40 Go away from here!

As soon as Lisa came back to her parents' house, Geena showered her with one question after the other, "What is going on? Why are all these things happening? Where's Nancy? Where is this Avon?" Lisa tried to dodge her questions by pretending to be tired, but Geena was still asking her questions. Lisa ignored her as she continued her climb up the stairs, Geena was right behind her. As she was about to enter her room, she turned around and said, "I'll explain everything to you, but after some time," after saying that, Lisa locked herself inside the room. While Geena kept banging the door from outside. Geena was at it, for a fair bit of time, beaten, she finally gave up and went downstairs. Once inside her room, Lisa was continuously trying to call Nancy but her phone was switched off. She was finding it difficult to keep hiding things from her family, she had no idea what she would be saying to them. She knew even if she could get away with lying to her parents, Geena was a different kettle of fish, she knew her more than anybody else. And if she learns about what went on behind her back, that too from someone else, it quite possibly could be her last day, she thought. Lisa told herself that no matter what, she would tell everything to Geena later in the night.

"I think, I should get going now, but where should I go? And which way?" As she was thinking to herself, Nancy came up with the usual conclusion. She closed her eyes and started walking in a circle. She opened her eyes, and was about to move in that direction when she heard some children screaming. Nancy ditched her plan and started running in that direction. When she reached there, she saw four kids about 8-10 years old, three boys and a girl. They were holding onto each other and screaming as an adult lion was slowly closing in on them. Nancy looked and saw some tennis ball-sized stones laying around her feet. She picked them up and walked in front of the lion, as a shield in front of the kids. But the kids ran up to her and clung on to her as they burst into tears, scared for their lives. The lion stopped for some time but then started moving towards them again. "Shhuuu!! Get lost! Go away from here!" But when the lion didn't stop and kept closing in, Nancy threw a couple of stones at it. One of those hit the lion on its head. That further infuriated it, as it jumped towards them with a roar.

Nancy covered the children with her arms and braced herself for the inevitable as she closed her eyes and clung onto them tightly. After what felt like an eternity but was only a couple of seconds, suddenly there was a loud "Thud!!" sound of something heavy falling to the ground. She could feel everything was extremely calm now, and no sign of a 500-pound lion pouncing on you to rip off your head. She looked behind her and saw the lion laying on the ground. Although it slowly got back to its feet, it looked wounded and gave them a final look before running away into the dense forest. Nancy couldn't understand anything, what happened? How did it happen? "At least, everything is fine," it involuntarily escaped her lips as she got up on her feet. When she looked around, there was nothing there.

When the kids noticed that the lion had run away for good, their teary eyes and wet cheeks soon filled with smiles and laughter as they were dancing around with joy. The kids were talking among themselves, but in a different language which Nancy was not able to understand. But she was afraid that the lion might come back or these kids could land themselves into some other trouble. Reluctantly, she asked, "Where is your house?" Now all of them were looking at her in amazement. And were asking her questions of their own but in their language. Although she wasn't able to communicate with them through a common language, she was an intelligent girl. Nancy started using hand gestures to communicate with them through sign language, the same sign language she learnt during her days in the orphanage. She pointed a finger towards herself and said "Nancy." When she looked at them and pointed the finger at herself, again. The kids said her name in unison. Nancy nodded her head in confirmation. Then she pointed her finger at the youngest boy and he said his name "Kia." And similarly, one by one each of them introduced themselves to Nancy. After getting acquainted with each other, Nancy raised her hands above her head and joined the tip of the fingers in an inverted pyramid, giving the sign for a house. Initially, they were looking at each other with confusion then, one of them with a smile on his face took her hand and started walking, as they began their journey to his house.

All the kids were moving fast towards their house, and Kia was holding Nancy's hand. In no time, they had almost reached the outer side of the forest. The forest was ending and the road to a beautiful village was beginning. Nancy had never seen such a beautiful village in her entire life.