A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel Read online

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ she gasped, when she saw his face. She reached up and touched it lightly.

  ‘It’s fine,’ he said, uncomfortably, flinching slightly.

  ‘Did you get this looked at?’ she asked concerned.

  ‘No, I didn’t. It’s fine.’ A moment of silence passed between them as Kai looked down at Sienna, unable to form the words that were melting on his tongue.

  ‘Why ... why did you have to react so fast Kai? It was a dumb thing to do. James is furious, and he could have hurt you so much worse,’ she said, shaking her head sadly.

  ‘Do you really want me to answer that? I cannot even comprehend why you are still hanging around with James. How many times does things have to turn South between you two before you realise that he’s bad news?’ Kai asked crossly.

  Sienna shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the ground. ‘He wasn’t going to hurt me...’ she attempted.

  ‘No, he was hurting you. Why do you let him get away with it?’

  ‘I...’ she stuttered, shaking her head.

  Kai looked at her tenderly, stepping forward, lifting her arm. Softly, he moved his finger across her hand, lifting the carefully placed bracelet that concealed the bruises on her wrist. ‘I wish you would think this through. You deserve better,’ he said, shaking his head in frustration. ‘You do realise that he’s part of a gang, Sienna?’

  He took a deep breath, and softly released her hand, moving backwards to cover up his true emotions. He knew she was looking up at him, but he looked away and closed his eyes, trying to imagine that she wasn’t still there. He moved closer to her, once again, and whispered in her ear, ‘Just leave him Sienna. He’s no good for you.’

  ‘No, I can’t do it right now; I wish you would leave me to deal with my own…’ she started, visibly shaking, but he interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

  ‘What do you mean you can’t do it now? When do you suppose will be a good time? You are putting yourself in unnecessary danger and the next time he does something like this...who knows what he might do,' Kai said angrily, frowning.

  'I just can’t, not now, can’t you understand that?' Sienna said, frustrated, holding onto his arms. 'Please, just let it go, okay?'

  He stared down at her, shocked and turned around slowly, and walked into the classroom. He could hear echoes of her footsteps down the hallway, running away from him.

  CHAPTER 2

  For the duration of the day, he drifted from one classroom to the next, but everywhere he went, his argument with Sienna replayed over and over in his mind. At lunchtime, he sauntered into the parking lot and sat down behind a large statue.

  'What’s up, bro!' called his best friend, Daniel Adams.

  ‘Hey,’ Kai replied.

  'Whoa, what happened to you?’ Daniel asked, concerned.

  ‘Nothing.’ Daniel took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. 'What's going on bro?' he asked cautiously.

  'Nothing. Why would something be going on?' Kai replied, slightly annoyed.

  'Um, I dunno. You just have this huge shiner. Isn’t that something enough? Or should I go on about the fact that you kind of look like crap today?'

  ‘Got in a fight.’ Kai mumbled, omitting the fact that the reason he was feeling ill had nothing to do with the fight or Sienna for that matter. Something else was wrong and he couldn’t place his finger on it.

  ‘I Figured. With who?’

  ‘James Duxbury.’

  Shaking his head, Daniel frowned. ‘Why? You should be careful: that dude’s bad news.’

  ‘I know, but I don’t want to talk about it.’

  ‘Geez buddy, but we’re quite tense, hey?’ Daniel said sarcastically.

  Kai shot Daniel a snub look, hoping he would drop the subject. ‘Okay, okay,’

  Daniel lifted his hands in submission. ‘I certainly hope Duxbury looks worse.’

  Kai smiled, ‘He does.’

  Daniel took a few deep puffs of his cigarette and flicked it across the statue. ‘Lunch?’ he said, running his fingers through his blonde hair.

  ‘Umm, I dunno,’ Kai replied, shaking his head, ‘It might not be such a good idea.’

  ‘Don’t worry bud, I’ve got your back,’ Daniel said rubbing his fist in his hand.

