Washed Away- Chapter 3
Mark was huddled in a thick white blanket, laying on his side, deep in thought. Beside him was Sasha, her long black hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and she wore a white tank top. Sasha had her back propped against the wall, huddled in a black blanket, sleeping. She was about an arms length away from Mark, who was starting to drift to sleep, until a single thought hit him.
"how am I still alive?"
Just like that, all the memories came flooding back. He was running away from... somewhere. He felt a pain in his heart, his mind was foggy and had one goal in mind... Then he remembered falling...And the ocean... Its powerful waves pushing and pulling... Until...
Mark jolted awake with a loud gasp, his arms flailed up trying to find something solid to grasp onto. He had both his hands planted firmly in front of him. His overgrown nails were pressing on the wooden plank floors, he looked a bit like a dog, ready to attack. Mark noticed how he was positioned and instantly felt embarrassment burn his face. He lied back down and pulled the blanket over him once again.
How was Mark alive? He was sure he felt himself drowning, he was so sure he had felt himself... die.
Maybe he was dead, and this was the afterlife, he would be stuck in this place for all eternity. Maybe that's why the people here accepted him so fast. Mark felt a small wave of panic wash over him. What was he even supposed to do? Why couldn't he remember his past? Or anything other then his name? The wave of panic was followed by fear, and stress. He didn't understand what was happening, and the sudden crash of feelings didn't help either.
He had to get out of there, and soon.
Mark tilted his head up to see Sasha still sleeping soundly. She hadn't moved since she told Mark she was "Gonna take a quick nap, Oi wouldn't wander too far unless ya want to be attacked." Remembering her say that didn't help what so ever. What did she mean "attacked?" by what? Was there something lurking around the halls at night that he didn't know about? Mark had absolutely no battle experience, and even if he did, he doesn't remember any of it. Marks panic started to increase even more.
What if whatever was out there heard him wake up a few minutes ago? And it broke through the door and attacked-
"Shhh it'll be aight." Mark felt smooth fingers run through his hair. He could barely breathe, much less react to the sudden touch. "It's just me, Sasha. Everything's gonna be okey, there's nothing ta worry about." She petted Marks hair in a gentle, soothing rhythm, and continued to whisper words of encouragement to him.
After about twenty minutes of this, Mark finally calmed down. He had drifted into a tired sleep without a word, while Sasha stayed awake, still with one hand in his messy brown hair. She had woken up to loud, uneven breaths, and the sound of nails scraping against wood. The poor kid was probably scared, she would be too if she had forgotten everything she had ever known and was taken in by a bunch of mysterious strangers who treated you like you were going to stay forever. Heck, no one even took the time to explain everything that was going on right now...
Sasha pressed her back to the wall. "Oh SeaBoi, ya in fer quiet a surprise tomorroa..."
Washed Away- Chapter 2
Chapter 3 (not available yet)
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Everyone in the other room had gone silent. Mark pressed his back against the wall a bit harder, hoping me would disappear. His heart beat pounded in his ears and his breathing sounded loud and out of place in the silent tree house.
After the long pause, the older guy who had yelled out "Mayla" spoke up.
"What do you mean he's missing? We only found him about a few hours ago." The floor boards creaked, "Blade, Sasha, take May to her room. The rest of you help me search around the area for the," he paused for a bit. "Sea boy..."
After Mark had heard him say those words, the place once again exploded with the noise of screaming and squeaking weight on wood. Quickly Mark took a peak around the corner he had just been in, and he caught a glimpse of two people around the same height as himself, with their backs turned to him. There was someone else but he flinched back when one turned his head.
He had to hide, and soon.
He turned his head down the hall he was in to see all the doors. Blue, green, purple, red, and more, but they all seemed a bit dull. He choose the closest one, which was a darkish purple door, and turned the knob for it to open. It turned a bit, then stopped. Mark shook the handle quickly and quietly, but it was for sure that the door was locked. His heart lurched and he turned to the next door, which was a light blue, as the squeaking boards got louder.
Mark turned the second knob and it easily flew open, and with his hand still gripped on the handle he flung himself into the room and collided with another person, who screamed in surprise.
Mark knew he was done for as he opened his eyes to a girl who had drooped, light blue eyes and olive skin. Her hair was an unnatural shade of light blue, almost white even, but that was about all Mark could see before there was a strong grip on his shoulders and he was thrown back, off of the girl.
"Katrina, you alright?" Mark had his back slammed against the hallway wall, his vision blurred a bit for he still hasn't completely recovered from his ocean incident.
