Meghan:

Surrounding my village- Efifeglie is a forest. Well. The Forest. It’s called Gejastera, and it happens to be the only forest in our world that we’ve seen. 
There are all sorts of rumors about Gejastera that nobody believes, and at the same time, everybody believes. We’re all pretty sure the woods are endless-- that’s what the government says. They won’t tell the villagers anything. Believe me, the government has gotten a lot of criticizing comments. The people want to know what’s going on, why villagers keep on going missing, why dangerous storms come twice a month, why all of us are locked in here for the rest of our lives.
…………………………………………………………………………………
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we just-”
“No.” Phillis says quickly. “No, it would not be nice at all. It’d be…. scary, and dangerous, and just not good.”
I roll my eyes in exasperation. “You didn’t even hear what I was about to say!”
“I didn’t have to hear it. I know what you were going to say because you ask Murphy and I this every day.”
I clench my jaw. This is why having a conversation with Phillis is so-
“Seriously, Meg, don’t get mad again.” Phillis pleads. “You just don’t understand what happens out there.”
My eyes dart to her and I lean forward. “How can I not understand. My parents are gone, gone forever because of the stupid storms.”
Phillis sighs. “And so is my mom.”
“Don’t.” I warn. “Don’t sympathize with me.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Can we just talk about it?” without waiting for her to answer I go on, “Don’t you ever feel like you want to….. to see…... what's out there, beyond the gates, and just not be trapped here for the rest of our lives?”
“No.” Phillis sighs. “But you’re like Murphy. She doesn’t like it here either.”
“Stop trying to get me to hang out with her!”
“Oh, Meg. She’s my sister and your cousin. And you live with her. How hard can it be to say hello in the morning?”
“Hard.” I argue. “Much harder than you think!”
Phillis shakes her head, her black hair falling over her face.
“Meg.” she says. Nothing else…. Just that.
“What?” I demand. I hate when she does that…. Says my name and then wanders off in her thoughts.
“Don’t go beyond the gates.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
At night I always look in my scrapbook. It has everything I need to both get me agitated and calm, depending on what i’m looking at. Tonight I flip by the pictures of my parents and end up looking blankly at my notes of the storms. They sound unsophisticated and childish, since I wrote all my notes a while ago.
-Twice a month a deadly storms comes to Efifeglie. It somehow steals one person for each storm from this place. It stole my parents- March 9

Yesterday a hurricane took Phillis and Murphy’s mom. They are sad. I’m sad, she was a good aunt. I hate these stupid storms. I want them to be gone forever- June 17

The thought of finally going to sleep crosses my mind right before somebody pounds on my door. Seriously, are they trying to knock it down?
I snap my scrapbook shut and slide it under my bed.
“Not now.” I yell, irritated. The door opens anyway, and Murphy in her gothic glory steps through. I glare at her.
“I thought I locked it.”
“Well you obviously didn’t.” she said and spread her arms.
“What are you doing here? You never come in here.”
“I heard you and Phillis talking earlier.” Murphy leans against the doorframe. A loose black shirt hangs around her skinny frame. She’s sixteen, two years older than me, and I’m almost a head taller than her. “Do you really want to go to Gejastera?”
“It’s better than-” I pause and wave my hands around, “This.”
Murphy purses her lips and raises her eyebrows. “Then you should go.”
I laugh mirthlessly and shake my head. “You just want me gone. For some reason I can’t figure out, you don’t like me here. Or you don’t like me in general.”
“You’re always so miserable. Seriously, if you’re that unhappy, then leave.”
I’m about to point out that Murphy never smiles, never laughs, and on and on. But I don’t, because I feel tired. I focus my gaze straight forward.
“Maybe I will.” I say in a clipped tone.
“Good.” Murphy spins around and slams the door shut.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Still annoyed with my run in with Murphy, I mutter to myself as I thrust my notebook into the bag I’m taking, because this trip is all about finding out the truth. I’ve always been thirsty to know more, unlike Phillis, Uncle John, and practically every other person I know and can talk to. And Murphy is just off limits. I think about calling Josephine, the baker I work for, because tomorrow’s a work day, and I’ll probably still be in the woods then. If I’m not dead.
The thought chases away any other thoughts of Josephine, as I’m completely focused on the possibility of dying. How does it feel? What happens after death?
“I don’t want to die.” I whisper out loud, and uneasily rise and take my bag with me.

