Story!

This is officially the first story to be posted. Yay! I don't know what to call it yet. Any ideas? Well, Here it goes!

Chapter 1

The boy was running as fast as was physically possible for him, even though it was difficult dodging tall, hard bamboo shoots. He couldn’t go on like this forever, he would have to stop eventually. The bamboo forest was long and he knew it. He couldn’t run the entire length of it with not food, water or rest. He would have to give in soon. He heard a swishing noise behind him, his assailant. He made a sharp left turn, resulting in twisting his ankle on a root. He could go no farther. He knew that. All he could do was hope that whoever was chasing him was merciful. I girl came up from behind him and raised a bamboo pipe to her lips. A small object hit the boy in the neck and he slumped onto the ground.

“He was trying to take Mayza. I had to do it.” A tall girl with long dark hair said.

“It is wrong to take children but I doubt he would do that. Look how young he is. He’s Mayza’s age! It must have been something else.” Said an old woman with graying hair who was standing nxt to the younger woman who appeared to be in her late teens.

“I don’t care! I just don’t get a good feeling from him. Do not let him see Mayza. Keep them apart. And keep him away from Wen.”

“It does not mater if he is near Wen.”

“I said keep him away. Enough talk. I am going.” And the woman strode out of the room.

The old woman sighed an looked out of a window.

“Where am I” The boy said to the girl above him.

“Your here now.” She said with a grin. “And you will never leave.”

“Why did you put me in a pit?”

“So you wouldn’t leave, silly.” She walked around the opening of the large hole.

“I’m hungry.”

“I will not have you telling me what to do. You are a prisoner!”

“I didn’t tell you what to do. I told you that I’m hungry.”

“Oh well. You will get your food when you get your food.”

A young woman stormed down a set of stairs and over to the girl. She was not happy at all. She grabbed the girls shoulder. “Mayza! What are you doing? Go to your room!”

“But Shai, I just wanted to see him-”

“Enough. Go. Now.”

The girl walked down a thin path in the bamboo and began to climb a ladder.

“You. don’t want you here. It wasn’t my choice to let you stay and I don’t want to, but if you get away you will reveal us. You know what that would do to us? Well? Do you?” She roared.

“I didn’t mean to find this... village. I was hunting for food. For my sister and mother. My mother is blind and my sister is young. Please let me go.”

“You will never see your family again.” She turned and called to the closest house in the trees “Cover it up.” She walked towards the ladder that the younger girl had recently climbed.

Two boys, who looked like they were fourteen or fifteen, walked down the stairs and walked to a clump of bushes from which they withdrew a large woven tarp. The threw it over the large hole the boy was in and weighed it down with stones. The boy heard the other boys laughing as they climbed back into the room suspended in the trees.

The boy curled up and hoped that it would not be too cold that night.

Chapter 2

“Psss. Wake up.” Called a girls voice from above.

The boys eyes slowly opened and looked around. He was still in the pit. There was not much else in the hole but random clods of dirt and a few leaves. It was dark but a bit of light was shining through small holes in the woven tarp. He couldn’t see anything outside of the pit. On the far side the tarp was pulled back a bit and a rope ladder fell down. The girl he had been talking to the day before climbed down into the pit.

“Your awake. My sister, Shai, the mean one, has forbidden me from seeing you but I do not care.” She said with pride. “Well? I sneak out at night and you have nothing to say?”

“Where am I?”

“You are in the village of Bao Yu.”

“Why am I here?”

“You were captured, you dummy. Why would you try to steal from us? How did you find us?” She implored, playing with her short brown hair.

“I didn’t steal anyth-” He was cut off.

“Do not immediately deny it! That would be a foolish thing to do.”

“Sorry.” He looked down and picked up a clod of dirt “I didn’t find you. I was hunting and then someone was chasing me and then I was here.”

“Of course, of course.” She said but he doubted she believed him.

“Why are you here? I mean- to see me.”

“I have come because I am curious, do I need any other reason?”

“Well... I don’t know. I don’t think so.” He fiddled with the dirt, crushing off small pieces.

“Follow me.” She went over to the ladder and began her ascent. “By the way, what is your name?” She paused halfway up the ladder to look at him.

“Uh... Aoki.” He put his hand on the ladder and followed her up.

The bamboo forest wasn’t not much lighter than it had been in the pit.

“What’s your name?” He worried she wouldnl’t answer him.

“If you don’t know already, it’s Mayza.”

“So was that girl yesterday your sister?”

