The Undecideds Chapt. 6

     Once again... raw stuff.  I had fun writing in my other book today, though.  The story got away from me a little bit today, though.  I did some things that surprised me!

Chapter 6

                Rachel never really gave any thought as to where she would go.  At first she almost turned around and went home, but then she would think about having to go back to school and face all the other students and the principal again, and she renewed her determination.  She thought about going to go to Maddie’s house, but she knew that her parents would just turn Rachel in to her own parents, and Rachel couldn’t bear to face them again. 

Arabelle city was the center of the civilized world.  The city itself was divided into five sections like a pie with pieces cut out.  She grew up in the Angel Guild’s section of the city.  The other four were the four other major guilds, and the center was the grand council where all the guilds’ representatives ruled their respective guilds.  That would be where her parents were; working as always.  Rachel wanted to stay as far away from the city center as she could, but she knew she couldn’t stay in the Angel Guild’s section either because somebody would recognize her and take her home.  She decided the best place to go was the Prey Guild’s section.  The only problem was that she would have to go through the Demon Guild’s section to get to it.  She could go the other way around, but she would have to go through the Predator’s Guild section, and the Aviary Guild’s section to get to it.  Both would be dangerous with only a ball of fur for a pet.  Predators often killed the pets of their own kin because they couldn’t control their instinct.  And predatory birds in the Aviary Guild were no better.  But the Demon Guild was something altogether more dangerous.  She fussed and fussed about which way would be worse; two dangerous sections, or one really dangerous section. 

While she was thinking about her choices, she walked.  Several minutes later, she realized she was walking towards the Demon Guild’s section.  Rachel stopped with cold realization.  She was scared to death in the Demonology class, and now she was going to go walking through the Demon Guild’s section of the city.  She started to turn away, but stopped when she thought of the great cats and wolves of the Predator Guild ripping apart her little ball of fur.  She looked down at her little ball of fur.  “What do you think we should do?”

The ball rolled around a little.  She felt a small pull in her mind in the direction of the Demon Guild’s section.  She could feel fear from her ball of fur.  It was strange.  She had rarely felt anything from it.  And this was the first time she had ever felt its influence in a decision.  Her spirit beast did not want to go to the Predator Guild’s section of the city.  In spite of everything that was happening, Rachel smiled.  For the first time she was actually communicating with her spirit beast.  Perhaps she would eventually be able to talk to it as it seemed everyone else was able to do with their spirit beasts.  She turned back towards the Demon Guilds section, and started walking.  Then she felt a tug in her mind pulling in a different direction.

Rachel stopped and looked down at her ball of fur again.  “You want me to move farther away from the city before we go into the Demon Guild’s section?”  The little ball rolled around excitedly.  She could feel its enthusiasm for the idea.  “Ok,” she said with a smile.  “I suppose it would be better if we were outside of the city, altogether.  That way we would have less of a chance to run in to any people at all.”  The ball bounced up and down.  Rachel smiled again.  “Good idea...  hmm.  I don’t even know what to call you.  We’ve never really spoken before.  I think it’s time you had a name.”  The ball bounced again.  “Should I call you Wendy?”  The ball stopped bouncing.  Rachel laughed.  “Okay, okay.  Not Wendy.  I don’t even know if you’re a boy or a girl.  Are you a girl?”  The ball shook back and forth.  “A boy?”  The ball bounced up and down again.  Rachel giggled.  “Okay, so boy names, hmm.  Let me think.  Rob?  Paul?  Sam?”  The ball shook with each name.  “hmm, maybe animal names?”  The ball bounced again.  “So, fluffy?”  It stopped bouncing, and Rachel could feel its disgust for the name.  She laughed again.  “Okay, not fluffy.  Spot?  Tiger?  Rex?”  The ball shook with each name.  “Stripes?”  the ball stopped shaking, and Rachel could feel that it was thinking over the name.  At last it bounced up and down.  “Stripes.”  Rachel smiled again.  “Let’s hope you don’t turn out to be a spotted animal.”  The ball of fur stopped bouncing, and Rachel could feel that it was a little worried.  “It’s okay,” She reassured him.  “Even if you’re and angel, stripes is a good name.”  The ball bounced again.

