Chapter 2:
Two Connected Souls
Ready to depart from my room through my window, I look back one last time as my glance shifts around my dark room. I wasn’t looking for something or someone. I was simply reminiscing on how much time I spent in this room and wondered if my life had any purpose. The nights I stayed up reading my favorite manga, my wall enveloped with all my paintings, and of course my TV which I wished I had the friends to share it with. My room was always perfect because in my head I would imagine non-existent friends coming over, and we’d watch movies, play games, gossip, and we’d have the best of time. Pathetic, right?... I shook my head in disbelief and set my gaze back to the window. I slid open the chilled window and began to climb out. My house is two stories, but my bedroom is on the first floor, so I didn’t need a ladder or some rope. Thankfully I didn’t have to become Indiana Jones. I began walking to the forest. I debated whether this was a good idea anymore. Who am I kidding, this was never a good idea. Though, maybe I should have left during sunrise instead of sunset...I’m a frail girl and not too tall, about 5 '2. Meaning, that I'm an easy target for snatching. But the same thought overcame me from earlier. What purpose does my life have? If I went missing, would anyone know? Would anyone come looking for me?
I’m scared to know the answer to that.
I continued to walk till I approached the horizon of the forest. Nothing but tall, old, oak trees from as far as the eye can see. My house is about 50ft behind me, and the next nearest house is in front of my house, so about 100ft away. It was just me, and the forest. I couldn’t even hear the cicadas anymore, which was weird…because I always heard them. With one foot in front of the other I entered the forest. At first glance the forest was a forest, but as soon as I entered the pull on the red string was relieved a bit, like the constant feeling of nausea which overwhelmed me for the past few days was finally starting to go away. It almost made me want to sprint to relieve this feeling even more, but I kept my composure. I sorta felt special for once in my life, I had an internal GPS of this forest that only I seemed to have. At this point I was about 30 minutes into my walk, the sun had completely set, and I had pulled out my flashlight, in all actuality I had no idea where I was going, yeah, I had an internal GPS, but what if I was just imagining it? Maybe after all these years of loneliness I've finally gone insane, wouldn’t be surprised. All of a sudden, a brisk of air came out of nowhere. I stopped in my tracks because of it, and that's when I finally heard something.
Someone was here.
I had no idea who, or what. All I could hear were the sounds of leaves being crushed as if hundreds of people were walking all around me. From the front, left, and right of me. There was also a high-pitched sound, it sounded like a flute?... No, it sounded like a bird call? A mixture of both? I had no idea what it was, but whatever it was, was enough to almost make me scream, the echoing of this sound made it seem as if a whole orchestra was present in this forest. I fell to my knees with my hands covering my ears, trying my best to block the sound out. My head was pounding and my ears felt like they were bleeding -
Maybe they were, but I couldn't move my hands to tell.
This went on for what felt like an eternity, I have no idea how long it actually went on for, but the next thing I knew I was waking up. I guess I had passed out and when I came to, my head was spinning, and I had a splitting migraine. When I regained my composure, and my mind began to register where I was and what I saw, my heart sank. I blank a few times just to make sure if what I was seeing was correct and to make matters worse -
I was sitting with my wrists tied together behind an old pole stuck in the ground. Like I was some sacrifice.
I tried ever so slightly to break free and not alert my captors, but every time I tried to wiggle my wrists out the rope, they would get caught on wooden pole edging splinters deep into the skin around my wrists.
I wanted to cry from the pain. Or maybe cry about the whole situation.
Whatever I wanted to cry about, I did. It was all I could do; I had no escape, and it was then I realized I didn't want to die. The situation left me in a fraught state. It was then that my captors came up to me realizing I had awoken. I looked up as one of them spoke.
"We thought you'd never wake up. We're glad you did."
My first thought was if I was a guest I wouldn't be tied up. With tears still falling from my eyes I ask,
Why am I here? What do you want? Were you the ones who made me faint?
He spoke, "Woah. That's a lot of questions. But in short, yes, we're the ones who knocked you out with our hand flutes. Your here for the same exact reason we bring all straggling elf descents here. You're going to help us."
