The Hybrid

I walk across the yard, the noise of students laughing and chatting before the final bell rings making me nervous. I gulp when their curious eyes stray towards me, the question in them prominent; who is the new girl? My black locks curve around my neck, like a scarf providing me with some warmth. Alex jogs up beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulders, making me sigh in relief.

Turning to where the office is, I let Alex guide me into the cozy space and up to the desk where an aging lady sits, seemingly in her late forties. Her head snaps up and she greets us with a dazzling smile, easing my tension a little. At least she seems nice, I think whilst peering at her name tag which reads, Helen.

“Hello dearies, is this Aurora Maxwell you told me about Alex?” She asks making me step further once I hear my name.

I nod, managing to greet her and tell her I’m a new student. She hurries to get my timetable and locker combination before instructing Alex to go to class as someone else is already signed up to show me around. I mentally plead him with my eyes not to leave me with a stranger, but he only sighs dejectedly before telling me that he’ll meet me at lunch.

I watch him go before turning back to the lady who has a blue plastic folder in her hands that, I assume, contains all my documents. I take them from her with a smile and open it up, making note of my locker combination and pulling out my timetable.

“Ah, Kaden!” Helen greets making me turn around to see a boy who has entered the office and is now leaning against the wall with a bored look on his face. “This is Aurora Maxwell. You’ll be showing her around.”

He grunts before mumbling for me to follow him. Glancing at the lady with wary eyes, I let out a sigh and walk out the door when she motions me to go with her hands. I leave to find him already walking into the next hallway, making me yelp and run to catch up with him.

He looks down at me with amusement flashing in his icy blue eyes. “Slow much?”

“Eager to finish this tour much?” I mutter, my eyes widening when he chuckles meaning he heard what I said.

“Eh. I’ve been in detention way too much so they decided to make me a tour guide. Hopefully, I’ll learn my lesson.” He mocks, making my laugh at his high-pitched tone.

His jet black hair is exactly like mine but the bright hallway lights lighten the top strands to a dark brown. I can see a white band t-shirt underneath his black leather jacket and a few bracelets on his wrist. He has olive skin and seems very muscled with rugged features, an angular jawline and cheekbones. He seems to be pulling off the bad boy look easily.

“Dude,” I breathe. “If you had grey eyes, we’d be twins!”

Surprisingly, his lips stretch into a crooked smile and the ice in his eyes seems to melt. We walk on with him taking hold of my timetable and telling me which room is where and showing me the cafeteria, the library, my locker, etcetera. Then he guides me through a worn down section of the school and up a flight of stairs.

Apparently, it was once the English department but is now being renovated. We push through a wooden, creaky door out onto a platform where there is nothing in sight except for cracked cement slabs, broken wood planks and windows that are partially shattered. Gesturing me to follow, I sit down on the ledge with him, placing my bag behind me.

“What are we doing here?” I question, smirking when I see Sophia and Alex running laps around the track.

“Would you like to be doing that right now?” He points to the field and when I shake my head, he grins. “Then that’s why we are here because gym is your first class.”

“Thanks. I always skipped gym back in my school too.” I chuckle, whilst admiring the large oak tree off to the side. Feeling eyes on me I look to my right to see him already staring.

“Tell me something about you.” I smile at him, watching his eyes widen slightly.

“Why do you want to know?” His voice is a quiet whisper as he looks back out at the trees before us.

“Because,” I shrug one shoulder, watching as he looks back at me expectantly. “You could become a badass ninja like me and I would want you on my side rather than an enemy.”

His eyebrow raise as he looks at me with a disbelieving look in his eye. “What makes you think I’ll become a ninja?”

“Why wouldn’t you become a ninja?”

“Because I’m the sensei.”

I stare at him in surprise, my mouth slightly agape. He chuckles once he notices my expression and leans over to close my mouth. My lips stretch into a wide smile and before you know it, we are both laughing. This boy gives off a dangerous vibe but never did I think that he would say that. I guess life continues to surprise you every day and I think that is how it should be. If you know everything about a person in one day, then it could get pretty boring. Surprises are way better.

