The kids in the woods

When Zane opened his eyes, it was already morning. It felt strange because in his planet the night was twenty hours long.

The sun was too bright there and when Zane regained his senses and realised what had happened to him last night, he started crying again. He had thought it was a bad dream or something.

Unfortunately, Zane couldn't sit there all day. He figured out that time passed differently on Earth. As he wandered through the forest, he heard a boy's scream.

Zane transformed into a wolf and ran in its direction.

Through the bushes, Zane saw that a bunch of kids were playing in the woods , it looked like a picnic, they had tents and there were some elders sitting around, enjoying the Sun.

Zane's eyes travelled over to the food. He kept staring at it. He hadn't realised that he was so hungry until he saw the food. He somehow wanted to get to the food, that was kept on a plastic table beside a van.

Zane figured that if he approached them in his wolf-form then they would probably run away in fear. So, he transformed into his human-form and decided to try and sneak behind the van and then towards the table with the food. Even though it seemed impossible to sneak there without being spotted, Zane decided he had to try, the smell of the food was irresistible and he was really really hungry.

Once Zane found the kids to be immersed in a strange game and the elders to be talking. Zane sneaked past them. He managed to sneak up till the van. As he tried to approach the table, someone put a hand on his shoulders, Zane widened his eyes and saw that it was three of the kids he had seen playing before.

"What are you doin' here?",asked one boy.

"Who are you?",asked a girl

"I-I am...", stuttered Zane, fearfully looking at their faces.

"Who are you?",asked the girl again.

Zane didn't answer.

"Are you going to answer or should I bring my uncle here?",asked the boy.

"I-I just need food please",said Zane pleading

The boy looked at him for a moment and said,"Okay, we will give you food, but, what will you give us in return?"

The younger girl who had been quiet for so long said,"Arthur don't be so rude, I think he is hungry , we should help him"

The boy didn't move, he kept staring at Zane, waiting for something.

"Okay",said Zane holding up his hands,"I will show you all a magic trick, then will you give me some food?"

The boy smirked and said,"Magic? Huh?! Alright, I will give you food if you perform an actual magic trick, and if I find a trick hidden in it. I will tell my uncle that you were trying to steal from us"

"Arthur! Don't be rude!",said the younger girl.

"Alright",said the boy raising both his hands,"Show us the magic"

Zane nodded and snapped his fingers and said,"Just keep looking at my eyes"

All of them focused on Zane's eyes and after a couple of seconds, from bright blue colour, his eyes changed to reddish brown colour.

All the three kids gasped, the boy said,"How did you do that?!"

Zane smiled and said,"My mother taught me that trick"

The boy proceeded and held Zane's shirt's collar and said,"Are you gonna tell me how you did that you little freak?!"

Zane frowned and said,"But .....but you promised to give me food if I showed you a magic trick, you never said anything about teaching you anything...."

Before the boy could say anything, the girl said,"Yeah, we know, but now, tell us how you did it and we will let you have as much food as you want"

The younger girl scowled and said,"Guys.....guys, this is not fair. We should give him what we promised him, it is bad to go against your word"

The other boy and girl frowned and said,"Fine, we let him eat as much food as he wants and if he shows us how did the trick, we will even let him take some with him"

"Do you have any family?",asked the big girl

"No", replied Zane, being reminded of his family hurt him a lot

"Are they not around? Did they leave you?",asked the boy

"No, they....umm...died",said Zane, trying not to cry

"Oh, I am so sorry",said the younger girl

Zane nodded. The big girl went towards the table and took a plate and got some food for Zane and said,"Here, you can have this, and after you are done with it, we will come back here to learn how you performed that trick"

Zane looked very worried but he nodded

The boy and the big girl went away but the younger girl remained.

Zane started eating the fries. He had never tasted food like that and found it amusing and tasty.

The younger girl kept watching Zane intently as he ate like a vagabond.

"What's your name?",asked the young girl.

"Zane",he replied.

"That's a beautiful name",said the young girl,"I am Mary, nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too",he replied.

"You should run",said Mary.

"Run?",asked Zane, confused,"But why?!"

"Because if you don't, then they will come back to ask you how did that magic, and I have a feeling that this time, they will bring uncle with them too",said Mary

Zane looked confused and he said,"But....they told me they won't tell the elders.....why would they do that? I didn't do anything to them..."

Mary casually looked up in the sky and said,"The world's cruel, boy.... And something tells me that you are not from around here...."

Zane nodded and said,"I am not from around here"

Mary smiled and said,"Then you should be careful"

Mary peeped from behind the truck, turned back to Zane and said,"Go back into the forest Zane.... Arthur and Ruby are coming this way with uncle, I think they are coming for you"

Zane's eyes widened and he turned towards the forest. Before Zane could disappear, Mary held his hand and said,"Be careful, everyone will not be as kind as me. "

Zane nodded and Mary let go and he disappeared into the forest with the plate full of food.

Zane stood behind a tree long enough to hear them talking.

"Where is he?",he heard Ruby say.

"Who?", he heard Mary say.

"Did you let him go?",asked Arthur.

"What are you talking about?",said Mary.

"Are you kids playing me?",asked a rough voice that Zane made out was their uncle.

"No uncle Martin! There was this guy he could change the colour of his eyes", shrieked Ruby

"But there was no such guy!",Mary lied to them.

"He was just here Mary!",shouted Arthur.

"Come on!",shouted Mary,"We were playing here ! Remember? And you guys dozed off! I guess you had a dream"

Zane heard Arthur slap his cheeks and say stupidly,"It felt so real!"

Ruby said,"Wait, how did we both dream the same thing?"

Mary clapped and said,"Maybe you guys were mutual dreaming?"

Ruby said,"Dang it!"

Uncle Martin looked at them ridiculously and said,"Don't you kids dare disturb me for some silly thing ever again!"

He heard heavy footsteps go away, Zane couldn't believe that people could actually be that stupid.

And he enjoyed his food, not knowing that it would be the last thing he would have for another week.