บท 5: CHAPTER 5 - The Woods
"You don't have to address me with such formalities Carla"
The young girl known as 'lady M' spoke with a sigh as she saw the reaction of the middle aged woman, whom was called 'Carla'.
Placing her hands on Carla's shoulders, she also spoke while her eerie eyes reverted back to normal.
"And you have no reason to be scared of me"
Carla slowly took up her head as her stiff posture seemed to relax and her unnerved expression became warm.
"It's not that I am scared of you Lady M, it's just that..."
Carla's voice trailed off when she saw the scolding look in lady M's eyes.
"Oh sorry" she quickly said with smile.
"Lady Mocheda"
"It's not fear that I feel towards you, but love and respect" Carla said as she was now able to stare into Mocheda's normal eyes, which were very beautiful.
"For you are and will always be my lady"
Mocheda's eyes glowed with warmth at those words as she proceeded to give Carla a warm hug.
Disengaging from their embrace a few seconds later, Mocheda's smiling face turned serious as she stared straight into Carla's eyes;
"Okay what was it that you came to tell me?"
"The golden staff" Carla paused in-between.
"It's gone missing"
"What do you mean?" Mocheda asked with a slight frown.
"The DSS agents that we sent to retrieve the staff reported it missing on their arrival at the police station"
"Investigations were made" Carla continued;
"But there was no sign or clue of any break in or intentional theft at the station"
"That's because there wasn't" Mocheda replied after being silent for sometime.
"What do you mean?" Carla asked as she followed Mocheda's gaze which moved to the painting that she was working on earlier.
"The staff wasn't stolen" Mocheda said as she stared at the painting with a complicated expression.
"It only returned back to it's master"
"You mean....." Carla began to speak, but ended up uttering a shocked gasp as she seemed to come to an understanding.
"Yes" Mocheda nodded as she shifted her gaze from the painting and back to Carla.
"The staff has chosen a master—and if we want to find the staff—we have to find it's master first"
*******************
"Peter I want you to have this"
His mother quickly put a small cylindrical object in his hands.
"Huh.... what's this mom?"
"It's pepper spray"
As Peter was getting confused as to why he would need pepper spray, his mother made a spraying gesture with her hands as she said;
"If those godforsaken kids try to bully you again, you'll use this as self-defense"
"Mom I don't th----"
As Peter began to protest, his mother grabbed his hands with a pleading expression on her face.
"Please son take it with you, I won't be at rest if you don't"
Seeing the pleading look on her face, Peter knew there was no point in arguing as he sighed and nodded his head in acquiescence.
"Okay mom"
"That's my boy" his mother smiled as she kissed his forehead and followed him to the door.
"Okay son be careful at school and have fun!"
His mother called out to him as he walked to the bus stop.
"Okay mom" Peter replied.
"And be careful of bullies!!"
"Yes ma!"
"And don't talk to strangers!!!"
"Mom!!" Peter subconsciously rolled his eyes in exasperation as he quickened his pace.
He kept looking back secretly as he prayed and hoped for his mother to go back inside the house.
As soon as his prayer was answered, he turned back immediately and ran straight to the garage where his bicycle was kept.
Taking out his bicycle, he drove it into the street and towards his destination;
South Park.
He felt his body tremble with enthusiasm as he kept riding.
But meanwhile, a thought suddenly came to his mind—concerning what his mother said this morning.
"She said she didn't see anything in my hand"
Peter recalled as he glanced at the staff which he tied to the bicycle.
"How is that possible?—I was clearly holding the staff in my hand"
Peter couldn't make sense out of it, until....
His eyes widened when a whole new assumption came to his mind;
_"Is the staff invisible?!"_
Of course—not to him because he can see the staff clearly—but what if others can't?
An idea came for him to put this theory to the test.
But what if he was wrong?
What if the incident with his mother this morning was just a magical fluke?
He was afraid of drawing both unwanted and negative attention—but the thought refused to leave his mind as he struggled with it on the way to the park.
"Fine then" he came to a conclusion.
"I'll test it out at the park—and if I draw any unwanted attention, I'll run and hide in the woods"
Satisfied with his plan, he rode faster—until a few minutes later, he arrived at the park.
Taking his seat on a bench, he glanced around the park and noticed that apart from a few young ladies and men, the park was mostly populated by old or aged men and women.
Well after all it was the morning hours of the day—the children were at school and the young adults were at work.
