Constant

OOC
This is just a story idea I had...I dunno if I'm gonna continue it yet, but I wanna post it for all y'all to read. Please don't steal, flame, or any of that...but I do hope you post and comment, it's no fun when no one posts.

IC
Constant: Chapter One

“I'm a Constant.

That’s to say, I’m always there…I never leave, and I never stray far from home. I’m a Constant, and that means never leaving, never going too far for too long, it mean’s being the reliable one, often the responsible one, the one who is always just…there.

It also means being the under appreciated one, the one they take for granted, the one that gets pushed aside for the more exciting Rares, or even the Uncommons. Being a Constant means constantly feeling like you’re being taken for granted and that no one is ever excited to see you. It means being there at other’s disposal, it means being the one person people can always go to…because you’re always there.

People say there are a lot of perks to being a Constant. You don’t feel like leaving, you’re content where you are, you’re always there and you’re never really lonely. But, there’s a lot of downsides to it as well. Like being forgotten…like not knowing what it’s like to be missed or knowing what it feels like when someone is excited to see you.

Why would they? You’re always there, they never have a chance to miss you.

I’ve always wondered…what it must be like, to be missed. To have people realize you aren’t there and feel…sad. I know, it sounds selfish to want to be missed. But…I haven’t ever been missed before, because I’ve just always been there. Is it really too much to ask, for just once…someone was excited to see me, that someone missed me? That-“

“Kenzie, are you writing in that journal again?”

“Ah-Arden, you startled me,” Kenzie said, nearly jumping out of her chair as she looked over at the other girl. Arden was a Common, which was the closest thing to being a Constant, she was around a lot, but not all the time…giving her the chance to be missed and to get a taste of what it was like, exploring the world beyond the village.

Arden folded her arms and gave Kenzie a pointed stare. “Startled you? Well maybe if you weren’t so wrapped up in that book, you would have noticed me coming. I wasn’t being quiet,” she stated before letting her stern look fade away as she looked over Kenzie’s shoulder in hopes of seeing what was written down. “What do you even write in there, anyways?”

Kenzie quickly closed her book and forced it behind her back as she stood up, back pressed against the desk. “Nothing..Just…My feelings,” she explained sheepishly as a hand was brought to cover the nape of her neck. Kenzie often found it impossible to share how she felt with others, if you weren’t a Constant, you just wouldn’t understand the love hate relationship with it.

Besides, it was the best way she could think of to express herself without breaking down in some way.

“Anyways, did you need something?” Kenzie asked in an attempt to change the subject off of her journal and to a different matter, like why Arden was here in the first place. That was a good place to start.

Arden broke out of her usual serious nature to grin. “Jesse is back.”

Kenzie felt a rush of excitement shoot through her and mirrored her friend’s grin. “He is? We haven’t seen him for months!” She said, letting out a small squeak of disbelief as she grabbed her cloak and followed Arden down the stairs and outside to where she could see a crowd gathering a few houses down. That must be him.

See that was the other thing about being a Constant, you always felt excited when someone came back, no matter if they were a Rare, an Unusual, an Uncommon, or a Common, because they were finally back, and as a Constant, you just couldn’t help but miss everyone. Even if they treated you poorly when coming back.

Kenzie smiled and started over to the crowd, catching the last bit of the conversation as she reached them, it was definitely Jesse, she could tell by the voice. He was in the middle of the group, talking about his explorations since they had last seen him.

“Arden! It’s great to see you, you weren’t around the last time I came here,” Jesse said as he welcomed Arden into his arms for a hug, pulling the small girl close, while Kenzie stayed in the back, watching for a few more seconds before she started over to him, weaving her way among the crowd of people.

“Hi Jesse,” Kenzie greeted once she had made it to the front of the group, looking the Unusual over with a smile. He looked good, minus a few additional scars that had appeared on his shoulders.

Jesse looked over at her, giving it a moment before he smiled. “Hey there Kenzie, how’s our Constant doing?” He questioned absentmindedly, though he didn’t give her much time to answer him before he had moved on, thus shutting her out of the conversation to pull back the group into one of his thrilling adventures.

Kenzie didn’t mind, it had happened to her many time before, why would anyone be excited to see her, when she was always there? They could visit her anytime they wanted…It was just sometimes…upsetting, that even when people went away, they came back and didn’t miss her.

She wasn’t the only Constant in the village, there were three more. Aidan, Bex, and Tomas, they were the four Constants in the village. See, most people were Commons, then Uncommons were fairly common around here as well. Constants, despite always being there, were often few in number, just because there were such few people out there that never left.

