I felt a huge shaking over my body.

“BIG BRO WAKE UP!”

I opened my eyes to someone shaking me.

“Angel?”
“Yes,Big Bro it’s me,Angel.”

I remembered what happened, some man had put a needle in my neck and injected something into me.
After that, I must have passed out. It feels like I slept for a long time.

“Angel... how did you end up here with me?”
“We got locked up together.”

She points to a barrel and continues,

“I was hiding behind that barrel, I wanted to surprise you, but-”
“But some guy came in and attacked me from behind,” I said, cutting her off.
“Yes.”
“He locked both of us here.”
“Yes.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“No, I fell asleep before the night and slept till morning.”
“How were you even able to sleep with this smell? There’s Cellurk turd everywhere.”
“I was very tired, and Grandpa smells like this as well.”
“Are you sugesting that this is Elder’s turd?”
“No! EW!”
“Then maybe he sleeps here?”
“He doesn’t.”
“Wait a second, where is he anyway?”
“Pickle didn’t return yestarday so he went to search for him.”
“He is been gone since yesterday?”

What if that aliens did something to him?!
No, no, no! Let’s think positively.
It’s not the first time Pickle has been lost.
I remember Elder going to search for him before and the next day I found them both sleeping under a tree by the lake.

“Hey Angel, do you know what an alien is?”
“No, what are they? Animals? Can I pet them?”
“No, they are not animals. They are humans. We call people we don’t know where they are from ‘Aliens’.”
“Are they lost?”
“I don’t know, they might be.”
“That’s sad.”
“Don’t be sad, you are an alien too!”
“But I am not lost.”
“Not yet.”

Angel shrinks in fear.

“I am just kiddi-”

*Ssssss* *Ssssss*

Before I could finish my sentence, a sharp hissing sound cut through the air, interrupting me.
The sound was coming from behind of Angel,so I went to check it out. We found a box emitting the noise.

“What is this thing? A box?” I asked Angel.

She seemed surprised and hesitated before answering,
“I don’t know.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was lying to me.

“Why is it hissing? Does it want to be a snake when it grows up?”
“Maybe there is a snake in it?”
“Oh, perfect. Would you like to pet that too?”
“NO!”

*Bla* *Bla* *Bla* *Bla*

The weird box started making more noise,it almost like a person talking.

“This is strange.” I said
“Yes,people are talking inside this box.”
“You can tell what they’re saying?”
“Can’t you, big bro?” Angel looked at me incredulously.
“No, what are they saying?”

Angel lowered her voice to sound like a man:
“We got bitten by a strange creature, not sure if it’s poisonous, the creature has been neutralized.”

Then she raised her voice to sound like an adult woman:
“Understood. Come back to the medical tent to get it looked at.”

Angel lowered her voice to sound like a man:
“Shit! here comes another.”

*Rat-tat-tat!*

We heard a series of loud noises.

Angel lowered her voice to sound like a man:
“Neutralized.”

Then she raised her voice to sound like an adult woman again:
“Copy, can you bring both of the creatures here for further inspection?”

Angel lowered her voice to sound like a man:
“Roger.”

*Ssssss*

The conversation cuts.
Angel turns to me. I wonder if she made up that whole conversation or if she was genuinely translating what the box was saying.
I have so many questions. But more importantly,

‘I’m telling Miss Pearl that you cursed.’”
“I was just repeating what they were saying,” she responds, sounding worried.
“Okay, I won’t tell her, but you have to pet that snake!”
“What snake?”
“The one right beside your feet,” I say with a smirk.
“!?” Angel jumps in fear.

I burst out laughing.
“Relax, I’m just joking. There’s no snake.”

She looks at me with an angry expression.
Now that the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed,
we should ignore the box for now and prioritize finding a way out of here.

“Have you tried calling for help?”
“No, I was scared that the man who attacked you might still be close.”
“He should be gone by now, so we should be able to call out safely.”

I got close to the cellar door and was about to shout, but then I heard footsteps approaching.
I looked outside through the open cracks in the door and saw Miss Pearl walking towards us.
She is probably here to take Angel back home

“MISS PEARL, WE ARE HERE!” I shouted with all my might.

Angel noticed her mother’s arrival and came over to shout as well,
“MOM, WE ARE INSIDE THE CELLAR!”

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING THERE?” Miss Pearl replied and walked closer to the door.
“We got locked inside,” I said.
“HOW?!”
“Can we talk about the solution rather than the problem first?”
“Fine, where are the keys?”

“Grandpa had them, but he is gone,” Angel interjected.
“Never mind the keys, there is an axe in front of the house. Take that and break the lock,” I said, taking charge of the situation.
“I’ll be back,” Miss Pearl said.

We waited for a while and heard a series of clangs.

*Clang*

And another.

*Clang*

Another.

*Clang*

Angel was scared of the sound, so she covered her ears with her hands.

*Clang*

This is taking some time.

*Clang*

“Take your time, Miss Pearl,” I said out loud.

*Clang*

I’ll just eat Angel if I am ever hungry.

*CLANG!*

“Finally!” I exclaimed.

The door creaked open and Miss Pearl walked inside. Angel ran to hug her mother.

“What happened here?” Miss Pearl asked.

