ONE; Deep in the forest.

 

 

“Quiet Ryan, I won’t let you scare it away again,” I whispered to my best friend.

We'd known each other for as long as I could remember, since we were in diapers, I think. And we always went out hunting together.

We were chasing after a game, this is what I did most of the time in my daily life. We used it as food for both my family and Ryan’s, because like I said, we’ve known each other for a long time. We were more like one family, except we had different parents. And our parents had been friends for as long as they could remember. That’s how things were in my world. We knew things, and we did things; some just happened to be there and others were just routines. Didn’t matter how they started, or how they happened to be there. We just did what we always did, and knew what we always knew.

“Whatever you say boss.” He whispered back.

Don’t take him seriously, I wasn’t really his boss. He said that because he was trying to be sarcastic, his usual behavior or I might say that’s his humor.

We moved slowly towards the deer, which was eating grasses tentatively while propelling its head from side to side to make sure it wasn’t being followed. The bush was thick with lots of trees and over grown grasses that covered our vision, and made it hard for us to see and move swiftly. Eventually after sometime, we came to a spot that was perfect for a shot.

But then suddenly, when it was quiet and my target was clear to take a shot, we heard a snap of a branch, a dry one; so it was pretty loud. It chased my one and only kill I had for the day. I was pretty pissed at Ryan at first because I thought it was him. He always had lousy footsteps.

“I told you not to move. It’s gone, are you happy now?” I blurted out on him, I just couldn’t help but get extremely furious at him. Now we were going to have to trap some birds or rabbit, instead of a whole week meal. All congratulations to him.

“It wasn’t me, I swear.” He pleaded. And I believed him right away, which made my anger vanish instantly. Among things Ryan wasn’t, was being a liar. He never lied to me, ever. So I was left with no choice but to believe him.

“Let’s find out,” I suggested as we were heading to the right side where the sound came from.

We didn’t rush to it because we did not know what it was; for all we know in bushes like this you might find all sorts of things. Cautiously, carefully and slowly we walked past the trees as we used them as our cover approaching our target. It was so much quiet now, almost like there was nothing; the only sound was of my feet on the ground, moving as quietly as possible.

Something was different though: it wasn’t supposed to be this quiet, there was no wind, no birds screeching and trees were still, like they were frozen.

It was morning, just after sunrise, and I was used to hear birds singing and trees branches moving frantically with wind blows; but now everything stopped moving. I couldn’t feel that smooth, cold and fresh air that always caressed my skin whenever I went hunting.

Something was seriously off today. I didn’t know what it was, but I was going to find out. I was forward and Ryan was following close behind me; and I could tell that all his nerves were activated. He sensed the same thing I did, and he had never been very good with danger, as a matter of fact, he always stayed away from it. But I’m always the one who drags him into it.

I think today was one of those days. The quietness and stillness of the environment, and the dryness of the air was a sign. It was a sign that it was something major, something big. And unlike Ryan, I on the other hand, the bigger the danger the more exciting it’s gonna be.

As we approached closer and closer, we started to see something glowing. The sun was covered by the trees, so we couldn’t say it was because of the sun.

It was something foreign, new and hadn’t seen before in my life. It was bright, white light; it couldn’t be a lamp and it couldn’t be fire either. The light was unusually bright, even the brightness of morning couldn’t dim it; it was clear and strongly lit.

I was very curious; in my mind, it was going to be the best hunt ever. Some kind of unicorn or some unique animal, which was going to wash out all our poverty. But before I could prepare my arrow for a shot, to shoot whatever that was waiting couple feet away. Ryan put his hand on my shoulder, showing some kind of sign that it wasn’t a game, but something else.

I put back the arrow which I was about to remove from the sheath. Then I looked forward, only to be taken aback with the view. We started to see a white dress, actually a glowing white dress; a wedding dress to be specific. It seemed to have a body under it, I mean someone was wearing it.

The question was; why was a bride hiding in the forest? Where the hell did she come from? Who the hell was she? And why was she lying down, was she dead? Who on earth will kill a bride and why? Well, questions kept flowing in my mind while we were standing right where we were, about eight to ten feet away from the body.

Her face was covered with grass; her feet were covered by the dress and her hands were tucked under her body. The only thing we could see was her dress.

There was no way the knights were going to find her in a place like this. Yes, we live in a kingdom, and we have a king, even though I’ve never seen or heard him in all nineteen years of my life. It was up to us to help her. I was hoping and praying that she’d still be alive. I was in condition of taking a corpse home. My parents would kill me for sure, together with the corpse; they are not cruel people, but they’ll do it because I know the kingdom’s rules and going against them will bring trouble to all of us.

My parents, my younger twin siblings: a boy and a girl, and myself; also to Ryan’s family too. Well, the kingdom doesn’t accept strangers, until they are reported and registered as new citizens. Finding a corpse is a lot more complicated; the only action taken, they throw you in the dungeon first, while investigating on the murder. Because you’ll be the first suspect.

That’s why I was praying for her to be alive. And there was one way of finding out; going over to where she was and check on her. And since now we knew it was a human, we didn’t need to move cautiously anymore, despite her unusual remarks, she still needed help and we were the only people in the area.

And when we got there, she was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Her face, her eyes, her mouth, her nose and her hairs; were like a very well created portrait and the glowing made her even more beautiful.

She had a long face with perfect jawlines and cheekbones; her eyes had long eye lashes and thick pitch black eye brows; she had small red lips that were well formed; her nose was long and straight and curved perfectly. Her hairs were long and pitch black, just like her eye brows and eye lashes. In short so far, she was the prettiest being I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Is it possible that we are looking at an angel right now?” Ryan asked amazement playing on his face, eyes wide open, almost out of their socket. Whom I’d long forgotten was with me.