For some reason, all the trains that run around Efifeglie stop at the main station at the center of town at midnight. I leave at eleven, and get to the station at eleven forty seven, panting and exhausted. My legs are aching so much, I leave behind any possibility of going back home now, since I’ll never make that walk back.

By the time the train comes, I’m thinking of one rumor I’ve heard a lot of from Uncle John. The rumor is that anyone who tresspasses into the forest is ripped apart by monsters. I chew on my lip and rock on my feet, back and forth, back and forth, back and-
The train is here. While the conductor is dropping some heavy looking packages off, I slip into the train and curl up under a seat near the back. In case somebody checks the train. I realize that I haven’t slept at all the past few days, because of school work and other stuff that has kept me up. I rest my head uncomfortably against my knee.
My eyes close without my permission...
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Nobody’s here,” the guard booms.
My eyes snap open. I almost sigh in relief-- loudly-- but I quickly check myself. You don’t want to be heard. I’m on the same train I jumped on a few days ago to go to the bakery- it’s now stopping outside the village wall, where the guards are now making sure there’s nobody on the train before it heads into the forest- why a regular train (all of them, Train A, train B, Train C, Train D- the one I'm on) rides into the dangerous woods, I’m not sure. I guess that maybe I'll find out.

My eyes snap open, and I realize I must’ve fallen asleep-- again. How did I let that happen? Panic rushes through me when I realize I’m not in my comfortable bed, and then relief and unease creep through me at once when I remember that I’m still on the train, still curled up in the seat I was hiding under. Only this time, the train is in the middle of the woods. After moments of terror, I slide out from under the seat, give a quick look around and then I step into the forest. It’s more and less terrifying than I’ve always imagined. I feel like something’s going to jump out at me any second now, and I hug myself tightly. I look up, and relief washes over me. I didn’t think I would feel this happy or that it’d be possible to feel any positive emotion in the middle of the forest.  But as I see the sun rising above the horizon, a signal of morning, I nearly do a joyful dance. (Maybe the monsters don’t come out in the daytime?)
I start walking- walking deeper into the forest (or so I think since now I have no sense of direction). I’m lost in thought, and thinking of what sort of proof that I’d find. I actually admit to myself that I came up with some pretty good theories. One is that the woods and storms are connected-  when you’re taken by a storm, somehow you end up in the woods, in a dangerous creatures clutches. I hear a cracking noise, jump and hide behind a tree. I expect to see a zombie, but instead, I see…. a hooded figure (a human being),a girl, by the looks of it, around thirteen- my age. I can’t get a good look at her face, but I see her hands, smooth, and pale- but not scaly or green at all. I debate calling out to her, in hopes she may be a once-villager who was taken by a storm and ended up here.
But something about the way she walks- hunched shoulders, feet pointed in random directions (they seem to have a mind of their own?), makes me stay as quiet as I can. She’s wearing a white mask over her face. What is she hiding?
After she’s gone, I hug the tree nervously and expecting her to pop out, suddenly look scaly or green. After what I know is a long time, I slowly remove myself from the tree and go in the opposite direction she did- even though basically, I’m just going back the way I came.
I change my mind- I don’t want to be here, at all.

