Contest Entries, One-Shots & Random Bits

Round Seven - Brown Belt

Scrambling over the low wall and letting herself drop down, into the cool, shady forest below, Paige landed comfortably. She was glad - she'd got that wrong once or twice before. Broken ankles were not fun, she could vouch for that. Relief over her good landing aside, she pushed a wayward strand of wavy brown hair behind her ear and returned her attention to the task in hand: finding her friend. 

"Nance?" She dared to call out nervously. She didn't dare to speak too loudly - alerting people to her presence wasn't something she planned to do. 

She paused to listen for a response. A few birds were twittering, some leaves were rustling, but other than that, there was no sound to be heard.

"Right." Paige whispered to herself, "Right. Guess I've got to do this on my own then." She moved forwards again, watching her footing as much as she could, so as not to make too much noise. 

For five more minutes, she continued her trek through the woods until her eyes fell on something unexpected, causing her to stop in her tracks. There, directly in her eyeline, dangling from a tree branch as if it had been placed there intentionally, was a single strand of pale yellow beads. 

Nancy's necklace.

Paige's eyes widened. She stepped forwards hesitantly, reaching up to take the necklace from the branch. It felt fragile under her fingers, like it was the only link to finding her missing friend. She had no idea what she was doing, no idea why she wasn't ignoring the instructions she'd been given and calling the Police. Closing her fingers around the necklace, freeing it from the tangled twigs and proceeding to almost drop it because of how real it felt in her hand.

"Where on earth are you, Nancy?" She murmured, "Was this a clue? Where do I go now?" She wondered out loud. She continued to look around, trying to find something - anything - to give her any inspiration in where to go next.

Finding no inspiration, Paige continued to walk further into the forest, deeper and through the thickening undergrowth. Jumping slightly to clear a fallen branch, she almost got her foot caught in a tangled vine, but managed to free herself quickly. 

A minute or two later, she was even further into the forest and had even less idea of what she was doing. Which was roughly when she became aware of what sounded like someone else approaching her. She froze, terrified. 

Not even ten seconds later, a wide-eyed, slender girl crashed through the trees, making far more noise than Paige would've suspected someone her side could.

Upon spotting Paige, she stopped.

"Oh! Sorry - did I scare you? I didn't mean to... I'm usually the one that gets scared, really." She flapped one hand about, babbling in her speech.

"Not much. I was expecting something worse." Paige shrugged, relaxing slightly and somehow feeling the urge to laugh. Why was some random fifteen year old wandering around in the middle of a forest - could this day get any more strange?

"Oh, you mean that crazy guy that's running around this jungle? I've just got away from him! Man, is he scary. I don't even know -"

Paige, who had been preparing to keep going, stopped again, frowning as she did so. "Crazy guy?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded somewhat over-enthusiastically, "That lunatic living in the tree house? Hunts all the animals and stuff - takes children from the village by some accounts."

Just what I need, Paige thought darkly, trying not to roll her eyes and unsure whether her thoughts were concerning the 'lunatic' or the strange girl. This girl was weird. Was she always like this? Was she on some kind of drug?