Transparent Color's
Chapter 12

It’s not Uncle Ping, but just hearing that name gives me the rage and determination to jump. I take a breath in and let it out, and then jump. My feet land on the rock but slip, and Maliki catches me. He saves my life yet again. He holds me in his arms, I replace myself drifting. He can keep me there in his arms if he really wants too. I snap out of it and give a little grin and nod as a thank you. Maliki lets me go and hands the vine to me. He takes off again, lands successfully holding onto a vine. I follow and am able to take hold of a vine this time on my own. The next jump was the last one to the side of the cliff.

“You can climb up first,” Maliki tells me. Without hesitation I start climbing.

The climb up is not hard at all. Once I reach the top, I feel relief throughout my whole body. I turn and see Maliki red in the face and struggling to pull himself up onto the flat surface. So I walk over and give him my hand. Once he’s up, he stays on his knees with his hands stretched out, like in a crawling position. His breaths are heavier, almost like he is unable to breathe.

The tension that was once there has slipped away and I feel concern for him. I put my hand on his back, “Are you okay?”

He brings his body up and sits down on the ground. With his hand a little below his chest, he looks at me and smiles. He breathes heavy, “I am now”.

I start to blush, well I think I am, my face is burning. I give a little smile back, “How did you hurt your ribs?” okay that was a dumb question, but it’s the first thing I can think of under the circumstances. I can’t say “Please just kiss me now.”

He looks at me like he is hearing everything I am thinking. Ugh, haven’t I told myself before to stop thinking? I need a distraction, right his rib. Ah his belt.

“Is there any kind of pain medicine in the pouch of your belt?”

“I believe so.”

Enough said I am already moving towards the bag. I look in the zipper pocket to discover a container of pain medicine. I bring it over to Maliki and put two tablets in his mouth. My mind goes to what I have learned in school. I go over to the long grass and start pulling strands out of the ground. I weave the strands together thickly, to make a bandage to go around his chest. I knot the end and look up to see him staring at me in amazement.

I move back next to him and tell him to take off his shirt. When he does I keep myself from looking at his muscles, Keep it together Magolin! I wrap the woven grass around his chest. He winces a little from the pain. I stop.

“No it’s okay, you can finish.”

I finish, “It’s not too tight, right? You can still breathe?”

“Yes it’s fine.” He looks down and touches the grass on his chest, then looks back up, “You would have made a good medical assistant.”

“Thanks, ahh how do you know about that?”

“Toby told me if you had stayed in the City, that’s what you were going to be.” We look eye to eye for a moment, then like we are connected in thought.

“Toby!”

We both grab our stuff and go running through the high grass. I can’t believe I forgot about Toby. Once I reach the path I look to my left and right. He’s nowhere in sight.

“Where is he?” worry scratches my voice, “What if something got him, like it did me?”

I see Maliki quickly taking out his compass. Then turns and looks at me, “No it doesn’t want him. We are west; we need to go back north, that’s where Toby is. Follow me,” he quickly starts running through the high grass on the opposite side. I follow behind.

As I run the thought comes in my mind, “it doesn’t want him”, what did Maliki mean by that. I brush that thought away for the time being and focus only on getting to Toby.

I run swiftly through the grass as it hits my face. In the corner of my left eye I see something on the ground. So I stop instantly, and walk backwards a bit.

“Maliki, there’s something on the ground!”

I start moving closer to the figure on the ground, brushing the grass out of my way, my heart starts beating fast and I start breathing a little quicker. I get closer and see it’s a little boy on the ground. I stop and put my hands over my mouth and gasp. A little weaker in my step, I move slowly to the child on the ground.

Once I’m next to the boy, I see he is on his side and his arm blocking his face. My body is shaking uncontrollably. I bend down next to the still body and turn him on his back. The air inside my body vanishes, I can’t breathe. It’s Toby! His eyes are plucked out, his skin gray. I drop to the ground on my knees. All that comes out of my body is screams and tears.

I feel Maliki next to me, “What Maggie? There’s nothing on the ground.”

“There, right there! Can’t you see him?” I point to the spot where the body is.

“No Maggie there’s nothing there; your eyes are playing tricks on you.” He grabs the top of my arms. I look into his eyes and they are burning red, like the demon looking creature from my dream.

I break my arms away from his grip and start to back up quickly.

“You did this.”

My eyes go wide. He moves after me. I fall over a rock and land sitting on the ground, a scream comes out of my throat, “Get away!” I jump up and start running as fast as my legs can take me. He’s after me, my mind is haunted, he’s after me.

The ground starts to get wet and muddy, my boots sink into a large pond of mud and it’s hard for me to get them out. I’m stuck! Now what do I do, the demons going to get me.

I look behind and see Maliki at the edge of the grass he yells for me to stay put and that he is going to replace something to get me out. But I don’t want him to get me out, so I try to move again and my feet sink even more. I start to panic, and look around for something to grab onto. Nothing is around, why is there nothing around? I’m standing here too long, what should I do?

I look behind me and there is Maliki holding a grass woven rope. My mind stirs, like the one I made for his chest, I remember. My mind is a bit foggy and confused; I don’t know what is real or fake. Wait isn’t that what he said would happen. I look back at Maliki and his eyes are no longer red but back to being green. Tears run down my face as I grab onto the tossed rope. Maliki pulls me out to him.

I’m now at Maliki’s boots and he pulls me out of the mud. I look up at him, “You had red eyes.”

“I know.”

He then picks me up in his arms. I lay my head on his shoulder; I’m so tired. My eyes want to close, but I must know, “Who does it want?”

Maliki puts his cheek on my forehead, “You.”

I fall asleep.