After much more walking, I’m tired, I'm lonely, hungry, and frustrated at me. If only I hadn’t come here in the first place. I’d be living in my boring, (but way better than the forest) house.
“I know who you are,”
I whirl around, clutching my heart.
At first, I think it’s the creepy girl, but this girl I’m seeing looks relatively normal-- with radiant blue eyes, but dark hair, she reminds me of Phillis.
Was she taken by the storms? Or is she another monster in disguise?
“Wh- what?” I stammer. “You….. know who I am?”
“You’re Meghan Brewmere. You live with…. your uncle, John Smith, and your cousins, Murphy and Phillis Smith. Your parents were taken by a thunderstorm when you were….. Um, four, and you are resentful of the storms. Your Aunt Ida was just taken, and you feel unsatisfied with.. Your life. And that’s why you came into Gejastera.”
“Wh--” how does she know this?! “How do you know this?” I manage.
“I saw you,” she replies.
“Saw me? How…. Who are you? Do we know each other?”
“Well, no. You don’t know me- but I saw you.”
Tell me this isn’t creepy.
“Are you… like, a monster?” I pant, out of breath, even though I haven’t been running. It just occurs to me how hungry I am. She seems amused.
“No- well, my mother might think so, but--
“Who’s your mother?” I interrupt, thinking about Josephine for some reason, and her motherly nature. Then I process what she just said, that her mother thinks she’s a monster.
“You wouldn’t know her- we live in on the other side of Efifeglie.”
“Oh.” I purse my lips. She lives in the rich side. I decide that not only is this girl creepy, but I don’t like her. I note her somewhat nice clothing and frown.
“How do you know where I live? Why does your mom think you’re a monster? Why-”
“I have these powers,” The girl interrupts immediately, looking half bashful and half scared- of me? “I… can sort of see the future.”
“Are you serious?” I ask. The girl nods, looking miserable.
“Of course you can.” I mutter. The girl stops studying her (probably designer) shoes, and looks up.
“What?” She asks, genuinely confused.
“Of course you can see the future. I bet everybody on your side of the village can-- do you fly too? Become invisible? Ex-ray vision?”
“Uh, no. Just the future. And it’s just me who can see the future, if that’s what you’re trying to say.”
“I’m not surprised.” I mutter bitterly, and slouch down against a nearby tree.
“I know what you’re feeling, and you don’t have to be so mad.” She says gently. Her voice gets harder as she talks. “My name’s Bea, and no, I’m not some machine, I’m a person- and it’d be nice if you treated me like one.”
I frown. How does she know how I feel?
“I was locked in my room for all my life!” She exclaims. I jump up.
“You can read my mind?”
“I figured it’s what you’re thinking. Look- unless you want to die-” She paused and shivered, then continued. “We should really find a way out. This was a terrible idea, anyway.”
“Fine.” I mutter, since I never wanted to be alone out here anyway. “Help me out and maybe I’ll like you.” I continue and wince internally, aware of how rude I’m acting. If what she’s saying is true….. That she was actually locked in her room for all her life…. Then I could relate to that. But maybe she was exaggerating...? The way she just announced it almost seemed in dismissal. Bea purses her lips, and the expression change drags me out of my thoughts.
“‘Kay, let’s go.” she replies.