“She is not an angel. She is a girl, prettiest girl in the land. And she needs our help,” it’s not that I don’t believe in angels, I do. But this girl was not an angel, I could see blood pulsing in her veins from her neck, and that was a proof enough that she

was a human, “come on, let see if she can wake up.” I suggested as I moved towards the girl to wake her up.

I got on one knee and tried to pull her up, but right at the moment I put my hand on her a huge blow of wind washed over us and took the light with it and almost made us fall. It was not a normal wind, it was strong and warm, and it ended in an instant like it was never there, within seconds it was gone. The girl wasn’t glowing anymore, she was just a beautiful girl lying on the ground.

Her beauty was enchanting and her complexion was like nothing I’d ever seen. It was compelling; I couldn’t help but caress her face and see how it felt like. Her skin was cold, but not much, and soft, very soft. But unexpectedly, out of nowhere she leaned on my hand, and out of panicky I removed it quickly.

I assumed she confused my hand with somebody else’s. But suddenly she seemed to come to her senses and her eyes were shot open. They were gray and very attractive, that’s how I could see them; she looked around and the first person her eyes rested on was me. She looked like someone who had been asleep, rather than unconscious. She moved her hands and brought them to her face and looked at them; she had very beautiful fingers and finger nails too, kind of hands I would’ve liked to caress my face. Then she moved her legs like she was testing if they could move. After that she looked at me again and then Ryan, who was still puzzled and amazed with the whole situation.

“Where am I?” she asked softly. Her voice was soft and captivating; neither Ryan nor I could answer the question right away. I didn’t answer the question because I was wondering what this being that was in front of me was. She had no flaws, she was almost perfect; but then I came to my senses.

“Oh, you are in the forest, as you can see.” I replied, and I couldn’t tell if I was trying to be sarcastic or charming, the words just came out of my mouth.

“I mean, which country?” she asked again, irritated this time. So much for first impression.

“You are in the northern kingdom of seven kings of imperial king Julius, if that is what you wanted to know.” I replied, a little annoyed with her attitude.

She pulled herself to sit, “okay! A kingdom, that’s real!” she looked confused and surprised and amused at the same time. It seemed like the word kingdom was somehow new to her, something she didn’t think was an actual thing.

“I’m Ryan and that’s my friend Peter.” Out of nowhere Ryan introduced us to her. I didn’t mind him doing that, but I wasn’t comfortable with it; you can’t just introduce yourself to a total stranger you found in the forest, doesn’t matter her beauty.

“And I’m Lexa, nice to meet you.” She responded. Her accent was different too from the one we were used to. She talked differently, her words were formed differently; everything about this girl was different.

She attempted to get up but failed, so I helped her up. When I put my hand around her to pull her up she looked at me, and the strangest thing happened, she seemed like she was looking in my soul with her unbreakable gaze, and I was completely trapped with it until she pulled away. It was strange and weird, I know; but that’s how it happened. I felt a pull and attraction towards her, like she was someone I was meant to meet. Like my future was with her, it’s crazy, and I knew it was. But I couldn’t help it, she activated something in me and I didn’t know what it was.

And even after letting her go, her gaze still lingered in my mind and the emotions I felt. I kept watching her heading to a random direction in the woods, Ryan tailing her. I followed her too, she walked elegantly and graciously and calmly while pulling up her wedding dress.

“I’m not sure if you know where you are going?” Ryan said as he was walking by her side.

“I don’t, everything is different here.” She admitted and pivoted to look at him shortly after a halt.

“Yah, that’s because you are not where you used to be, this is a different place; so you’ll have to follow us instead.” Ryan explained to her and started to head the different direction towards home which was east side of the forest.

We started our long journey back home. The girl kept walking with Ryan and not even once did she speak to me. I didn’t know why though or was it because she saw something in me when she looked at me! I couldn’t tell, but there was something strange about her.

When she was walking she seemed to be wondering, like she had never seen trees before, like that was the first time she was in the forest. She didn’t talk much maybe because we were strangers to her and she was still uncomfortable around us.

“Peter, you know we can’t take her to the village like this, right?” Ryan asked, and he had a point people would notice that she was a stranger.

“Yah, right. What should we do? We can’t tell her to take her clothes off.” I wondered in confusion.

“Of course not,” Ryan refused quickly.

As we were talking the girl was couple feet ahead of us, so she couldn’t hear what we were talking about. We stopped for a while thinking of a way we would use to conceal her from being recognized with people. If she had normal clothes it could have been so much easier, but she was wearing a white wedding dress; it’s hard for people to miss that.

So what were we going to do then? For a second we didn’t have an answer but then, an idea hit me. Because it was cold in the morning we came with cloaks and that was good enough to cover her, even though it wouldn’t cover her completely at least it was going to make her less suspicious. We followed her afterwards and I offered her mine. Without a word she took it and put it on, somehow I felt like I did something wrong to her, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Soon after, we started moving on, and still the girl was cold towards me. She asked Ryan couple questions about us and our families, and in an instant they became friends. I felt envy of Ryan because the girl chose him over me, I wanted to be her friend too. I had lots of questions to ask her. But she preferred my friend instead; and after finishing questions we were quiet again. I couldn’t peel my eyes off of her, even though she was on the other side beside Ryan. And that made Ryan shoot me couple questioning looks, like he was asking, what are you doing? But I couldn’t help it, I wanted to figure her out; what she was doing in the forest. And if she was lost, how could she get there in the first place. Her whole presence in general didn’t make sense, it was completely random and I wanted to know why.

After a while of walking we finally came to a rough road leading to the kingdom and my home village. And meeting with the patrolling guards was an unavoidable because it was still morning. This was the time they were going home after a night long of patrolling the boarders, chances of us passing through safely, were light, very light; considering the kind of girl she was, her appearance could make it hard for the guards to ignore her.

