Don’t Go There
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“I don’t want to go there,” I said. “It’s too far.”
My mother looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face, then she turned and walked away without saying anything else. She didn’t say another word until we got home that night after dinner when my father was already asleep in his bed.
My parents were both very strict about the rules of our house—no television before school or homework during weekends unless it had been approved by them first; no friends over except for special occasions like birthdays or holidays (and even those visits could only last up to an hour); and absolutely no going out alone outside of town.
They also made sure that all four of us kids always did chores around the house so they wouldn’t have any problems if one day something happened to either parent while we were still young enough not to be able to take care of ourselves yet. So yeah, basically, their way of parenting is pretty much just as boring as mine.
But despite how dull life can get sometimes living under such restrictions, I’m glad my parents are here because otherwise who knows what would’ve become of me? It might sound cliché but growing up in this kind of environment really does make you appreciate everything more than most people do.
And although I know some may think differently about it, I believe that being raised by two loving parents has helped shape me into the person I am today: someone who doesn’t give up easily and isn’t afraid to stand up against injustice. But anyway… back to the story!
The next morning, I woke up early since I wanted to spend time with Mommy before heading off to school. When I went downstairs, however, I saw Dad sitting on the couch reading a book. He must have gotten up earlier than usual to read the newspaper before work. As soon as he noticed me standing near him, he put down his paper and gave me a big smile.
“Good morning!” he greeted cheerfully. “How’d you sleep?”
“Fine,” I replied. Then I sat beside him and started eating breakfast together. Afterward, I asked Mommy if she wants to come along with me to visit the park nearby. To which she happily agreed. We left right after lunch and arrived at the place shortly afterward.
The moment we stepped inside, I immediately felt happy again seeing all the beautiful flowers blooming everywhere. In fact, I couldn’t help myself from smiling widely whenever I took a look around.
After walking through several paths filled with colorful plants, we finally reached the end where there stood a large pond surrounded by tall trees. A few ducks were swimming lazily across its surface while others were resting on rocks scattered throughout the area. On top of that, there was also a small waterfall flowing gently onto the ground below. This was definitely one of the best places I ever visited so far.
Mommy smiled brightly upon hearing my words. “This looks wonderful, dear,” she remarked.
Then she suddenly stopped moving forward and stared straight ahead. Her eyes widened in shock.
“What’s wrong?!” I exclaimed.
She quickly shook her head. “No, nothing…”
Still looking confused, she continued staring at the water. Eventually, curiosity overcame me and I decided to follow suit. Once I caught up, I realized why she was acting weird. Standing directly beneath the waterfall, there was a boy wearing a black hoodie watching us carefully.
His hair was dark brown, almost matching the color of his clothes. Although I couldn’t see his facial features clearly due to the shadow cast by the hood covering half of his face, I knew exactly who he was. That guy who tried to attack me yesterday…
He slowly lifted his hand towards us. I instantly recognized the glinting silver knife hidden underneath his sleeve. Without thinking twice, I ran toward Mommy and grabbed her arm tightly. Before I could stop myself, I shouted loudly, “Run!”
Before I could finish yelling, the man lunged at us. Instinctively, I threw Mommy behind me and jumped backward. Unfortunately, I tripped over a rock and fell flat on my butt. Fortunately, though, I managed to catch hold of Mommy’s hand before falling completely.
Just as I thought, the fall caused me to lose my grip on the knife. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt badly and I quickly scrambled to my feet.
Just as I expected, the man came charging at me once again. However, this time, I held out my hands defensively in front of me. At the same time, I kicked the stone lying on the ground hard. With a loud thud, it flew high above my head and landed somewhere beyond the pond.
I didn’t wait for him to approach me any further. Instead, I rushed towards him and swung both arms wildly. My aim was true; I hit him square in the chest. The impact sent him flying backward until he crashed into the side of the pond.
As I turned to run away, something unexpected happened. An intense pain shot through my leg causing me to stumble. Looking down, I saw blood dripping from the wound. Cursing quietly, I looked back only to find the man standing right in front of me. He had pulled himself back up using the tree trunk behind him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said coldly.
His voice sounded familiar somehow. Yet when I tried recalling where I heard it before, I couldn’t remember anything. Nevertheless, I still glared at him angrily.
“Get lost already,” I snarled.
Without warning, he charged at me. I instinctively ducked to avoid getting hit. Then I pushed him forcefully back with all my strength. For a split second, our bodies collided violently before he stumbled forward and slammed into the edge of the pond.
“Ow! What did you do that for?! You bastard!” he yelled furiously.
Ignoring his angry shout, I kept running. Thankfully, I made it safely past him without being attacked again. But just like what happened last night, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was following me. So I slowed down and glanced back. Sure enough, the man was chasing after me.
And judging by how fast he was closing the distance between us, I wouldn’t be able to escape unscathed.
“Stop!” I screamed.
But instead of stopping, he sped up even more. I hurriedly increased my pace but soon found myself unable to keep up. Soon, I was forced to slow down or risk losing consciousness. As I struggled to breathe, I noticed another figure approaching from behind. It was the girl whom I met earlier today. She was carrying an empty bucket in her hand.
“Hey! Wait!” I cried desperately.
