Mysty woke to the warm sunshine from her window falling across her pillow. She had left the curtains open last night. Smiling, she turned and saw her clock left her twenty more minutes before she had to get up for school. She rolled back on her pillow and let the warm sunlight fall on her cheek. Her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep again.
Hey, sleepy, you going to school today?” her dad chippered through the closed door.
“I’m up!” Mysty ran to her closet, tripping on the clothes she had left on the floor . No time to pick out something special. Throwing on a sweatshirt and jeans she rushed to the kitchen, pulling her hair into a ponytail.
“You know, your hair would look better if you brushed it before you wadded it into that band.” Mysty’s mom always had a word to the wise. Her smile didn’t hide the crook above her eye.
Mysty ran her fingers along the edge of the heavy oak table. She wondered if it was made from a tree like her favorite tree.
“Hello Mysty, are you with us this morning?”
She hadn’t realised she had sat at the only place at the table that wasn’t set.
“I’m surprised she’s up at all, you know where she was yesterday after school?” Mysty’s brother Randy bounded into the room, grabbed a piece of bacon and a half slice of toast and as he opened the door to leave, he turned his head to add: “Me either!” Mysty just caught a glimpse of his smirk as off he went.
Mysty held her breath, waiting for all whatever to break loose. But, nothing happened. Her dad was scowling at the cuff of his pants where evidently the thread he had pulled released the hem. Her mom was humming to herself over the sink, seeming to be lost in thought somewhere.
Mysty let out her breath. This might be an ok day, she thought. She was again immersed in wonder about the activities of the boys the day before. The look on her face matched that of her mom’s.
When Mysty got to school, she looked for Mariam first thing, but she wasn’t at her usual spot by the front porch of the school. Well, she’d catch her later. Mysty spent the day looking at all the boys seeing if she could recognise any of them. She followed several groups of them close enough to hear what they said, until glancing around they spotted her. She felt foolish and her face felt hot, but it might be worth it to know who the boys were. She didn’t see Mariam all day.
Mysty thought it might be better if she didn’t go back to her spot by the tree. Besides, she had forgotten to get a new pencil, and she couldn’t take the ones from school home. She went instead down to the beach and thought perhaps she could sneak around the side of the island and catch sight of the cliff with the rope. The beach that direction gave way to heavy underbrush. Mysty scraped her arm on a sharp branch, but kept pushing through. The ground began to climb and Mysty hoped it meant she was getting close to the cliff.
She heard a snapping sound behind her and turning abrubtly, crouched low and crept backwards through the bushes. Suddenly she lost her balance and saw sky and sand, falling backward she grabbed at anything she could, but couldn’t find anything to hang onto. Down and down she fell, only seeing the sky and the opening in the bushes where she backed through. Bam, she hit the bottom, landing on her arm and white pain shot through her as she groaned in agony.
“What do you think you are doing?” Not something she wanted to hear. Turning her head she saw one of the boys standing over her.
“I think I broke my arm.” her voice tremulous more from fear than pain.
“Well, no one’s gonna come to your rescue here. The Protectors never come here. I hurt myself before, and they never came.
What he was saying made no sense to Mysty. The Protectors always came when someone was hurt. The boy began laughing and yelled out: “Hey, Jimmy, looky what we got here. Another one!” Off he darted around a large rock which had hidden the other boy from view.
Mysty felt woozy, then everything went dark.