Chapter 3 : did she help?

At the crack of dawn, a rather worn out and exhausted Aki stepped into the clearing of the forest.

Last night was the longest night Aki ever had to spent. The whole night, Aki didn't a single break, hence it became the worst experience of his life. Getting rest, sleeping was least of this worries. Aki knew how lucky he was just to be alive.

That night he got to meet more animals than he had ever seen any of the zoos. As he stood there, in the clearing, Aki was blank. He was too tired to be angry or be sad. He was too tired to even stand.

His sky blue hair had leaves stuck in them, his clothes were tattered. He was cover in mud and dirt.

Though Aki hadn't noticed, the bugs from last night has hitchhikered with him. Only when he falls on the ground, tired, that the guys, the bugs fell off of him.

Aki saw them crawling right infront of him, yet for some reason he felt nothing. Amazing hoe only one night in a dense forest was enough to get rid of his fear of insects.

Finally, finding a little peace, Aki was about to fall asleep on the ground right there, when he heard someone;

"Aaaah ... I guess you actually survived~~"

The familiar voice felt like music to Aki's ears.

"Maya!!", Aki exclaims with a burst of energy. His face had a smile of relief, that slowly  turned to sadness. He starts sobbing again.

"You...", Aki says through sobs, "you are really heartless, you know that.... how "

*sob* " how could you just leave me like that..."

Maya felt alittle guilty, seeing Aki cry like that.

" you say that but I'm here to help you, Am I not?", Maya says, then proceed to explain, " And yesterday, you brought it upon yourself."

She pouts a little, as she continued,"... calling me names...."

Aki did understand  he was being a little too rude yesterday day, there while he still had time, Aki apologies.

Maya:" As long as you understand..."

Her pout was replaced by a soft smile. She was no longer angey with Aki.

So Maya finally decides to help him out.

Maya:" As agreed, I will help you out... ", she said. "For now stay where you are, don't move a single muscle and some people will be here to find you. They will take you where you need to be."

After everything that had happened, Aki had grew wary of Maya's word. As in he couldn't seem to be able to trust her. Especially since it sounded to easy.

So to make sure he wasn't walking into any unknown trap, Aki questions her;

Aki:" Do I not need to tell them anything? Do I need to do something? And .. and how will I even know who they are?"

Aki was expecting, if not a guide then atleast a description of the said person.

But instead what he got from Maya was;

"Ahhhh too many questions...", she exclaimed, " let's see.... they will be the first person that comes out here... .... and ..... all you need to do is try not to get killed."

Aki was deep in in thought, so it too time to register;

" Hmm is that al-", it finally hit him, " Huh? Killed? As in killed by them? No way ... Will I be in trouble-"

Aki looked at Maya. She seemed to have a weird expression on. Aki felt like he had seen the expression before, maybe it was the expression  of excitement he would see on his mother when she had something exciting going on.

    " ehehe.Well, that's all. I'm gonna leave now."

She chuckled before disappearing again.

Aki was at dismay. He couldn't help but think;

"Just what is wrong with her?", He thought, not daring to say it out loud.

After Maya had left, Aki had nothing else to do but wait just as Maya said.

But for some reason, Aki didn't want to follow  Maya's words. Maybe it was because of what she had said before leaving.

Aki just didn't what to wait up for someone who might actually kill him. He didn't want to stay, so deciding to leave, Aki stands up.

His legs were hurting like crazy. It made it hard for Aki to walk properly. Yet he drags himself to the other end of the clearing.

    "I won't wait here, just to be killed, humph what do you take me for, a fool? I am not going to be your plaything anymore ....", Aki was thinking to himself as he stepped into the forest.

As he took a step forward, he felt like he had stepped on something cylindrical, like a pipe of some sort. On top of felling warm it felt alive too.

Aki looks down, confused. What he saw made his skin crawl. Beneath his foot was a thick fat snake.

Instantly Aki squealed in fear.

"Nevermindnevermindneverming.... I'm fine being a plaything, ... and it's not like she said I'll actually  be killed.... she just gave me a warning.... I should her word for it and just wait... "

He returned to where he was sitting, now having made his mind.

                                ****

More than half a day goes by, as Aki sat there waiting diligently. Even when the sun hovered  over his head Aki didn't move. It did make him feel stupid to follow Maya's word so closely.

Aki: " aaaaaaah so hungry....." aki hadn't eaten anything for almost a whole day.

"So thirsty toooo ...... when is it going to happen.... "

The sun was setting already. The sky had turns orange, with the colour of the sun. The clouds looked amazing, reflecting the orange hue.

It had Aki mesmerised, yet had him reflect up on his life choices, that might have contributed in him ending up there.

It was then that Aki heard rustling in the bushes behind him.

Aki turns towards the source of the noise. There were mix of emotion with him, as he thought the person maya had told him about was there.

His heart was racing, his hands were trembling.

As the tension grew, and the sound seem to draw closer, Akis heart beat became faster too...

And when something jumped out of there, his heart, too, almost jumped out of his throat.

To Aki's utter shock, infront of him, had jumped out a small fluffy rabbit. It approached Aki, whose legs had gave out.

He kneels, and picks up the white rabbit. It's red eyes were glues to the bush, from where a fluf of rabbit follows.

They all circle behind Aki, reminding him of cotton candy. His hunger grew, while he wondered if he could eat one of the rabbit.

Quickly discarding the thought, despite his growling stomach, Aki started thinking of something else.

The rabbit seemed scared, they were trembling too, as though scared of something.

It had Aki wonder, what they feared.

He looks towards the bush, where another rustling came from.

Aki was expecting to see more rabbits, but what he saw was a pair of golden yellow eyes.

There were fixed at Aki, who was paralysed in fear. Out came a tiger slowly sneaking towards them.

Aki now knew what the rabbits were scared of.

As the tiger, stalking came towards him, Aki tries backing away. Yet his legs failed to cooperate.

There was a sharp pain in his feet that wasn't there before. But Aki didn't dare to look away from the tiger.

Aki thought to himself;

" is this what She was warning me about?"

Akis throat was so dry, he couldn't yelp at this point. His body was too tired to cooperate with him, Aki Couldn't  even runaway.

So when the tiger jumped towards him, all he could do was, clutch the rabbit close in his arm and close his tears-filled eyes.

    He accepted his fate.

\*\*\* to be continued \*\*\*

** Writers note ** :

I hope he doesn't die... I mean we still need him for the story.

Maybe his hero will finally make his entry. ;)

soo this time I tried making Aki after his encounter with the bug tree;

Bug: "hiii can I hitch a ride with ya :) "

Aki: " noooo ... leave me aloneeeee......T _ T "

Well thats it for today~~~

see ya next tomorrow~~~

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