Kenzie sighed and slowly let herself fade away back to the back of the crowd, watching as the group crowded around the raven haired man as he continued on with his thrilling tales of adventures away from their village.

Her shoulders dropped as she watched, eyes slowly trailing down to the dirt road. Kenzie tried not to let it get to her, but sometimes…sometimes it was hard, she didn’t regret being a Constant, for she knew it was who she was, but that didn’t mean that she liked being so easily forgotten or shoved aside. The others didn’t really get it…well, besides the other Constants, they knew how she felt because they felt the same.

Maybe she just needed a walk to clear her head. After all, she should be happy, Jesse was back, and hopefully he would stick around for a few days before leaving again, it was a happy occasion and she should feel…happy.

Yet instead she just felt more down than ever.

Kenzie turned around and took a few steps away, glancing back to see if anyone had noticed her absence yet…no, though she only had moved a few steps. They wouldn’t miss her if she went for a short walk, they never missed her. So with that she turned back to the road ahead of her and continued her walk, careful to avoid the mud puddle, she really didn’t want to get her dress wet.

Her walk wasn’t long, she only planned on walking around the village, to the edge of the path where it lead into the woods. She never strayed that far though. Woods lead to adventures, and Constants didn’t have adventures like that. They had…domestic adventures, like…Tomas’ chicken got loose and they had to chase her all throughout the village.

Adventures like that.

Constants didn’t have adventures like the others had the opportunity to have, they didn’t go and fight sea serpents or help an oppressed village of vampires…why, Kenzie hadn’t even met anything that wasn’t human or a common village animal. Their village was to far out and enclosed to really have any adventurers pass through…unless they had started out here before.

Some people said that Constants just weren’t brave enough to leave, that they feared leaving home behind…Sadly apart of that was true, it was natural for Constants to love home, they had no need to go exploring, and they were often afraid of the idea.

Kenzie shook her head, trying to clear it as she finally reached the end of the path and let out a sigh, turning on her heels to head back the way she came and see if Jesse still had his crowd of people to listen to his stories and adventures.

However, as soon as she turned around, a loud wail like scream echoed from the forest and Kenzie stood frozen, unsure if she had really heard what she thought she had, but then a second scream shook and she knew that that was exactly what she had heard.

Kenzie glanced back to the woods, her stomach lurching in uncomfortable ways as she looked back to the village, it seemed everyone else was too far away to have heard…She should go tell them that there was someone in trouble.

But then…it might be too late.

Kenzie didn’t move from her spot, fear filling her body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, she couldn’t really be considering what she was thinking, could she? No. Of course not, Kenzie didn’t leave the village, this was as far as she went…

Then another scream hit her ears and she swerved around completely to face the looming trees that suddenly seemed far more terrifying than they ever had before. Whoever it was in there…they couldn’t be too far away, and…and any good person would help.

So, she held her breath and placed a foot into the forest. Kenzie waited, as if expecting something crazy to happen to her just like that, but nothing happened and she exhaled before taking another step in.

Then another, and another, and another until she was a few feet inside the woods. The girl looked back the way she came, tempted to turn back before she shook her head. No, she was going to help whoever was screaming and then she was going back.

So with that, she took off at top speed towards the scream.

The problem was…she was running too fast, and she tripped over her cloak, and then she fell into a bush that hid a hill behind it, which meant she started down the hill despite her best efforts to stop, and by the time she was at the bottom of the hill, she was a mess, covered in dirt and mud and twigs and leafs.

Kenzie sniffed, trying not to the pain get to her as she stood up on shaking feet. “H-hello?” She called out, hoping maybe someone was nearby, maybe they could help her and the screaming person too….

Just then a large shadow cast over her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, fear prickling down her spine, something was behind her. Kenzie took a breath in hopes of staying calm, and then…she bolted for it.

Sadly she didn’t get far, as a long arm reached out and grabbed her by the hood of her cloak, pulling her up by it and turning it around so that she was forced to look at whatever it was that had grabbed her. It was a large, bird like humanoid creature, covered in a long black feathered cloak, standing at least at ten feet tall, with dark, large, sunken eyes and a white feathered face, much like a bird, yet instead of a beak, it had a mouth, and a large decorative beak above it, like it was part of an incomplete mask.

A large, owl like face greeted her, and then the thing gave a smile, one that sent chills down the poor girl’s spine. “Hello,” it replied and Kenzie gulped, as she had gotten the feeling that she was very much in trouble.