We travel for another day, and Bea proves her futuristic powers, by predicting monsters around the corner.
“Not that way,” she’d say quickly. “This way,”
Is she showing off?
“I’m hungry- so hungry.” I manage after yet another day. After Bea agrees, we brainstorm how to get food- the conversation ends up side-tracking to a science lessons on the creatures in the woods.
“I saw a little girl, wearing a mask,” I say. “Is…. she…… one of them?”
“Yes, I think. Also, I saw a  creepy monster and when I killed him,” Bea swallowed, looking uncomfortable, “He turned into a rotting corpse.”
“You killed him?” I raise my eyebrows. “How.”
Bea shrugs.
“And he turned into a rotting corpse?” I ask skeptically.
“Yes.”
“A human corpse?”
“Yes.” She repeats, sounding defensive now.
Suddenly a horrifying thought occurs to me-- What if Bea is a monster- one of those ones that look human!
“What?” Bea wonders.
“Nothing.” I say quickly. “Well, anyway, we should, you know, continue talking about the food. I went to camp one summer-- my uncle forced me too-- so anyway, we learned all these useless archery and hunting skills that I never thought I’d need- but maybe…..”
“Yeah, good idea!”
So I end up hunting for tasteless mushrooms, while Bea stays behind and guards the short amount of food that we have.
I rip through bushes, and getting cuts on my fingers from the thorns. I look at the cuts and frown. As I touch the bright red blood, I hear something rustle behind me. Bea?
Slowly I turn around, and scream, panic rushing through me.
…………………………………………………………………………………
I open my eyes. The first thing I see is the moon. It's round and brighter than the sun. I stare at it for a long time, not wanting to move, get up and face reality.
Where am I?
“Meghan…..?” somebody asks slowly. then: “Meghan!”
“Oh gosh.” the same girl says. I sit up. All I can see is her blue, blue eyes.
Like the moon.
“Who are you?” my voice sounds strange.
“It’s me, Meghan. It’s Bea. What--” she broke off, sounding sick. “Wh-what h-happened to you?”
“Why are you--” I trail off and stare stonily at my bloody clothes and legs.
Now flashes of memories come rushing back-- my face is probably a disaster.
Suddenly, I feel like crying.
“What do I look like?” I whisper. Bea frowns.
“Well, um. You’re…. cut.”
I don’t reply, staring at the gashes on my arms.
“You’ve been gone for two days,” Bea continues. “I was searching-- what happened?”
“I….” I trail off. “Fell.” my voice sounds harder. I continue-- my voice is still hard. “I fell. From a tree. I thought I saw berries. There was a plant under the tree… I guess I fell onto it and it scratched me.”
Wow, way to lie smoothly.
Bea frowns. “Where’s the tree?”
“I… it’s not here.” I manage. “I walked away from it and passed out here.”
Bea nods. I’m not sure if she believes me, but she isn’t protesting, and that’s a plus.

“What’s wrong, now?” Bea asks.
“My head,” I moan. “It hurts.”
“What?” Bea asks again, since she didn’t hear me.
“My head hurts!” I snap.
“Oh. Sorry. Um. Do you want, like, a warm cloth, or..”
“No. I’m dizzy.” I reply, rubbing my eyes shut. It’s been a day since I’ve come back, and I feel terrible. Food tastes disgusting, like saw dust. I’m always tired, but I can never sleep, and my skin temperature in unbelievably hot, like it’s on fire. The whole day, I’ve been complaining, mostly so that Bea will talk to me; if she talks to me, I won’t be alone with my thoughts, reliving what happened to me when I went to go get mushrooms.
Bea doesn’t reply, she just stares at the fire. It occurs to me that I’m acting like a brat. But I can’t gather up the courage or strength to apologize, so I just slump against the tree.
“Meghan?” Bea asks finally. I frown at the tone of her voice.
“You can call me Meg, you know. Everybody does.”
“Oh, okay.” Bea replies quickly, like she wants to get to the point. “So, um, Meg? I can’t see your future anymore…. Do you know why?”
“No. I don’t get your….. power, thing.” I say, marveling at how easily she throws those sentences out at me: “I can’t see your future anymore...”
“Does….. that mean that I’m going to die?” I ask finally, instead of waiting for Bea to respond.
Bea doesn’t respond right away. “Everyone dies. You don’t know when but it will happen.” She says eventually.
“Soon. Am I going to die soon?”
No answer. I don’t like this.

“We need more food,” Bea says, not looking up at me.
“What?” I ask. “Oh. I’m not hungry.”
“I’m hungry.”
“I never said you weren’t!” I exclaim, and Bea sighs. Why did I ever start to like her? She’s from the other side of the village.
“Can you just search for me? I don’t know which mushrooms are poisonous and which aren’t!”
“Fine, fine. Sure.” I say loudly.
“Thanks.” Bea says, but I don’t look back as I head through the bushes. Bea follows.
As I lean over the ground, Bea gasps.
“Meghan!” she exclaims.
“Meg.” I insist. “Call me Meg.”
Only my parents called me Meghan. The connection is too… harsh.
“There’s a monster!”
I look up.
“Oh, yeah. I see her.”
“Her!?”
“Yeah.” I say lightly. I have no idea what’s the big deal with Bea right now. The woman is wearing a white mask over her face, and her skin is paper pale. But it’s obvious that she’s not human in a way I cannot explain.
“Meg!” Bea shrieks. “Run!”
But the women just nods at me and swishes away.
“Wh- what just h- happened?” Bea stammers.
“I found mushrooms.” I reply.
“That was unbelievable!” Bea hollers suddenly. “We could’ve been killed! Why did you just sit there!”
I don’t respond, I just study a mushroom intently. Bea storms off, muttering to herself.