We walked for couple miles and it was quiet almost like nothing was going to happen, and I almost thought like we were going to make it to the village safely. But all over sudden we started to hear horses approaching from a distance which was a sign of danger.

“Should we run?” Ryan asked.

Thinking about it, it could’ve been useful if we were close to home but we weren’t; and running now would only rise suspicions from them, so running was not an option. We needed to face them like we always did before we met her.

“No, we won’t.” I replied confidently.

We walked quietly alongside the road waiting for them to reach us, and in couple minutes later they did.

“Halt.” The captain shouted and I knew he was talking to us, so we stopped on our tracks.

“Morning captain.” I greeted him like any other day, proving to him that nothing was different today.

“Look, if it isn’t the son of the baker. What are you doing out here this early in the morning? And I see you have someone else with you today.” He said charmingly, seemed like today he had a good mood and that reduced the risk of us and the girl getting in trouble.

“Ryan is always with me.” I twisted his words a little while I knew he was talking about the girl, and that wasn’t a good idea at all.

“I’m talking about the girl, boy. Who is she? Or is she an outsider?” suddenly he was wearing a whole new expression on his face, rage.

“Oh no, she is Ryan’s sister-in-law. We were showing her around.” I said quickly, before things could blow up on my face.

He laughed with his heavy voice, I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not but it didn’t matter, “that’s good news then, tell Ryan’s brother that’s quite a piece he got there; he should keep her. Come on let’s go boys.” He commanded his followers and in no time they were out of our sight.

All of us sighed loudly after they’d disappeared, that was a close one. It’s a good thing people respect marriages in our society, probably that’s why the captain and his people left right away after hearing she was already taken. It was a special occasion, sacred even, so no one tempered with a woman who’s already claimed, ever. There was even a rule for people who disrespected it. All in all we were safe, that’s all mattered; about lying to one of the captains of the king that was another matter I was going to deal with some other time.

“Sister-in-law, seriously Peter.” Ryan spouted, he seemed utterly annoyed by it and I had no idea why.

“I had no other choice. And you know that so just relax okay. It’s not even true.” I said calmly, knowing that he was going to calm down in matter of seconds. He had no strength to stay angry at me for long that was his nature.

“Whatever.” He pouted in defeat,

The girl didn’t show any reaction to what I said, I guess maybe she didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad; and we didn’t know where she came from maybe marriages weren’t as important as to our home or maybe she was a good actress; but still I couldn’t find the answer for her calmness. She was just too mysterious, and I couldn’t ask her anything.

I was very curious about her past and her life. Actually, I wanted to know everything about her, her family, her home, her life style; about the guy she was going to marry. I bet he must have been very handsome, not some ordinary looking guy like me; and he must have been very rich, probably one of the nobles. And I wanted to know why a girl as beautiful as her would be stranded in the forest like that, nobody would abandon a girl like that, at least that’s what I thought.

We walked silently for a while and all over sudden the girl collapsed to the ground, and both Ryan and I rushed to her side for help. She didn’t do anything and she didn’t want to be helped to get up; she sat there without moving and without saying anything. We started to worry what her problem was, a few minutes ago she was fine but now she wasn’t, and she wouldn’t say what the problem was.

“Are you okay?” I asked cautiously while hoping she will talk to me now, but she didn’t; she looked at me and shrugged then she turned the other side. And that was the sign that my approach wasn’t helping.

“Please tell us, so that we can help you.” Ryan said kindly, as if he was begging, and that took me by surprise; he had no reason to be that kind to her, she was a stranger whom we didn’t even know where she came from.

She was quiet for couple seconds and then abruptly she blurted out, “I’m tired okay! I don’t even know where I am. I don’t even know where I’m going, we’ve been walking for hours through these endless woods. Where are you taking me anyway? Is it true that I’m going to get married to your brother? I haven’t even seen him or at least I can’t remember him if he was my fiancé.” She looked at Ryan who was shooting daggers at me, which was not helping because the girl was waiting for answers.

“Look, Peter used that so that the guards could go away. You don’t know my brother because you have never seen him before, and you have never been in this place before, and we are taking you to our home because we thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave you alone in the forest.” Peter explained to her and she seemed a little confused by it.

“Where am I from then?” she asked completely shocked; it was obvious she didn’t remember where she came from.

“We were hoping for you to tell us!” I replied, despite knowing that she wouldn’t reply back.

“I don’t remember anything apart from my name.” she said and she was starting to get frustrated, like she was going cry or something; her eyes started to well up and tears almost started to drop until Ryan comforted her. Who would’ve thought my best friend could be so caring and sensitive. No wonder the girl chose him over me.

Ryan gently bent down and held her shoulder softly and said, “Hey, don’t worry we are going to figure out everything together. You are safe here with us, okay?” and the girl subconsciously took his hand and held it, like it was some kind of hope that everything was going to be fine. I’d known Ryan my entire life and that was the first time I saw him become so soft, I knew he was soft but not that much. Anyways, that move solved everything the girl was okay again and we kept on with our journey. We were close now, the large part was done, so there was just couple miles left until we arrive at the village, our home.

We walked quietly heading home, nobody wanted to touch the subject about the girl and her appearance. I didn’t ask anything because I knew I had to make sure the girl would be comfortable with me talking to her. To figure out what she saw in me back in the forest that made her extremely uncomfortable around me.

And this time she was extremely comfortable with Ryan by her side, he was like some kind of savior towards her. She thought maybe Ryan understood her more than I did, actually maybe that is right because all I wanted from her was to know where the hell she came from; while Ryan all he did was listening to her, her endless questions and answer all of them. And by the time we arrived at the village the girl knew almost all about our families; she was told about my twin siblings and about Ryan’s big brother and sister and his younger brother.

