Chapter Text
Rain
Rain’s bike skittered down the dirt path, headlights glowing faintly in the dying afternoon light. The road was long and dirt kicked up around her leather boots, biting at her ankles. She turned, going on to a side road leading up a small hill. The trees thickened around either side of her, blocking out more light. The afternoon sky was a mix of orange and purple hues, spots of white clouds warned of a storm in the coming days. For the fourth time since heading out, she wiped her dirty brown hair out of her face. Her hand was bandaged from an encounter with a fox a couple of days prior, but it didn’t hurt too much anymore.
When she came to the rusted gate, she swung off her bike silently and broke the rusty lock with the back of her karambit before putting it back into the specialized pocket on her jeans. Speaking of her jeans, she had a new hole to patch when she got home. Like she didn’t already have enough problems. She squeaked open the gate before getting on bike and driving through, shutting the gate behind her. Her bike tires squealed in the mud and Rain cursed under her breath. She couldn’t get caught, she thought as she sped past Orange’s base, which was just an old house half-hidden by some trees and bushes. Once she got past, she breathed a sigh of relief.
My bike came to a stop at the creekbed of Athena Creek. I parked it conveniently behind some scrub and trees so as to hide that I was ever here. I walked across the log that conveniently fell over the creek a few years ago so I could easily traverse it without getting wet. Unless I fell in, which was quite often. Once I got to the other side, I pushed myself through the bush until I came to a small clearing. In the middle glinted my treehouse. Its wooden boards groaned in the wind as I began climbing. My hands found the grips on the tree that I had so tirelessly carved by hand. Once I reached the last handgrip, my hand grabbed the frayed rope dangling from the high branch above me. I flinched at the memory of the time at 13 it broke and I fell the whole way down. The whole 4 metres. Which might not feel like much until you realize it’s over 13 feet. Once I grabbed the rope, I used it to pull myself up and I locked my book onto the top handgrip and kicked up until I was sitting on the wooden floor panels. Nobody else knew about this place but me, which made it feel special. I flicked on my lighter, illuminating the treehouse better. The sky was now a dark scarlet purple - red that looked like something had just been brutally murdered and put on a screen in the sky, like in The Hunger Games.
I sat there for a while, watching the world go by and time slip through my fingers. I thought about my mission. I thought about why I was here. I was here to bring the Rouges to Cooki, my clan leader. There is a threat, so Cooki has told me, but has refused to provide further details. As the sun set over the horizon it turned the sky a dark blue. I stood up. This was my cue to head home.