After a while, I stand up and look around for Bea-- she still hasn’t come back.
I turn around and-- oh gosh. I see Phillis.
“Phillis?” I ask. “What are you doing here?”
“What? Why are you calling me that?” Phillis asks, sounding genuinely confused. She looks just like usual, with a bright neon green headband, and bright clothing. I ignore her question, since i have so many of my own.
“How… are you here?” I ask.
“Um. I’m… back?” She frowns.
“Why did you come after me?” I marvel.
“I’m so confused here,” Phillis responds slowly. And suddenly her face  morphs, like magic. Her skin becomes tanner, her face more heart-shaped, her eyes still electric and stunning, but blue now, instead of gray. Her jet black hair sprouts waves instead of wheat straight hair, grows a few inches, and becomes a plain brown shade.
She doesn’t look like Phillis anymore-- at all.
I gape at her. “Bea?” What!! “What happened?”
“What happened,” Bea sulks, “Is that you are delusional!”
“I’m not!” I bellow, still confused. But I need to defend myself somehow.
“Yes! You called me ‘Phillis’, who I know is your cousin! I’m not her!”
I frown. “Wait-- this is just.. so confusing. I don’t get it. I saw Phillis, Bea. She was…. like, right where you are standing.”
“Don’t you get it? You’re ‘seeing things’”

“We’re almost to the gate.” Bea says, after a long silence. “Do you think you can make it?”
I have gotten worse the past few hours. Not only have I seen Murphy, Aunt Ida, and Uncle John in the place of Bea, but I actually thought that I was back home before Bea snapped me out of it. So now, I’m dizzy, and have already thrown up all over the place.
“No. But I have to, right?” I respond weakly. Bea nods. Across a grassy field, is the gates back to the two villages.
When we get back, me and Bea will part ways, I think. We will never see eachother again.
It never occurred to me, that I may not get back after all.

“It’ll be a long walk,” Bea says. “We need food. I’ll go and you stay here, because you’re sick, okay?” I nod. I’m still laying down on my bed of leaves.
“If you see a monster,” She continues, “Hit him with….” She looks around and picks up a long stick infested with ants. “This.”
She drops it near me, disgusted. I kick it away.
“Ew, no.” I shriek. “Ants.”
But as much as I hate to admit it, I’m strangely not grossed out-- only the feeling that I should be. Old Meg would. But now…
Only a memory of how I should feel is left.
“Fine.” Bea snaps, oblivious to my realization. “Just find.. Something to hit him with.”
“Or her.” I say abruptly. Bea turns around slowly and frowns.
“Yeah, I guess. It doesn’t really matter.” she says finally.
“It matters. Don’t you think they could have feelings too?”
“I guess.” Bea says slowly. “I’ll be back.” She darts into the bushes, on guard with a clean, non ant infested stick.
I watch her leave. I know I should be worried that I haven’t eaten in a few days. But who cares? I’m hungry now, though. Then… across the clearing I see…… something. The world sees to darken for some reason, and my skin cools. Then it brightens again- it keeps brightening. Wow. It’s so bright it’s………
A person.
A girl.
What am I doing?

