Tiger's Blood

He stares at me intently with his dark brown eyes that shine brighter than his appearance. His smile gives me a warm welcoming. His dark black, messy hair sits atop his scalp. His body is skinnier than a twig, very bony, and frail. This isn’t possible. How the hell is he alive? He never came back for me.

“Kira,” the word slips off this tongue and sharply stings me. He wraps his cold hands around me and holds my body closer to him. I can hear his faint heartbeat through his small chest, growing louder as he holds me tighter. “I thought you were dead…” I croak out tearing up. “I thought the same with you,” he says.

I shake violently in his arms then step away from him and walk out of the cave. I can feel his frown, his eyes glaring at me. “Kira where are you going?” his desperate voice echoes throughout the cave. “I’m leaving,” I say below a whisper. “W-Why? Kira no! Come back to me please, I-I’ve missed you so much. Haven’t you missed me?” he cries out. Yeah of course, I missed the father who treated me like shit and praised my little sister. Yes, I miss the man who didn’t even bother to take me with him to bury Lily then never came back for me. The man who left me a note and I went searching for him and he wasn’t where he said he was.

My thoughts rumble through my head like thunder. I turn to face him, but I can barely look at him. “I…I can’t be hurt again. You, Lily, and mom all got taken away from me. Now another love of mine is getting taken away,” I say angrily. My father’s cold hand touches my shoulder. “All of us are going to Ethan’s hanging in the morning. The King ordered everyone to be there, even us poor Bloods. He says it’s supposed to be a special event,” he says. “How did you know it was Ethan?” I ask. “Rumors get around quickly here. They say Ethan left in a rage and he planned on rebelling against King Andrew, and he is using a Tiger Blood to do so. They also said he fell in love with this Tiger Blood,” he winks at me. I try not to blush. “I hate rumors, especially when they are wrong,” I look down to the ground angrily. Is Ethan really in love with me?

I breathe in deeply and try to calm my rage. “Kira,” he starts. “Don’t give me a bullshit speech,” I blurt out. He holds his tongue for a minute. I look up to his eyes and his lip quivers. “I know I treated you badly when you were little. I’m truly sorry for that. I was attached to Lily all the time,” he pauses. “I said no speeches, I don’t want to hear it. You left me alone when I was twelve!” I shriek.

“I was kidnapped Kira don’t you see that? That night when I went to the hospital with Lily’s body the nurses took her from my arms. I knew it was pointless. I just didn’t want to lose her, to wake up every day remembering that my youngest daughter was gone and my eldest was scared and confused. After the nurse took her away, I noticed people running out of there screaming. I ran back to look for Lily when a guard knocked me on the ground and forced a knife to my throat. They put a dirty old bag over my head and when they took it off I was in this wretched place. Kira, if I had the choice I would have ran back to protect you from these vicious Lions,” he says.

That makes more sense. “Not all of them are as vicious as you think they are,” I say defending Ethan. “Yes I know, Ethan the Lion is a strong-hearted young man. When he was little, about twelve or thirteen, he would come in here and give the poor people his leftovers for lunch and all the rejected food every day,” he chuckles. That sounds like Ethan alright. “I have a question,” I say. “Yes, Kira I’ll answer anything,” he says.

“That note you left. Why did you leave a note for me instead of just coming back for me?” I ask. “When the guards took me hostage, they asked me three questions. What was my name, what Blood am I, and do I have any family back at home, and if so what was their Blood? I told them I had a daughter back home, but she hasn’t discovered her Blood. They said they would take care of you, and by that I thought they meant kill you. They told me when they went back to our house, you weren’t there, so they left you a note. The note was supposed to make you stay there. They assumed you weren’t strong enough to live on your own and they thought you would just die on your own. They didn’t see my little girl as a threat, so they moved on and took me back here to the Kingdom,” he looks at me and sheds a tear. I look back at him, then look to the floor. He trembles as he holds my body in his arms.