He took in a deep breath as he slowly unwrapped the staff.
While he unwrapped it, he secretly glanced around the park—ready to stop what he was doing and dash for the woods if he noticed any strange gazes.
After unwrapping the staff, he noticed that no one paid any attention to him.
"Well then, I guess I should be absolutely sure"
He proceeded to raise the staff up above his head.
After sometime, he heaved a sigh of relief and satisfaction.
"Well it seems that my theory was cor---huh??"
He noticed a strange glow above his head which made him to lift up his head, only to see the staff glowing in it's golden light brightly.
What the f**k?!!
Peter felt like he would have a heart attack as he glanced around in alarm, ready to see and hear screams and expressions of surprise and shock.
But ironically, he was actually the one that was surprised and shocked, because no one still paid any attention to him!
_"Can't they see a glowing staff in my hand?!"_
After a few seconds, the staff stopped glowing as Peter brought it down and stared at it in astonishment.
"It's like no one except me can truly see you"
Peter said to the staff as his surprised face morphed into one of mystical delight.
"Well I guess I have nothing to worry about then" Peter said grinning from ear to ear.
After chaining his bicycle to the bench, he started walking towards the woods.
It was the season of spring as the lustrous bodies of budding leaves filled the trees and reflected the morning rays of the sun, giving the forest a magical atmosphere.
As Peter walked a bit into the woods, he stopped and breathed in the nice atmosphere.
"Ah a beautiful morning"
He stared at the staff in his hands as he felt a thump of excitement in his heart.
Peter couldn't really explain it, but ever since he spent a whole night with the staff, he felt like he had found a long lost friend.
Yeah it felt weird saying that about an inanimate object, but he just couldn't help it, that's how he felt.
"Well let's begin our practice shall we?"
He raised up the staff and let go of it as it began to vertically float in the air.
Well he expected that, but what he didn't expect was a snake which crept out from the thicket close to him.
"Oh my God!!"
He took to his heels as soon as his eyes rested on the reptile.
Another thing that Peter feared more than needles, was snakes.
After watching his fair share of the anaconda movie series, Peter began to imagine himself being swallowed up by a snake anytime he saw one.
After running a fair distance away, he stopped to catch his breath.
But unknown to him, he was not actually exhausted for someone who ran such a distance at top speed.
What he actually remembered was the staff which he left behind when he took off in fear.
While he began to contemplate on how to go back for the staff, he noticed a golden object floating beside him.
"What the....?" Peter jumped back in shock.
He clearly remembered that the staff was floating in the air when he subconsciously ran from the snake.
How come now the staff was floating beside him?
Then a thought came to him;
Did the staff actually follow him?
Well that wouldn't be far fetched due to the fact it was a magical object that could float in the air and glow like a night light.
"Well why didn't I think of that?"
Peter intentionally moved few meters away from the staff as he watched the staff move along with him, as if being pulled by a magnetic force.
"In that case, I don't have to worry about carrying you along now right?"
Peter seemed to have forgotten his ordeal with the snake as he began running around in boyish excitement while he watched the staff flying towards him.
He seemed to have been carried away in his fun practice as his leg caught a tree branch and he tripped and fell.
~Bam!~
While he struggled to get back up, he heard a gunshot not too far away.
Freezing in shock, he heard male voices with the inclusion of a female's.
The female sounded as if crying loudly.
Peter, out of curiosity crawled towards the sound of the voices, only for him to see three men and a woman.
The woman was in a kneeling position, while beside her was the motionless body of a fourth man.
Peter was not sure if the man on the ground was sleeping or....
His eyes widened when he remembered the gunshot from earlier.
The man that was lying motionless...was dead.
He saw three other men whom seemed to be talking to the woman whom was on her knees crying.
It wasn't long before one of the three men went behind the woman and grabbed her suddenly, while another rushed and held her two legs.
The woman tried to scream but was unable due to her mouth being blocked by the man whom grabbed her from behind.
Peter's eyes widened as he soon understood what they were about to do.
As two men held the struggling woman down, the third man began to unbuckle his belt and pull his trousers down with a grin on his face.
As the sexual assault was about to commence, Peter felt very uncomfortable in watching such an act, as he tried to scurry away in fear.
"Don't you dare move kid"
A gruff voice spoke behind him as the click of a gun was heard.
Peter felt his entire body shiver in terror as he froze again.
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