  Kai smiled and followed Daniel into the lunchroom through large wooden doors. They fell in line behind a long row of students waiting for lunch. In the far corner of the room, he could see Sienna sitting quietly next to James and the rest of her friends. Kai could feel his anger rise again at the sight of James with his arm around her.

  He had to force himself to pry his eyes away and not submit to the overwhelming feeling to approach their table and punch him again, but he knew that Sienna had to make up her own mind about her future with him.

  ‘Mash?' Daniel interrupted his thoughts as he reached the front of the line. He started dumping large blobs of potato into their trays.

  'Sure,' he replied, preoccupied, trying unsuccessfully to blend in behind other students; trying to avoid further confrontation. He could see that James had already spotted him and was glaring at him through his very own swollen eye.

  'Geez bro, are you sure the fight is over? Duxbury is definitely looking like he’s readying up for round two.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, Kai said, narrowing his eyes, 'I'm sure.'

  'Okay. Well, I bet you forgot about my band’s gig tonight? I got you a ticket,’ Daniel said, handing him the ticket; nodding excitedly, eagerly awaiting Kai’s response.

  Kai knew that Daniel’s band had been practising for their first performance, realising that he had indeed forgotten about the band’s first show. His heart fell into his stomach. 'Oh shit. Dan, you’re right, I did forget. Sorry man, I have been so preoccupied,' Kai said, turning his attention back to Daniel. ‘I have to work at the bookstore tonight. Allison has the flu and I have to stand in for her.'

  'Dude, you promised, man,' Daniel said, with disappointment written all over his freckled face.

  'I know, I know, but I’ll come to your next gig,' Kai promised.

  'Yes, alright.’ His eyes suddenly sparkled with an idea.

  ‘Hey! Why don't you pop in after your shift at the bookstore?' Daniel pressed.

  Kai smiled. 'I’ll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything. So don't be mad if I don’t pitch up,' he explained.

  'No problem,' he grinned. They grabbed a couple of cold drinks from the dispenser and headed towards their regular lunch table. The extremely uncomfortable plastic picnic-styled tables were scattered around the noisy lunchroom, which was now filled with the students’ loud voices chatting about the upcoming weekend.

  An eighth-grader and her boyfriend were screaming at each other and a sandwich was launched at the obviously disgruntled boyfriend, narrowly missing Kai's head as he passed. The room went silent for a moment, everyone waiting for further action, accept for Sienna, who was staring out the window, picking at her food absentmindedly. The eight-grader and her boyfriend disappeared and the buzz of voices continued as if nothing had happened.

  Kai glanced at Sienna. She shifted uncomfortably as James placed his hand on her knee and, at that moment, Kai wished that he were a fly on the wall so he could hear what they were talking about. He moved quickly, passing some of the seniors who were at the rugby game the day before. They were all staring at him and giggling softly as he moved past them towards his table. After finding a seat in the far corner of the room, which was unavoidably close to where Sienna and James were sitting, Kai sat down and began picking at his overflowing plate of food.

  He felt bad for not telling Daniel the real reason why he punched James, but he didn’t know how to explain why things had gotten so fiery between them. They never kept secrets from each other, but this wasn’t his secret to share.

  He felt lost and alone, not being able to share something so bothersome with Daniel. For the first time since they were kids, there was no one he could confide in.

  ‘So, w
hat do you think we should do for the summer holiday?’ Kai asked, trying to clear his mind from the thoughts that were overwhelming him.

  ‘You know we’re still in winter, right,’ Daniel chuckled.

  ‘Yeah, sure, but spring is a couple of weeks off and then we can get into planning our next trip,’ Kai said, smiling.

  ‘I think it’s time we finally head down to Mozambique. I’m not keen on doing the whole rough-it-up in the jungle thing with you again. I’ve had enough of vampire mosquitos sucking the life out of me,’ he said, cringing.

  ‘I agree,’ Kai said laughing, ‘this time we do the beach house. I’ve been thinking, it would be great if we could go do some diving at the coast.