“Hey, don’t make people see you wedding dress, okay?” I told the girl, “They might take it the wrong way”. For all I know they might try to pin which one of us got married to her? As if someone can get married in the woods, by themselves.

She turned and looked at me shortly then forward again, “okay” she said curtly then she pulled the cloak around her, it’s a good thing it was long enough to cover her whole body down to her feet and her shoes too, which were the most unusual shoes I’ve ever seen. It was the first time I saw high heels shoes, so it was some kind of a new thing to me.

We arrived at the village finally and it’s good thing that everyone was busy opening their business or running to their working places. It was a small village but people were very busy, they never waste a second.

 

That gave us the advantage of not to worry too much about the girl, we could pass by people and they couldn’t even notice us and some just said a short hi and went on their jobs. I have to admit, it was way easier to get with her home than I thought. Now that we were past the large part of the village and we were couple feet away from my house, my concern was shifted to my parents, how they were going to take this situation. I knew how they never wanted to get in trouble with the king. And bringing an outsider in our house through lying to one of the officer that was a pretty bad sign. But either way what’s done is done, they were going to accept it anyway.

TWO; Welcome to a new life.

 

 

“Peter, are you sure about this?” Ryan asked cautiously, but I wasn’t sure what he meant because we were already right at the front door. Did he want me to go back to the forest or what?

“What do you mean?” I asked confused and so was Lexa who was by his side,

“I mean I don’t think it’s a good idea to go in with her like this.” He pointed at the door, “right through the front door.” He paused for a second and then continued, “I think we should go with her to your father’s bar first, so that he might see her as some kind of a customer and he won’t freak out so much when we explain things to him later.” He finished,

Well, at some point I thought he had a good idea, but then, with all the people that were going to go there and see her. I was sure someone was going to notice that something was off with her, and that was going to land us in trouble. The only solution now was trying to keep her out of prying eyes until my parents comes back home, as I was sure my mother went to the market for groceries and my father was at the shop or the bar, either of the two. My father is a hard working fellow just like everyone else in the village; he was selling breads in the shop, and also owned a bar, there was alcohol, and food, and women for those people who wanted to be soothed at night. And some other things, which I wasn’t allowed to know.

I took the key that was put just above the door frame; my parents always left the key there whenever there was no one at home. My siblings weren’t good at staying at home either; they must have been somewhere playing with other kids.

“Well, welcome to my home.” I welcomed Lexa, who was speculating around by the way, like she had never seen a house before.

“It looks stuffy.” She commented, I couldn’t tell if she was complimenting it or provoking it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked almost furious because of what she said.

“I mean, even from mere glimpse of my home from my memories, houses were different than this and better even.” She said comfortably, like it was the most obvious thing, while forgetting not all of us have been in her world wherever that is; and my dad worked hard to earn this land and to build a house as big as it was, she had no right to criticize it. Besides my house was one of the biggest houses in the village, who did she think she was?

“Well, you can go look for a better house then. The one that suites you.” I couldn’t let her degrade my house, she was supposed to be grateful that I went to a lot of trouble to bring her here in my house, not to judge it.

“Ok, let’s not fight okay? I’m sure Lexa used to live in a different place and different house, but you are here now. Please just stay here until we find a way to bring you back to your home. The house doesn’t matter, as long as it keeps you safe, it is okay, right?” Ryan gently told her, and I couldn’t believe he was taking her side; that he was begging her to stay as if she had anywhere to go, I didn’t know what was wrong with him, and suddenly everything he did was to humor the girl.

“I will stay, it’s not like I know anyone here anyway.” She agreed to stay, and I agreed on one thing with her, she didn’t know anyone here, so whether she liked to live in a stuffy house or not good enough, she was going to have to.

I leaded her to the living room and offered her a chair. Then I went to the kitchen for anything that she might eat. And I found a bread and jam. I didn’t know if she could drink tea or not, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to eat the bread just like that. I was going to find out.

“I thought you might be hungry.” I said as I brought the bread and the tea to her.

“Yah, a little.” She admitted,

I settled the bread and the jar with tea in it on the table. Then I brought a cup from the cupboard. While all that time Ryan was just sitting there watching her like she was some kind of a cinema or something. She poured some tea in the cup, and the funny thing happened, but it wasn’t funny to me at that time. She took a sip and then, out of nowhere she spilled it all over the floor.

“What is wrong with you?” I practically yelled at her,

“It’s tasteless.” She whimpered, while rubbing her mouth off the remaining of the tea.

“That is why there is a bowl of sugar beside the jar.” Now I felt like I was talking to a little child.

“Peter, it’s okay, she didn’t know.” Ryan tried to defend her, again, and I was just fed up with it,

I got off the chair and started to leave, but before that, “and why are you defending her all the time? Why are you trying so hard to be nice to her? So that she might like you back. You don’t even know her.” I blurted out with disgust, I had to get that out before I left. After that I got out and slammed the door behind me, because I had just enough of that whatever it was. Why was I so angry? I didn’t know. The only thing I knew, was that I needed to get out of there. To leave them alone so that they can talk, or whatever they wanted to do.

 

* * *

What was wrong with Peter, why was he so angry? I know I spilled tea on the floor, but I didn’t know that could make someone so angry like the way he was. There must have been something else, not just me spitting tea on the floor. I know I haven’t been too good to him, but I had my reasons. I saw something earlier, back in the forest, and I wasn’t ready to think about that kind of thing now. I needed to figure out who I was and where I was from, and why on earth I was wearing a wedding dress deep in the forest. I couldn’t let what I saw distract me, I needed to keep my distance from him.

I know it’s not nice, after all the help I got from him, with his friend who was very hurt by what he said. I felt sorry for him, he was just trying to be nice and now his friend was angry at him for it. But I wasn’t going to change my mind, I would never let Peter get close to me. I was going to push him away as long as I could manage. I needed to know who I was going to marry before coming to this place.

