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The Second Chance: Chapter 8 - Hope

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Before we could even do anything about it, Onawa, Elaku, and I had been grabbed and yanked from the ground by several large men. Speaking in rough voices in a language we didn't understand and wearing orange masks painted with the most frightening of expressions, our captors were easily the most terrifying thing I personally had ever seen. I kicked and screamed and fought to get out of my captor's arms, but it was to no avail; they were just too strong for me, and for my other friends as well, it seemed. All of us were rendered unable to move by our faceless captors, with the exception of one-- Tirta. We could only watch as he fought off man after man, freeing himself from the grasp of every single one. Seeing that he wouldn't cooperate, however, it wasn't long before one pulled out a dagger.

"No!!" I cried, but it was too late; the next thing I knew, Tirta was face down at my feet, blood pouring out of his chest. "Tirta! Tirta wake up, please!" I sobbed, unable to stop the tears. "I... need you..." I whispered to my friend before the faceless men dragged us all away.

Once the captors had us, they brought us through the jungle and into what I guessed was their own village. I don't remember much about it, as I was still recovering from the initial shock of previous events, but what I do remember was that it was rather... depressing. Other than the different colors of masks the tribespeople wore, there was really no color to anything-- even the way the people dressed was boring and drab, lacking any sort of design. Then again, the whole world could have been boring and drab at that point, for all I cared-- I know mine definitely was. Not only had I lost my mother and my father now, but the only man I'd ever had any bit of romantic feelings for as well; not to mention the fact that I would most likely never see my sister again, which was the only family I had left now.

Having said all that, I really couldn't have cared any less when the three of us were thrown into some sort of confinement area made of bamboo, with orange-masked guards standing at the only possible exit. I really couldn't have cared less when hours, even days went by as we sat there like vegetables, lacking the motivation to do anything more. I really couldn't have cared less if we died there, and in doing so, we left our tribe to do so as well. The way I saw it, there really wasn't much else we could do at this point except lay here and wait for death to come knocking.

Sure, sometimes the guards would throw some water at us or some strange-looking yellow fruit, and Onawa and I would eat and drink, but only after being begged to by Elaku, who was the only one of us who had any will to live. Every day, for I don't know how many days, he would pace the perimeter of our enclosure, looking through every opening, every crack, and anywhere he could to see outside. He would wave, yell, scream, and do anything and everything in his power to get someone's attention so that our voices could be heard.

One day, I remember, I asked him, "Why?"

"Because, I'm not ready to give up yet." he replied, a determined look on his face. "I won't be ready to give up until I'm dead in the ground. I will get out out of here, and we will find out what's happening and fix whatever is causing the plants to die. I'm going to make sure that we come back as heroes, and we'll make anyone who's ever doubted us eat their words."

"Everyone is probably as good as dead anyway... including us." I lamented. "Why do you want this so badly?"

At this, Elaku stopped pacing and began approaching me instead. He then sat down beside me and looked my in the eye as he began to speak. "Well, because, believe it or not, I've got family back home that's waiting on all of us right now. Actually, we have a whole tribe of people waiting for us, and you know what they might be thinking? 'Silly children, why are they even attempting this?' Don't you want to get back to show them that we can? Don't you want them to actually be alive to see that we can?"

I'd always known Elaku as a hard-working boy, but he was usually easygoing as well. I'd never seen him this fired up about something, and, quite honestly, it did surprise me a little-- perhaps it would have even more, had I not been in an emotional fog.

"Answer me!" he demanded. "Do you want to see them again or not?"

Oh yeah, he was talking to me, wasn't he? I should probably answer, I told myself. "I... do."

"Come on then!" He stood up, motioning with one hand for me to get up as well. "Let's get out of here!"

"We can't..." I lamented. "You should know that. You've been saying that since day one, and nothing's happened."

He sighed in exasperation. "Forget it then, I'll do it myself."

I personally have no idea what Onawa was doing (as she'd been silent this whole time) but I know for a fact that I was in total shock. First of all, I knew our tribe believed in us-- had they not, they wouldn't have let us go-- so what was he setting out to prove by this? Second of all, he'd just lost his best friend too, and I suppose one could assume this was a way of grieving, but it was a rather odd way of doing so if you ask me. To each, their own, I thought, so with that, I was perfectly content with watching him shout at the guards and try to break out, as had become customary for the amount of time we'd been here.

Suddenly, something rather surprising caught my eye and I stopped mid-thought. I saw Elaku, once again yelling at the guards and trying to get past them. He'd done this nearly every day for however long we were there, but this time, I noticed, he was a lot more persistent for some reason, which the guards were not appreciative of. How did I know? Well, eventually, curiosity got the best of me and I inched closer to the door to the enclosure, peaking through one of the cracks. I watched as the guards grew more and more frustrated with Elaku's screaming and banging and even called over more guards to calm him down. People were starting to come over and see what was going on, and, before we knew it, a crowd had started to form. All sorts of yelling soon filled the air in both our language and theirs, and, honestly, it wouldn't have been surprising if they had decided to kill him on the spot at that point.

However, before they could do that, something strange happened. The guards stopped yelling, the crowd stood still, and everything seemed to freeze until finally, the crowd parted. Coming into view now was a woman with a purple mask who was now slowly approaching...us? At some point, my curiosity got the best of me and I got up as well and began slowly coming towards the entrance myself. Was this woman the chief? His wife, perhaps? A teacher? Or maybe some other important woman? Either way, she seemed to have an interest in us from what I could tell, and she continued to watch us for a few seconds before she turned to our guards.

"What's going on here?" I heard Onawa inquire from next to me. It seemed that this event was enough to take even her from her stupor.

