𝐀𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐒

III

You quite enjoyed your simple village life. It was simple, so much more so than the rushed life of those in the city. Though that wasn't a fair comparison since all you knew about the city came from word of mouth, the doctor's wife often told the village girls about her stories. Quite frankly you knew nothing outside of that small mountainside village of yours. It'd be a lie to say you weren't curious but for people like you, there wasn't much of a reason to leave the quaint life you were born into. No reason to leave the safety of the village you had been raised in your whole life and stepping into the dark unfamiliar world.

It was just another peaceful day when a good friend of yours came running towards you and the other girls you had been talking to.

"There's a visitor in our village!"

Everyone huddled around her, bombarding the exhausted girl with question after question.

"Who are they?" "Is it a man? Or maybe a woman?" "Did you get to see what they look like?"

She caught her breath before standing straight again.
"It was a man, a really tall one. I only saw him from a distance but he was really handsome, I could tell!" She said excitedly, revealing everything she had seen. She described a man with the whitest hair one could have seen, like the pure winter snow, a golden frame of glasses resting on his nose.

"I wish I could've seen him up from closer." The girl lamented.

Visitors were rare in your small village, aside from the distant relative or two that came to visit someone there weren't usually any people who would come to your village. Much less considering the closest train station was a few towns over, a good few hours by carriage, or so the doctor's wife said.

...

Despite the initial uproar it caused soon everything died down and you returned to your daily chores.

You exhaled loudly before picking up the basket of dirty clothes that had been left for you. Usually it was your sister who handled it but she was busy preparing for her wedding with a shepherd from the village next to yours so all household chores had been left to you. You were familiar with the path towards the river, having gone a few times with your friend. It was on the outskirts of your small village, from the small path that went above the mountain, beyond the large old house...

The old house, it was usually quiet, the perfect setting to make up ghost stories to scare little children. Your father often talked about the woman that lived there with her son. She left two years after you were born, he had said when retelling the event.
As you were passing by you heard a loud thud sound, the sound was followed by a grunt. You were puzzled as to how to reply or to even reply at first but settled on asking whoever was on the other side of that wall if they were okay.

"Err... Are you okay?" You received no reply, just silence. You felt like you had just embarrassed yourself, you were ready to pace away when the voice of an unfamiliar man replied to your question.

"Yes, I.. ahem.. I apologise for startling you. I dropped some things while I was clearing."

A giggle escaped your lips as you heard his strange way of speaking.

"Did I say something that made you laugh...?" The poor man seemed to be confused, only adding to your laughter.

"No...nothing— it's just that, not even the doctor speaks like that. Say, you must be the man that came from the city today!"

"Ah...You know me?"

"Are you kidding? Everyone knows you! It's not everyday someone comes to our village!"