  ‘I’ll give my dad a call. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we crashed at his place. He’ll probably be down in Cape Town for business as always, so we’d have the place all to ourselves,’ Daniel said with a mouthful of food.

  ‘Good, that’s settled then,’ Kai replied, anxiously watching the time, waiting for the lunch bell to ring. He could feel James’s eyes burning holes into the back of his head. Even with Daniel’s company and the slight distraction his friend provided, lunch still felt like an eternity of torture and hell. Once the lunch bell finally rang, he headed towards his English literature class. One part of him preferred though, that he did not have to see Sienna for the rest of the day, but another part was still hoping that he could spend some time with her in class.

  He felt relieved that he already knew Macbeth, which they were currently reading in class, off-by-heart, thanks to the many hours spent in the bookstore. However, his anxiety of having to sit next to Sienna caused doubt that he would be able to concentrate. His thoughts were interrupted when Allison McIntyre called him.

  ‘Hi there handsome. Some shiner you have there.’

  ‘Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it if you don’t mind,‘ he smiled, curious why she wasn’t home in bed. ‘I thought you were in bed sweating off that cold of yours?’

  ‘I wish. Mrs Wolmans insisted that I come in to write the test, so I came in for just this class,’ she said, sounding hoarse. Her short brown hair hung a little dishevelled over her dark brown eyes. The light layer of makeup barely concealed the dark circles around her eyes from the lack of sleep.

  Kai looked at her sympathetically while keeping an eye on the classroom door. Sienna was supposed to be here by now, he thought. Just then, Mrs Wolmans entered the room and dropped a stack of papers on the table. Kai got nervous, as the seat Sienna usually occupied remained open.

  ‘She’s not coming, Kai,’ Allison said softly. ‘I saw her head into the principal’s office and overheard her ask to be excused.’

  Kai threw her a look like he was confused about what she was talking about. He felt disappointed, but realised that she was probably trying to clear her mind and didn’t need him to make things worse.

  Allison got up from her chair and nestled herself into Sienna’s unoccupied seat. ‘Hey, isn’t this cool,’ she said, excited. ‘We always used to sit beside one another and we haven’t for at least a year. Now it’s like old times.’ She happily, rummaging around for a pen.

  ‘Yeah, it is nice. We should chat more often,’ he replied sincerely.

  ‘Quiet!’ Mrs Wolmans voice boomed from the front of the large classroom. She pushed her glasses up high on her nose and scanned the room. ‘All right then, put away all your crib notes, cell phones and other belongings. All you may have with you is your pen and the piece of paper that was just handed out to you.’

  Silence fell over the room. ‘You have an hour,’ she said and sat down. Kai struggled to concentrate. He pressed his fingers against his forehead, trying to get rid of the headache that was torturing him all day. He sighed, looking down at the swimming letters on the page and hoped that he didn’t mess this up too.

  CHAPTER 3

  Kai headed home once school came to a close for the weekend. He loved the forest and the smell of the eucalyptus and pine trees, and the flowers that surrounded the house. Sometimes, at night, he could hear the jackals crying and the sounds of the animals inhabiting the forest coming out to hunt. He found himself drawn in by this world of wonder. He knew everything about the forest and every detail of where all the trails led.

  He fumbled with his house keys as he climbed off his motorcycle and smiled at the memory of Daniel’s first and only visit to the forest last summer.

  'Why, why, why,' Daniel moaned at Kai as he fell onto his bed, hands covering his eyes.

  They were packing for a two-week break to go hiking in the forest. Daniel would rather have gone to his dad’s beach house in Mozambique, but Kai had other ideas and talked Daniel into the hiking trip. He knew Daniel wouldn’t go easily, so they decided to flip a coin. Kai won the toss, and Daniel reluctantly agreed to take the trip with him.

  'It’s going to be great. You’ll see,' he said, to Daniel's obvious distress.

  'You know there are animals out there,' he complained.

  'And your point is?'

  'Just that. They might try to hunt us down.' '

  Then we hunt them back,' he smiled at Daniel who was now twitching his fingers and looking around the room as if he was imagining the worst possible outcome to this trip.

