asking, ma'am?"

She giggled at his politeness. "You're cute, kid. Name's Christa." Cal blushed and hugged his knees tighter. "U-um... okay."

"What's your name, kid?" Christa asked.  "My name is Cal, Miss Christa." He replied.

"You don't have to call me 'Miss Christa', Cal." Christa mocked. "Even though it's got a good ring to it." "S-sorry... it's just a habit I guess. I do it to a lot of people older than me...."

He noticed that her eyes were blue, but a little bit of gold surrounded the pupils. "Hmm..." She knocked on the tree's trunk. It made a clanging noise. "Jackpot!"

Christa opened the large, brown door. "Aww, it's empty. That's a disappointment." She shut it again. "No, wait." Cal opened it once again and looked inside. He saw a small short, thin string and pulled it. On one of the branches, the real red flag popped out.

"WELL! Isn't this place full of surprises." Christa smiled brightly. "Aren't you disappointed, or angry?" Cal asked, looking over at her. "Well, not really... I mean... Yeah, this was a huge surprise, but... I don't know. The forest thing was a jackass move, but I can't waste the money my parents spent. So, I guess I'll stay until the end."

"Okay." He climbed the trunk and grabbed the flag. "How about you, Cal?" "Hmm?" Christa crossed her arms. "Aren't you mad or disappointed?"

"Not really. Other than this, I really have nothing to do. Besides, it's nice having friends for once." Cal jumped back down to their branch.

There were some rustling in the air. Cal jerked up, fixing his glasses. "Did you see that?" Christa shook his shoulders. "Wh-what? No." He looked around.

Then, he stopped. "Give me that flag!" Someone yelled and pounced on him. He yelled and grabbed onto a branch right before he fell. The person was still clinging onto his leg. "Let! Go!" Cal tried shaking the person off. "Give me the flag!"

He looked down and saw a girl. Ruby? Cal began to swing with both of his hands, "I'm not that strong you know!" The boy tried pulling himself up. "I'm not losing to a loser!" Cal threw the flag, letting Christa catch it. She jumped and landed on a bigger branch on her stomach. "Oof!"

"You okay?" Cal called. She turned herself around, waving the flag. "Yep!" She said in a raspy voice. Cal looked down at Ruby and let go. "Cal!" Christa yelled. Once Ruby let go of his leg, he flipped over and hooked his legs on a branch, then caught Ruby's arms.

"What... Why did you do that?" Ruby asked. Cal looked down at the ground, then at her. "I didn't want you to splatter all around the floor." He started to swing her. "Okay, I'm going to throw you over there, catch the branch."

She glanced at him, then the branch. "I can't do that!" "Yet, you can jump on me?" She grunted. "Fine!" He threw her over to another sturdy branch. She grabbed it, almost slipping.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting up again. Cal laid down on the branch, not caring there were so many bugs flying around. She nodded. "Yeah."