I walked through the foggy forest with only a little bit of water to last me a mile. More importantly, I didn't have any food in case the water runs out. My feet was badly bruised and my body ached. If I stopped in the middle of this forest, then an animal would come and kill me as I let down my guard.
I became alerted when I heard a stick snap under someone's feet. I looked around slowly, making sure that nothing would attack me, but there wasn't anything. No animals and no hunters. In this time, there would be lots of hunters exploring the forests for food and to travel. If they found me here, then I would bound to be killed in the spot that I was standing in.
I walked further, if I remembered correctly, no hunters ever came this far into a forest. Unless there was more food over on this side, then they would come running. They would go as far to kill each other for food.
When I took one step, something snapped on my leg. I screamed out in pain and fell on the floor. It felt like spike trap for deer when they try to run away from the hunters. It's big enough to capture their foot. The spike felt like it went deeper into my leg, crushing the bone a little bit. I clenched my fist in pain. No one would be here to help me. Everyone is clueless about this area.
I then heard someone running this way. It must have been a hunter, if so then I'm done for at this rate. I sat up and tried to release the trap from my leg, but it was too deep to pull out.
" What are you doing in this part of the forest?" someone asked. I turned to see a man that had looked like he was in his twenties or mid twenties. He held the shotgun tightly in his hand.
" I would like to ask you the same thing," I said. I didn't trust anyone with such a deadly weapon placed upon in their hands. He looked down at his shotgun and put it to the side of him.
" Sorry about that, you probably seem suspicion of me." Instead of answering him, I looked down at the trap.
" Your leg is trapped. Didn't your parents tell you about watching your step in these places?" he asked as he tried to undo the trap. I cringed in pain as he slowly took the spike out of my leg. Finally, my leg was free, but there was lots of blood that had been lost. He then lifted me up and carried me out of the forest.
" I'm sorry about the trap. I heard your scream and I came running down." I lightly put my hands around his neck as he carried me. My leg continued to sting, but I handled the pain. I didn't want someone I just met to see me cry, thinking that I'm weak.
He carried me into a town where everyone was busy and rushed to work quickly, not caring who they knocked over. Further away from the chaos, was the man's house. It wasn't very big, but it seemed big enough for him.
As he opened the door, a woman appeared from the kitchen. She had beautiful, silky brown hair and light brown eyes. She would have wished the man home if I wasn't in his arms.
" What happened?" she cried as she rushed toward me.
" I found this girl in the forest. Caught her leg in one of the deer traps from before." He walked me over to the dirty couch that was in the living room and rested me there.
" Mary, go and get some cloth and some thread and needle. This girl is gonna need some medical attention soon." Mary nodded and rushed to the bathroom. I didn't feel weak or anything, but my wound must have been worse than I expected.
Mary came back and handed the man the needle and thread, along with some cloth.
" I'm sorry, but this is gonna hurt you a little bit." Mary handed me some cloth as well, to bite down on when I was feeling pain. No one had ever used needle and thread on my skin before, and now I know why. I cried out as the needle punctured into my skin along with the thread following after it. I bit down on the cloth as hard as I could from the pain. Some tears slid down my face. There was a lot of pain from the needle and a little bit from the thread. Mary aided him by wiping some of the blood off my skin with the cloth dipped in hot water.
" Done." I sighed of relief as he withdrawn the needle. Mary smiled at me.
" You're a tough kid. I have never seen a kid that handled that kind of pain." I looked down at my leg, which was now had sown up wounds. It looked ugly, but it was better than bleeding to death.
" What is your name?" the man asked. " It's not safe for a kid your age to be out here by yourself."
" My name is Aria." Mary smiled gently at me.
" Aria? That's a nice name for you."
" Let me call your parents and tell them where you are."
" I don't know who they are," I said. Both the man and Mary looked at me with surprised looks on their faces. They then looked at each other and nodded. I never understood why adults did that. Their communication with each other is unbelievable sometimes.
" Alright Aria, we'll have you spend the night here and we'll think of a plan for you at dawn." I nodded. Mary took my hand gently and helped me walk.
" Let's give you a bath. The dirt is showing in your hair." I was stubborn about not stripping in front of Mary, but she found a way to do it anyway. Once my clothes were removed, I looked at m tiny body. My breasts were small and my stomach too.
" How long have you been walking around Aria?" Mary asked as she turned on the bath.
" I don't know. How long does one person walk for days?" Mary checked the bath with her hand and called me over. I crossed my arms over my breasts.
" No, it looks like it's too cold."
" Nonsense, the bath is warm and ready for you. If you stand there any longer, then it will get cold, as well you." I bit my lip and sighed. She had a good point about that.
I slowly walked into the bath. The water was cool and felt weird against my skin. This must have been my first bath in years. Mary smiled as I examined the bath and everything in it.
" Anything interesting catch your eye?" she asked.
" What is it?" I asked, pointing to the pink bottle that was on the shelf.
" That's soap. It will help you get clean." Soap? Something knew to me. Mary used the soap and rubbed it against my skin. It felt weird with this strange substance against my skin. I smelled it and I have to admit, it smelled really good.
" Hibiscus leaves?" I asked. Mary nodded.
" You have a good nose Aria. "
" It's something that I'm used to. There were a lot of them in the forest that I was in."
After the bath, Mary gave me some clothes. It was a white collar shirt underneath a light blue dress that went down to my feet, covering the wound on my leg.
" Jay, come look at this girl!" Mary called. Jay? That was his name? He came into the hallway and nodded.
" She looks more settled than before."
" Thank you for doing this." Both of them nodded.
" Mara will be home soon, we will tell you about her," Jay said. I nodded slowly. Mara must have been their daughter.
~
A couple of minutes later, a girl with curly brown hair and green eyes came through the door. She was wearing a lilac dress with the hem going to her neck.
" Mom, Dad! I'm home!" she called. She looked at me in the doorway, with her eyes squinted. Mary came and Jay came by my side. Mara then pointed to me.
" Who is this?" she asked.
" This is Aria. I found her in the forest that was near by," Jay explained. She seemed to not like me almost immediately. When Mary served dinner later on, Mara continued to look at me. She frowned at me.
" Mara, how was school today?" Jay asked. She looked up at her father and nodded.
" It was fun, Janet and I learned how to shoot an arrow at an animal."
" Archery. Sounds fine, maybe we could go to the back and practice your shooting," Mary suggested. " What do you think Aria?" Mara looked at me with glaring eyes.
" I think it would be fun," I muttered. Mara smiled sweetly at her parents, making it seem like I didn't exist. Mara started another conversation with her parents as I looked at my plate, moving my food with my fork. It may have been better than the food I had before, but I wasn't as hungry as I thought.
" I don't think I'm hungry anymore," I said. Mary looked at my plate and nodded.
" It's okay Aria. I'll help you set up your bed." She stood up and I followed her into an extra bedroom. It wasn't as pretty, but it felt like home. Mary fitted the sheets and cleaned some sheets that was folded in the corner.
" Here is your bed."
" T-thank you." I crawled into the bed and rested my head back on the pillow. Mary smiled down at me and put the sheets over the lower part of my body.
" Goodnight," she said as she turned off the light and closed the door halfway. I closed my eyes gently and I fell asleep.
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Author's Note
Thank you for reading the first chapter of this story. My main account is Sakura456 for more stories along with anime fanfiction. Thank you once again.
- Illusions12