“Hey, are you okay?” I heard a voice calling me from my stupor, and suddenly I came to reality, “I lost you there for couple minutes.” Ryan called and now he was completely recovered, he was like before, like he completely forgot what Peter just said couple minutes ago.

“I’m sorry I put you in that situation earlier. I’ll be more careful next time, not to make him angry again.” I apologized to him, Ryan was different from Peter; he seemed nice and caring, but he was missing something, he didn’t have this force I felt when Peter was around, that’s why I always felt like offending him all the time, so that he would hate me. And I think it was working, which was making things easier for me.

“Ah, don’t worry about him, it’s probably one of his bad mornings. He’ll be okay.” Ryan said softly and made me feel at ease instantly. I wanted Peter to hate me, but then at the same time, it got me very worried. A part of me didn’t want him to be angry at me, and I couldn’t tell why.

Then we were quiet for a moment, I was quiet because I didn’t want to think about what Peter said earlier about his friend liking me, and that he was expecting me to like him back, which wasn’t possible. Apart from Peter’s pull on me, I still wanted to know the man I wanted to marry before coming to this place. And I couldn’t add Ryan to the puzzle too, or else it was going to be very hard for me to understand anything. Well, I guess that was exactly what I was thinking about, but I couldn’t ask him because I thought it will be awkward.

I was deep in my thought that I wasn’t even aware when someone got in the house, and Ryan was calling me but I didn’t hear him, so he called several times and shook me on the shoulder a little,

“I’m sorry, I was thinking about something.” I said after coming back to my senses.

There was a woman standing before me and she was looking at me with speculation; she was tall with blonde and brownish hair, just like Peter; anyone could tell that she was his mother. Her eyes were slightly brown too, different from Peter’s which were gray; maybe he had his father’s eyes.

“Hello, I am Peter’s mother, but you can call me Suzy.” she said charmingly, which was promising, and she seemed like she had a good sense of humor. Simply she was likable.

“And I’m Lexa. Nice to meet you ma’am.” I replied as I was extending my hand to shake with her.

“Oh, please just call me Suzy, simply like that. When people call me that it makes me feel old.” she said while chuckling, I wished Peter’s father could be like his mother, things would get real easy for me to stay in their house while searching for my home and my past too.

“Where is Peter?” his mother asked, and instantly I started to wonder and getting worried about him, I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help it.

“He went out, but I’m sure he will be back soon.” Ryan told Peter’s mom who soon left the room and headed to the kitchen, I think.

I wondered why she didn’t ask me anything, anything at all, like why I was in her house or why I was wearing her son’s cloak, she just left. I was at ease that she didn’t ask anything, but still I was worried she didn’t ask anything, or could it be possible that Ryan told her everything already. If that was so, then I would be grateful to him, even more, for saving me all the explanation I would never be able to give.

“Does it mean it is okay for me to stay here for the time being?” I asked Ryan after she’d left,

“She is okay with it, but Peter’s father is the one you should be worried about. But I’m sure Peter will convince them for you to stay.” he encouraged me,

But I was not very sure about it because of the way Peter left; it didn’t seem like he was going to want me to stay in his house. But I didn’t say it out loud, I just smiled at him and then I leaned on the chair and started looking at the roof and there was a beautiful ceiling of woods, maybe his house wasn’t that bad after all.

                                   

****

“Ugh, what is her problem? I’m real starting to hate her. She is so irresponsible, and annoying. I can’t believe she called my house stuffy, like her home was a palace or something.” I talked out loud on my own, didn’t even care if I would seem crazy. This girl drives me crazy, I’ve never felt like this before; I wanted her and I didn’t want her at the same time, I felt sorry for her and at the same time didn’t want to see her face. What was happening to me? I didn’t know.

I went to the woods to catch a rabbit or a bird to get mind off her because I was going to go crazy if I would keep thinking about her. I think that was the same reason why I left the house, she kept playing this sweet nice girl with Ryan while pushing me away, like I was a bad person. If I could know why she treated me the way she treated me, at least I would’ve tried to change but I didn’t know why.

I shoved the whole thing out of my mind, and started to set traps for rabbits because that was the only thing that was going to make me calm down. And after that, I went to the stream to get some fruits and swim for a while in the river, it wasn’t a very bad day for a swim. I loved swimming, but I couldn’t say the same about Ryan, he loved staying in and drawing, that was his favorite thing. I had no doubt he was drawing Lexa by that time, and she wasn’t going to resist it since she liked him more than me.

I arrived at the river and quickly I stripped my clothes off and jumped in, the cold chilled my bones, but instantly my body got used to it and started to enjoy the chilly water, I dove in and out of the water for a while, then I flipped on my back and stayed that way while looking at the beautiful sky with scattered clouds, which were like foams divided in different sizes. For a while I was normal again, I never had to worry about anything; I even forgot all about Lexa, and it was just me having a good time. I stayed in the water for a while until it was almost afternoon, and when I remembered that I set traps for rabbits and that there could be humans or animals who could steal my hunt, I suddenly bolted off the water, got my clothes on and rushed to when I left the traps because it had been hours since I put them there.

As I was approaching the place, I looked around for any sign that there was someone who messed with my hunt but it was utterly quiet, so I assumed if the trap caught something it was perfectly fine, which was a relief to me because I wasn’t ready for another loss today.

I arrived to trap and there was a rabbit hanging on it, carrots always play the trick, I thought as I pulled it off the strings. After that I started to prepare it, I never wanted my mom to do everything, so I always got the intestines out and wash it. Before heading home I went to hunt a bird, there was this place before the river bank there was always lots of turkeys, so I went there to get one, since I was pretty good in using arrows, it wasn’t hard for me to shoot one, it was as easily as drinking water. After that I started to head home.