“Meg! Meg!” the voice screams. “Meghan.”
I open my eyes warily. “What is it?” I groan, but stop when I see Bea’s face.
“She’s dead.” She whispers, her face as pale as mine.
I sit up. “Who’s dead?” I whisper back.
Tears roll down Bea’s face, and her eyes and nose turn red.
“Valerie, my sister.”
I stay still. I almost say, “You have a sister?”, but I think better of it.
“Sh-sh- she’s g-gone forever! She’s n-not c-coming back-”
“Bea..” I say softly. How do you comfort somebody who lost somebody they love?
“I know… well, I don’t know. But…. i’m guessing there are no words..”
I stammer awkwardly. Wow, nice job, Meg. I’m sure telling your friend/foe/acquaintance/ that there are “no words” is going to help her feel better after finding her dead sister somewhere.
“What happened... where… how do you know….” I ask, unable to finish a sentence.
“I……. I was coming to find you… and….. her body.” Bea sobs. “Her chest…. Was… ripped…. Open… blood….everywhere-- I hate blood-- smells so… rusty….”
I have no idea what to say. I don’t say anything.
“You don’t understand!” Bea screams, even though I never responded. “She.. was all I had. My sister…... “
“I know. I mean… I know that… you love.. loved…. her. Alot. And she loved you.. Also.”          
“She……… she was the only one who did……” Bea stamers.
“That’s not….” I start, but quickly catch myself.
“She was the  only one who loved me.” Bea whispers. I swallow. Bea crumples to the ground.
Suddenly, I feel nauseous, as I realize something….. Something terrible.
“Bea..?” I ask, doubling over.
“She…… she’s gone. My life….i’ll never be happy again…”
“Bea.” My hands tremble. What’s happening? I should be comforting Bea! But… I feel so sick. Please be wrong…. I think to myself.
I see the body.
It’s beyond the trees.
The body isn’t the reason that I’m sick-- it’s because……...

I find it terrifying, how she just lays there. Her eyes are open and wide, the same blue as Bea’s. She has even darker hair than Bea, which is fanning around her head. She looks like a princess. Sleeping.
Bea was right-- her chest is cut open.
I tear my eyes away, breathing hard. My own chest feels like it has been stamped on my horses.
“Bea…. I don’t.” I try to say. There is one reason why I feel sick.
Oh my gosh. And it all makes sense now.
I feel that exact feeling of dread that maybe people with terminal illnesses feel when they’re told they won’t live longer than a few months. Or maybe how Aunt Ida felt like when she saw the thunderstorm clouds reaching for her, and lifting her up, away from her daughter who was probably looking up with shock, and her other daughter back home, her beloved husband and the niece she’s always adored.
I feel like that.
And when I come to this realization, nothing has changed. Back home, in the village, people are still wheeling foods and fruits across the streets, and in…… people still wear their designer shirts, and in my village, there are still beggars that will continue on begging. Bea is still curled up on the ground crying, and those people who were taken by storms won’t come back, I realize.
It's all connected: The beast Bea faced who turned into a rotting corpse, the people taken from the storms, the monsters in the woods….. Me.
“I’m sorry.” I whisper. Bea looks up, red eyed.
“It… I never spent that much time with her….. Mother kept me locked up…..”
“I know Bea…. sorry. I’m sorry. I… can’t stay. Just run, okay?” I stammer. Bea lifts her red rimmed eyes to me, and frowns.
“What are you talking about?” She asks.
“Just run. When I leave. Actually no-- don’t wait… Run, Bea okay? Run now.”
“What?” She tries to stand up, but falls. “Wait-- don’t go Meghan-- Meg… please don’t…. I… I can’t do this…”
I back away. “Seriously Bea-- I’m really serious. Go.” I look at her hard in the eyes, backing towards the trees. A dark sensation ripples through me. I shiver. She has to go now.
“What do you mean, ‘go’. Go where?” Bea asks, attempting to stand again. “Wait…. Do you mean leave, like, Gejastera? But.. what about you?”
“Bea!” I snap. Why is she so stubborn? “Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll be coming after you. Don’t wait for me. Okay? Don’t. Go, Bea. Go now.”
“But…. no…..” Bea says.
But I’m already gone.
I killed Bea’s sister.

