(Prequel) 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝔹𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕤

Part IV

(Reader's POV)
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I opened my eyes to the blistering sun. I covered my face and felt a stinging sensation in my arm. I looked down and remembered what happened the night before.

I sat up and examined my wound. "Why didn't it finish me off?" It had a perfect opportunity to do so but didn't. Maybe it was because I left the forest?

I got up, my legs felt like jelly so I fell over again. After the third attempt of standing up, I managed to wobble over to the fence.

I felt extremely weak but couldn't be in that forest for another second. I looked around for an opening but didn't see one. I grabbed onto each side and pulled myself up, ignoring the searing pain in my arm.

I somehow got over but landed roughly. Directly onto my arm which made me cry out in pain. I laid there for another minute, resting. I got up and looked around. I was high up. I looked down and saw a city, separate from where I just escaped from.

'That's probably a good thing.' I thought.

The path went in a wide curve that lead to the city, meaning people would have to walk a far distance to get here. I didn't understand why people would want to come up here in the first place since there's a monster up here.

Of course, I followed the path until I got into the city. The buildings were tall with large TV's and billboard on the side of some, advertising random things. The billboards were advertising some festival. The streets had many colourful papers and trash littered about and I watched as a few men wearing neon vests were picking them up.

It wasn't just them, there were people with suits or casual clothes bustling to get to their destinations and they seemed endless. Waves and waves of people and vehicles.

I bumped into a few passerbys who would just glare at me even after I've apologized. Some were giving me weird stares while others ignored the filthy looking girl.

I didn't like the loud crowd and wandered the back alleys. I was tired and hungry but had no idea where I was or where to go.

I looked down at my arm and it was still very painful. My head ached at the same time and I felt like I was at my limit. "I got this far yet... I can't take another step..."

I walked into an alley but fell as my legs gave out. I landed beside a dumpster but didn't have the energy to get up so I just closed my eyes.

* * *

"Hey, wake up!"
I jolted awake and looked up at the person who woke me.

It was an older man wearing an apron and had a distinguished moustache. "What are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be home?" He looked down and saw my arm.

"Oh my... Where's your family?"
"I...I don't have any..." My voice sounded much raspier than before and I coughed to get rid of it but it still felt like sandpaper.

He looked at me sympathetically. "Come with me." He beckoned. I cautiously followed him into the building I blacked out behind.

Inside, there were many tables and chairs and a counter on the one side and it smelled like sweet baked goods... My stomach growled loudly. He took me to a break room and asked me to sit down by a small table placed in there. He came back with a small box and sat next to me.

"This might hurt a little, okay?" He took out a cloth and dabbed it with mysterious liquid. "This is going to clean your wound." He explained. I nodded, shakily lifting my arm.

He touched it and it instantly burned. I wanted to scream but contained myself. Instead, I had a death grip on my leg. "There, now I don't have stitches so I'm going to have to just wrap it up so it doesn't get infected."

After he wrapped me up, he gave me a sweet smile. "I'm Mr. Takeshi. Owner of this bakery. You can just call me Takeshi." I nodded but couldn't tell him my name. "I don't remember my name..." I admitted with a raspy whisper.

My stomach growled again and I quickly covered it in hopes to muffle the sound and blushed from embarrassment. "You hungry? I'll get you something, don't worry." The nice man left and came back with a little bag of something that smelled delicious.

"I've only got sweet things so I hope this will do." He unpacked it and there was an assortment of all kinds of different desserts. Without thinking too much, I began wolfing it all down.

"You said you didn't remember your name? Do you remember anything else?" I shook my head. "Nothing? So you have some kind of amnesia..." He stroked his stubbled chin in thought.

"I'll take you to the clinic in the morning. How about you stay here for the night?"
I looked at him with gratitude as I couldn't say it with a full mouth. He laughed and patted my head.

This close, I could tell he was quite old, his skin was somewhat wrinkled and he had grey streaks in his hair and moustache.

"You're very welcomed. Come, I'll take you up." He lead me up to the storage room and searched through it's contents. "Where is it... Ah, found it!" He cleared a spot and laid out a futon. "Oh and here," he handed me some clothes he spotted in a nearby box. "Good thing this store used to be a costume rental! It's not much but it's better than what you've got on."

I bowed and graciously accepted the clothes. "No, it's more than enough. Thank you." My voice returned after eating that delicious food.

"Alright, I'll be downstairs until late sorting the register. The new years festival has given me a lot of work to do heh. If you need me, come call me." I nodded and he left.

I looked outside the only window in the room at the darkening sky. I felt safe for once. I was fed and bandaged up by this nice man. He even gave me a place to sleep for the night. I owed him my life for this.

I got dressed in the sweat pants and hoodie he gave me and crawled into the futon. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep... That was, until I heard a familiar hissing sound. My eyes shot open and above me, stood the monster.

'What?! But I'm not at the forest!'

It brought his claws down right beside my head and I quickly rolled to the side. "Just stay away!" I yelled as I stood up, throwing a chair at it then running downstairs.

"Mr. Takeshi! Run!" He looked at me confused. "What's wrong?" His faced turned to a look of terror when the monster came crawling down the stairs.

"AH!" He screamed and I threw myself in front of him with my arms outstretched.
"No! Leave him alone! It's me that you're after!" I yelled, heart beating loudly in my chest.

The monster lifted a hand and its mouth slowly opened, strings of spit dripping from it's jaw. It brought his claws down but before it touched me, Takeshi shoved me away.
"Go, my child!"
"NO!"

He was sliced in half by the waist and both halves fell to the floor, forming a huge puddle of blood which oozed endlessly from him.
"TAKESHI!" I turned to look at the monster who was still blankly staring at Takeshi. (Despite having no eyes)

I ran to the front of the store and tried to open the glass door but it was locked. I pushed and pulled at it violently, hoping to get it open. The monster was smashing through the tables and chairs in the bakery, bounding it's way over.

I gave up and just took a step back and rammed myself through the glass. I quickly got up and dusted most of the glass off of me before looking at the store again, seeing the monster gaining on me.

I quickly began running again, trying not to cry after seeing Takeshi killed so suddenly like that. But the tears still stung my eyes.

'He didn't deserve this.'

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