Memories of earlier in the morning and Lexa, Ryan and the explanation I needed to prepare for my father; my mother wasn’t problem, but I doubt my father would just accept her. My father was a very self-cautious person, he always double checked everything and made sure of everything before doing anything. Bringing a girl you found in the forest in his house, that wasn’t going to be very acceptable to him. Besides he had a theory about these people who appear out of nowhere. My father is one of the oldest people in town, probably from when people started to live in it. He used to tell me stories he was told by his father when I was little, but then I thought they were just stories, so I didn’t pay much attention to them. And somehow, finding Lexa like that in the forest, made me remember those stories, but then, I thought I was too old to think about some old tale.

I pushed all them out of mind and started to think of how I was going to convince my father to let Lexa stay in our house. I remembered that I lied to one of the King’s officer, all the more reason for my father to kick her out instantly, but he would kick her out only if he finds out that I lied for her. So, that gave me the upper hand, still I needed a solid reason to make him let her stay.

I could say she was my girlfriend and I wanted to stay with her, but that would not be possible; first, because I was sure Lexa would rather kill herself than be my girlfriend, and she already chosen Ryan anyway. Second, people weren’t allowed to live with their girlfriends but their fiancé, my home is old fashioned like that. Even after cracking my brains out I still couldn’t find a sound trick to use on my father, so I decided to wait until I see him that’s when I’ll know how to convince him; well my father is easy to convince when he is drunk, if he was going to be drunk that was going to be a huge score for me.

 

****

It’s been hours since Peter left and he hasn’t come back yet, I wasn’t supposed to worry about him but I was. And there was no way I could put it away, Ryan and his mother weren’t concerned about it at all, like it was totally usual. I never knew this boy, but why was I so attached to him, why did I want to know how he was, why did I want to know what he was thinking, why was he the only person I was thinking about all the time?

I never wanted anything to do with him, but I still kept thinking about him, the more I tried to push him away the more his image kept lingering in my mind. Was I supposed to give in to what I felt just like that, no, no way in hell I was going to let him get a hold of my life just like that. I wasn’t even sure if the feelings were pure, or if it was just an infatuation because of saving me in the forest. Even though I fought so hard to keep the worries away, but I still wanted to know if he was okay, and unless I asked someone if he was okay there was no other way I could make myself feel at ease, so I asked Ryan who never left my side since Peter left,

“Peter isn’t back yet, do you think he is okay?” I asked Ryan while hiding how worried I actually was, and that I was just showing a little concern about him instead.

“Don’t worry, nothing knows those woods than him, he’ll be back soon.” He said comfortingly, then he looked at me adoringly. If it wasn’t because of Peter, Ryan was much easier to love than his friend, and I would’ve loved to be his girlfriend, but it looks like my heart preferred a different path, if what I felt for Peter was love because I didn’t even know what I felt for him was.

“I wasn’t worried, I just asked.” I protected myself from embarrassment, I didn’t want him to know that I was worried about his friend because he would tell him.

“Okay” he said shortly,

Soon after he finished the front door cracked and at first I thought it was Peter’s father, and that he was going to kick me out unless Peter comes back quickly. But my thought was completely changed when I finally saw the person standing at the door post. I got real excited inside, I wanted to jump and go hug him real tight, I felt my cheeks stretching to a wide grin, but I didn’t want to show him that. So, I kept my mouth as tight as I could and washed it out with one deadly serious face, like I was really annoyed with his presence.

He was holding a dead rabbit on his right hand and a bird on his other hand and his bow was hanging by his shoulder together with its sheath. His height, his body, the muscles on his arms and his massive chest made me want to run my hands through it. And his face was hot as hell, I never could get enough of this person, he was just irresistible. If someone could ask me what attracted me to this person I would say everything, his presence itself was enough to drive me nuts, but the plan was to keep him out, to never let him know that he had power over me.

“You are back.” Ryan said carefully, thinking maybe he was still angry at him, but he wasn’t so he just replied normally.

“Yah, I went over to the river that’s why I came back late. Father isn’t back yet, is he?” he said; his voice, I wouldn’t say it was like of an angel but pretty close to it. He then looked at me and that’s when I realized that I’ve been staring at him none stop, and soon after our eyes met I moved mine right away, I didn’t want those seductive eyes to captivate me, because I knew I would be totally drowned in them, in fact they were the ones who got me in this situation in the first place. If I didn’t look him in the eyes back in the woods I wouldn’t need to fight all these emotions and images in my mind.

“He is not back yet. But your mom is back, and she asked for you.” Ryan said, while I was acting like I didn’t want to talk to him, so he didn’t bother talking to me either, I felt a pinch that he didn’t bother to speak to me anyway, I wanted him to. Even a slightest interest on me made me happy, even though I was the one pushing him away.

“I’ll go and see her now.” He said shortly and headed to the kitchen with the rabbit and the bird he hunted, and once he was gone the intensity in my chest, the urge I could never know what it was, finally released me. It was just a couple of hours passed since I met him, but he already had so much effect on me, I didn’t want to know what it would be like after days.

“And I guess it’s my time to go home now.” Ryan said but suddenly I grabbed his hand,

“No, don’t leave.” I said in panic, my eyes wide open and my hands clenching his very tight,

“Okay, I won’t leave.” He said softly as if he saw how terrified I was,

“I mean until Peter’s father come.” I tried to act normal again and released his hand, I never knew I could get so scared of being alone, I mean Peter was here but as long as he knew I hated him, so sitting with me and chat was not possible. The only person who made me feel a little bit normal, and that I wasn’t completely lost was Ryan, that’s why I got terrified when he said he was leaving.