We told her everything that had happened.

“I see. You saw two suspicious men, and when you came to report it to Elder, he was gone. So, you checked the cellar to see if he was there but someone incapacitated you with something,” she summarized.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“And Angel was here because she wanted to surprise you for your birthday, but she saw you being incapacitated,” Miss Pearl added.
Angel nodded in agreement.

She sighned.

“Anyway, I’m glad that you two are okay,” she said as she tightly hugged Angel.

Now that I think about it, I was only so calm because of Angel. If I was alone there...

“Thank you, Angel,” I whispered.

After a while, Miss Pearl stood up and said,
“Now that the Elder is gone, I am taking charge temporarily.”

We are doomed.

“That’s great.” I said.
“Let’s go to the village center and gather a search party for father.”

She is surprisingly logical. Maybe we are not doomed

“Let’s take my horse. We should be there in no time.” I suggested.
“Where is your horse?”
“She was tied in front of the house. Didn’t you see her?”
“No, there was no horse there.”
“Huh?”

I quickly runned towards corner of the house and checked my horse.

“She is not here?”

We are doomed.
I fell to my knees.

“The man that fainted you must have stolen her.” Miss Pearl said.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!”

I heard the sound of a loud crowd approaching, growing louder and closer with each passing moment.
People of the village were coming towards us with rage.
I got up and looked at Miss Pearl’s face, which was turned towards the approaching crowd.

She walked towards the crowd and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Let us see the Elder, we’ve got a problem,” a man shouted.
“All of our horses have been killed,” another shouted.

Their horses had been killed?

Miss Pearl looked at me with concern, and then turned back to the crowd.

“Please, everyone calm down.”

“WHERE IS THE ELDER?!” Someone shouted from behind.

Miss Pearl raised her voice to be heard over the angry murmurs of the crowd.
“I understand your frustration, but we have another problem as well. The Elder is missing.”

The crowd grew silent for a moment, and then murmurs started to spread among them.
Miss Pearl declared, her voice ringing out with authority,
“Henceforth, I shall be assuming the role of the Village Elder. Some of you must return to the village center and spread the word that all are to gather in the south, to Rose’s house.”

Is this really Miss Pearl?
It’s almost like she’s become a completely different person.
Maybe we’re not as doomed as I thought.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!” Miss Pearl shouted with all her might.

After that, some of the crowd had left.
I think a few of them even wet their pants out of fear.
I am never messing with Miss Pearl again.

“Rest of you, gather around. We are creating a search party for the Elder,” Miss Pearl commanded.

Some time passed and we set out to search for the Elder.
I could only hope that he was safe and hugging Pickle somewhere at that moment.
Probably smelling like turd.

Oh,we should take that weird box with us.
I entered the cellar once again.

“It’s gone?!”

Angel must have heard me.

“What is wrong, Big Brother?” she asked.
“The weird box is gone.”
“What? It was here just a few minutes ago.”
“I know. Did someone take it while we were talking outside?”
“I was watching the door from the corner. I didn’t see anybody entering.”
“Maybe that snake ate it?”
“You can’t fool me again!” Angel shouted.

I heard a footstep coming from the entrance.

“What are you two doing there again?” It was Miss Pearl’s voice.
“Nothing. Angel wanted to smell the cellurk turd again.”
“Wha-”

I gestured to Angel to shut her mouth. I didn’t want to be labeled as the crazy box man.
We got outside of the cellar, and Miss Pearl kneeled in front of Angel.

“I want you to go to Rose’s house with those villagers. You should be able to catch up to them if you run,” she said.
“Why? I want to stay and help,” Angel replied.
“No, it’s too dangerous for you.”
“Fineee...”

They spoke for a while, and Angel ran towards the still-walking villagers.
We waited for her to catch up to them, watching her from behind. Afterwards, we decided to start the search.

Some time passes...

I look at the Miss Pearl that is walking next to me and say,

“Miss Pearl, why did you ask for everyone to gather at Rose’s house?” I asked.
“There are a few reasons. For one, it’s the biggest house in the village and there’s enough room for everybody,” she replied.
“Well, it’s a mansion after all,” I remarked.
“It’s also the house that is closest to the sea. Most likely, the people that you saw in the forest and the ones that attacked you are working together,” Miss Pearl explained.
“I see. They are trying to make us unable to run away by killing and stealing our horses. But today is the day that the taxman is visiting,” I said.
“Yes, and in the worst-case scenario, we can ask him to take us to his ship and escape by sea,” Miss Pearl replied.
“That is if he even accepts.”

As we were searching, a sudden cry caught our attention,

“I found something!”
All members of the search team gathered around to see what it was.

“It’s blood,” one of them stated as they pointed towards a blood splatter on the ground.
The thought that it might belong to Elder filled me with dread.
Just then, one of the team members yelled,

“Hey, look! That’s a ribbon.”

I recognized the ribbon immediately and another wave of dread washed over me.

“That’s the ribbon Angel gave to Pickle just two days ago,” I exclaimed.

Could this be Pickle’s blood?

As we followed the trail of blood near the splatter,
it became apparent that someone had dragged Pickle’s body after killing him.

Just a few steps away, we found a shoe and another blood splatter.