Beatrice:
Bea stands there, dumbfounded, and still not even close to being recovered. Her sister was everything to her. Her only friend.
Should she leave? Or should she stand there and wait for Meg? Meg did say not to wait for her…. And that was exactly what Bea was doing. Bea looked at Val’s body……. Should she carry her body so she could bury her? What would mother say? She would probably blame Bea.
So many questions…. Bea heads over towards Val’s body. Fidgeting, for a while, Bea eventually touched Val’s pale skin. She expected it to be ice cold, but it really wasn’t that bad. All those book-characters were exaggerating.
Val almost seemed to be sleeping. Bea tried to pick her up, but it seemed like she weighed more than the world. Well, that's what happens when you eat as little as Bea usually does. That's why she wasn’t as bothered by the lack of food, like Meg was.
Tearfully, Bea backed away from Valerie. Her arms would loose feeling long before she made it across that huge grassy clearing.
Turning away, Bea trudged towards the grassy clearing. And.. then… she heard something behind her.
Bea whipped around, expecting to see Valerie…
Not Valerie.
Not Meg, either.
In fact, it wasn’t even human.

The monster started running soon after Bea did. It had a white mask on, like it was embarrassed by its face. The thing that disturbed Bea most-- other than the enormous amount of blood dripping-- is that the monster nearly looked human. In fact, a blurry seer could mistake the monster as a girl or boy, judging by it’s small size and human shape. The arms were pale and lanky, and throwing themselves around wildly and bending at joints that were not possible for humans to accomplish without breaking a bone. Bea nearly tripped when she tried to look back. The monster’s hand clawed at her shirt and brushed against her skin-- now that was ice cold.
Bea wasn’t even halfway across the clearing. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t foreseen this. But sometime when she was back in the woods with Meg, she had lost her power, it seemed.
She sped up, her muscles aching and stomach cramping. She had almost no energy, and no calories. She looked back at the monster again and saw…
Nothing. The monster wasn’t there.
Bea looked around, and saw something coming at her from her left side…. The monster ran into her with unnatural strength and they both tumbled to the ground. The monster momentarily fell off Bea…
Bea layed there, clutching her ribs for a second. They were aching in pain.
Then, she launched up, and ran. The monster made a startled high noise in it’s throat, and followed her. The gates back into the villages came into view, even though this was not the side of Efifeglie that she lived on.
“Hey!” Bea screamed, and clutched her stomach. Her voice came out trembling and croaky. She was screaming to the guards standing outside of the tall city gates. They were on lookout, making sure no villager got out, and no monster would get in.
“Open the gates!” She screamed, and almost tripped again. One guard on lookout spotted her, and nudged his friend beside him. The other guard leaned forward and squinted his eyes. Bea could see his lips moving faintly, but couldn’t hear him. Then, his eyes widened, and made a gesture towards the ground where there were probably more guards standing.
“Hey!” He yelled in a thick accent. “There’s a girl!” There was a faint reply, and then the guard talked again. “No, she’s human. Open the gates. Open the gates!”
The gates started to creak open-- slowly.
Bea tried to run fast, but she was quickly tiring.
“Not too much! She’s being chased!” Bea heard a different guard say. Bea was gaining on the gates, but the monster was gaining on her-- very fast. Bea stumbled, and while her hands were dangling, she quickly took off her shoe, and threw it behind her. It missed the monster by far. Well, didn’t that work out great. She sped up and collapsed right in between the two open gates.
“Miss! Miss! Move, the gates are closing-- move.” A guard yelled, and started to close the gates.
Then, the strangest thing happened.
Bea couldn’t move-- she was exhausted. Either the gates would crush her, or the monster would do-- she didn’t know. Something bad. Probably eat her. She tried to drag herself, but came face to face with the monster.
And then it didn’t kill her. It just stared into her eyes. Bea though that maybe she could see the monster’s eyes behind the white mask. She laid there and breathed hard, waiting for the monster to kill her.
And then the monster took one small step back, and then another, and then the gates closed. Bea was luckily inside Efifeglie when the gates were completely shut.
She closed her eyes, and her thought swam with darkness. One guard hauled her up uncomfortably by lifting her from under her arms.
She passed out.

