The Hystericals

Chapter seven

Rahela walked towards the square. It was cold and it was raining, but she had to go; she and Pegi would meet today at the broken roof. Rahela actually didn't mind the rain, she was way too nervous to be worried about something like that. Rea and Romina stayed home, but she insisted on coming anyway. It was a bit suspicious to everyone, but who cares? What she was really worried about is if Pegi will show up. She hoped he would, but it wouldn't be a surprise either. What normal person would come to the square when it's raining? Rahela made her way up the hill and wasn't surprised there were only a few Swimmers around the church. The weather will soon get better, so everybody will probably come later on. As her thaughts were somewhere far away from Earth, Rahela slipped and fell, scraping her palms. She cursed something to herself, but got up and shook the water off of her. She continued walking until she reached the narrow path. Looking around to see if the air was clear, she started jumping over the walls. Quickly slipping into the hole, Rahela noticed how thin the attick floor was. No wonder it broke. She guessed it never actually served for anything, as it wasn't even high enough for a person to stand up. Rahela found herself wondering about what caused the roof to brake in the first place, hence earning the name broken roof. She shook her head so hard her hair slapped her face several times; she had to concentrate on more important things now. Her mind was completely messed up today. The ladders were slippery so she had to be really careful when she was climbing down. Rahela skipped the last three steps and landed in a puddle surrounding the ladders and making the grey floor wet, slightly bouncing due to her big greenish rainboots. Nobody was there yet. Rahela took off her see-through pink raincoat and hung it where whoever used to work here hung his tools. She sat down on an up-side-down bucket and looked put to the hole, waiting for Pegi to come. It was a bit cold so she shivered. Luckily, she decided to wear long sleeves today.
„There you are!“ She heard a voice behind her. It startled her so she jumped, knocking over the bucket she was sitting on, „I didn't think you'd come!“
„Of course I would!“ Rahela put the bucket back in place, „I thaught you wouldn't come.“
Rahela turned around, taking a good look at Pegi. He wore a blue jacket and sneakers, and he was completely soaked.
„I did a little fixing in the garden,“ Pegi explained, pointing towards the bare greyish ground, „I placed the buckets on top of each other, making a wall and I knocked over the large paint buckets so that we can sit on them."
„Great,“ Rahela untangled a piece of her hair with her fingers, „What should we do now?“
„Let's check for some stuff and put the useful ones in one pile. Then we can start building a real hangout place,“ Pegi already started opening some drawers. Rahela nodded and begun searching for some stuff on the shelves. The pile grew bigger and bigger, now full of different sorts of ropes, pieces of wood, blankets, metal sticks, buckets and a lot of small things that would be good to use as decorations. She was already done with one shelf and put a few things on the pile when she noticed a gap between two shelves. At first it looked completely normal, but when she took a better look, Rahela was sure that it was a door.
„Hey, Pegi! Come look at this!“ She called him. Pegi closed the drawer he was running through and walked over to Rahela. The wall was covered in dust so they haven't noticed it before.
„Wow! Who knows what is in there!“ Pegi started to push the door as it had no doorknob.
„Locked,“ Rahela mumbled, dissapointed.
„We can always brake it with a hammer or something,“ Pegi commented, searching the place for some useful tool.
„I don't think that's a good idea,“ Rahela whispered, „What if somebody uses this place after all?“
„Trust me, nobody is using this place. Have you seen it?“ Pegi picked up a hammer, examining it before nodding.
„What if that person is just on vocation somewhere and plans on coming back?“ Rahela bickered.
„Well, we already broke the roof,“ Pegi laughed, walking towards the door. Rahela couldn't help but giggle. Braking some hidden doors would be nothing compared to the broken roof. She had to admit, she was also a bit curious. Just as Pegi lifted the hammer and was about to wreck the door, a terrible scream of anger and frustration interrupted them, making Pegi drop the hammer.
„Oh no,“ Pegi mumbled. Rahela was about to ask what happened, but then she looked outside. Sunshine burst through the clouds, and the rain stopped. Of course everybody came rushing towards the square, „That's Gabi's scream,“ He ran towards the ladders and quickly climbed up them.
„Wait!“ Rahela yelled after him. When he didn't stop, she went after him. Today they had to be extra careful when jumping from roof to roof, as everything was slippery. That didn't stop Pegi from running as fast as he could. Rahela caught up to him when they jumped over the last wall. He continued running until they reached the church. Rahela and Pegi froze. There, on the church clearing stood Scrawny bagels, angry and dissapointed, gazing at The Swimmers with hate.
„I knew this would happen,“ Pegi mumbled. Suddenly, The Swimmers attacked and Scrawny bagels did their best to defend themselves. Pegi jumped to join them, but Rahela caught his arm.
“I can't help you. You are Scrawny bagels,“ She whispered to him. Pegi threw her hand away.
„This isn't your fight. Go away before they see you,“ He growled and jumped into the fighting scene, ignoring the name Rahela was used on calling them. For a few moments, all Rahela could do was stare, but then her legs started to work and she slowly stumbled down the slippery hill. When Rahela reached the park, only Jungle, Nika, Anja and Ida were there.
„Hey guys!“ She ran towards them, tripping a bit.
„Hey!“ Jungle jerked her head in her direction, „What's up?“
„Where are Rea and Romina?“ Nika asked her.
„They stayed at home,“ Rahela quickly replied, eager to tell her leaders all about The Swimmers fighting Scrawny bagels, „They said they didn't feel like coming today. Listen, I have some big news!“
„Spill it out!“ Anja looked towards her.
„The Swimmers are fighting against Scrawny bagels out there!“ Rahela pointed her finger in the direction of the church.
„What?“ Jungle jumped up, „No kidding!“
„I saw it coming,“ Anja shrugged.
„Tell us more!“ Nika nudged her, „Why? How do you know anyways?“
„Well, they look like they want to drive them out of their teritory. Pegi said-„ Rahela started.
„Whoa, whoa, whoa!“ Anja interrupted her, raising her hand, „Pegi?“
„Uh...“ Rahela bit her lip. Jungle gave her a warning look, „I was passing by the church when I saw them fighting and among all of them I saw Pegi who told Vito that they all kind of saw it coming.“
„So they are up there right now?“ Nika was already running towards the church, everybody else following her.
„They don't stand a chance!“ Anja snorted when they peeked from the bottom of the stairs, „The Swimmers are way stronger than some Scrawny bagels. Plus, they are outnumbered.“
„But why would they attack them? I thaught they were on good terms,“ Nika wondered.
 