Rachel looked up at where she was walking. “Here, you lead.” She told her ball.  She was determined to get to the Prey Guild’s section of the city, but she still had anxiety over passing through the Demon Guild.  At least now she had a friend.  She was actually talking to it.  Him.  She corrected herself quickly, so she wouldn’t offend her little Stripes.

Rachel’s head jerked at every sound; A car whizzing by, or some person from a distance walking.  She pulled the hoodie she’d brought along over her head, in attempt to stay hidden.  At times, she had to hide out behind some bushes or in an alley way so as not to be seen.  She couldn’t blow her cover or her parents would find her.  She was mad that she had to run away.  She was mad at the way she was treated.  She was mad at the Angel Guild.  But mostly, she was mad at her parents.  It was their fault she was in this mess to begin with.  She was so angry she threw caution to the wind and jumped on a free train that wove its way through the city so she could get away faster.  This one went right to the city edge and a little beyond.  Rachel sat with her hoddie covering her face the whole ride.  Most of the people on the train were too preoccupied with their own thoughts to notice her, anyway.  When the train got to the last station, just outside Arabelle, Rachel quickly exited, and started walking away as fast as her legs would permit without running.

As she walked farther from the city she realized the houses were getting smaller.  Between some of them were little homemade box shelters used by desperate people. She covered her mouth as she watched little children with caved in bellies play ball out in the rocky street. She ducked behind a bush so she wouldn’t be seen. The children might as well have been wearing rags. Their clothes looked as if they’d been handed down from seventeen different people who’d died in those clothes.  But the children all looked happy enough, just playing ball with their friends; happier than anyone Rachel had ever seen.  She blinked and even rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing right.  The children were still wearing the rags, still had those caved in bellies, and they were still beaming and laughing at the game they’d made up.  Rachel shook her head.  If she were in that situation, she’d be scrounging for food, not playing happily.

Suddenly, a door of a small house swung open and a dirty, skinny woman stepped out.  She wore a scowl that looked like it was permanent.  Rachel heard the muffled shouts of the mother calling her children in as she ducked underneath the bush.  She’d seen enough.  She looked at her ball, and felt sadness and pity.  She knew it was coming from Stripes.  

“Oh Stripes.” She whispered, “I didn’t know there were people who lived like this.”

Stripes’ pity and sadness got even worse.  It made Rachel want to curl up and cry. She wanted to tell him to stop, but she too, felt pity for the little children.  She had been living a much better life, and she had ran away from it.  She snorted and balled up her fists, remembering the reason she’d run away.  It was because of Mother and Father.  It was all their fault.  They were the reason she was here.  She felt her own anger and determination wash away the feelings she was getting from stripes.  Stripes squirmed in discomfort.  He obviously didn’t like the feeling of anger, but Rachel couldn’t help it.  It was Mother and Father’s fault.  For the first time, Rachel was glad she didn’t have to repent for her feelings. She felt freer to do whatever she wanted, and the chains of the Angel Guild’s dictates weren’t holding her back anymore.

She smiled and checked to see if the streets were empty once again.  They were.  Rachel knew she couldn’t walk along the streets or sidewalks anymore, she’d have to hide.  She wasn’t fat, but she wasn’t as skinny as anyone here, either.  And she wore nicer clothes.  Rachel felt so out of place.  She felt so superior to these people, and back at home, her appearance was normal.  Rachel didn’t know whether she should feel sorrow for these people or pride that she was better than them.  She stood up and was careful to walk behind houses, instead of in front of them.  Stripes seemed sad.  

Rachel looked down at him.  “I’m sorry, Stripes, that you had to be my spirit beast.” She looked up and tried to muffle the crunching of her sneakers against the rocks by shuffling.  “I’m sorry that I ignored you.  I was just so... scared.”  She felt tears spring to her eyes.  “I was scared of what you’d become.”  She sniffed back the tears and wiped her eyes.  “Now all I have to worry about is you becoming some angel.  I can’t go back, not ever. You know that too, right?”  The ball seemed to understand her completely.  She felt almost as if he promised not to become an Angel Beast.

