Chapter 2 Isabel

Jaxson is an awkward friend who loves me, but I don’t really have the same feelings for him. He presides over the next two streets from where my mostly unoccupied shack is. Only he has parents and I can tell they do not really like me because I seem homeless and am without a guardian. We have been friends for over 9 years now. He’s always been the comforter of challenging times, sometimes that doesn’t work.

But I think to myself: How am I going to escape this doomed world? What would I do when I do not have anybody to help get through something? These are the questions that have plagued me and have kept me up for hours. Would Jaxson leave with me if I asked him to? I started making plans to leave this wretched world, something that I have wanted to do for a long time now.

After months, I have finally devised a plan that seems logical to my own head. I will go to the next city and gather materials to make a flying ship. Then, I go to my shack, start building and piece the materials together. That may take a while to do it. I may have to gather a bunch of items that are important, but I may never find them.

There has been a sudden increase of people loitering around checking for people that are doing the right thing. I don’t know if you have to pay for the junkyard scrap, but to me, you shouldn’t. It’s just scrap. What are people going to do with it? Then, once I finish, I can see if it works and then leave. But wait - not so fast. I also want to ask Jaxson if he wants to come with me. But his parents are going to hate me even more than I am currently hated if I take away their only son.

As I approached their front door, I finally mustered the courage to ask Jaxson if he wanted to go with me. Part of me just says “No, he won’t go with you.” Then, another part of me is “Yes, ask him, he may say yes. He may not like his parents.” I pursed my lips and think, “This is a long shot if he says yes.” I then headed over to his house but then I hesitated, asking myself: Should I be doing this?

I paused there for a while but then decided to ask him, and then I knocked on his door. Jaxson comes out sweaty and breathing hard. He opens the door, but his father pulls him back inside. My stomach rumbles and flips inside. He has told me about trouble with his father recently, I don’t know the reason, but it’s taking a toll on Jaxson.

After about five seconds, I heard a loud crash, sucked in my breath, and suddenly worried. He finally comes out and bolts out the door and runs into the dense shrubbery. He’s sweating and he is in a reactive state, and you don’t want to cross him there.

I chased him. Is he okay? I wondered, anxious to catch up with him. As we are near my home, I’m within arm’s length with his shirt. I grab a fistful of it, forcing him to stop. “Hey, what was that back there?” I asked loudly. He doesn’t do anything, staring at the ground instead. He refuses to meet my eyes. I decided not to push the matter any further. He seems to be also in a state of shock, and he’s trying to process it.

As we trudge along the foliage, my mind starts to slip in a state of thinking. Stop! I cannot do this right now; we must get home before it gets too dark. I turn and see his eyes. He looks drained, exhausted, and sleep deprived. My worry grows. He looks unhealthy each time I see him. There is an unhealthy pallor to his skin and he looks bone white. I should let him sleep in my shack. If that’s the only place that he’ll find security with me, then I’ll do it.

As we continue to walk, I see my shack in the distance. About a year ago, I found a shortcut and it cut down on my traveling time. You may be asking why I don’t use teleportation, and it can have severe effects if I do it too much. Migraines and energy deprivation start to plague me and I can’t go anywhere. Pain will shoot up my body, and I’ll regret ever using it again; the pain is excruciating. I’ve learned my lesson when I was ten years old and never wanted to do it again. I didn’t know how to manage the pain, and I still struggle with it sometimes. I only teleport in short distances, unless it's an emergency.

Squawking echoes through the area and I look up. A shadow passes over me as a birdie up in the sky circles around me.

Oh no! These aren’t just regular birds; their man-eating flesh birds! They caught sight of us, and now they’re going for their prey, which is us. Fear pulses inside of my body, and my struggle to break out of my chest. My mind starts to panic; I don’t want to be a meal! I’m way too young to die!

“Come on Jaxson!” I pull his arm with me and leaves brush against our legs. The sun is dropping lower on the horizon, and soon, we won’t be able to see anything. Together, we run as fast as we can through the foliage. There it is in the distance, my shack. The birdies are still circling us, and one flew down and bit my arm. I hold back a scream of pain, as I bite down on my tongue. Come on! Just over the hill and down, we’ll make it.

“Be gone foul beast!” I screamed at the birdie. It squawks at me again and attempts to take a sharp stab at me. It doesn’t seem fazed by my screaming, so I continue to run. We haven’t had any encounters with those birdies in a long time. Townspeople say that their feathers felt like knives digging into your flesh, which is deadly. I don’t know if they actually are correct, but I am not willing to try.

They are jet black, and their beady eyes glitter with hunger. Their beaks are razor sharp and can rip through bones and flesh. Their claws are for breaking their food into pieces, which work as a shredder. With a big wingspan, they blow leaves into the air, swirling and blowing my hair around. “Ugh!” I exclaimed.

“Jaxson!” He doesn’t hear me yelling and continues to fight the birdies. My mind is scrambling to think of a solution, but nothing comes. It's as blank as slate, nothing on them; I feel like I have no brain cells anymore. Then finally, an idea pops up in my head, and I grin. But then I shake my head, I don’t think it would work. It would be a long shot to divert them from us, but I’ll try.

I should use one of my powers to distract them. I focus on making another image of myself and Jaxson. By keeping that up, we could escape before they even realize that we’re gone. I don’t know how long it’s going to work, but I am going to try it. An image materializes on top of the dense foliage a couple yards away, and I move it around. I wait, seeing if it works, and it does! Jaxson and I bolt off as fast as we can into the shack. As we move, the dense foliage turns into bare dirt, and dust is kicked up in our wake.

Going down the hill, we pick up speed and arrive on time. By the time I lose control of the illusion, we are almost there. More squawking pierces the air as we dive into the shack. Relief washes over me, as we make it. They swirl around close to the shack and cast shadows underneath.

We sit down and his gaze goes over to one of my beds - I always had an extra one because of my guardian Yang used to sleep here. He breathes heavily as we catch our breath. I never wanted to get rid of it or tear it down. I’m debating whether to let him use the bed. It’s one of the last remaining memories of Yang that I have, and I don’t want to be gone. Now that Jaxson is here for the night, it can finally be used after years. He's my friend, so I offered one of my beds and motioned to him with a hand gesture. He looks at me with gratitude, and plops down like a rock.

“Jaxson?” I turn around and he’s already asleep. He crashes hard, and I can hear him snoring softly.

I sit there in my bed, thinking about what my future could be, but sleep; it soon comes like a cloud of darkness.