"We wear 'masks' not to fit in, but to protect our vulnerable, true selves."
- Ida Collinger
~
My fingers twitched in the cold. I had only been walking for about two hours, but it felt like four.
Find a place to get warm, find a place to get warm.
Those words weren't foreign in my mind. I had been wandering about from town to town for three months now. Food, water, warmth, and a fresh change of clothes were things I looked forward to like a child on Christmas Day.
The dry, desolate field I had been walking through suddenly led me to the edge of a deep wood. A feeling of dread bubbled in the pit of my stomach, should I go in there? I stood still for a moment, however the chilling wind answered my question. At least the trees would block some of the harsh gusts.
Once I stepped inside the deep wall of brush, the trees seemed darker, and the fog glooming there seemed heavier. My shoes crunched old dried leaves that had departed from their home long ago. Like me.
The question of fate popped in my head, would I be like those leaves eventually? I shook my head; no, there's no way that I'd let myself give up and die like that. I was a fighter.
With every step I took farther into the woods, the more dark and twisty it became. I hugged myself for warmth, I was desperate for somewhere; anywhere to go rest. I decided then that I'd have to stay the night with someone tonight, as it was too cold to travel any longer.
Luckily, the fog slowly began to clear in the distance, revealing a clearing in the brush. I could make out a path way. A smile spread across my face as I hurried through the clearing. You're almost there! My mind was racing with excitement. I ran down the path as fast as I could hoping to run into a house. Nothing. Instead, I was met with a large black iron gate. The gate led to another winding path disappearing in more foliage behind it. I blew a tuft off hair out of my eyes. The gate was old, and almost seemed too rusted and fragile to use. I started to reach my hands up to open it, but before I could pull it open I heard faint noises from the distance. I instinctively dove into a bush to hide. Hiding was something I did a lot.
Based on my past.
The last thing I wanted, was to run into someone dangerous. I watched in curiousness as a woman limped to the gate, unlatched it, opened it forcibly, and limped down the path disappearing in the thick sheet of fog. She seemed dirty, and hurt.
Too scared and shocked to go after her, I sat in the bush puzzled. Who was that woman? Did she live beyond the gate? Was I seeing things? After a few minutes of sitting and wondering, the cold found me, and forced me to keep moving. The woman stayed in my head, where did she come from?
I stood up, and walked through the now open gate. I proceeded with caution, aware that more people could possibly show up along the path. Where did that woman live? I asked myself aloud hoping to find a house among the woods. I stayed along the tree line, walking slowly and always watching around me. I never liked to come in contact with people until I was on their door step. It made it easier to get what I needed.
The path wound around a corner and stretched past a few clearings leaving the area fairly open in itself.
A pickup truck came into view. I ducked into the brush of the trees until I was sure that there wasn't anyone in or near the truck.
I then took it upon myself to explore it. It was covered with branches and dirt. The tires were flat leaving it immobile. I frowned at it. Such a waste of a good car. I looked past the truck and a small part of a stone building was visible past the thick walls of the woods around me.
A house? I walked quicker towards the building, still cautious. Once I came into the clearing, and in full view of the house, my mouth nearly unhinged. There standing in front of me was the largest house I had ever seen.
The house itself was gorgeous. It's stone architecture and gloomy aura gave me chills and reminded me of the gothic architecture era I used to read about in school. It was placed so peacefully in the middle of the forest like a fairy tale house.
I ripped my eyes off of the house and began to walk towards the entrance, "hello, I'm a traveler who recently lost my home. Would you please spare me some food, maybe shelter for the night?" I practiced my lines with the smallest most desperate voice I could muster. How could the owners turn me down? I'm sure they'd have enough room for an army.
As I neared the front of the building, I noticed that the door was wide open. It was dark outside, but the light from the inside gave me guidance towards it. I cocked my head to the side completely confused. They were letting all of their warm air out. I walked up the front steps and across the porch. I could feel the heat from inside of the house.
"Hello?" I poked my head into the house, knocking on the opened door and looked around. Not a sound was returned. "Hi, uh I'm a traveler who recently lost my home. Would you please spare me so-" I stopped. A loud thud ricocheted through the house. I stepped back, a little taken off guard at the sudden loud noise.
It all went silent again. "Hello? Is somebody here?" I called. Nothing. I walked inside, the warmth hit me like a wall. I closed my eyes and embraced the temperature by throwing my head back and hugging myself. I decided then and there that the warmth felt too good on my skin. I was not leaving tonight.
I'd stay if it killed me. "Uh hello? I don't mean to intrude I just need somewhere to get warm", I stated.
Another loud thud answered me. I looked around the foyer, figuring out that the thud noises were coming from one of the above floors of the house.
I neared the steps.
My curiosity winning the fight between my rational actions and my irrational actions. I was going up there to look, hopefully find someone, because I was so desperate for shelter.
The steps were wide, and elegant. There were so many of them. I imagined what it would be like to ascend them with an elegant ball gown on, going to one of the rooms to retire for the night tired from an eventful day of dancing and entertaining other wealthy guests. I tipped my head back so that the tip of my nose was the highest in the air. I straightened my shoulders and walked as gracefully as I could up the stairs. Oh how I wish I could live here.