  'Try to be serious for once bro, we could get killed.'

  'Dan, I’ll make sure that you don’t die. I promise,' Kai assured him, wondering if he should take advantage of Daniel’s distress and scare him a little bit while on their trip.

  'Uhu, you’re giggling at me now,’ Daniel sniped, ‘but wait until a big lion tears down our tent while we’re sleeping or pounces on you while you’re taking a wizz in the bushes,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I can see you try and run away from the lion with your pants around your ankles trying to save me. Or, what if we get attacked by the black leopard?'

  'That kind of thinking is exactly the reason why you need to get out into the forest and see that it’s not at all that bad,’ he said smiling. ‘Besides, lions don’t roam in these forests. They’re in the Kruger Game Park and the black leopard is a myth. It doesn’t exist,' he replied as he started packing his things.

  'No, the leopard exists. I know people who have claimed to see it. It’s here ... somewhere. And the lions aren’t kept in cages - only a river separate us from them.’

  Kai shook his head and smiled.

  ‘Whatever. Just remember, my head is yours to save,' Daniel warned.

  After Kai tidied, they headed downstairs with their backpacks and a few supplies they needed for their trip. Kai left a note for his mother and closed the cabin door behind him. They headed towards the trail behind the house leading into the forest and started walking towards a steep path that led into the surrounding mountains. The trees cut out most of the sun, which made the forest darker much earlier than expected. Soft beams of sunlight managed to break their way through the trees and a slight breeze rustled the leaves, cooling the warm air from the harsh summer sun. As the hours passed, their backpacks became heavier to carry, and Kai heard Daniel’s complaints increasing the further they walked.

  He looked back and threw him an encouraging smile.

  ‘Why don’t we settle next to the lake tonight?’

  ‘Great idea,’ he grunted back as he slammed his backpack to the ground.

  Large overhanging trees surrounded the lake, except for a small green pasture providing a clearance where butterflies were playing between wildly growing grass. They flew away as the men approached the clearance, except for one, which nestled itself down on Kai's foot as he rested next to the water. He pulled out a water bottle from his bag and gulped the liquid down as the harsh sun penetrated his skin. The sunlight danced on the water, and the sparkling clarity of the lake was compelling and alluring. Kai often came to the lake to escape and to be by himself. It was peaceful. Sometimes, he was certain the forest could speak. Listening softly, he could hear the leaves on the trees whisper words unknown to him. This left him unable to stay awa
y from the deep forest for too long as he craved the moments he stole from it.

  There were many myths whispered by the town dwellers about the secrets held by the forest. These stories left most people scared and sceptical about entering this mystical place. It was said that otherworldly beings lived deep in the woods, surrounding themselves with protection against human intrusion. Some folks even said that monsters abducted hikers.

  Daniel fiddled with his heavily filled backpack and retrieved a box of matches to start a fire before night fell upon them.

  Kai walked closer to the sizzling campfire and erected their sleeping quarters for the night. In no time, the tent was set up and filled with sleeping bags and pillows. Kai groaned at having to take the tent, but Daniel insisted on some comfort. Kai preferred sleeping under the open, starry skies, but couldn’t convince his comfort-whipped friend to relish in the beauty of the night along with him.

  Summertime in the Lowveld normally reached soaring temperatures, making the outdoors a refreshing option to the humidity trapped indoors.

  Daniel packed more wood on the growing fire and surrounded it with stones.

  As soon as Kai felt assured that his friend was comfortable, he decided to take a swim in the lake. He stripped off his clothes and headed closer to the edge of the lake. He slowly moved over the rocky pebbles towards the water and dipped the sole of his foot into the water. It was lukewarm from the day’s sun. Slowly entering the water, he soon enough felt the colder, deeper water swallowing him up, first his feet, then his legs, and then, his entire body was cloaked in the cold water. Now and again, he could feel the fish slip past his legs.

  After thoroughly cooling down, Kai headed back and dried himself with a blue towel he’d packed at the last minute.