Monachi: Masters of Water and Fire (2 page)

One of the men spoke up. “We can hear
you pounding, but can’t hear what you’re saying.
Sorry.”

So in the back of the van we sat. “At least
we have a bit of privacy,” Penny said, attempting
to brighten up the mood.

Tess put one arm around me, to comfort
me. We were all in for a bumpy ride. “Well at
least
you
didn’t start your hair on fire in front of
everyone. You know, you can never go back to
school,” Tess said sourly.

I snickered. If you ever want to make a joke
out of any problem, trust Tess to do it.
“Well, what else can you do?” asked
Penny, anxiously.
“I really don’t know,” Tess muttered. “My
hair just started on fire because I was mad, I
guess. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Well, maybe if they get you mad again
you’ll do something different,” replied Penny.
The van seemed to pick up speed, and then
took a few sharp turns that threw us around the
back.
Then, it felt like it drove over
some
potholes, knocking us around
again. T
hen, all of a
sudden we came to a screeching halt.

The men jumped out and opened the back
doors. Were we
picking up
more
innocent
children? I looked outside. There was a sign that
read
“Indian Creek
Reservoir.”
“What are we
stopping for?” Penny asked politely.

“Pit stop. But don’t get excited, you’re not
getting out. I hope you girls are good at holding it
because
your next bathroom break isn’t until
Washington D.C.,” Rodger declared.

Carson
went into the
gas station while
Rodger waited outside the van doors for him to
come back. “I hate these guys already,” I
grumbled.

All of a sudden we heard Carson come
back and Rodger leave. As soon as Rodger was
inside the building, Carson swung open the door
and tossed us each a bag of chips and a bottle of
water. “Dinner, eat up!” he laughed. “Save some
for breakfast too, because that’s it.”

He was getting on my nerves.
“Um…, Maddy what are you doing?” Tess
asked. I didn’t know what she meant until I
looked at my water bottle and saw it shaking. All
of a sudden, the lid on my water bottle popped,
and water came shooting out directly towards
Carson. I didn’t quite know what I was doing
until it was covering his mouth, drowning him.
Seeing this through the window, Rodger came
running out of the gas station to help his friend.
Tess shook me vigorously and I lost focus. The
water fell from his nose and mouth and onto the
pavement. Rodger slammed the back door on us
and climbed up front.
When we started to
move again, Tess
poured about one-fourth of her water bottle into
mine. Penny did the same thing. I told both of
them, “Thanks.” That was kind of them.
“You guys are
too
cool
. I
wish
I
was
a
Monachi,
” Penny remarked.
After about three or four hours of silence,
Tess looked at her watch. It was 9:55 PM. Penny
yawned. The van came to another halt. Another
bathroom break? We sat in the back of the van
completely still. Rodger swung the doors open
and threw a box in the back and slammed the
door quickly.
I crawled over to the box and opened it. It
had three pillows and
three sleeping
bags. I
tossed the red set to Tess, the yellow
one to
Penny, and I used the blue set.
The back of the
van was surprisingly
roomy. Tess sat nearest to the door, then me in
the middle, and Penny in the back.
Penny crawled into her sleeping bag and
fell asleep immediately. Tess laid down sprawled
across the floor. “Since when was it decided that
it is against the law to be different?” Tess asked
herself. A question we knew neither of us could
answer.
Tess crawled into her sleeping bag half an
hour later. “At least I can escape to my dreams,”
she said to herself. She turned to her side and
began to cry, silently. I could tell she was crying
because she kept sniffling and wiping her face.
Ever since I’ve known Tess, she’d cry herself to
sleep.
Sometimes
she
just
got
temporary
melancholia, or a feeling of sadness without a
cause. But this had a cause. When she finally did
fall asleep. I looked at Tess’s watch. It displayed
1:05 AM.

I
crawled into my
sleeping bag
and
started
thinking about all kinds of things, particularly the
times that my friends and I had been teased or
bullied in the past; in school
or
just in our
neighborhood while playing or walking to school.
Being in the situation we are in right now, feels
just as bad.

Remember
when I
said that I’d explain
later - why Tess would know
that kind of mystical
stuff
? Well, here’s the later.

