Light Within the Umbra

Chapter Four: Perfect Strangers

Scintilla awoke to the bright sunlight upon her face, filtering through the leaves of the trees. When her eyes fluttered open, there was a small, grey mouse sniffing her face curiously. When it realized it had been spotted, the rodent ran away suddenly out of apprehension.

One of the first things Scintilla noticed was that her skin was terribly cold, as she had been sleeping on the cold, hard ground throughout the night with nothing but a thin sweater and a mid-thigh length skirt. Along with this, her back ached from the uneven and jagged lumps in the ground.

Slowly, she sat up, looking around and getting her bearings on where she was now, since she couldn’t see what the area looked like around nightfall. Scintilla ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle it, as it had gotten very unkempt over the events of the past few days. She remembered that she had a spare comb in her bag, and dug it out. 

As Scintilla was combing her hair, she heard a noise, a noise she hadn’t expected to hear for a long time. Voices.

Her back was still against the tree, and she heard someone a little far back on the other side. Scintilla held her breath as they got closer. She listened, and she could now just barely make out what they were saying, along with the fact that there were at least two people. 

“I remember some being over there,” she heard one say. 

There was a pause, and Scintilla heard the other speak. “I thought there was another patch somewhere closer, but we’ll just go your way I g—“

Snap! Scintilla attempted to shuffle around the tree to stay out of view of the people, but her full weight landed on a stick and snapped it in half. She froze, fearing that her location was given away.

How was she supposed to know these people weren’t dangerous? What would any other person be doing this far out in the woods if not in her situation? She didn’t recall seeing any property signs marking the edge of the land, so she assumed she was still on her dad’s property. So what were these people doing here? The thought never occurred to her that they were possibly asking many of the same questions themselves.

The two strangers near her fell silent. She heard the first one say, “You heard that, right?” 

Then there was a pause in which Scintilla only assumed could be a nod. Then she heard cautious footsteps growing closer to where she was. Her heart raced and her stomach felt like it was doing somersaults. Scintilla’s mind ran into a frenzy as she tried to decide if she should stay and hope the strangers would change their course, confront them and try to defend herself, or flee. But before she could make up her mind—

“Woah! Hello,” one of them said suddenly. 

Scintilla whipped out her hand that was holding the comb in a defensive gesture, but slowly let her arm fall when she saw that she wasn’t being attacked in any way.

It was a boy that looked around her age who jumped around the tree without warning, and was wielding a stick defensively, likely for the same reason she almost hit him with her comb. She figured he was preparing for the worst as well, using the stick for protection. 

He had a baby-face framed with soft, fluffy brown hair and Scintilla estimated that he was at least a little bit shorter than her. 

Just a moment later, the other person stepped around the tree and looked at Scintilla in surprise. The girl’s eyes flicked to her sidekick.

“Ash, get back!” she scolded him, while maintaining a steady glare at Scintilla.

 This person was a girl definitely taller and a few years older than Scintilla, and she had noticeably pale skin combined with a look of perpetual exhaustion that appeared to be her default facial expression. This girl definitely had a more threatening look, with her stern face and dark demeanor that carried over into her fashion as well.

Scintilla just sat there, peering at them nervously until the tall girl spoke.

“Who are you, and what are you doing out here?”