Three Months Later

Murphy:
“They probably won’t let you in,” the man says smoothly. He wears a clean, precise uniform. His hands are folded behind his back in a way that tells me that he thinks he’s better than everybody.
“We’ll see.” Phillis says. I nodded. No wonder I hate adults. I clench my fists.
“I’m sure they’ll now better than to keep me waiting.” I say in my most polite voice.
“Murphy.” Phillis hisses.
“What?” I demand loudly. The “new girl” hisses both of us. Her name is Beatrice-- and she likes to be called Bea. It’s pronounced like b-e-e, which took me two months to get right. But she’s family now, I guess. Apparently her sister died, and when her mother found out, she kicked Bea out of her home. Bea decided to wander into Efifeglie, and ran into Phillis. Dad adopted her, as he tends to do, and now she’s my “sister”. She was in Gejastera with my younger cousin Meg.
Bea came back-- Meg didn’t.
Now, Bea is taking me and Phillis to The Govermentors-- the people who rule us. We want some answers.
“Welcome.” the man says with mock politeness. He gestures grandly into a large room as the doors automatically open. Then he leaves. I spit in his direction, and he turns back with a disgusted look on his face. He deserved it.
The Govermentors are all sitting down on a semi circle table. They nodded at us.
“What business do they have here?” An older man asks with a raised eyebrow. He said “they” but he was talking to us.
“I’ve been in the forest.” Bea steps forward. “And i’ve seen the monsters.” many Govermentors have stricken expressions now. “I was with a friend in the forest-” Bea gestures towards me and Phillis.
“-Their younger cousin. Her name is Meg, and she told me to go without her. And so… I did. But she also said that she would follow me, and it’s been three months. I made it out, but she probably hasn’t. Her family hasn’t heard from her.”
A women stepped forward. “It is sweet that you still have hope, but I’m certain you won’t be seeing your friend anytime soon.”
Many Govermentors smile in a sad way.
“What do you mean?” Phillis asks at the same time I say:
“What the hell are you talking about?”
The same women turns towards Phillis, ignoring me.
“You can’t seriously be thinking about telling them, Magdalena.” Another woman demands. Magdalena frowns.
“I am. It certainly is time somebody knows.”
Many Govermentors protest, but Magdalena speaks louder.
“As you might’ve guessed, the storms and the monsters are connected.” The Govermentors quieted. “When a person is chosen by the gods, they are taken by the storms. They end up in the forest. We still do not know all the answers, but there is a supernatural force behind the storms. The storms affect the villagers in a way we cannot explain, and they end up turning into the beasts you see in the forest.”
“What!” I interrupt. I don’t know about all this so called “god's” business, and I just want them to get to their point.
And then I realize they just made it. Phillis takes the words right out of my open mouth.
“Wait. So… all the monsters were once….. villagers?!” Phillis exclaims. Bea frowns slowly. She mumbles something I can’t make out.
“Yes.” Magdalena replies. “Your cousin Meghan-”
“How do you know her full name?” I demand, feeling sick.
“We have technology that shows what is happening in the forest. We saw Bea and Meghan in Gejastera, heard and saw exactly what they did and what they said to each other. In fact, we know where Meghan is now.” A petite women chirps, like a child speaking grown up words.
“Where.” I growl.
“Still in the forest.” Magdalena says. 
“How?” Bea speaks up.
“Do you remember when Meghan went missing for a few days?”
Bea nods slowly, and seems a bit flustered that The Govermentors know all this information that she thought was personal to only her and Meg.
“She was bitten by a monster-” Phillis clamps a hand over her mouth, but Magdalena ignores her, “- of course, she didn’t remember any of this at first, and when she did, she still didn’t know what was happening to her.”
“Wait. I can’t believe this...” Bea murmurs. “She… she was .. there, she was… with me…… she was a little sick, but she wasn’t.. she isn’t…. Is she?”
“Please, speak a full sentence.” A man growls. Bea ignores him, but I growl something back in his direction that makes many Govermentors shake their heads at me or cover their mouths.
“She was turning into a monster. Did she eat at all?” Magdalena asks. Bea frowns.
“No.”
“Was she paler than usual? Did she black out? Express behavior that’s unusual?”
“Yes.” Bea snaps.
“So she isn’t….. human?“ Phillis squeaks. I blink in surprise.
“How can this be?” I demand.
“Well.” Another man shrugs, and pauses dramatically. I breathe heavily. My mom.. My aunt and uncle….. All those people who went missing…..
“It’s just what happens in the forest.”