Monster's, Trolls, And, Tara

Chapter 1 - The Chase

Somewhere close by a person must have felt suicidal because they keep making that God-awful noise next to her ear. Slowly the fog in her head starts to fade and she realizes that her damn clock is vibrating all over her dresser as it wakes everyone on the block. Opening her eyes she sees it's five in the morning. Another day of playing catch me if you can with the Bullies

at school.

Making fast work of brushing her teeth, combing her hair, and dressing in her normal poor hand-me-down clothes, She is out the door before anybody else at home wakes up. Sure, she was way early, but it's the only time she has to

herself. Walking four miles since she started high school three years earlier her mind went on auto-pilot as she traveled the lonely streets. As she rounds a corner two blocks from Kingston High where she is a student, she hits an object moving at a high rate of speed. She flies backward landing hard. Barely able to breathe, she slowly makes her way to her feet to be knocked back down as Someone else rushes past.

What's going on? She looks in the directions of the runners to see a big monster run-

ning after a small child. Jumping to her feet she follows them. For a child, she is really

fast. The monster was losing steam fast though. The Monster is a girl Carly knows all too

well. She has had the same race with the Monster for years. As she closes in on the Mon-

ster whose real name is Gloria.

She sees the child trip and falls from a crack on the sidewalk that was lifted, and knew

she had to do something. Running full-on into the Monsters side and tackling her to the gro-

und was not the smartest thing to do, but she couldn't let her hurt a child. She sees the kid

jump up onto her feet and run around a corner disappearing without ever looking back. As

she turns to look at the Monster she should have expected the punch that connected with

her jaw. This was not her morning. She made it a habit to leave early for school to avoid stuff

like this, and here she was on the receiving end of one punch after another.

The world around her was starting to fade as she was slipping into unconsciousness, then

she heard a war cry that brought her back, then Gloria's body was lifted off of her. The child

had returned and was pulling Gloria off by pulling her hair. Then the Monster grabbed her by

the throat and slammed her hard onto the ground. The Monster was about to kick the child when

her foot was caught before it could connect with her head by someone with very large hands. The

hand that held the foot lifted it in the air until Gloria lost her balance and fell onto her back.

"Do you wish to continue this Gloria? because I promise it won't end well for you." The large str-

anger asked the fallen Bully.

"**** you trailer trash! This isn't over, you can't protect everyone." Then she jumped to her feet

running away towards school.

The stranger glanced at the hurt girls and saw that she knew one of them. "Carly? What made

you decide to tangle with the Monster? You in that much of a hurry to die?"

"I was trying to save that kid from getting pummeled by her," she said pointing to the ground

where the little child was just getting her senses back from hitting the ground as she did. That's

when she started to notice that the child was not a child, but a girl her age, just short in stature.

The rest of the body was a wonder as Carly looked at her, she noticed things she never noticed

before now. Like her honey-colored hair that went to mid-back. The face that looked so young held

eyes that spoke of secret knowledge yet revealed. Oh my: she thought as she stared at the young

woman.

"What were you thinking? I was almost free from her when I saw you get hit and had to come back."

Carly was stunned, "Excuse me but I was trying to stop her from hurting you. A thank you should be

the first thing out of your mouth!"

"Well, thank you, though it was not necessary. I was perfectly capable of running from her."

"What's your name kid, because I saw you trip and go down. Just a second later and she would have

grounded your bones to dust with her feet. So drop the attitude, kid!"

"My name is Tara" then stepping into Carly's face, "and I'm getting tired of you calling me kid!"

Damn, she is a spitfire. I don't know about the attitude but Carly was surprised by herself when she

apologized to Tara. "I didn't mean anything by it. I thought Gloria was chasing a small kid when you

guys ran past me. Can we start over because I've had enough of getting my butt kicked for one day?"

That's when Tara looked at Carly and knew she was hurt, and it was because of her. She was wob-

bling on her feet, and her left eye had a half-moon under it. But she had a strange smile on her face.

She looked at the Stranger who saved them and asked her as she rushed to Carly to stop her from fal-

ling, "Help me with her, please. Why didn't you say you were hurt this bad. You need to see a doctor or

something."

She grabbed Carly under her arms and help her towards school since it was the nearest place that

they could go. That's when she noticed that Carly was leaning into her more than necessary, and she'd

swear that stupid grin just got bigger. If it was not for the tall strong woman holding onto Carly's left side

they both would have landed in a heap on the ground. "Just a little farther now and you can see the scho-

ol nurse." She didn't know why but it worried her that Carly was hurt. It was like she could feel her pain.

And what she didn't know was that the same silly smile Carly had, she had as well. The tall stranger hold-

ing onto Carly kept looking back and forth between the two and shaking her head. Why were they both smil-

ing like that after the pounding that both of them received? It was kinda scary.

She had her share of beatings throughout the years, so she knows that a head injury can make you act

strange, but both were acting the same; weird. They enter the school doors and slowly traveled the stairs

until they reach the door that says, Nurse on it. Going in the door they find a hospital bed in a corner and

lay Carly onto it. As Tara was placing an ice pack on her eye that she found in a cabinet the Nurse walks

in and screams in surprise as she sees Carly's face,

"What happened to you, dear? Looks like someone hit you with a bat." Carly laughed, You could say that

Mrs. Shelton, the Monster got us. But I don't think it's as bad as last time. That last beating I was messed up."

"I never did like that girl, nothing but pure nastiness in her heart. Don't care who she hurts." The Nurse said.

Tara was steaming mad, "are you telling me this isn't your first time getting hurt? Why don't they put her out

if she is such a menace?" The tall stranger noticed that ever since Tara had put Carly on the bed she had yet to

let go of her hand. When she heard this was not her first beating Tara started to rub Carly's arm in a comforting manner. She had never seen someone be so tender towards Carly, and she was pretty sure the blond didn't

even know she was doing it.

Even though the blond and the patent didn't realize how they were acting the Nurse saw it. " I believe you

two need to head to your classrooms. No need to check back in on her, because I'm going to call her parents to come and get her since she won't be in no condition to attend classes today." She had treated Carly a few times

and always liked the girl but the way both girls were acting towards one another made her feel uneasy. Tara

didn't want to leave Carly's side but knew she needed to head to class. She just started hereafter moving from out

of state, and she didn't want to start on the wrong foot. While still holding Carly's hand she reached out her right hand to move some hair that was hanging close to Carly's eyes. "I hope you feel better soon.

I'll save you a seat in the lunchroom, okay. Bye."

As Carly watched them leave a feeling of deep loneliness crept into her heart. For some reason when Tara held her hand she felt grounded, but now it was like a piece of herself just walked out the door.