"I have no idea." I whispered in reply. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

We did find out exactly what was happening to us soon enough, but not right away; I don't want to get ahead of myself here. What happened immediately after, however, I will say now. You see, once the purple masked woman had finished talking to the guards, they grabbed Elaku, Onawa, and I, and escorted us to where the Purple Mask was going. All of us thought it best to keep silent at this point, since we had no idea what they would do if we made a sound. However, they did nothing; not right away, I mean. The way things were going, I half expected them to throw us on an altar and prepare us for sacrifice, but that did not happen, which I considered nothing short of a miracle at the time.

Instead, though, they took us to what appeared to be an infirmary-- it was a small one, but an infirmary nonetheless. Inside, there were three people besides all of us: a little boy with a blue mask who was on the bed, and a man standing beside him with a brown mask. The brown-masked man, I guessed, was the chief as he was more elegantly dressed than anyone else. The boy, perhaps, was his son? I didn't know.  Other than the two of them, there was also a man with an orange mask who had bandages around his chest area. I didn't know why, but he looked oddly familiar to me, though I couldn't see his face.

When we got in, the woman with the purple mask said something to the brown-masked man, and, in reply, the man shook his head before looking back down at the boy on the bed. Though I couldn't see his face, I could tell by the way the boy sweat, shook, and gasped for air that he must have been in an enormous amount of pain. I hadn't the faintest idea what he was ill with, and it seemed clear to me that the woman in the purple mask did not know either. What surprised us all, though, was when the woman motioned to us... and then back to the boy.

"Is she expecting us to know what's wrong with him?" Elaku whispered to me and Onawa.

"I think she wants us to cure him." I answered.

"Is she crazy!?" Onawa asked loudly-- well, loudly compared to the hushed voices Elaku and I were talking in. Once we'd shushed her, she continued softly. "We're children, and she's an adult who's probably been doing this for years! If she can't cure him, what makes her think we can!?"

"I have--"

I started to say 'I have no idea' here, but as soon as I began saying it, I realized that may have been a lie; perhaps I did have an idea. You see, for whatever reason, my mind traveled back to however many days ago, when we had been captured and brought to this village. I remembered that, when that happened, I happened to glance out of the corner of my eye and saw something interesting. I know it seems like, in the heat of the moment, I would have forgotten such a thing, but there is a reason why this thing in particular stood out to me. The thing in question, you see, was actually a flower- a live one. A flower that had survived, and had become the only brightness in the otherwise dead, colorless jungle-- that was why it stood out to me. What was so significant about this?

Well, considering I was being captured when I first laid eyes upon this mysterious plant, I suppose it didn't really register what that might mean. Now, however, with the image in my mind as clear as day, I was finally able to put it together with something my mother had taught me so many years ago.

"They say that there is another island in close proximity to here. This island is full of mystery, as are the people that live there. However, no one knows for sure what that means, since most of those who set out to find this island, disappear without a trace. There are few who have made it back, and those few who come back, come back all but dead. Shaken, delusional, and scarred both physically and emotionally. However, they all seem to say the same thing."

"What do they say, Mommy?" I asked, my eyes going wide.

"Almost immediately, the few that have returned from this island talk of the faceless tribe. Those who are unfortunate enough to see them say that to look into the masked faces of these men is to look into the face of true terror. If you are attacked by them, however, the fear only worsens, it seems; not only are the members of this tribe intimidating, but violent as well. There is a very slim chance of returning home if they find you."

"So why would they go?" I asked again. "Why would they go to a scary island with scary people if they might not come back?"

My mother smiled at this, looked up at the sky, and answered. "They're looking for something."

"What are they looking for?"

"Well, Auina, legend has it, this island is the home of something very special. Some say it was given to us by the Creator himself. According to the folktales, there lays a flower, which He placed right in the heart of the island. They call it the Tupono Noa Tuarua-- the second chance-- because whoever find it is said to be able to cure themselves of any illness, no matter how deadly, and receive a second chance at life."

"But how would they know if they found it?"

"Ah, well, this flower is easily different from all the other flowers in the area. Apparently, it is very well-hidden, and it is very difficult to find. However, once it has been discovered, legend says, it will have been the brightest color in all of the jungle-- perhaps even the brightest color anyone has ever seen. As it is the color associated with healing, this flower is a light blue, but it is the lightest of the light and the bluest of the blue-- truly a beautiful thing to find."

As I compared the description of the flower that my mother gave me with that of the flower I had seen, I was surprised to find that it all matched up. The flower was blue, and beautiful, and quite hidden-- no one else had seen if but me. I suppose one could argue this was by pure coincidence, and that the story my mother told me was nothing more than that-- a story. However, something in me at that point decided that I should speak up; after all, what did we have to lose?

"I have an idea."
OKAY so I'm so sorry that I kept you all waiting so long for this. I had work and college apps and some family issues that made it hard to get on. However I am here now and I do intend on working on other chapters as well as posting the finished ones here on a.. somewhat regular schedule. 

In this chapter, we see Auina and her friends taken captive by the mysterious masked tribe. Held hostage in a strange village by strange people who don't even speak their language, even Auina herself has abandoned all hope at first. However, the story is not over yet, and though it may take a miracle for this young group of friends to get out alive, well, you'll just have to wait and see what will happen! Will Auina, Elaku, and Onawa be able to survive? Will they manage to save the island after all? How will Auina cope with the loss of yet another loved one? Find out in the coming chapters!

As always, constructive criticism is appreciated. I'll see you all very soon!

Looking for the last chapter? bela17.deviantart.com/art/The-…
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