Actress in Disguise

Chapter 10

I know how much you all despise author's notes, but I just wanted to thank each and every one of you dear readers for the support. :)

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Chapter 10~

I gasp, and my breath gets caught in my lungs. I could feel the dread flowing in as all color drains from my face. My eyes widen with terror and I freeze, as I watch everything around me pause into stillness, like an ancient black and white photo. Panic seeps into each and every pore that ever existed on my skin, and I could sense the tiny hairs perk up with panic, alerting me of danger.

I wanted to force my legs to budge and run away. I wanted to escape. But even so, my mind doesn't seem to be cooperating with my body. My legs were in the flimsiest, wobbliest state you can possibly imagine, where all strength and power had been lost to god knows where. They wouldn't move no matter how hard I desperately urged them to. My breathing had fully stopped by now, and it's as if I'm just waiting for my life to flash before me.

I sit there, backed up against a tree, as I stared helplessly into the dark eyes of the middle aged man as he points the tip of his cold metal gun against my forehead, sending shivers across my body, making me tremble. His shadow engulfed me, and his large body blocked off the sun, making it seem darker than it really was. I just sit there, waiting for him to pull the trigger...

But he never did.

I watched as his eyes suddenly go wide, and his unpleasant eerie grin was immediately swiped off of his face, replaced with a look of pure alarm and fright. He clutched his chest, and blood spurted out between his cracked lips, splashing onto my face like warm rain drops. The metallic scent of the crimson liquid immediately made me sick in the stomach, and I pressed one hand against my mouth, trying to force it back down. Gulping, I forced my eyes to wander over to the dead corpse laying in the dirt covered in soul juice, with those same haunting, unclosed eyes expressing shock and disbelief. A scream was at the tip of my tongue, but no sound escaped other than a dry lifeless croak. The handle of a shiny kitchen knife was still emerged from the back of the man. I muffled in the whimpers, as the blood continued to pour out from the open wound, soaking the soils and soon reaching my dress, dying it an unpleasant deep red.

"What'd I say about taking better care of yourself?" My head snapped up to see the messy haired boy from a few days ago. He had a childish smirk on, as he wiped the few droplets of ruby juice off of his face with a ripped sleeve. "You gotta' be careful around here. It won't hurt to be too careful." I was still too shocked to say anything as I just slumped there against the trunk, feeling exhausted, as everything sunk in. The boy bent down to aggressively yank the blade out in one swift motion, causing more blood to gush and splatter out like a waterfall. A few droplets landed in my hair, and one on the side of my nose. "Tch! I dirtied my newest knife!" He whined. "I just got it this morning too... I was going to test it out by killing a rabbit for supper." I winced at the mention of rabbit. I used to have one as a pet. It seemed so long ago when everything had been right...

"You eat... Bunnies?" I croaked, feeling weak.

He looked at me as if I were out of my mind. "Of course," he replied in an obvious tone. "Doesn't everyone around here? Food is scarce, we eat whatever we can find. We even eat bugs when there's nothing else available in the winter time. You know, when the plants are dead, and the animals had either left to a warmer place or entered hibernation... But to be honest, bugs actually don't taste that bad... How should I say this... They can be quite good I guess, and they are packed with nutrition and protein. I don't see what can go wrong." His innocent blue eyes shined in the sunlight as they stared into mine. With that childish and honest look, it was hard to tell whether or not he was joking...