Lucca's Story Part 1
By jenyf86
"Lucca," I said as the teacher pointed to me. I was in class, in the first day of school. I was six years old and my purple brown hair was hanging down to my shoulders. I had on my new pair of glasses.
As the teacher pointed at everyone around the circle, I noticed a boy whom I had never seen before. He had spiky red hair and green eyes; I learned his name was Crono.
That first day we didn’t do much; the teacher just handed us our books. After school I talked to Crono; he was new here, he’d just arrived this summer. He didn’t know anyone around, so I decided to give him a walk around town, showing him my friends’ houses.
I hung out with him the next few days at school and asked him if he wanted to go on a walk in the forest with me. I could show him King Guardia’s castle. He accepted.
That weekend, I prepared a picnic and put it in a basket. I walked to Crono’s house humming a happy tune. He answered the door and told his mother goodbye, then we walked to the forest, passing through town. We walked through the forest until we were hungry. I set down a blanket and took out some sandwiches from the basket. We ate quietly for awhile, listening to the sounds of the forest. When we were finished, we started walking towards Guardia castle.
"Hey, did you hear that?" I asked after a few minutes as I heard a sound behind us.
"No," Crono replied. "What did you hear?"
"I don’t know, it was like a stick cracking."
"Doesn’t that happen all the time? Maybe it was just your imagination."
I didn’t answer; I was staring at something at my feet. Tears came to my eyes; a dead mouse lay there, it’s tiny chest opened up. "Poor thing," I whispered to myself. I stayed there a few moments, Crono waiting besides me.
I was lost in my thoughts when I heard another twig snap. I looked at Crono; he looked a little scared. I scanned the forest but saw nothing; it made me shiver. I remembered my parents had told me to be very careful, and that I should come back home if anything scared me.
"Should we leave?" Crono asked.
"Um… I think it would be best."
We started walking back towards town when I saw a shadow pass behind some trees.
"Let’s hurry!" I whispered to Crono. We started running. I saw the shadow again and got really scared this time. "I saw a shadow! It’s following us!" I tried keeping my voice down, but it was hard.
I tripped, my foot caught in a root sticking out of the ground. Crono stopped and helped me up, but I couldn’t run anymore; my ankle was twisted! It hurt so badly I could barely put my foot down on the floor.
I panicked; I saw the shadow again, this time moving to block our path. It wasn’t going to let us get back to the village. I was sure of it. The shadowy figure was going to capture us!
Crono helped me to run in the other direction, back towards the castle and the denser forest, leaving the basket with the rest of our food. But at least we’d get away safely. I hoped.
We half ran half-limped back to the castle. We were almost there when I noticed the person—or whatever it was—was gone. It hadn’t followed us. Maybe all it wanted was some food.
We decided going in the castle wasn’t necessary since the thing was gone. We headed back towards home; I was still limping. My ankle hurt so badly.
We neared the forest exit and noticed a note on the floor. The handwriting was pretty bad, but I made out the message: "Thank you for the food, but that wasn’t what I wanted."
I gave Crono the note. "Read it!" I said. I was trembling as he looked at me with scared eyes.
"You mean, it’s us he wants?"
"Probably…" I said. My eyes stung. We were next to a flower covered plain, and my allergies started. "Oh, I left my medicine in the basket." I paused. "Guess my eyes will sting for awhile. Oh, well."
I stopped talking as I saw something move in the shadows. I took Crono by the arm and started to run, but I fell to the ground because of my bad ankle. I started crying.
"Whoever you are," Crono shouted, "leave us alone! Look at what you’ve done to my friend!"
"Crono," I managed to say. "Save yourself. Get back to the village and get help."
"No! I won’t leave you."
"But you have to."
"No." Crono crouched down next to me. "You won’t win without a battle!" he shouted to the shadows. He waited for an answer and having none, he continued. "You’re a coward! Get out and fight like a man."
"I am not a coward!" said a voice from the trees. A man stepped out of some bushes. He was almost seven feet tall, with muscular arms and legs. The man advanced, holding a dagger. "I will have no mercy even for children. I am a legend. Don’t you two kids know about me? I escaped from prison after committing a series of crimes. Heh. Since then, I have never been found. But now you saw me, so you mustn’t tell anyone."
"We won’t, we promise!" I cried. "But let us go."
"I can’t trust some silly children, sorry. I have to get you to shut your mouths forever." He started laughing but stopped suddenly as a knight slammed a hammer on the man’s head.
Crono and I were both crying, afraid the knight might want to kill us too. But instead, the night crouched down next to us and held out his hand. "Come with me young people," the knight said nicely. "I’ll lead you back home."
I didn’t know what to do; so I followed the knight, limping. He saw my injured ankle and picked me up. "You shouldn’t walk in this condition," he said. He carried me back home and then I guess he went along with Crono.
When I opened the door of my house, my parents immediately came running to me. They asked me what happened, so I told them the whole story. They took me to a hospital to put a cast on my ankle.
I stayed home the next couple of days. Crono came to visit me and he told me the knight got the bad man back in prison.
We always went to school together after that, and I guess we sort of became best friends.
.