“Kira… I want you to know that I love you and I always have since the day you were born. You had little tiny hands and feet and beautiful brown hair on your small head. I was really scared the day you were born. I didn’t know if I was going to be a good father or not. You are my first and only child now, and to see you still here alive and well and…a White Tiger Blood, it warms my heart. I am very proud of you. If your mom was here right now, she would say the same thing. Just look at you, you’ll be how old? You’ll be seventeen soon. You’re a beautiful woman now. If there is anything I can do for you just ask,” he kisses my forehead. I smile brightly. “The only thing I need is Ethan alive,” I whimper lightly. “We all need Ethan alive,” he holds me tightly and kisses my head again. “Go get some rest now,” he says. “I won’t be sleeping tonight,” I chuckle before leaving the cave silently.

I walk back over to Chase’s cave and I watch his sister as she sleeps. She reminds me so much of Lily. It kills me to see a little girl treated like this. I want to just go up and kill Andrew for this. He kidnapped my father and left Lily’s body back at the hospital. I lay down and rest my head on the cold, muddy ground. I gently close my eyes and a shiver runs down my whole body as I start to dream.

The smell of roses and grass wafts into my nose and I open my eyes to a blurry vision of Ethan smiling at me. I stand up and walk over to him. In the distance, I could hear a faint screaming sound. Probably just some friends that are playing, It’s just a dream anyway. I take Ethan’s hand and he grabs it tightly and starts dragging me away. “Ethan?” my voice is soft, but echoes loudly. “What are you doing?” I ask. “I have to protect you,” his voice echoes in a choppy way. I turn around and Noah is trailing quickly behind us as if we are being chased. “Noah hurry!!” Ethan screams while a cloud of darkness follows behind Noah. “Kirrrrraaaaaa Oh Kirrrrrraaa,” the sky echoes at me in a familiar voice. My vision becomes dreary and I feel my body tremble.

“Kira get up, we have to go now,” Chase’s voice catches my attention. I flutter my eyelids and Chase stands above me. “Get up, we have work to do,” Chase says quietly. “Ugh, it’s still dark. The sun isn’t shining through here yet,” I complain. “You want to save Ethan correct?” he gives me a smirk. “Yes I’m sorry for complaining,” I sigh. “Then we start early,” he says and walks out of the muddy cave. I rub my eyes and stand up. I follow Chase and we walk all the way to the Lion’s town. We use a flashlight to guide our way down the twisted hallways. Where are all the guards? Shouldn’t they be looking for me? They are probably sleeping or something. Chase and I walk up to the hanging post. “Kira listen to me carefully ok?” Chase whispers. I sleepily nod.

“I’m going to give you three throwing knives. You are going to stand…” he pauses and looks around. Then he spots a tall building and flickers his flashlight three times. “Up there. I will fly down before everyone gets here and attempt to loosen the rope with my beak and if that doesn’t work, use your knife during Ethan’s hanging. We can’t do it before because they will just replace the rope. After we free him, we will make a quick getaway,” he says. I nod nervously and he gives me a reassuring look. He hands me the three throwing knives and I look down at them and sigh.

“We will save Ethan don’t worry,” he says and hands me the flashlight. “I know I’m just really nervous,” I tell him. “I know. To be honest, I’m nervous too. I don’t want my best friend to die and I’m sure you don’t either. Go up to the building now and sleep. They will bring Ethan here in about seven hours,” he says then he disappears in the darkness. I climb up the side of the building carefully and when I get to the top, I sit down behind a little brick barrier and rest my head against the wall. Not even the Lions who live here notice that Chase and I snuck in here. Are they purposely letting us go?

I sit here knee deep in my thoughts. Seven hours. Noah is probably scared out of his mind right now worrying about me. Ethan probably can’t sleep right now. Seven hours. I should be sleeping, but I’m too scared shitless that Ethan might die soon. Seven hours. I can’t lose another family member. My dad is being treated as nothing more than a rat in the street looking for scraps. Seven hours. I just have to do what’s right, if I mess up even a little something bad will happen. Seven hours. That’s what happened to Lily; I was too selfish and greedy to realize that she was dying in front of me. She was the wakeup call that I needed. Seven hours. Seven hours. Seven long hours I have to wait.