Legend of Kataria (Draft Version)

Chapter 6

He woke to the cacophony of many simultaneous rooster calls.

He groaned, turning over and pulling his sheets over his throbbing head. "Stop..." he moaned. "Go away...Leah...come on...too early." He tried to muffle the text alert with his pillow. He missed and both the pillow and phone clattered to the floor.

He grunted in defeat, rolling out of his warm blankets, onto the frigid, early morning tile, and picked up both items, replacing the pillow to the bed and unlocking the screen on his phone. He silenced the alert and sighed, opening his recent texts, already knowing what he was going to find. Every year, Leah got up at an absurdly early hour to wish him a happy birthday. And, every year, he pleaded for her to wait until at least eight o'clock before sending him anything. He glanced at the time and couldn't help but smile slightly. 7:59. And sure enough, there was the message, in painfully fluorescent colors that so did not belong on the screen of a phone.

He set the phone back on his bedside table and blinked, grabbing his glasses and shoving them on forcibly as he took in his surroundings. Sunlight poured in through the open window and the coos of the mourning doves flooded through the nearby treetops. Greeny cautiously went over to the window and squinted toward the sun as it dusted the skyscrapers in Catrial. He leaned against the sill and gazed out toward the city. A small smile crept its way onto his face as he watched the sky light up with streaks of pink and orange. It was a beautiful morning.

His gaze fell on a busy highway near the edge of the city. Recognizing it, he shut his eyes tightly, taking a deep breath and clenching his hands into fists. Screaming...gunshots...the roaring motor engines...it all came flooding back. He recalled the terror he'd felt as he rode away. And Leah. She'd known what was going on. She'd known why the men had been chasing them. Now, he wanted to know. He had to know.

Quickly, he snatched his phone up again. He opened his recent texts and selected Leah's name from the short list.

We need to talk.

For the first few moments, there was no activity. Greeny backed away from the window, deciding to change and take a walk in the park to clear his head. At least there he could take a minute to process what had happened, and maybe he could find a clue as to who those men had been and what they had wanted.

He pulled on a dark pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt, slipped on his dusty white converse, and headed out the door.

As he walked down the spotless white tile floor, he noticed how truly quiet it was. No rowdy teenagers running up and down the halls. No banging lockers. Nothing. Absolute silence. It was perfect. As he rounded a bend, his phone vibrated and he quickly read the message.

I can't right now. Busy. L8r?

It figures. Sighing, Greeny texted her back.

Sure.

Roughly stuffing the phone back into his pocket, he exhaled deeply and opened the door, leaping down the steps two at a time and hurrying down the street. His brain was still wrapping around the events of the previous evening. Who were those men? Why had they been after them? And why did Leah react before they even arrived? It was like she'd been forewarned. But how? Surely he would have heard her phone if it had gone off. She couldn't be psychic. That was just plain ridiculous. He'd heard of people having incredible sixth senses, of course, but was that really it? It just didn't make any sense to him.

Lost in his thoughts, unconscious of where he was headed, he wandered into the park. The sun had not yet peeked over the horizon here and the woods remained shaded and damp. It was also quiet. Much of the city had not yet awoken, which left him with a sense of stillness and solitude. He briefly heard the shaky flutter of the starlings as they began to wake.