STRANDED

17

I listened to him as he said. My mind wandered thinking that he must have also lost some of his pals.

"You crash landed?" I loosened my eyes at Lavender for her unwantedly obvious question.

"Yes. My jet crashed. I wonder how."

"Pri..vate..jet..?" I asked because he was repeating 'my' continuously.
He nodded.

At the very instance, I heard someone calling for me. "Jazlyn?." It was like from the distance. I looked at Lavender. Her face was gleaming as she pointed something behind me with her eyes.

I made a swift move to sight the voice. Across the 150m wide grassland, I could see the dense again. But some moment caught my eye. It was a human. Not one but at least two or three. I narrowed my eyes and heard one of them shouting. "Jazlyn? Is that you?" Due to the harsh sunlight, I couldn't make out who the one was. But my mind had that it was a familiar face.

"Tom?"

"Yes.. It's Tom. Thank goodness. We found them." Lavender sighed. As she took a few steps in the grass, Theodore barged and paused her.

"Hey hey hey.. No don't. It's dangerous."

"What? No. I am going to my friends. " she replied.

"You don't understand. It is their land. The land of the Hideaks." He tried to convince us.

"Listen big man. We are going there. Why do you care?" I questioned him and walked hurriedly without expecting him to reply. He didn't either.

I didn't knew why we were doing what we were doing. It was maybe just a satisfaction of reunion. In my mind was Jeon. Jeon should be with them.
"I am warning you. Come back. Your known ones will die no sooner." He yelled as we had walked a long way till the middle.

"I am gonna kill him when I meet him again." Lavender spoke from the behind. She was quite truculent on him. So was I. How could anyone just be so frank..especially when the talk is about Death?"

As we were nearing them, I could make out Tom along with Preston and Hoshi. As I neared every moment, I could make out that Tom and Preston weren't moving. I saw Tom's facial expressions were zero. Isn't he happy to us? And why are both of them behaving like statues? I looked over to Preston as I speeded up. He was motioning something with his eyes.

"What is wrong with them?" I questioned Lavender.
After a moment of no answer, I turned behind to locate her. I saw her figiting with something in the distant. She was far away from me.
"Lavender? What is it?" I asked.

She looked upto me and shook her head. "Nothing. Just a shoe stuck." She yelled, annoyed.

She didn't seem to need my help so I decided to proceed.
After two wide steps, I paused. This time I understood the reason of their awkwardness. From the dark, red eyes emerged. Unfortunately, I figured the one whom I feared. The so-called Hideak. My forehead released a sweat. I didn't figured the reason if it was the harsh sun or the harsh sight.

Preston was still trying to make out something to me from his eyes. I failed to understand.

My feet was grabbed hard to the ground and I stood just like a scarecrow in the middle of the farm. I was approximately at a distance of 50meters from the nearest person Tom. Hoshi was comparatively behind both of them, nearing the start of the dense and wasn't motionless. He had a bag in his hand. I saw him as he tried to get something from it.
A light appearance a creature caught my eye. He was standing right behind Hoshi.
It was saddening that he had no idea of what exactly was happening.

Whatever happened next, is unfortunately unforgettable.

_______
A/N
Hola readers, Long time no chat! I hop you are enjoying the twist. Please do vote and let me know your thoughts about the story. Here's a question for you that I'd like you to answer. So please do comment:
Q. What do you think- is beauty that our eyes admires, true?