And to my surprise the door was opened again and someone got in, he was a man, fat with big belly and strong arms, also tall and he looked a lot like Peter except for the body; maybe because he was working in a bar and also he was a barker. The first person his eyes landed on was me and that scared the hell out of me. I thought he was going to kick me out right away, but when he saw Ryan beside me, his facial expression changed a little. He was more relaxed this time; I was proud of myself for asking him to stay because I could’ve been in a lot of trouble if I’d let him go before.

“Good evening Mr. Gilbert.” Ryan greeted him nervously, guessing he was as worried as I was,

“Evening Ryan, have you come to introduce,” he didn’t finish his sentence,

“Good you are back, come to the kitchen and have dinner, you too Ryan, and the beautiful girl.” Peter’s mother called, Peter’s father just cleared his throat and complied; then, Ryan and I followed, my heart was going hundred miles per hour. Because I knew there was going to be questions, and I was not sure if I would be able to answer them, I didn’t even know much about myself, how was I going to tell people about me then? This was definitely my doomsday. Except if someone was going to save me, and who was that person; I was hoping Peter to save me because he was the only person who could convince his father.

At the kitchen, there was one side where there was stove, and the other side there was a tiny dinning, Peter was sitting on a homemade chair and he was playing with two little children which seemed like they were twins, they looked so much alike. When I entered the kitchen both their eyes shot at me and they asked,

“Who is that?” the one with slightly brown hair asked, which made Peter look my direction and once my eyes met with his, I quickly looked to the ground.

“I’ll let you guess little one.” Peter said as he pinched her nose a little.

“I know, she is your girlfriend.” The other one with black hair said, which made me gasp in surprise.

“Where did you learn that? You know five years old children aren’t supposed to know that.” He said calmly and picked her up, then put her on his lap,

“That’s not true, every one of our friends knows about that, isn’t that true Bridgette?” she said confidently,

“That’s true Ana, even Sidney and Ken are calling themselves girlfriend and boyfriend.” Her twin sister answered, I guess Sidney and Ken were their friends.

“But that’s not right, you shouldn’t have boyfriends this young, or else the king will catch you and put you in the dungeon, do you like that?” Peter told them, I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but it was more likely a lie to scare his sisters.

“No we don’t like that,” they said in unison, and they looked a little scared.

“Okay children, sit on your chairs. And no more talking or moving around,” his mother ordered and they sat down, and so was all of us.

We all fit perfectly around the table with lamps that was above at the ceiling and on every corner of the room, which gave an unusually comfortable light in the house. There was rice and fish and vegetables, and also some fruits; my guess they were raspberries.

Couple minutes passed and all of us were quiet, the only sound was of spoon moving on plates, and of the two children who were whispering about things to each other while their mother was shooting warning looks at them. Peter’s father was busy eating and Ryan as well; Peter was thinking about something, I could tell from the distant gaze of his eyes, and with time to time spoonful of food. Maybe he was thinking on how he was going to tell his father that I was going to stay with them. And if what Ryan told me was true that’s why he was so stressed about it.

“Who is this young lady? And she is not your girlfriend, is she Ryan?” Peter’s father asked out of nowhere, with his mouth full of food,

“No Sir, she is not my girlfriend.” Ryan said awkwardly,

“Then she is Peter’s.” he suggested, and that made the little girls giggle quietly,

“Can I talk to you father?” Peter’s voice sounded nervous, and I wasn’t sure if what I was thinking was right or not, because I thought he was going to confess that I was his girlfriend, so that I could get to stay in his house. The mere thought of it made me feel butterflies in my stomach, and at the same time made me change my position on the chair because suddenly I felt very tense, I didn’t know whether I liked the idea or not. But there was no other choice, if he was going to tell his father that I was his girlfriend then I was going to have to roll with it.

“But not before you finish your dinner first.” His mother interfered, and his father cleared his throat in agreement, then the whole table went quiet and I was most scared of the silence, it was eating me, I didn’t remember my past but I had a feeling that I never liked too much silence. Then, thank god the dinner was over; Peter and his mother and his father went to the living room to talk about something while Ryan and I were left there at the dining table, the little girls were told to go to sleep afterwards and left right away. I was nervous, I never knew I could get this nervous before, so I kept rubbing my hands with each other until Ryan stopped me,

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I know Peter, he is going to make them understand.” Ryan said as he put his hand on mine, which gave me some assurance I needed.

 

****

I knew my mom was okay with it since Ryan already told her everything. And now the problem was my father, I couldn’t say he was conservative, but he was pretty close to that. And my job was to make him understand that it was no harm letting the girl stay with us for couple of days, even though I knew that it could be longer than that.

“Okay Peter, what is it you wanted to tell me?” my father cut straight to the point, the one thing he knew how to do very well, maybe it was because of working at the bar or something.

I cleared my throat and used the same method he used, “she is not my girlfriend, but she needs to stay with us. Because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” I said cautiously, but my dad suddenly said,

“She appeared, didn’t she? David, do you know what those people are?” he went from normal to def. con one in an instant, and that was not good at all.

“Father, she is just a normal girl. And she needs our help.” I said quietly but strongly just like him, we were being quiet so that Ryan and she wouldn’t hear us.

“Let me tell you, those people aren’t like anybody around here. They come here for a purpose, how do you know if she is a villain or hero? Or if she is something worse?” he said in panic,

“Dad this is no time for stories, what does villains and heroes have anything to do with that girl?” I asked in confusion, even though I remembered his stories in pieces I still couldn’t connect the dots.

“Her coming is called an occurrence, there hasn’t been any in a long time. And that is a sign that it’s only a beginning because there’s always a set of events with it, if she is a hero then we must be thankful, but if she is a villain expect some suffering, a lot of suffering.” He said but honestly I don’t think I understood half of what he said, he was like some kind of prophet for a minute there.

