The Rise Of The Phoenix

CHAPTER FOUR: FOUR STRANGERS AND A STICK

We ran until they caught up with us and trapped us. We found ourselves in an open space in the forest. We had no way out. Grace smiled at Ivy.

“What’s wrong, honey? You looked so smug back at school.” She laughed. “Not so sure about that now, are you?”

“What do you want with me?” Ivy asked. She was clearly scared, but she wasn't showing it.

“You think you can insult my sister and get away with it?” One boy interrupted. Not Mason.

“Who even are you?” I asked. “Do you know what your sister did? Maybe these girls shouldn't be dishing out what they can't take!”

Maybe I should’ve kept shut, because my statement made them all angrier. The five of them charged at us and began to attack. Of course, we had to stand our ground and fight back. My background in karate helped a little bit at least I could defend myself when those guys came after me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Ivy struggling to keep up with the three girls.

I was face to face with Mason and his friend. He looked at the other guy. “We can take her.”

The other guy scoffed. “Dude, of course we can.” Then they lunged at me.

Mason had tried to grab me by my jacket, but I blocked it. This made him angry. He tried to throw a punch, and I blocked that too. Then, I gave a swift front kick to his shin. I made sure it hurt enough to keep him out of my way while his friend came at me. But he didn’t for about ten seconds, he stood there staring in shock.

“Logan what are you doing, man!?” Mason yelled from the ground. “Get her!”

I looked over and saw my sister losing her fight badly. I had to help her one way or another. I spotted a huge stick wedged between two rocks and all I knew was that I needed to get Ivy out of this mess. As I ran for the stick, Logan’s mind seemed to finally click. He ran at me. I threw a back fist at his nose and he yelled out in pain. While he was still confused, I kicked him in the stomach and ran for the stick. I finally got to it and pulled it from where it was lodged.

I ran towards my sister and those three girls and hit Norah with it on the back. She let out a loud, painful scream. It was exaggerated, because I definitely did NOT hit her that hard. She fell to the floor weeping, and I just rolled my eyes at the dramatics.

Mason was so upset at what I did to his sister, that he came running at me, screaming at the top of his lungs. I won’t lie, I was scared out of my mind! I didn’t know what to do in that moment, so I swung the stick in my arms blindly, and I kid you not, Mason went flying to the far end of the forest till he hit a tree and slumped. Why do these people keep exaggerating? I swear I didn’t even hit him that hard!

Everyone’s attention was turned to me now. Logan lunged at me and grabbed the other end of the stick, trying to take it from me.

Oh, a tug of war? Okay then!

I held on to that stick for dear life. He was clearly stronger than I was, but I used every ounce of strength in me to hold on. I was getting splinters from holding on too tight, and I was hurting all over, but I held on.

“Let go!” Logan yelled.

“Are you crazy!?” I responded. “No!”

Suddenly, Logan pulled back with force and I felt something go terribly wrong in my shoulder. I felt it pop. I had never felt such pain before, in my entire life! I let out a loud scream of defeat and pain, hoping someone would hear me and come to help. But instead, the stick in my hand produced a huge blast the second I let go of it. It sent me, Logan and everyone else flying in different directions!After a few seconds, I got up quickly in a panic. I saw Ivy laying on the ground and rushed to her. I noticed my right shoulder was hurting very badly, but that would be

handled after this.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked as soon as I reached Ivy. She got up slowly and couldn’t believe the scene around her. Honestly, neither could I.

“Oh God, Kaelyn. What just happened?” Ivy asked, still looking around in horror. She didn’t even know if all these kids were alive or not.

Before I could answer, we heard footsteps approaching. More people were coming. I could see it in Ivy’s eyes that she was terrified. If they were more bullies, it wouldn’t be good. And if they weren’t, well they’d think we were! I turned to her and placed my good arm on her shoulder.

“Ivy, you need to go.” I said.

She looked at me in disbelief and stepped away from me so my arm fell off her shoulder.

“Are you crazy? Why would I leave you here?” She asked, whispering loudly.

“Ivy!” I whispered back. “Look around you. This is clearly jail time! Go and get help!” I instructed.

Ivy looked at me for two seconds before running out of the forest. I stayed and faced the direction the footsteps were coming from. Whatever was coming, it couldn’t get any worse than what I just encountered. Four strange people, teenagers, come out of the woods. I didn’t know who they were, and I didn’t really care. If they weren’t adults, they were probably backup for these knocked out losers! I quickly picked my stick up from the ground and held it in front of me like a sword.

Unfortunately, this drew their attention towards me.

“Get away from me!” I screamed.

The four of them look around at the damage, and they almost looked amazed. A red haired girl looked at me.

“Did you do this?” she asked.

I didn’t answer, but I shuffled uncomfortably between my feet.

“All by yourself?” she gasped.

I wasn’t interested in interacting with these strangers. I kept my stick right in front of me, and stayed silent. But they kept coming at me with questions.

“Who are you?”“How did you get here?”

”How did you do this?”

”What happened?”

”Why would you…?”

The other girl began to walk towards me and I turned in her direction and waved my stick. “Hey! I said you should get away!”

One of the boys laughed, pointing at the stick. “Is that stick what caused all this damage?”

I didn’t answer. I started to back away from them, calculating how I would run off and escape.

This girl tried to step towards me again, and she caught me off guard.

“Just stay away from me!!!” I screamed three times harder. Then, it happened again. A blast pushed me and everyone around me, backward. But this time, the blast didn’t come from the stick, it came from me.

They were all shocked, then amazed. They turned to each other and started whispering loudly. I was standing there, scared. If they weren’t here to beat me up, then why were they still here?

Suddenly, they stopped whispering and turned to face me. They were all smiles, which creeped me out.

The red haired girl slowly walked up to me, and I waved my stick around between us to stop her. She began to speak to me.

“I know this is crazy, but we know exactly what’s going on.” She said, with her hands up. “And we can help you, too. I just need to get close enough to you. Please, put down your sword.”

I had absolutely no idea what was going on around me. Ever since I walked into this forest, it’s all been going crazy! I was reeling in my thoughts and before I knew it, this girl was right in front of me, making intense eye contact. She opened her mouth and only said one word. “Sleep.”

I rolled my eyes. Pathetic. What was that supposed to be? Telepathy? These nerds must play dungeons and dragons, or something. That thought was the last thing I remembered before all I saw was darkness.