Help them? What does he mean? Elf descent? I have so many questions. Is this where all the missing people end up?! All I could do was look at the ground in distress.
He spoke, "Ah right. You must be confuzzled. You elf descents are all the same when you first wake up here stumbling into our territory. I am not going to explain, there is no point. Once you help us, we'll kill you."
Kill?!...I'm going to be killed.? No. Not yet! There are still so many things I haven't done! All I could do was panic. Wide eyed, the tears fall faster. I could feel my chest contracting deeper, my breaths getting more shallow but rapid. I bet I looked pitiful.
My breathing was in shambles, which made me panic even more.
He spoke with an annoyed face, "Ah shoot! I think I broke her!" His buddies surrounded me and another one spoke, "Dammit Wilhelm! You always break them! Now we'll have to kill her without getting any help from her! You know how long it'll take for another elf descent to stumble here? Sometimes years, you idiot!" Wilhelm spoke, "I forget these elf descents are so sensitive alright!" The other one spoke again, "Just clean up here, I'm going to bed." Wilhelm spoke, "Yessir."
I think at that moment I had already come to the realization that I was about to die, but I didn't accept it. I was still hyperventilating. Was I really going to die?..
Wilhelm spoke, "You don't have to worry, we have a grave all set up for you."
A grave?.. How was that supposed to make me feel any better?! At this point I was a mess. I'm pretty sure I sprained my wrist from trying to escape, I have splinters in my wrist, and I'm covered in mud, bruises and cuts. I tried to calm myself down, but how was I supposed to, knowing that I was about to die a miserable death. To make matters worse, I'm going to be buried in some village in the woods. Why the heck did I leave my room! I watch as Wilhelm goes to grab a battle ax.
I was going to die a painful death.
Wilhelm approaches me standing horizontal to me, ready to swing the ax and chop me in half. I'm still hyperventilating, and I've broken out in a sweat. All I could do was stare past the ax looking at the ground. He finally goes to swing the ax. I can see it visibly in swing like it's going in slow motion and then my head pulsates. Just once. But something changed. I wasn't hyperventilating anymore. It was like I was in my own world, and I had all control. I pulled on the rope interlocking my wrists together and they snapped almost instantly. What changed? I quickly got up and walked adjacent to Wilhelm, getting out of range from his ax. Then time came back to a normal continuum. Wilhelm swung the ax into the pole. Now that I was standing upright and got a more visible sight of the pole, I could see the previous marks from the ax and blood. How many people have died in this same exact spot?.. I felt sick to my stomach. Once Wilhem swung his ax he was taken aback, wide eyed. His eyes slowly adjusted to the right of him, where I was standing. I was just as wide eyed. I raised both my hands, staring at them. Not at the splinters or cuts or bruises. But I was intaking what power possessed me just now. What power I held in my hands.
Wilhelm spoke, "Hey...what the heck did you just do."
I couldn't answer him. I didn't know, myself. But what I did know was that I needed to start running.
And then I realized...My star locket is gone. No! NO! NO! WHERE IS IT?!
I place my hand on my chest where my necklace usually resides.
Wilhelm speaks as he begins to pull something out of his pocket, "Looking for this?" as he smirks. "This seems like quite the valuable. I think I'll get a hefty amount of gold for it. It's mine now."
Crap! What the heck could I do? I stood no chance! I'm sorry Grandma, but I think you'd agree with me that survival was more important. With every fiber of my being that it took for me to turn away, I ran. I ran as fast as I could, leaving everything I had behind. Right now, I was only thinking about how I was going to get out of here. Wherever I was. And for some reason, Wilhelm didn't chase me. Nor did any of the rest of them. Why? I'm grateful they didn't but what were they planning, if anything? I shook my head and continued to run, but my body was in no condition to run, and yet I still ran. Every step I took would send shockwaves of pain throughout my whole body; how long would I last? I think I ran/walked for a good hour before I finally collapsed. Throughout that run/walk I saw nothing, no one. Maybe that was for the best, but I didn't want to sleep.
I was scared I wouldn't wake up.
In the end I ended up leaning against a tree and passing out, and by this time the sun began to rise.
Please log in to leave a comment.