Keep moving forward

“After all that, I woke up here. I’ve been staying with the goblins here for the past month.”

“*Munch Munch* Okay.”

While Whitney told me her story, Gregory was giving me meat to restore my bloodflow. It was kind of them to do that, although for me the meat tasted like blood. I was wrong, I killed so many innocent creatures for no reason. There’s no way I could’ve been wrong, my mind had all that information. I honestly saw goblins as the bad guys, that’s how things have always been right?

“Are you okay?”

Whitney noticed my pale expression, I swallowed the stewed beef dryly and gave her an excuse. In an attempt to alleviate my guilt I decided to entertain her story a bit.

“Hey Whitney, could you answer a few questions?”

“Sure thing.”

“First, how were you able to know about the parts you weren’t there to see?”

Everyone in the room went quiet, did I say something weird. Did no one else see that strange flashback sequence for the last couple chapters? Oh crap I just remembered, I’m the only one who knows this is a book. I’m about to blow my cover! I began wiggling around like I was light headed.

“Woooooo, this meat tastes good…”

“Poor girl lost too much blood, Gregory, keep it coming!”

Gregory kept roasting meat, after a few minutes of acting I pretended to get back to normal. I then asked more proper questions.

“So, did you ever overcome your trauma?”

“At first I wished I could die, but I had a good friend teach me how to live again.”

Whitney’s eyes began moving around a bit, and her face turned red. I was puzzled for a moment, then I noticed Doc was fidgeting around. I looked rapidly between the two of them, and then crossed eyes with Gregory. His smirk told me all I needed to know.

“Oh, so it’s like that.”

“Yeah, although these two are taking their sweet time.”

Whitney and Doc turned tomato red, the both of them began moving frantically.

“Wait, I’m only her doctor. We have a strictly plutonic relationship!”

“Yeah we’re just good friends, I haven’t even kissed hi- I mean I haven’t kissed anyone before!”

Gregory commented that they’d make a cute couple, leading the two to pounce on him. I went back to munching silently, I can’t believe I ruined these people. I thought back to the situation I brought on myself, the disgust I held towards them. When in reality, they really wanted to help me. I dropped my bowl and held my face, I couldn’t help but sob. Whitney was the first to address me.

“Opera, is it about what happened?”

“Why did I do something so terrible? How could I be so cruel?”

“Opera, it’s okay. It was just a fight or flight response.”

I was gonna say it, I was gonna admit my sins. I didn’t care if they would kill me, or toss me out on my ass. I didn’t care how much they would hate me, at that moment I wanted to be judged. However, Whitney’s next words stopped me.

“If you feel bad for your sins, then keep living.”

“”Sniff* What?”

“For years I blamed myself for my parents death, I felt worthless for not being able to avenge them. As an adult now, and after seeing them one last time, I realized what my problem was.”

Whitney moved towards me, her words hitting me like a drum.

“I wasted all that time loathing myself, when I should’ve used it to grow. My parents died so I could be better, I should’ve used that opportunity to be better.”

Whitney placed her hands on my shoulders and looked behind her right shoulder.

“The two girls in those beds back there are Penma and Kiara. If I spoke up I could’ve saved them, but instead I sat on it. That’s why ever since they showed up two weeks ago, I’ve been working my butt off to wake them up.”

Whitney looked at me, the strength in her eyes making me tremble.

“We can’t take back what we did Opera, we can’t become who we were before either. What we have to do now is make things right, do you understand?”

“...Yes, I understand Whitney.”

It was hard, but I looked her in the eyes and I told her I understood. I messed up big time, I took the lives of nineteen innocent people. So as they watch me, I’m gonna make up for each one. Whitney smiled seeing that I stopped crying, but soon both of us had a look of shock on our faces.

“When the hell did you get up?”

We froze as we noticed a shadow hanging over us, we both turned our heads only to see a woman with a lean build. Her mouth was salivating and she had the scariest look in her eyes.

“...Meat…”

Me and Whitney looked at each other and then back at her. We then held one another and screamed.

****

“What the hell’s going on?”

It’s been a week since Whiney went missing, and Stahn's been acting like everything’s fine. He knows something, I know he does. She didn’t notice, but I watched Whitney. She’s been looking into stuff, like how her dad used to. I guess the detective genes run in the family, but that’s what led to this. She went into the storage room after Stahn left, and when she came out she looked determined. However, the next day she didn’t come back. I decided to give it the benefit of a doubt, maybe she left town or it was all a misunderstanding, but Whitney wouldn’t leave without telling me.

I soon got my confirmation, there were strange men leaving her inn room and carrying her stuff. I was about to tell them to drop it, but that’s when I saw Stahn exiting the room with them. I hid around the corner and tried to overhear the conversation.

“Dammit, we’ve been had!”

“Looks like that lass protected her secrets more than we thought, we’ll send men to clean the room later.”

The robed men and Stahn split off, that happened an hour ago. As for what’s happening right now…

“Care to explain why you're doing this?”

“What did you do to Whitney! Why were you leaving her room with those men!”

I was holding Stahn against the wall, with his arms behind his back. The moment I confirmed I saw him, he trembled.

“Y-you saw me?”

“Yeah bum, now tell me where my friend is.”

I could feel the sweat flowing down his arms, despite that he tried to play it cool.

“Alright, I’ll talk, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

He told me to meet him in the Pewter Forest at midnight and tell no one. I kept my word, but I didn’t meet him. I met a group of those robed thugs.