This story is sequel to “Loner”.
The snow continued to fall as the sun slowly began to set in the cloudy sky. The boys clothes began to become colder as snow continued to cover his body.
“Almost there Zoe, you’ll be ok.”
He said as the began to fall faster. A minor Blizzard was stirring up at their location so he knew they needed to get indoors quick. Not to mention the fact that I could bleed out at any moment. The boy’s pace began to increase as his breaths became more labored, it sounded as though he was in a full sprint. The wind became more fierce dealing harsh blows to the boys body, not to mention my own.
After about ten or fifteen minutes the boy began to slow down. I began to feel a warm glow, a feeling of safety washed over me as the boy opened the door to the structure. I could hear the crackles of a raging fire burning in the far corner of the room. The subtle smell of coals and burning wood wafted through the air. Bringing a slight tingle to our noses.
He layed me on my back on a bed or cot of some sort while he rummaged through some draws.
“Where’s the damn bandages!?”
He said panicked. My breaths slowly started to get more difficult to complete as the blood slowly filled my lungs. I opened my eyes to see a familiar face next to me pulling up my hoodie looking at the wound. He slowly began to stitch the hole in my stomach while breathing pretty heavily. I neglected to think about how much of a toll the run took on him.
“I-its ok, you’re gonna be ok. I-i just need to get this done.”
His words seemed hollow as though the only thing keeping him awake was me. His eyes were half shut, and his hoodie now covered in my blood. His hair was damp, and so were his clothes but the fire helped him out.
“T-toby?”
I said as I passed out. Vision completely black as the world around me continued to move. I could slowly feel my sanity leaving me. In my imagination there was two of me. One was me l, one was the me I can’t be.
“Come on Zoe, they never cared about you. When you heal let’s go back and kill them all!”
The voice was mine but it wasn’t. It was empty, emotion, light, feeling it was all absent. She seemed to be a shell, of pure dark. She was an embodiment of my hatred and everything I lost.
“We can’t we’re not that type of person.”
She slowly walked towards me. Blood dripping down her face, walking with a limp and it seemed difficult for her to even move. On the contrary she appeared in my face almost instantly and held my neck. Crushing my wind pipe and sending what good I had left into nothing.
“We are now!”
I slowly opened my eyes. My vision hazed. The sunlight was gone, the only light was the fire in the cabin. It gave of such a warning embrace of love, as though it cared.
“Don’t move. The stitches aren’t set, you’ll re open the wound. Just lie down.”
It seems was now fully rested. He had a little more energy and life to his voice, the gleam of the fire danced across his beautiful eyes. He himself made me feel so safe in his presence, like he can actually protect me. Not that I need protecting.
“Toby…Come here.”
He got up from his wooden chair at the foot of the bed and came close to me. His face covered in stubble. Must’ve been awhile since he had been able to shave. His concerned eyes were set on mine.
“Yeah Z what’s wrong?”
I pulled him close and hugged him as tightly as I could with a hole on my stomach. I began to cry but smile at the same time, as though I was freed from a prison in my own mind.
*T-thank you…Thank you.”
I fell back onto my side and winced. It had only been for a second, and the pain was tremendous, bit the hug was more than worth it to me at least.
He blushed and walked back to his chair giving me a quick smile interupted by one of his ticks. He looked at the orange blinding light of the fire for a moment before speaking.
“W-what happened? How’d all this s-start?”
The ticks came through in his speaking. I looked at him, my eyes still burning, and my vision was still unclear. I could really only make out his figure.
“I-i had to leave. I couldn’t say any longer.”
We both looked at eachother with worried gazes. Almost no time passed before he said.
“You’re here now. It’ll be ok. Don’t worry.”
