"Now!Are you insane, half the town is going to be after me in a few hours!" " That is precisely why I picked you. I need you to take her" he said pointing behind me," as far away from here as possible. I turned around and a young girl emerged from the shadows. She couldn't have been older than 12. A said with a very apparent frustration in my voice,"Her?! I will barely be able to get out by myself much less with a 12 year old following me around."
The man just stayed silent, turned around and left the barn. I whirled around to the young girl and said, "We better get going if we want to get out of here in time."
After about a month or two on the run we started to hear rumors about a town that will protect you from anything. That sounded nice to say the very least. I asked Sarah if she wanted to go there because her opinion actually meant something to me then, and we had grown fond of each other over the last couple months. She said that she like the sound of the place, something about never safe, she was kind of paranoid.
Her opinion did mean something to me but I valued my opinion more. So I completely ignored her and we moved to Prova. And that is how I got stuck with the 'best' job ever.
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Sarah and I have been in the dungeon for about 3 days now and we're starting to run out of food. Sarah says it's clear and we can go outside. But I have this feeling that something is wrong but I take no heed to that notion because I always have that feeling and, there is always something wrong. I agreed to go outside to get food with her "to protect her". Really I didn't want to be alone in the cellar, when you're by yourself it almost seems haunted.
When we got out of the cellar it felt wonderful, there was a light breeze that brought fresh air into our lungs. The sun was just rising casting an orange glare in the sky. It was beautiful. There were other people who had come out of their hiding places and were enjoying the beautiful sight as much as us. Little deserted shops were becoming inhabited and were starting to sell goods. Sarah started walking to a bazaar that was farther down the street.
An old man that was sitting by the trinket stand Sarah was interested in. He started laughing, it was a sickly laugh mixed with coughing. But you could tell he was thoroughly amused. He raised his hand as a gesture to his carvings and said, " Hello, would you like to by a dolphin," he picked up a little 3D sculpture and showed it to her, "It reminds me of the ocean I used to live by." "Oh then you must want to keep it" she exclaimed. The way she said it sounded almost witty. She was laughing at him. "What's so funny?" the man asked grabbing her arm. An astonished look flashed across Sarah's face.
I was at a different tent a little farther away when I saw this I ran over to her and defended her. "I see you have a protector," the old man said with a sort of smile spreading across his face. It wasn't an amused smile it was a painful smile, you could tell that he had something to hide and he wasn't hiding it.
"Am I scaring you, letting you see all of me, unlike the animals that live in this town that act like nothing is wrong." "Have you ever been touched by the Shadow little girlies? No, no of course not. You see all of your deepest fears, hopes, wants, and dreams. But it especially likes your fears it feasts off of them. It makes you collapse with fear it sometimes makes you kill yourself, some times it just leaves you shivering in a pile on the street. If it does that you're lucky, you've only lost your sanity."
I had been thinking he was crazy for some time now but that confirmed it, he had been left shivering in the road that almost explains his insanity. I wonder if he was insane before he was attack or touched whatever. The Shadow couldn't drive someone that insane could it.
"Little missy quit thinking about me, I'm trying to tell you and your little friend that there is no escaping the shadow and it's going to get you sooner or later, if you're prepared you might survive." I whispered to Sarah, " We should go now."
"Fine be rude, leave without telling me. Here take the dolphin as a reminder that you can survive it." He threw the dolphin at Sarah. As we were walking away Sarah asked, "How did you know what she was thinking?" " Well honey, you see when the Shadow touches you it feasts on your fears, but if you survive it gives you unimaginable gifts. Most of them are just to make you weaker, drive you insane. But occasionally it gives you a gift worth the pain."
This time when we turned to get away from him we found ourselves running, running away from his crackling laughter. I ran until Sarah couldn't anymore. We found ourselves in front of the bakery, the place I was looking for in the first place before Sarah got side tracked. Sarah was still clutching the dolphin in her hand. When she noticed that I had seen it she tried to hide it in her sleeve.
After we caught our breath I walked into the bakery and found it deserted except for the person that works there. That was weird, usually the bakery was packed. And even the worker was trying to avoid us all though it was obvious because she had nothing else to distract herself with.
"Excuse me?" I said.
When I said this she squeaked and jump then said in a shy voice, "Yes." "Can I have some bread?" I asked. She licked her lips said, "No," and flinched and pulled her hand up like I was going to attack her.
After she saw I wasn't going to hit her she pointed with wide eyes at Sarah and started screaming. I was taken completely aback. I jumped over the table and covered her mouth. The worker took a fork off the tabe and stabbed me in the arm with it makeing me release her. Then she started walking away with her hands out.
I grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled her out of the bakery, but not after I grabbed a loaf or two. I stomped down to the old man's tent pulling Sarah behind me. The few people on the streets were gasping and pointing at us but I'm not really sure why.
When I reached the tent I tried to ask him why to lady that worked at the bakery started screaming. But before I could say anything the old man said, "You have a little bit of a cut don't you?" I looked down at my arm and saw the blood dripping down my finger tips. I ripped a piece of my shirt off and tied it around the cut. That was most likely the reason why all the people in the road were staring.
"W-what did you do to her?" I asked stuttering. "Who do you speak of. You obviously have something else on you mind like if I'm going to hurt you or drive you insane, and not yet in time, in time."
"Th-the girl at the bakery, what did you do to her?" "Oh that girl makes since, makes since. I didn't do anything to her. You must have scared her."
I screamed, "I didn't scare her!"
He said matter o factly, "That's it, that's it indeed. I forgot to tell you the rest of the story. If you're given a gift it usually rubs off on the people you meet. You must have the power to scare people but don't worry it'll only last about a month."
"Oh only a month well that's not a big deal!" I yelled not caring who heard me.
"No not really." Since I had been talking to "Owen" Sarah was wondering around his tent looking at the tiny figures. They were painted in dazzling colors and were magnificently carved. Sarah blurted out, "Where did you find these?" Owen said, "Well little girl I didn't find these I made them." "How?"
He whispered in a secretive voice to Sarah "With souls."