“What are you talking about dad?” I asked him,

“What I’m saying is that these people always come with chain of events, some of them are good and some are bad, terrifying even. But you won’t understand it now,” suddenly he was calmer and very thoughtful, but I already knew he was going to be okay. I still wanted to know one thing though.

“So can she stay or not?” I asked him, a little impatiently this time.

“If there is a person who can keep an eye on her, things might not get so much out of hands, so I guess we may keep her. Yes, she can stay.” He finally concluded,

And that was the one thing I wanted to hear, all those prophetic blabbering he was blabbering about didn’t matter to me at all. I didn’t even understand what the hell he was talking about, and I knew asking for explanation will only result in more confusion. We went back to the kitchen where we found Ryan and Lexa waiting nervously.

“Well, I’ve talked with my son and we’ve reached a conclusion, you can stay.” My dad said to Lexa, who almost jumped out of her chair, but suddenly she was stiff.

“Thank you.” She said coldly instead.

“Well, you must be very tired, and sick of that cloak. Let me get you something to wear, and Peter will you take her to the guest room?” my mother suggested, “And then come to take some clothes for her. I hope my clothes can fit her.” She said jokingly. Unlike my father who was fat, my mother had a well-shaped body, like that of a teenage girl, so I was certain her clothes will fit Lexa.

“And I should go?” Ryan said after a long moment of being silence,

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I told him as he was heading for the door.

“Thank you.” Lexa said softly to him and held his hand in hers, and I wish I could get that, but sadly the girl certainly didn’t like me. After that Ryan left and I took her to the guest room, which was the last room in the house. Our house had five bedrooms, one for my parents and another for my siblings, and one for me, the remaining rooms were guest rooms, and I took Lexa to the last one which was next to my bedroom. I liked her to be close to me even though we would be separated with walls, I did that because I thought it was because I would make sure she was okay. Didn’t matter if she didn’t care about me, I certainly cared about her and that was good enough for me.

Then I went to take clothes for her from my mom. I didn’t know why she wanted me to bring her the clothes instead of doing it herself, but I didn’t mind it at all. She gave me a brown dress and a black night gown. When I got to Lexa’s room I barged in without knocking the door, and I wish I never did that. She was in her underwear and bra, her body was illuminating, and suddenly I couldn’t move my eyes or my body. I was stuck while she was looking at the mirror and her back was turned towards me. She had a perfect curvy body, I swear I felt my eyes getting out of their sockets, and suddenly I started to drool over her uncontrollably until she asked,

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a mirror?” She turned towards me, and I wasn’t even sure if she was aware that she was half naked,

I couldn’t answer. My eyes landed on her boobs and went down to her legs, omg, that’s all I could think about at that time. When I looked back at her face I realized that she was expecting an answer, and also she was showing a sign of discomfort because of my constant stare. I moved my eyes away from her quickly,

I gathered my thought and finally I managed to talk, “they say our mirrors are enchanted, not everyone can see themselves in them, so that we might be able to recognize the invaders.” It took me a lot of effort to finish that without looking at her.

She seemed hurt with the word I used, but that is what I was told. I tried to fix it though, so I changed the words, “or new comers, I don’t think all of you are invaders.” I said defensively, “here, mom told me to bring you this.” I gave her the clothes quickly. I couldn’t stand it anymore because I was starting to get these feelings, the wrong kind of feelings. I rushed out of the room quickly,

“Wait, you didn’t tell me where the bathroom is. I would like to get a shower before I go to sleep.” She came at the door, and this time she was covering herself with the nightgown, maybe she finally realized that in my world girls don’t let other people see them in their underwear’s, and that was a huge relief to me. I pointed to the left side at the of the hall, which was next to her room,

“That’s the bathroom,” I said and then I entered in my room.

I jumped in my bed which I missed so much, I lied there looking at the ceiling and Lexa pictures started to flow in my mind. Every second I spent with her was a torture, and her cold reaction towards me wasn’t helping. And why did she hate me so much anyway, was I so ugly or terrifying or what? While I was still thinking someone came in couple minutes later, and guess who, Lexa.

“Why didn’t you tell me the water was cold?” she asked angrily,

“You were supposed to know because no one heated it. In your world bathrooms flow hot water, do they?” I said sarcastically, I couldn’t help it she could be such a child sometimes.

“Maybe, I don’t know. Ugh.” She groaned and left the room, which left me even more devastated. It was clear that we were never going to work, not with her childish attitude.

 

****

It was true that I didn’t expect to take a cold shower, but that wasn’t the point of going to his room. That was a cover for my true intention, I wasn’t really mad at him; I didn’t even mind taking a cold shower. My intentions were to go and see his room and wish him a goodnight, but since that wasn’t possible I used cold water as an excuse. His room was big and so was his bed and he was lying there thoughtfully until I blurted out on him. I was sure he was thinking about me and that made me happy.

I put on the night gown and jumped in bed which was very soft and nice, also smelled nice. I lied there and kept thinking about the boy sleeping in the next room, the one person in this world who brought hope to my life, there was a roof above my head because of him. I had a chance to find out about my past and my world because of him. I couldn’t thank him enough for his help, but he wasn’t supposed to know about it. That was my secret, and I knew he wasn’t going to do anything because he liked me as well, considering the way he looked at me earlier, he couldn’t even control his desires, I could see them plainly.

I know it was mean but the only option for me was to let him suffer for a while until I get myself settled. It’s not like it was any easier for me; I was suffering all the same, and mine was worse because I was the one who pulled back. I had to go against every impulse that was in me. Even though I knew that at any time Peter was there for me to take.

Despite my endless chain of thoughts, eventually my exhaustion won over me and I fell into a deep slumber, I didn’t even know how exhausted I was until that time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

***************

THREE; Getting used to.

 

*one week later,

Lexa’s POV

 

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.09.2015

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