Ok, so it’s kind of simple, and obvious. She
believes in
that kind of stuff
.
Ok, so maybe not so obvious. But maybe
you already guessed that. Tess loves to look that
kind of stuff up. It’s an odd hobby, but hey, at
least it’s something.
Sometimes people tease Tess for believing
in that kind of stuff, but Tess isn’t the type to let it
get to
her. She just laughs it off. Imagine
if
someone started teasing you about your favorite
hobby.
Even if you get teased right now,
be a Tess
.
Laugh it off. Most people just tease to look cool or
make people laugh. Laugh with them. Ignoring
those kinds of people works too; once they see it
doesn’t bother you, they’ll eventually stop.
And if you’re the bully, then you need to
stop bullying. It’s not funny.
A quote from
someone who has been
bullied:

“I really dislike being hated…reading your
hate mail…and how you say I'm going to
hell… you don't know me, my problems,
and how much I hurt. You don't know how
much your words hurt me… you don't
know how much your actions torture me…
you don't know…you just don't know.”

I
woke up at 10:15
a.m., eyes blinking
rapidly. I sat up and looked around. Penny was
packing up her sleeping bag and pillow. Tess was
still sleeping like a log.

Penny noticed that I was awake. “Good
morning, how’d you sleep?” she asked with a
grin. Penny was cheerful, despite what was
happening.

“Pretty good, how about you, did you sleep
well?” I questioned her.
“As well as Tess is,” she stated; we both
gave Tess a glare. Sleeping like a log.
After I packed up my stuff and put it in the
box next to Penny’s stuff, Tess yawned and sat up
with a stretch. “Good morning sunshine,” Penny
told her.
“Shut up!” Tess snapped. She was not a
morning person. With clenched fists, she threw
her arms up in the air, screamed, and then threw
herself back down.
Someone needs to tell her that it’s 12:00 in
the afternoon, and it’s time to get her lazy butt
up. But instead, we stayed silent and let her sleep
another half hour. When she finally did get up,
she packed up her stuff.
At about 3:30
p.m.
we stopped for
a
bathroom break. Rodger opened the back doors
to let in some fresh air. Tess gasped. The last time
we got a good look outside, we were still in
Idaho. This was completely different. “Where are
we?” I asked Rodger.
“We are about two hours away from our
destination,” he replied.
When Carson came to switch with Rodger,
he looked at us. He stared at Tess for a long time.
I heard Tess mumbling to herself, “I wish
The
Doctor
could come and take me away.”
Carsonsmiled. “Well sweetie, you’re out of
luck,” he laughed.
Tess is easily set off. She yelled “SHUT
UP!” and this time small flames, like a candle’s
flame, shot out of her hands and at his face.
Whoa! Carson, who just barely dodged Tess’s fire
by inches, slammed the doors shut.
Tess threw herself down and pounded the
floor as hard as she could. Believe it or not, after
that, her hand set ablaze, as did her other hand.
Carson peeked through the window and yelled,
“Luckily
Monachi’s
only have three powers.”
Tess thought
“Three powers?”
and looked at
her hands. “Crap, why didn’t I ever do this to my
homework?” she asked herself.
Penny laughed.
Tess blew her fists out.
When we set on our way again, I started
getting nervous. What would happen
to us?
Dissection? Execution? Tests?
I began to bite my nails. It was a habit I
never grew out of. I usually have a rubber band
on my wrist to snap every time I do it.
The van came to a sudden stop. “Welcome
to hell,” Tess muttered to herself. I looked outside
to find a sign that actually said that. Well, it said
‘welcome,’ but someone spray painted the other
part.
The back doors swung open and there was
a bright light, like we were going to the afterlife.
“C’mon then, get out!” yelled Carson. We all sat
still, refusing his command. He grabbed Penny’s
hair, “Move it along!”
Well that pissed me off. I hoped something
would happen to Carson that could kill him, or at
least maim him. I raised a hand;

Carson
chuckled, which
made
me
even
more pissed off. All of a sudden, a ball of water
the size of a soccer ball formed in front of my
hand, and shot over at Carson. He fell and started
choking. Tess
laughed, and clapped; “Bravo
Maddy! Best trick of all.”

Penny started clapping too. She kicked
Carson, who was
still choking. “Clap, you
buffoon!”