Rachel looked at the sky. It was beginning to get dark.  She sighed and found a house with a roof that stuck out in the back, so she curled up against it.  She felt Stripes begin to shiver.  She looked for a warm shelter for him, and finally decided to just hold him.  They could keep each other warm.  She put Stripes at the entrance of her hoodie pocket, and waited for him to approve.  He rolled inside, and she nearly giggled at the strange feeling of him cuddling against her stomach, but not touching her skin.  She rubbed her arms as a frosty breeze bit at her nose.  She was freezing.  She felt worry creep into her and began caressing Stripes’ fur.  “I won’t die. I promise.”  She blew into her hands, and sighed at the warmth.  She rubbed her hands together and leaned her head gently against the wall. Slowly, and with a lot of effort, she drifted to sleep.  She woke up every fifteen or twenty minutes because of a cramp, or the cold, or just because she’d become uncomfortable and had to readjust herself.  Just before it became light, she nodded off for good.

Rachel woke suddenly to a bright sky and loud voices. She pulled her legs to her chest and looked around the side of the wall.  David was there!  He was talking to some police officers. “She wasn’t at school, and her parents didn’t know where she was, either,” he told them, as he showed them a picture of Rachel.

Rachel realized she’d finally gone to sleep when the sun came up and warmed the cool spring air.  She was so exhausted she must have slept through most of the day.   David must have started some sort of search party.  She wanted to scream in frustration.  “David, you idiot. Stop,” she thought.  She couldn’t be found yet.  She needed to get away from the Angel Guild’s territory. 

She looked around the wall again and continued listening to David and the police’s conversation. “Please, we’re really good friends,” David pleaded.  The police said something about it being against policy to look for runaways. 

Rachel felt a pain of guilt when she saw the sad look on David’s face.  She wasn’t thinking of all of the friends when she was leaving.  Maddie, David, and the others would miss her.  It was too late to turn back now, though.

When she heard David’s voice fade away, she looked out to check if the coast was clear.  She stood up and brushed herself off.  She put Stripes in her pocket, making it bulge like she was pregnant.  She had a little laugh at that, but stripes didn’t seem to like the idea of being stuffed in the front pouch pocket.  He barely fit in it to begin with.  She began to walk behind the houses and hoped that no one would catch her.  The houses thinned and became sparse as she walked further.  The sun grew hotter, and beat down on Rachel, making her take off her hoodie and stuff it in her backpack.  She took Stripes out and held him close to her.  She saw a few cacti and even touched one, immediately regretted it afterward.  Blood streamed from her finger and she wiped it on her leggings.  She shook her hand and blood spattered the dry dirt underneath her.  “I hate this”, she thought.  “I never knew running away could be so hard.”  She shook it off and sighed.  Her backpack seemed to get heavier.  She had to lean forward against the weight.  She’d only packed clothes and things for peanut butter and jam, but it felt like she was carrying her whole room in there.  She was hungry.  Ravished, in fact, since she’d missed dinner and breakfast, and it felt like lunchtime.  Finally, the hunger overcame her will to push forward, and she fell to the ground. She quickly unzipped her backpack and pulled out the three items of food. She took out two pieces of bread and spread out the bread on the dirt. It was too hot for bugs, and the dirt was dry and cracked, so it wouldn’t get into her food.  She used her finger to spread the peanut butter and jam on the bread and put the things back, and then dug in. Her teeth ripped the soft bread, and the sweet taste filled her mouth.

She chewed rapidly and took another hungry bite.  When she finished the sandwich, she wasn’t anywhere near satisfied, but she decided she’d better save some for later so she slung her backpack back over her shoulder.  As she secured the other strap she realized the peanut butter and bread had completely dried out her already parched tongue.  She began to cry.  What was she doing?