Another loud thud knocked me out of my daydream. I was now at the top of the steps ready to step onto the second floor. The hallway was dark, as there wasn't one light on. I strained my eyes down the hallway trying to determine if there was someone there or not. When I was sure it was clear, I tiptoed down the hallway.
Each room I passed, seemed to give me a more sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Another movement directed my attention to the end of the hallway. I stepped closer, against my conscience.
Suddenly, my eyes could make out a tall long shape in the blackness. I stepped back as I saw it was a man, much larger than I. His face, I couldn't see it was covered by something...
I let out a scream when I saw it was a mask. A blood splattered mask! I turned around and began to run but a hand swiftly clamped itself around my arm. I fell back at the sudden stop. The man let go of my arm and crouched in front of me. I got up on my elbows, and began to kick the floor to scoot away from him.
He let out a groan and fell back. It seemed like he was in pain. Was he hurt from something? As I watched him slump to the ground, I got up and carefully stepped around him and turned my body to run.
Something stopped me though. I turned around to look at him, he was weak and clearly wounded. I thought about my living conditions, the fact I didn't have anywhere to go and no food to eat. I needed a place to stay for the night, so maybe if I help him I can stay here. My conscience didn't agree with me, he was wearing a mask with blood on it! He's obviously crazy, he might've killed someone!
I didn't want to help him, or be near him. Who knows his intentions?
Sweat began to form beads along my forehead. He was questionable and if I was smart I'd run now. I thought however, about the possibility of him dying. If I left, I knew that I couldn't live with the fact that I let someone possibly die in front of me.
I slowly stepped over to him and cautiously knelt down beside him. His breathing was labored, but he was conscious. I could see his eyes glimmer in the darkness.
"Sir?" I asked him. He didn't speak, but I knew he heard me. I stood up and began to feel along the wall for some kind of light switch. This house had to have electricity, there's no way it didn't. I found one almost immediately and quickly flipped it on. The lights popped on to reveal a scarier version of the man than I had thought. His clothes were ill fitted on his body, they were dirty, and the mask he was sporting looked even worse in the light.
I swallowed my fear, and knelt down beside him again. I saw a red blotch on his dirty under shirt. It was in the middle of his abdomen.
I studied his wound. It was small, probably not anything bigger than an inch in diameter. Judging on his behavior however, it must be pretty deep.
"Sir, You need to stay still while I get bandages to dress this". I stood up, but before I could move, his hand gripped tightly around my ankle.
His eyes bled a deep sorrow. I felt pity towards him. Someone must've broke him in the worse way possible. I knew how it felt. I had been there before.
I shook my head to pull myself back in the moment. Bandages! I looked at him. "Sir, can you please tell me where I can find a first aid kit"? His breathing began to speed up, and his hand loosened its grip around me. I sighed at his lack of cooperation and began to walk towards a random door hoping there'd be a bathroom inside which had some type of first aid supplies in it.
To my luck, the room was a master bedroom and it included a bathroom on the far west side of it. I flew into the bathroom and scoured the shelves in the cabinets for anything I could use.
I returned to the man, with a roll of dressing, and disinfectant. It wasn't much, but it would have to do until I could get a hold of medical personnel.
I looked at him, "I'm going to have to pull up your shirt to dress your wound okay"? The man didn't answer, but his eyes flickered a bit. I reached out, but he flinched. Trust issues?
I continued to reach for his shirt end, and slowly pulled up the shirt, and grabbed the disinfectant. I eyed him, "this is going to sting". The man didn't move. I poured it straight into the wound, and I heard him hiss with pain. I felt bad for hurting him, but it would get infected if I didn't do this. I quickly poured some water on it, and wrapped it with the dressing. I'm sure I didn't do it right, but I never went to medical school. I got up, "is there a phone I use? We need to get you to the hospital so you can be checked". The mans eyes got wide beneath the mask.
"No". I furrowed my brows. "No"? "What do you mean no, you've been punctured with something, you could die"! The man kept his eyes locked with mine, "no". I rolled my eyes playing along, "fine"! I would have to sneak and find a phone. If he dies, the last person here was me and the police will find that out and I'd go to jail for something I wasn't involved in. I couldn't let that happen. The police have ruined my life more than enough.
I turned to him, "let's get you to bed".
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Welcome!!! If you haven't already, please go check out my first fan fiction inspired by "The Boy"!! I never thought I'd be making a second fan fiction but here we are!!
I'm making a few changes to Brahms, In this story, Brahms is going to be way different towards our new protagonist, and a little kinder. Just a little heads up, there won't be as much jumping around and fast moving events. I plan to take this book slow and it'll be a little slow moving. I feel like the slower the better in this case since I want this story to be as realistic as it can. Don't expect updates as often, I'm a student, so school is my top priority (unfortunately) but I definitely will try to update as soon as I can!! Thank you so much for reading!!
- Ri