I find myself talking to him until the end of the class. His full name is Kaden Reid and he was born in Chicago, but moved here about a year ago. I chuckle when he strongly expresses that his name is spelled with a ‘K’ and how every teacher manages to “fuck it up and react to the difference as if they’ve never heard of the goddamn alphabet.”

Kaden also tells me a lot about the school, how every teacher is, what to do to avoid getting caught, how he hates history and math with a passion and the list goes on and on. I, of course, tell him about myself and am careful not to touch on the topic of my parents. God knows I’ll burst into tears if I try to talk about them. My throat always closes up at the thought of them. I miss them terribly.

As we walk down the steps and into the cafeteria, the bell rings, signaling that next period is about to start. I don’t know why Kaden sticks with me whilst I take books out from my locker, giving anyone who looks our way heated glares. He is certainly a weird one, I think to myself as I shut my locker’s door. Chuckling, I back away and start walking towards my next class; Chemistry.

I chat with Kaden for a few more minutes before he walks away to a group of boys waiting for him by the lockers. Noticing them staring at me I stare right back until Kaden turns around and smirks. Laughing softly, I head into the classroom, grimacing when the teacher notices me and tells me to stop at his desk. I’m not a fan of introductions.

“Oh bloody hell!” I scream, kicking the tire of the car in anger.

I’m on a road with long, trees on either side of me.

Basically a forest.

Basically, it’s time for me to leave the world.

My parents never favored living in New York city but had many engagements there so, they decided to buy a house an hour away. They preferred the quiet and peace this small town had to offer. But right now, I really wished I lived in the city because at least I wouldn’t be stuck on a seemingly abandoned road. Sighing, I take out my phone and of course the network is gone.

“Fantastic. What is this, a horror movie?” I mutter, slipping the useless device back in my pocket.

My car has decided to break down in the middle of freaking nowhere and refuses to start. I was coming back from school, planning out my evening when this happened.

I groan into my hands, leaning against the hood of the jeep heavily. Sighing, I look around. A long yellow line stretches out for miles ahead of me. I look at the forest uneasily, I can only see a few trees before the others are plunged in complete darkness. Running back to the car I open the door, leaning in halfway and turning the key. The exhaust growls before fading into a dying cough.

“Please, please work! I promise, I’ll never forget to fill you up again!” I plead with the car. Turning the key, I give it one last try but no sound comes out. Gone is the familiar growl of the exhaust, the purr of the engine.

I am so screwed.

I slam the door, frustrated. Walking back to the hood, I push myself on top of it and sit with my legs crossed. I rub my arms to warm me up. It’s chilly tonight and I’m wearing a striped crop top with my ripped boyfriend jeans rolled up above my ankles. I’m so smart at picking my outfits.

I pick at the laces of my navy blue sneakers, my other hand holding my phone up to catch some sort of signal. What I don’t understand is why there are no cars on this road. The GPS I have installed in my car revealed that this is a shortcut to my house and I had taken it, only to notice that no other drivers were on it.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear a twig snap. It’s only when the sound of shuffling reaches my ears did I snap my head up. Looking around wildly, I slowly start to slide my body off the hood, freezing when another twig snaps, the sound echoing in the quiet area.

Two burly men step out of the shadows, the moonlight illuminating half their faces in silver, sporting grim expressions as they stare at me. I back up against the car slightly, cautious because they just walked straight out of the woods. Who knows what they were doing in there so late at night, clad in only denim jeans that are hanging low off their hips.

Suddenly, they tip their noses in the air almost snootily, inhaling deeply before their eyes snap to mine again in a heated glare. I gasp when they stride towards me, their movements quick and graceful, like a creature.

In fear and panic, I run around the vehicle only to be slammed up against the side with immense force, I can feel bruises already forming on my delicate skin. The younger one of the two pushes up in my face, his even breathing mingling with the short pants I let escape. His warm chocolate brown eyes look black in the dark, thin red lips pulled up into a sneer as he gazes at me as if I’m below him.