"Don't you remember? Rahela was spying on them when she heard Gabi and Dora discuss it. They said something about not being in charge anymore. I don't think they liked them at all, they only agreed to work with The Swimmers because they can protect the teritory from us,“ Jungle mumbled. The five of them continued to watch The Swimmers beat Scrawny bagels in silence.
„Should we help them?“ Nika suggested.
„What?“ Anja jumped, „No!“
„Think about it!“ Nika turned around to face the youngest leader, „We help Scrawny bagels beat The Swimmers and then when The Swimmers are gone, we beat Scrawny bagels!“
„That's a terrible idea!“ Jungle argued, „When The Swimmers find out that we are fighting eachother, they will come back to win the teritory again.“
„Guys...“ Ida whispered, „Hate to interrupt your bickering, but have you thaught of where Scrawny bagels will go when they get chased out?“
„You are right,“ Jungle mumbled, „They have to go somewhere.“
„I guess we will just have to spy on them and find out,“ Rahela leaned forward to take a look of what is happening on the church clearing.
„I guess we will,“ Nika added and the five girls fell into silence. The Swimmers were obviously winning, using their old fighting tehnique; more of them fighting with one of Scrawny bagels. Scrawny bagels were slowly giving up and all they did was run around the clearing to dodge the attacks. There were just a few of them still standing up, most of them ran away. The light of the battle slowly faded as it was clear who will win. Gabi climbed up the grey stairs, barely shaking off a Swimmer from her leg.
„Titanbolts, retreat!“ She yelled. A couple of Scrawny bagels made a run for it but three or four were cornered by The Swimmers.
„They retreated!“ Rahela gasped, „Why aren't they letting them go?“
„I don't know,“ Nika replied. Whenever somebody retreated, it was like they surrender. The group who won would usualy just chase them out of the teritory, not continue to fight them. Gabi stared in shock.
„Let them go! We surrender!“ She shouted. The Swimmers' heads snapped in her direction so the four Scrawny bagels used it to wiggle out and make a run for it. Nika signaled the other four girls to run so that they don't get spotted. They passed the white stairs where they'd be easily spotted and squeezed agains the wall on the other side. They continued walking up the hill until they reached the caffe. They wouldn't notice them here because of the crowd, but they were quite able to see them waiting for Gabi way behind the church. A few moments later, Gabi and the other four Scrawny bagels ran out from the church clearing and onto the hill, towards the rest of the Scrawny bagels.
„Let's wait for them to make a turn somewhere and then we'll go after them,“ Jungle suggested and everybody nodded. Scrawny bagels continued to walk straight ahead until they lost their sight.
„They must be going towards the cats!“ Nika commented. There was a place with grass and a couple of trees in the back where there were a lot of cats, four adults and a whole bunch of kittens. People always stopped there and wouldn't leave for a few hours just so they can watch them and give them food. If they went left from them and they don't catch them before they do, they might not know where they will go.
„Okay, we waited long enough, let's go,“ Anja stood up and led them cautiously forward. Whenever they thaught somebody was coming in their direction, they jumped behind a wall or a container. The Hystericals kept their fast pace until they reached the cats. A couple of feet away were Scrawny bagels, turning left.
„If they continue straight ahead like that, they will come to the trampoline,“ Jungle nodded her head in the direction their ennemies were walking in. The trampoline was located at the end of a really long path that led down the shore. The groups enjoyed the trampoline and always made all sorts of tricks on it, like frontflips or standing on their hands.
„Which leads towards the square again,“ Nika mumbled, „It makes no sense!“
„Whatever. Let's just follow them and see what they are up to,“ Anja started stalking forwards again. Just as the rest stepped out behind the wall, Scrawny bagels turned right and stopped on a straight grey clearing with the waves crashing the shore.
„The Paper? Why would they come here?“ Rahela whispered.
„Titanbolts!“ Gabi started walking across the clearing when everybody was settled and sitting on the floor, „We have lost the church teritory, which made me see that with or without that teritory, we still have this one. If The Dumbbrainers ever win back the church teritory, which they won't, I still won't want to have anything to do with them. Clear?“
„Yes!“ Voices rose in agreement.
„From now on, this is our teritory!“ Gabi waved her hand across the whole grey surface, „It always was, and it will always stay ours!“
Anja, who was closest signaled that they should probably leave now, so they creeped by the wall and ran out when they came near the cats.
„So the Paper was always their teritory,“ Jungle said, „Huh. I never really asked myself where they stayed between the fights for the church clearing.“
They reached the park two minutes later and plopped on the benches.
„So this is it, right? Everything is over now, for them and for us,“ Nika sighed.
„It's not over yet!“ Rahela protested, „We can still win the teritory back! Just think of one weakness The Swimmers might have!“
„They don't have any,“ Anja groaned.
„Oh the contrary,“ Jungle lit up, „That's just it! Everybody has a weakness, they must have one too! I guess we will just have to find out what it is.“