The girl ignored me and walked closer to the man. When they were about ten meters apart, she raised the bucket up high. In response, the man took out a knife and pointed it at her.
“Don’t come near me,” he warned.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
Instead of answering, he simply laughed menacingly. “Because I’m bored.”
At first, I thought he was talking to the girl. But then I remembered that I hadn’t seen anyone else around here except for them. Suddenly, everything clicked together in my mind. This place is their hideout. They must’ve been waiting for me to show up so they can kill me.
“Wait!” I called out.
This time, the man paused long enough to look back at me. “Go away,” he ordered.
“Please don’t hurt her,” I pleaded.
“Shut up!” he snapped. “We’ll let you go if you promise never to tell anybody about us.”
“Who would believe me anyway? Nobody ever comes here,” I replied.
“That doesn’t matter. All we need to know is whether we’re telling the truth or not. If you lie to us, your life will end tonight,” he threatened.
“What makes you think I’d want to live knowing that I killed innocent people?” I retorted.
For some reason, the man stopped laughing. His face suddenly became serious. After staring at me for several seconds, he finally spoke. “Very well. We won’t harm you unless you try to run away. Do you understand?”
He’s bluffing, I told myself. There’s no way he could catch me now. Besides, I have nothing to lose since I’m already dead. Still, I nodded obediently.
“Good,” he said.
Then he turned his attention back to the girl. “Now get rid of those clothes,” he instructed.
***
After the man left, I slowly stood up. My body felt weak and numb. Fortunately, I managed to stay conscious throughout the entire ordeal. However, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on. I needed help immediately. Unfortunately, there was nobody nearby.
Even though I knew it was dangerous, I decided to take a quick peek inside the house. To my surprise, the door was unlocked. Without hesitation, I opened it and stepped inside.
It appeared as if the family who lived here had abandoned the property. Everything seemed perfectly normal. Although I couldn’t see any signs of struggle, I figured that they might’ve fled because of the attack. The only thing different from usual was the absence of furniture.
Instead, most of the space was occupied by large wooden boxes stacked one above the other. Some of these containers looked brand new while others were old and worn down. Judging by the size of the building, I guessed that each box contained something valuable.
I quickly scanned the area until I spotted a small room located right next to the entrance. Inside, I saw two women sitting side by side. One of them was wearing a white dress while the other wore black pants and a shirt. Both of them were young girls with short hair.
Their faces were covered by cloth masks that hid their identities. At first glance, they didn’t seem very threatening. But appearances can be deceiving.
“Excuse me,” I began.
Both of the women jumped up in alarm. They stared at me suspiciously before turning towards each other. Apparently, they weren’t used to visitors coming here.
“Is this person okay?” the woman in white asked. Her voice sounded familiar somehow.
“Yes,” I answered.
She smiled reassuringly. “You shouldn’t worry. He seems like a nice guy.”
“Thank goodness,” the second girl sighed. “If he wasn’t, we wouldn’t have anything to eat anymore.”
They both started giggling uncontrollably. Then they exchanged glances and continued speaking in unison. “How did you find us?”
“Oh, I just followed him,” I lied.
The women kept smiling. “So you came all the way here to save our lives?”
“Well… sort of…” I mumbled.
“But why?” the younger girl demanded. “Do you really care about us that much?”
“Of course I do,” I replied. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have risked my own life to rescue you.”
“Really?!” the older girl exclaimed. She placed her hands over her mouth and gasped loudly. “Wow! You’re amazing!”
“Yeah!” the other girl agreed. “Thanks for saving us!”
“Don’t mention it,” I responded.
“Are you hungry?” the elder sister inquired.
“Not yet,” I replied.
“Would you like to come inside?” she offered.
“Sure,” I replied.
Once again, I entered the house. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I noticed that the floorboards creaked slightly. It almost sounded like someone walking across them. For a moment, I wondered if the man who attacked me earlier was still lurking somewhere in the shadows.
But then I remembered what the sisters said: They hadn’t seen anyone else around. So maybe he ran off after killing the rest of the family. Either way, I doubted he would return anytime soon.
“This place is creepy,” I muttered.
“No kidding,” the younger girl remarked.
“Why are you so scared?” the elder sister asked.
“Because I heard footsteps outside,” I explained. “And I also thought I saw somebody peeking through the window.”
“Maybe it was an animal,” the younger girl suggested.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I argued. “Animals don’t sneak into houses without making noise.”
“What makes more sense?” the elder sister countered.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts or monsters,” I declared. “At least not where I live.”
“Where do you live?” the younger girl asked curiously.
“In a town called New York City,” I replied.
“New York? That sounds cool!” the elder girl exclaimed excitedly.
“It does?” I questioned.
“Yep,” she nodded. “We should go there someday.”
“Who knows?” I shrugged. “Maybe we will.”
“Let’s hope so,” the younger girl added.
For some reason, I suddenly found myself thinking about my parents. In fact, I even missed them terribly. After everything that happened today, it finally hit home. All of the pain and suffering I went through since childhood was worth it when I got to meet them.
And now that I knew they were alive, I wanted nothing more than to reunite with them. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to get back to Earth. If only I could ask the twins for help, but I didn’t want to reveal too much information about my situation. Besides, I needed to keep up the ruse until I managed to escape. Otherwise, the sisters might realize that I’m not human.
The End