“What are you doing on our territory, rogue?” He barks, making me jump from the harshness of his voice.

“A what? I didn’t know this was p-private property.” I stutter, wincing at his sharp nails digging into my skin.

Ever heard of a nail file mister? I think to myself as my frightened gaze lands on the machine of muscle behind him. The other man has cropped black hair, his eyes black just like the other man but, he is bulkier than him. Where the other man is slim with slight muscles, this one looks like the freaking Hulk! I have never wanted to pee my pants so badly in my life.

I let out a yelp of pain when I’m pushed harder against the vehicle again. “Don’t play dumb with me. State your reason for being here.”

“I was just going back home. Believe me I didn’t know this road could not be used.”

They look at each other, a skeptical expression on their faces whilst holding a silent conversation in their eyes. When they nod and turn to face me after minutes that feel like hours, I know something bad is going to happen.

And lo and behold...it does.

“Right. Since you are not willing to cooperate, you’re coming back with us.” The Hulk, I think I’ll call him that, states and grabs my arm.

“What? No!” I struggle in his tight grip as he proceeds to drag me further into the unknown depths of the forest. “Let me go! You have no right to just take me with you!”

As I open my mouth to speak again, a cloth is tied around my mouth, knotting at the back with the guards muttering about how I “talk too much.” Hot tears brim my eyes as I try to escape but fail, their insane strength is no match for me and I’m losing this battle quite fast and miserably so.

The Hulk pulls me along through the dark woods and I wonder how he seems to know exactly where to go with the way he is guiding us expertly through the mass of trees. My yell is muffled when I trip on a rock for the third time, making him growl like an animal and throw me over his shoulder. The younger man stalks ahead of us so all I’m left with to look back at is the fading image of my car that stands on the road behind. As we move ahead, or rather they, I cuss the car to the infinite depths of hell. If only it could have died when I was closer to civilization, then I wouldn’t be in this mess!

After what seems like hours of walking with the hooting of the owls and the sounds of nature to keep me company, we finally break out into a vast area of land that looks like a small village in itself. What attracts my attention is the large building we are heading into that screams death. I struggle more, my screams muffled as I hope for someone to help when I notice people walking around in a tall building with countless windows.

But nobody hears my pleas for help and even if they do, they don’t bother to check. Everyone continues with their routine as I’m carried into a dank building that smells of rotten flesh and strong metallic. It makes me want to wretch up my lunch from before but I keep it down, barely. Hulk leads me through a hallway of prison cells, throwing me ungracefully onto the cold, hard ground when he finds an empty one. I groan in pain when my elbow grazes the rough concrete, blood instantly oozing out of the scrape. Sitting up, I see them leaving which makes me run to the silver bars in haste.

“Wait! When will I be let go? You can’t keep me here!” I shout desperately, my hands clutching the bars as I watch their retreating figures.

“That’s for the Alpha to decide. We’ll be back in three days.” They wave me off, not once looking back.

Soon, the metal door creaks shut and is locked, leaving me in the small cell. I bring my knees up to my chest, looking at the stone slab for a bed and a shitty excuse of a toilet.

A hysterical chuckle escapes me at the pun before tears stream down my cheeks in a race to reach the ground. I rest my head on my knees, sobbing quietly of what has just transpired in the matter of a short time. They can’t just treat someone like this for trespassing, hell I didn’t even know I was trespassing until that piece of crap that I call my car decided to break down and let me be captured by these monsters.

It’s sometime later, near midnight I assume, when I stop crying, my eyes surely puffy and red, my hair tousled from pulling at it and my temples throbbing with a pounding headache. Too tired to stand, whatever energy I had drained because of crying and worrying, I lie on my side on the cold ground; a sharp contrast from my comfortable bed.

Three days.

I’m stuck in here for three days until their leader comes back. I only hope he will let me go as soon as he realizes that I’m not in the wrong here. I can do this.

Never have I been more wrong in my life.