To her rescue

6.00 AM

The Forest

***

The shy ray of light coming through the leaves awoke the half-sleeping Ava. She got no more energy to recall the most painful part of her memories. One day, she would revisit them but not without a price to pay.

She looked down only to notice that the ground was a scary sight. If she falls, she would die with broken bones! Her lips trembled as she recalled the desperation that drove her to climb the tree.

'It's time to go,'

Ava thought as the flickering lights that managed to sweep through the bushes of leaves touched her wounded skin. Taking a deep breath, she looked around with scrutinizing eyes. Ava didn't want to take a risk, if there was danger waiting on the ground, she would wait, no matter how long it would take.

But, the exhaustion... it couldn't wait. She needed to replenish her gone energy. Her last meal was a plain bread she had at breakfast yesterday. And that last meal was probably the reason she had passed out and found herself inside the forest.

"I've found her!"

Ava was startled. She looked below only to be forced to hid her face behind her small hand. The flashlight directed at her was too bright she had to cover herself.

Still, behind the filter of her hand, she tried to discern the person who was now looking at her. All kinds of thoughts run inside her mind. Ava started to feel afraid. Afraid that the person who found her and his approaching teammate were another set of bad people trying to get rid of her.

"Young Miss Ava, we are here to bring you to safety!" the person who found her first shouted.

Ava remained silent. She held on to one of the tiny branches right at the top of her head. Snapped it and readied as a weapon.

"We found you by the GPS installed inside the key given by your grandfather,"

That man's explanation made Ava unconsciously touched the key pendant she had. She looked down and saw the man was already climbing the tree with a safety harness on his waist. Panicking, she started throwing branches and leaves to the man.

"Young Miss, please, we need to leave this forest as soon as we can," the man didn't look up, neither was he avoiding the things that were thrown at him. He patiently waited until the little girl calmed down.

"We are sorry for coming too late. The GPS was only activated last night," the man continued to provide explanations.

Ava finally stopped throwing things and had a better look at her key pendant. She remembered the pain she felt when the pendant hit her chest last night. Maybe, that was the event that activated the GPS. She thought.

Looking underneath her, Ava noticed that the man had shortened the distance between them. She realized that her self-defense might no longer work.

"My grandfather didn't inform me about this," she finally spoke. Her voice was weak and painful. yet, it entered the man's hearing loud and clear. The state the girl was in really made him wanted to save her sooner.

"He didn't want the enemy to be informed," the man clarified.

"Young Miss, can I come up there?" he asked for permission once he noticed her aggressiveness decreased. He looked up and saw her looking at him. She didn't talk but nodded instead. At that signal, the man climbed further and proceed to rescue Ava.

"Young Miss Ava, I've missed you!"

Ava who was now sitting on the ground saw a woman shouting and running towards her. Her unknown identity mismatched with the way she familiarized herself with Ava. The little girl stood up and hide behind the man that had rescued her.

"Young Miss, don't worry. She's my partner also my twin sister." The man chuckled as she saw the girl's sudden energetic move to hide behind him. Her partner's face turned sullen as if she had received unfair treatment.

"Young Miss, my name is Henry and this is Ariana," Henry, the rescuer explained. Ava slowly exposed herself to the woman who seemed to brighten up the moment she saw her.

"Miss Ava," the woman pulled Ava to her embrace, giving her the warmth she craved for the whole night.

"Alright, we need to go. She needs to replenish her energy," Henry gently pulled Ava from Ariana's embrace and lifted her up. He then carried her on his back. Soon, two people were seen running in the forest, in which, one of them was carrying a child at his back.

Ava closed her eyes after taking in the whole area she was in. The rows of trees made her dizzy.

Ariana who was leading in front turned around. While running she asked, "Why isn't she talking? Is she okay?"

Henry frowned to see her running backward. "Please watch your step and look in front. What if there are enemies ahead?" he scolded before pressing further. "And don't go expecting a young girl to be as talkative as you after going through so much," he said.

"Moron! I'm just concern," Ariana battered. Henry smirked, mocking her. Ariana harrumphed before turning around to run properly. She wiggled her body to mock at the man running behind her.

Ava opened her eyes as she heard them bickering. She peeped from behind, only to see the squid dance Ariana was doing. It was too funny that it made her laugh a little. It was a burst of weak laughter but it gave comfort to the two people as it could also mean that she was alright.

"We are here," Henry declared as the appearance of a green jeep wrangler camouflaging behind the bushes came to sight. Ariana immediately took care of the things that hid the vehicles and opened the backseat to allow Henry to help Ava to sit. Then, she sat next to Ava and Henry took over the driving.

"Little Miss, you must eat this to replenish your energy. Then, eat this chocolate as snack and also this fruits to help your bowel system work properly and also this," Ariana shoved the mineral water to Ava's hand. She proceeded to explain what she needed to eat after and after. Henry who was listening from the driving seat could only shake his head.

