Episode 2

Mr and Mrs Smith, my foster parents, and their awesome kids, Jayla and Mella, were such excellent people and a family to me which I never had; my stay with them was such a wonderful and pleasant one which I had always prayed and wished for since my parents left me at that very tender age I was, leaving me to my fate in life to God knows where. All alone. 

The thought of losing them has now become a very terrifying nightmare for me, and finding myself in this godforsaken place had become the worst of them all, abandoning me in shambles.

The rustling of leaves and chirping of the night birds left me even more devastated. All hope was lost, no one to come to my aid, neither could I help myself. I wished I could. 

Life has become so cruel to me that I wished I could just put an end to it all right now.. 

I carefully looked around, searching for what I could help myself with but found none. The gulch was empty, totally dry of any aid.

"What a cruel world!" I cried out, reminiscing all my experiences as a young girl. "Is this how I'm going to end it all, after all…?" I asked fate softly, tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt like my world was shattering right before me.. "what an end..!" I concluded, giving up on life itself as I shut my eyes, heaved a sigh as I stared upwards, looking at the wide and open roof of the gulch above me, welcoming whatsoever it was that fate had to offer me. 

I was weak.

I was tired.

I was drained.

Completely drained.

No strength.

Not even a little as a drop of water.

After some moments of torturing my mind, a deep sleep overpowered me. 

****

"Would you mind me helping you out?" A soft voice spoke, its words felt relieving. 

As if my prayers were already answered, I opened my groggy eyes, gradually, but saw no one. It felt so much like a dream that I had to ignore and returned back to finding solace in the gulch which I'd found myself, ravaged.

After a short while of deep sleep again, the voice came calling again... "Irisha.. would you mind me helping out here..?" It asked for the second time.

"Someone just called my name…" I heard myself say, muttering under my breath with my partly opened eyes, my head still relaxed in it's position.

Then suddenly, a sharp chirp pierced my eardrums like an insect flew in one of my ears, clapping its wings, making me so uncomfortable. I couldn't have ignored such. I got up energetically like I just had some bottles of boost, my eyes now popped. My entire body was looking so scruffy.

This time I had to pay attention to be sure. 

"I just hope this wild beast isn't back for me again like he promised." Fear and tension gripped me as sweaty gush flushed my face.

I instantly felt a thick hand clamping on my upper arm, snatching me away from the ditch, hurling me to an unexpected destination which looked more like a totally different area to me. 

I quickly got up, glanced around and noticed the changes were evident. I had no time to see who it was. 

"Who could that be..? Or.. could he be my guardian angel, sent to me for help..?" I asked, rhetorically, wondering who it was.

Imagine me, a teenage girl of 15 who has got to do everything on her own now, all alone.. with no father.. no mother.. and not even a sibling, nor even a single relative to get me going.

Tears streamed from my eyes…

The woods was the closest place I could make my home now, as there was not even a single house around as I glanced. 

I couldn't cry enough.

I summoned up some courage, walked in, gathered some sticks as much as I could, and created a little home for myself. And then, I watched how the day went down.

My first night in that home was something else… 

The fear of the unknown. 

My worst nightmare came lurking around, though like a whirlwind, as it blew across the roof of my tent, hovering around and howling like a wounded lion. My tent jerked at each move of the wind, trying to sweep it away completely. I wondered what it wanted from me. 

Thank goodness it didn't.

In a short while, it went off, like a thicker wind blew it away.

I was left in a state of turmoil, as part of my home was now destroyed.

One thing I've always been lucky with, is that I always find joy at last. But right now, I doubt if that same grace is still going to intervene in this.  

******

The next day was a rainy one all through.. everywhere was so messy and mashy, that I had to hide in my partly destroyed tent all day.. until it stopped to rain later in the early hours of the evening. 

Now it was time for me to go get some dinner for myself since I couldn't go out to get some food earlier for breakfast, nor for lunch. 

I walked around, trying to gather some fresh vegetables from the other ends of the woods for my dinner, searching and hoping I would also find some other edibles for my breakfast the following morning as well. Thankfully enough, I was lucky to get some fresh wild plumps, different berries, and of course some hardy kiwi. 

Smiles plastered my face.

My heart raced endlessly in joy as I knew I wasn't going to sleep hungry like I did the previous night. 

I went back to my little home, seated and began to devour the fruits and vegetables raw. I felt bad but I was happy I was making a successful progress under my own steam. That kept me going.

Few minutes into my dinner, I began to hear footsteps squirming towards my tent. I paused, trying to make sure I heard rightly, until I saw someone hiding behind a big, dead wood, standing with almost no leaves attached to its stems as I took a quick glance up it. I hopped up, dropped the fruit in my hand, and picked up a dead branch of wood very close to me. 

Now I had to be strong and brace up to whatever that came to haunt me in my little abode. 

"Hey you, trespasser.. come on.. I said come on.. and let me show you the stuff I'm made off!" I screamed, still holding my defense mechanism, awaiting any attack. 

Obviously, he didn't hear me.

I could tell that hunger, coupled with anger had come to play in me. Maybe not. So I thought.

I slowly walked closer, and quickly clobbed at the person behind. 

"O-oh-oh.. w-wwwhat d-di-did you just do..? Jeeezzz…wwwhat was that…?" A young girl screamed, stuttering seriously as she flinched. "Are you okay..? I mean.. wh-wha-.. I mean, what rubbish did you just do… ? What was that forrr…? Or… am I trespassing..?" She asked, too many questions at a time.

I froze at her questions.  

Which was I to answer first? 

Tension crept in as I thought I had gotten her badly injured. 

Her arms spread open as freit took over, but she was kind of strong enough to face me in a snap.

"Oh my God…!!! Please, I'm so so sorry… I never knew it was.. oh my goodness… I'm so s-s-or-!" I stuttered, not knowing what to address her as. 

"Would you keep your crap shut?!" She ordered. "How dare you act in that manner towards me, and now you have the guts to talk back at me…? How dare you.. you Id!ot?!" She vibrated, paused and twirled her finger around my arm. 

I kept my calm, knowing I was in a strange land, and anything could happen. After all, I didn't have anyone to fight for me. 

She walked closer,

"Oh, oh, oh… I see… So you're that rogue that has been disturbing the peace of this peaceful Blessed Moon Pack, right…?" She asked, rubbing her palms against each other.

Now I could smell rage boiling in her, both in tone and in actions. Her eyes burned with mixed emotions and I got confused on how to go about it. 

My words got stuck in my throat, I just gazed.