Hiding in the Shadows - Old Version (Other one is new one)

Chapter 3: A Friend (OLD)

The sun shone through the cracks in the plank roof, practically stabbing me in the face as I lay awake in my bed.

As I sat up it was almost as if a blindfold had been lifted, the room that I first saw the night before was now illuminated by the sunlight, making it bright enough to see clearly. On the wall across from the foot of my bed stood a sturdy oak wood armoire, placed right next to the door.

I let out a mighty yawn, amazed at the wonders that a single night of good sleep could bring. Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I groggily began to walk to the hatch in the floor, leading down to the ladder I had climbed up to first get into my new room. As I neared the hatch I noticed a set of clean towels, and a Soft Set of Black clothing. Thinking that Ashe had left them for me, and knowing that they beat my current set of clothes, I rushed to put them on. After stowing my old rags in a drawer, I turned to the hatch and began to climb down.

As I descended, my footsteps softly echoed through the wooden house.

"Good Morning" two voices said.

"Morning" I replied casually.

Two voices? I was stunned, the man I was with last night did not seem to be someone that the people of this tree village were friends with. My curiosity flared, I jumped the last few rungs of the ladder, wincing from a sharp sting of pain from the blisters on my feet and with my thoughts elsewhere I started to walk at a brisk pace toward the kitchen.

He was beautiful. Dare I say, mesmerizing.

He smiled at me as I came around the corner, running his hand through his short brunette hair. I immediately felt blood rush to my face, realizing how I must have looked. I can guaranty you one thing, and that is that no bathing plus shoveling horse shit doesn't make one look good. Smiling and blushing at the same time, I walked into the kitchen and leaned against the wall across from the newcomer.

"Well, I can see you've meet Dave," Ashe said walking into the kitchen from the nearby restroom. "I figured you two could go hang out. He can show you around the place. Where to have a good time." His tone a little bit to suggestive toward the end.

"Sure, let's go and start walking Katie." The words stung. No one had ever Katie. All my life I had been treated like dirt, yet here was beautiful guy who just met me and he was already calling me Katie.

"Yeah," I muttered, following him out the door.

"Well, since your new here, I guess I can show you it all! But that's if you can keep up with me," He said, looking back at me with a grin. With his final cheesy words he took off, running through the low hanging morning mist.

Hoping that my new shoes could gain purchase on the smooth wooden planks that made up the floor; I chased after him, intent on keeping up.

We ran past some of the most beautifully views I have ever seen, Distant mountain ranges covered in snow, with massive stone castles perched on their peaks, and hundreds of thousands trees, spreading off into a huge forest to the north. Distracted by the views, and still sore from the long trek to get where I was today, I managed to fall far enough behind that I lost Dave.

I was stunned. Looking around, I realized how little I had been paying attention during our jog. Mostly all of my attention was completely lost, focused on a childish attempt to make myself look good for Dave. I was unable to recognize anything that we had passed, not even the smallest hint to remind me of the path to return to Ashe's house. Completely disoriented, and lost, I began to walk along the path we came along. I passed a range of people and buildings as I walked. Some hunched over desks writing furiously with quills; and some sharpening knives and blades of all sizes on stones. After a few minutes of walking, I stood before a small house hidden away from the main rope bridge. I steeled myself as I walked up to the door, bringing my hand up to knock on it. The door shook on the rusted hinges as my knuckles hit home.

"What do you want little girl?" A man snarled at me, his face barely visible behind the half opened door.

"Ugh... I don't have time, just get in here," he said, clearly annoyed by my presence. Slipping through the half open doorway, I followed him down a short hallway to a small room.

As we entered the room my stomach did a back flip.

Across the room, tied to a small chair was a man, his skin covered in blood and cuts. My face cringed as I drew a hand up to point at the figure, mumbling curses under my breath. As my eyes wandered across the figure in the corner I took in each and every detail on his corpse. His clothes were ripped, almost fully stained with blood. Who ever had done this to the man had tried to hurt him, taking their time to draw the cuts long and thin across the pale skin of the man. As I took in each and every detail of the body my stomach seemed to tumble endlessly, urging me to spill its contents on the floor. Slowly as if he had heard us walk in, the figures head rose up. His eye, one sealed shut with dried blood and swollen flesh, glared straight at me. I was confused as the mask of pain was replaced with a grin, confused until he began talking.

"And who do we have here?" He said, "Another devil to torture me? What's this one going to do, cut off my leg to get me to tell you about him? I guess you can't get this into your head. I will not help you bastards." He finished, spitting the congealed blood that had filled his mouth.

As he finished the last few words of his sentence horror dawned upon me. I hated myself in every possible way imaginable for my choices. But alas, I was stuck with what I had said.

I turned away from the room, rushing back out the door to show myself out. Slamming the door behind me, I slowly sat with my back leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths as I tried to forget what I had seen. I sat there for a while, only the hushed whisper of the wind rushing against my ears as tears rolled down my cheeks.

Lots of thoughts rushed through my head, did that man have a family? Would it be me who was standing over him, knife in hand, next?

Then it hit me. To kill a demon; I had to become one.