“Ugh, yes! She is so irritating! She tries to control me.”

“Oh. Where are we going?”

“You are going home. I am staying here. And you are not going to tell anyone about this place. Now follow me.” She ran into the bamboo. She stopped at a large rod of bamboo with a hole cut into one side. She put her hand into the hole and withdrew a thick black bag. “Put this on your head.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.” He put the bag onto his head and Mayza grabbed his arm. Sh ran through the trees quickly, pulling Aoki along with her. They did not run very far before Mayza stopped and went silent.

They could hear men’s voices coming from a couple of yards away. Mayza Turned around and ran. Aoki pulled off the bag and followed her.

“I knew those voices!” He said, hurrying to catch us with Mayza. “They are men from my village. Let us go back!”

“No.”

“Well, I’m going back!”

Before he could turn around Mayza had whipped a small bamboo rod from her shirt and had put it to her pursed lips.

“If you move backwards I will blow a tranquilizing dart into your neck.

“I guess I have to go with you.” He started to move forward again but Mayza kept the blow gun pointed at him. She followed behind him, always keeping the gun pointed at him. They were not very fast but soon Aoki could no long hear the voices.

His insides filled with despair. Would he ever get away from this place? Would he ever see his mother or sister again? What about his beloved Noriko? What if he never saw any of them again? How would his family survive? His Nori would be heartbroken. He sighed.

“Keep moving.” Mayza said in an irritated voice “They will catch up to us if you don’t hurry up.”

“Me? Your the one who has to walk with that thing pointed at me!”

“But I can’t trust you to stay on track without having a dart pointed at you. What happened to the sack that was on your head?”

“I’m trustworthy! I dropped it.”

“Just keep moving.” He did. Soon he was only a few feet away from the pit he had been in earlier.

“Ugh. You’re going to put me back in there, aren’t you?”

“Well, I have to. Shai would kill me if she knew I let you out. Get going.” He sighed and walked to the ladder. Before climbing down it he looked back at her but her eyes were closed. Maybe if he just walked past her quietly..... Her eyes flew open. “Do you think I’m that stupid?”

“Well, no but your eyes were closed.”

“You think I would close them all the way if it meant you could get away? Get back in the hole.”

He climbed down the ladder. The hole was probably about ten feet high and six feet wide. Not being very tall, he was about to lay down without hitting the wall. Mayza pulled up the ladder and spread the tarp back over the top. He heard her footsteps.

Eventually he fell half asleep. Hours passed that way, until several loud voices above him woke him. It was a bit brighter in the pit but there wasn’t much to see so it didn’t matter. He strained his ears to hear them. He only caught fragments of what they were saying. This is what he heard:

“That’s what she said.”

“Would she really do that?”

“Well, you know what she did last time!”

“Yeah. Shai sure is harsh.” The voices dropped to be quieter. He could no longer hear. The voices went back to normal, but the conversation was dull.

“Ya, we are going hunting near the water fall today.”

“Oh, good luck. Maybe we can have mamba. My favorite.”

The voices faded as the people walked away.

Aoki sighed. He layed down and tried to sleep. What else could he do? He would not be able to reach the top of the pit. Thinking of his villiage and his loved ones would only make him sad. At least he would be well rested if the chance to escape came. It was difficult to fall asleep. He was actually not able to. He layed there, staring at the tarp. He had no idea how long he had layed there. A small amount of more sunlight shined in, but the amount of trees above him prevented much sunlight to reach the ground beneath their long, bamboo stocks.

At last something came to entertain him a bit. The tarp opened a bit on one side and Mayza’s face peered in.

“Hey! I brought you food, but my sister can’t know I did. She wants to half starve you to death! It’s a few grubs, fried, some papaya and a bit of fish. Got to go!” She quickly dropped down and basket and the tarp flew back over the opening. He eagerly grabbed the food and stuffed his mouth. The grubs were better fried than they were when they were juicy. The fish was good. He had a few bites of the papaya but he put it back in the basket so he would have something to eat later.

He stood up and jumped. He could not get out. He layed on his belly and drew in the dirt. The tarp was lifted once more. The young woman he guessed to be Shai peered down at him, a disgusted look on her face. She dropped a basket down. The tarp was closed once more. He grabbed the basket hastily and looked inside it. There was a crumbly piece of cheese, a few orange slices, some old bread and a slice of some sort of meat. He took a nibble of the cheese, which had the texture of cracked clay. It was dry and he did not like it, but he needed the protein. He ate some of the food, leaving more for later.Then he went to sleep.