"Why the hell are you over here?" Standing up, Mark opened his eyes to a tall, skinny boy with short, black hair and a purple scarf, that wrapped around his neck and had stopped at his elbow. He was pinning Mark to the wall with one arm at the side of his head and the other around his neck. Trying to remove his hand from around his own neck, he tried gasping for air but to no avail. Who ever this person was, he was strong, because the whole time he stared right into Marks eyes with an angry expression.
Finally he let go and Mark fell to his knees and gasped for air. After about 3 deep breaths, he looked up to 3 people who looked right back down at him.
One of them spoke up, the girl with the icy blue hair. "Wow... way to go Blade, now hes gonna get the wrong idea of us." She spoke slow and sarcastic, kind of like a sloth.
"Why are you defending him? He was probably going to hurt you!" Assuming this voice was Blade, the one with the scarf, Mark flinched.
"Here, let me help ya up." This was the third person, a girl, the one with the strange accent. When she said 'here' it sounded a bit more like 'heyah'. She offered her hand down the the boy, and he hesitantly took it. Being pulled up to his feet, he nodded his head to the girl who helped him up.
"Uh, do ya mind intoducin ya self? None of us knows ya name yet." As much as Mark wanted to say his name, his throat was dry, making it hard for his to speak. Also the fact that Blade was staring him down didn't help, so he painfully cleared his throat and forced the words out.
"M-my names Mark." He cringed at the sound of his own voice. It sounded cracked and disoriented, like the words would dry up and crumble away.
"Gotcha! Whatsup, Mark, Ohhh we should get everyone to meet tah SeaBoi!" The accented girl gave off a light laugh and grabbed Marks wrist and dragged him down the window hall into the room with the table and shelves. Before he could protest she shouted out at the top of her lungs, (right in his ear)
"HEY BOSS, I FOUND TEH SEABOI AND I EVEN KNOW HIZ NAME!" After a few moments another guy steps into the room through the darkly coloured fruit door.
He had dark brown, closely cut hair. His skin was a darker shade then most of the people here, and he wore a dark green T-shirt and jeans, and on his feet flip flops. He had a stern voice, "And what would his name be, Sasha?" Guessing that that was the older girl squeezing his wrists name, Mark waited for her to answer for him, for it still hurt to talk.
"Comm'on Sea Buddy! Tell'em ya name!" Mark sighed. Not wanting to make things awkward, he quietly spoke him name.
"M-mark... My names Mark..." Shifting his eyes to the floor to loose eye contact with this guy, the other person, 'Boss' replied.
"I am Reino, but only my close friends may call me that. You may refer to me as Boss, Sir, Or Captain. Understand?" Mark, who could feel this guys eyes piercing his nerves with his eyes, quickly nodded.
"I can't hear you." He spoke a bit louder making him jump a bit.
"Aye aye, Captain." Mark strained his voice to say those words but they seemed to wisp away at the second 'aye'.
Reino signed, "Someone get this boy some water, I'll go get everyone else." and he turned around to open the door back up but stopped.
"Hey Katrina, if you don't mind me asking, did you happen to be sleeping while we where gone...?" Reino spoke in a dangerous tone that made Mark want to sink into the floor.
The girl yawned, "Yeah... yeah.... I was, why did you-"
Reino slammed the door shut. "WHY DID I LEAVE YOU HERE ALONE?! GOOD QUESTION!" He turned around and faced Katrina who was across the room, eyes blazing. "What if he was highly trained and ready to kill us? I left you here not because you're incompetent, because you had an important task to watch THIS kid to make sure he didn't go snooping around the place!" With Sasha no longer holding Mark, who wanted to be anywhere else but here, watched Katrina stand and meet the gaze of her enraged leader, dead on. The lively glow in her eyes seemed to fade as she spoke up
"If he was here to kill us, I would've been dead and most of the people here would be too, and to top it off we wouldn't be having this conversation. You'd most likely be crying because you have no one to boss around anymore so stop making us feel so small compared to you." The room went silent, and Mark had to bite his tongue to keep him from laughing. Katrina had spoken a lot faster, which made that more bearable to listen to. Reino simply left and slammed the door behind him.
"Ugh, can't stand him." Katrina had said in her normal tone. "I'm going back to bed... After I get a drink."
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The four of them sat in a circle on the floor all with a bowl full of fresh water. Mark, finally able to speak now, could answer all the questions thrown at him.
"So do you remember your past?" Katrina had asked first.
"No... It all seems like a bad dream trying to remember it." He said in response.
"Whut do ya think of dis place? All' us built it by hand." Sasha announced pridefully.
"Woah, really? That's neat, will you ever show me around?" Mark said
"Psssh, no. That's Mayla's job. If we don't let her we'd never hear the end of it." Blade had been quiet the whole time, but stood up and set his bowl on the table. "Yeah, see you later." And with that he disappeared, literally. A huge puff of grey smoke appeared and he was gone.