"Thank you, Miss Ariana." Ava was confused about what to do but knew that it was proper to thank her.

"Aww," Ariana squealed. "Just call me sister Ari," she mentioned and then giggled as it was something she always wanted someone to call her.

"Thank you, sister Ari." Ava fulfilled her request and that send Arianna's to a higher realm of happiness.

"Brother Henry," Ava called after finishing a bottle of 500 ml water under the request of Arianna.

"Just call me Henry," Henry met Ava's eyes which was reflected in the front mirror. "Ah, you can call me brother too," he changed his mind after seeing the brown eyes of hers, clearly uncomfortable to call him simply by his name.

"May I know where we are going?" Ava asked before taking a bite on the food given by Ariana.

"Young Miss, here is your letter of acceptance to Glory Institution. That's where we're going," Henry opened the compartment between the driver and passenger seats and took a piece of white paper folded into three and passed them to Ava.

Ariana quickly grabbed the letter before Ava could do anything. "Don't waste your energy. Things like feeding you and taking stuff, leave them to me, your big sis," Ariana giggled as she kept the box of food that was now empty. Seeing Ava ate heartily at the food she made really made her happy.

"May I know, about the deal you have with my grandpa?" Ava asked after reading the letter of acceptance from Glory Institution. Somehow, she felt nostalgic as Zen's face popped in her mind. If he was here, he would be accepted too, without a doubt.

"I will explain," Ariana spoke. Henry clearly wasn't satisfied for he wanted to do the explanation. If he left it to Ariana then, the time it took would be longer than necessary.

"Old man! Just focus on driving and don't think about anything else," as if reading his mind, Ariana interrupted Henry's train of thought. The two proceed on with their silent argument which resulted in Henry to retreat in annoyance. Ava grinned at their antics.

"Young Miss, the moment you entered the Willow Residence, Grandmaster hired us to be your bodyguards. However, the Grandmaster strictly forbade us to appear in front of you-which something I dislike-I should be the one to take care of you and not Anna," Ariana started to explain and vent her dissatisfaction at the same time.

"And then, when Young Master Zen left the residence, we were also sent to oversea for training. A month after that, we received an instruction that when the GPS in the key is activated, we must under whatever situation come to your rescue-well, now that I think about it, Grandmaster seemed to know that you would be in danger,"

Henry sighed as he listened to Arianna's explanation. Her thoughts were also included. Ava, however, was finding the little anecdotes amusing. It helped her to form an analysis of the pair. That they were trustworthy.

"Miss Ava, the Grandmaster instructed to give this to you. Here," Ariana pulled a small white envelope from the fanny pack around her waist and gave them to Ava who in returned accepted it.

"How did my grandpa knew about this whole thing?" Ava didn't rush to read the note inside the envelope, instead, she continued asking to clarify the things in her mind.

"I'm sorry. In the email sent to us, there was no explanation or anything. Just an instruction," Ariana sighed as she also wanted to know what actually was happening to the Grandmaster of the Willow Household.

"Miss Ava, we are really sorry for not coming to your rescue sooner. And about Grandmaster too," Ariana lowered her head. No matter how much regret she felt, she was also not someone to blame and neither was Henry. Ava understood the matter well.

"You've done a good job rescuing me today. Thank you!" Ava was really thankful. No matter the time, they have changed her fate and made it possible for her to make a comeback. Although not sooner but surely. One day, she would be back and retrieve what belongs to her grandfather.

Ava unsealed the envelope and took out a normal A4 paper from inside, one that was cut to half.

'Dear Ava, do you remember the place we visited together with Zen in the countryside? The time when you splattered cold ice-cream on his blue and white T-shirt with his favorite number on it. That was grandpa's most favorite memories. One day, you should visit the place again. And bring the key with you. - Love, Grandpa.'

"That's it?" Ariana who was also reading the note was confused. She was expecting more details explanation of what Ava needed to do next. To her dismay, it was only reminiscing about the grandfather-granddaughter memories with Young Master Zen.

Ava, however, knew what it meant. The details it gave as well as the encouragement to do what she was planning to do in the future. She folded the paper and put it back inside the envelope. That was when a hand was pulling his head to rest on a shoulder.

"Sleep and rest, sis will wake you up once we reach Glory Institution," Ariana didn't ask further for the matter was exclusive to Ava. She was merely doing her job and her job was to take care of the girl and ensure that her safety was secured until they reached the institution.

Ava didn't refuse. She laid there comfortably and felt her eyes were getting heavier. The exhaustion finally hit her and for the first time since last night, she slept peacefully accompanied by a sweet memory of her and Zen wasting ice-cream on each other's clothes. Included, was the time Willow Sr. was scolding them for playing around with it.

Soon, a sweet smile decorated Ava's peaceful face.