Nobody's Boy

The pig was crashing through the undergrowth, leaving a trail of broken branches and twigs for me to follow. I flew at top speed through the upper forest while Jasmine followed below. She was running through everything in her path, and I watched, mesmerized as she disappeared into a large tree and popped right back out on the other side.

“It’s just up ahead.” She called, her voice thick with worry.

`“’Kay.” I dropped onto the top of a large tree. The thinner branches creaked beneath my feet and I wobbled unsteadily.

The warthog was stamping its feet on the grassy patch where the others had been when we left. It snorted angrily and began running in circles. I watched its movements, hoping to see its powers, but it betrayed nothing.

“Hey!” Jasmine’s voice called from below. I floated to the edge and looked down. She stood underneath the tree and was waving at the pig. It looked at her angrily and began to charge. My breath caught in my throat as it came inches away from her, but she took a step back and vanished, her entire body enveloped by the trees trunk.

The warthogs tusk went right into the bark and it got stuck. I screamed at it and fell, catching myself right before I hit the ground. It pulled its tusk free from the wood and chased me. I led it into the woods until we reached the beach.

It stopped chasing me as I flew out over the water, the waves lapping at the soles of my feet. With an angry grunt it turned and ran down the beach, away from the others. I sighed, until I realized that smoke was rising from the trees.

Someone else was there.

I longed to go check it out but then I thought of Jasmine. The tusk had gone into the tree she was hiding in… which meant it might have entered her body. Was she dying?

I flew back to the clearing. Jack was kneeling on the ground over Rikki’s body and Morgan and Felicity stood on the other side of the clearing, talking rapidly.

“Where’s Jasmine?” I asked.

“Uh, she was with you.” Morgan looked at my scratched face. “What happened.”

“Nothing.” I ran to the tree where Jasmine had been, expecting to see her dead on the other side. Or if she died would she be stuck in the tree?

“What’s going on? Where’s all the medicine?” Felicity came up behind me.

“We lost it and now Rikki’s gonna die and Jasmine is missing and-”

“Is it gone?” Jasmine stepped out of the tree.

“What the- Where were you?”

“I can’t hear very well inside there. Not ’til you started arguing right outside the tree.” She looked at felicity. “Now what’s going on?”

“Well, we don’t have the medicine.” I said.

“And the pigs wild.” Morgan added.

“Basically we’re dead?” Felicity looked at us. “Unless someone can save us all.”

“Rikki first.” I headed over to Jack, who looked like he was about to be sick. “Sup?” I dropped beside him.

“He looks terrible.” He showed me the wound. It was purple, green, and all the colors between. Blood was crusted around it and there was pus flowing out. The skin was starting to flake around the large cut.

“Yeouch… We don’t have medicine.”

Jack looked at me before cursing under his breath. “He’s dead.”

“I’ll be back.” I began to float.

“See you later, Pan.”

The sun was slowly sinking beneath the horizon, turning the sky a fiery red. The water was burning with colorful flames. I scanned the waves for any signs of humanity, but it was empty.

I drifted aimlessly until I found myself beside a large palm tree. The leaves were spread out over the top and I gently landed on them, leaving enough levitation in my body to keep the leaves from spilling me onto the ground.

It wasn’t until the sun had disappeared and the sky was black that I returned to the clearing. The others were sitting in a group, talking, but I ignored them and curled up all by myself.

Slowly I fell asleep.