In a moment of shock Mark turned to the two girls for help but they continued their conversation normally.
"Yeah sorry Marky, but May got hurt pretty badly when we where out. Yer probably have ta wait a bit." Sasha stood up and helped Katrina up as well. "Good 'ol Boss is pretty angry right now so ya probably won't be gettn a room till tomorrow. So ya can stay with one of us for tonight."
"Oh, ok! Thanks for the offer, I'll let you know later today." Mark was glad for the hospitality, but he hardly knew these people, and they acted like he was staying here. Heck he didn't even know where he was.
"Later today? Nope! Yer gonna hav'ta choose now cuz we signing off for today, got a big day tomorrow!" Sasha pulled Mark up to his feet and slapped him on his back, grinning that crazy grin shes had all day.
"Come on, we ain't got all day."
Washed Away- Chapter 1
Chapter 2 (Available)
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The water crashed on the boys face and pulled him under. He gripped the planks that struggled to stay afloat below him, and he resurfaced. Gasping for air he cried out for help, in return he got a loud, heart shuddering roar of thunder, that was heard over the waves of water and the pattering of rain hitting the salty sea water. The terrified child not dared to open his eyes, his feelings where drowning him just as much as the water was. He was scared, frustrated, stressed, depressed, and wanted nothing more then to get away from everything and everyone he had known.
Suddenly another wave crashed over his head and the water pulled him down, filling his ears with water as he held his breath. He felt something thick and rough wrap around his ankle and yanked him father down, which made him scream in fear and surprise. All the oxygen left his lungs and he felt a crushing feeling around him, although there was nothing touching him but the thing around his foot. The drowning child's lungs finally gave out and started to be filled with salty water. The boy felt no need to fight for his life, what good was he now? After several long moments of pain and a suffocation. His whole world disappeared.
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"Quick! Get him on the board before they see us!"
"UGH stop yelling at us! He's really heavy!"
"They're going to hear us rather then see us if you two don't stop yelling."
"Who's idea was it to bring only 3 people to help and 1 to yell at us anyway?"
"And who's idea was it to go 'help the poor sea boy.'"
"SHUT it Blade! You didn't even have to come with us!"
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Morning light filtered in through the square hole in the wooden plank wall. The light shone on the also wooden floor, into the now awake eyes of Mark, the "sea boy."
The first thing Mark noticed was the pain in his chest. His breathing was shallow and uneven, for his lungs burned and his stomach growled. He slowly sat up off the floor, using his arm to prop himself up. The second things he noticed was that the room he was in was pretty much empty, except for the few white blankets and pillows that where neatly folded up and placed in different corners.
Surprisingly, when he stood up on his two legs, he didn't feel sore. The only place that was still pained was chest, and his stomach felt like it was punched repeatedly and his throat stung.
With one hand clutching his red, torn up shirt, he stumbles over to a door on the other side on the room. The door was a lot darker then the walls and floor and smelled of newly chopped fruit and salt. It looked pretty old, but Mark turned the knob anyway and stepped into a new room.
This room was a lot bigger then the last and was the same color as the fruit smelling door. There was a grey rectangle table without chairs in the middle of the room. On his left was 7 rows of shelves that where completely empty along the wall closest to him. On his right was a small square space that had another door that seemed like it was used a lot. It had pieces chipped off and the wall behind the door was crushed in, like someone had slammed the door open into the wall.
Mark walked a bit more smoothly to the back of the room, where the was a door cut out, but no door. A bit more cautiously, he poked his head into the room, but in fact it wasn't a room at all. Mark looked down an empty hallway, that went left, and the made another left turn. The right side had more small square shaped holes in the wall, overlooking a view of dark brown tree trunks and dark green leaves that went as far back as he could see.
Although the windows didn't offer much light, but it gave off just enough to see down the hall as the more confidently walking boy turned left into a new hall filled with doors of all different colors, except the last few doors. Those had signs above them that Mark couldn't see from this side of the hall.
Not even before he placed his foot on the ground, there was a crash, and a flood of loud voices which made Mark jump and fold himself against the wall. There was a loud female cry above all the other voices, followed by several thuds on the floor. Finally he was able to hear the words with in the chaos in the room with the rectangle table.
"MAYLA! Can you hear me?" This was a guys voice, who seemed extremely panicked.
There was a shriek of a little boy followed by a 'shhh'
"They might still be following us, do you want them to get you too?" These words came from another guy, but he sounded older, sarcastic, and spoke quietly.
There where a few creaks of the floor boards then a girls voice shouted above the rest of the noise. She had an odd slang to her words, so it took a bit for Mark to realize what she had said.
"Ey guys. Oui haet to break et to yew bot teh Sea Boy 'smissing."