Talia.

Gràzelda's escape

She runs frantically through the long dry grass, occasionally tripping on air she tries to get away from what's behind her.

"You can run, but you'll never spend a day in this forest!" the old lady spits at her, an evil cackle following her vile words. She's taunting her, only really hoping that she'll change her mind and get back into the house. She'd be a fool though, if she thought for a second that a prisoner would want to go back to jail.

Gràzelda ignores her, only really happy that she can already taste her freedom as she takes in ragged rushed breaths.

She looks back at the ugly house, both happy and perplexed at how she'd managed to scale the 7foot fence that went all round the place.

This wasn't the first time that she'd tried to escape, but she certainly hoped it would be the last. Every single time she'd conjured up a plan to leave the old lady, something always went wrong. Something always held her back.

Just two months ago, she'd gotten as far as the fence when she suddenly fell unconscious, only to be woken up by the immense pain she felt all over her body. She'd as well gotten hot coal to her toes and feet, the burns lasting the longest.

Taka, she likes to call the old lady, had bitterly told her that she deserved all what she got for being such a pain to her old ass, even adding a snarky, "Let's see how little Ms. Gretel gets out of the bread house."

When she turns back to look at where she's running off to, she lets out a startled yelp when she realises she's been lost in thought for too long. Before she can even try to slow down, she's already rolling and tumbling down the leafy bed of the sloping surface.

At the bottom, she tries to get up but bites her lip at the sharpness she feels at her foot. When she looks down at it, she swallows down a cry, not wanting Taka to be even the least bit satisfied by the sounds of her suffering. No, she knows better than that.

She takes out the leaves and twigs stuck to her blood, looking at how deep the wound is. It's not too deep, but it's also not shallow enough for it to close up any time soon, so she hurriedly ties a cloth around it, same as the one she uses keep her hair in place, hoping that she wouldn't get any infection she might regret.

Get up, Gràzie, time waits for no one. She pep talks herself, getting a move on, walking painfully as fast as she can to beat the night.

A couple of hours later, Gràzelda is beyond ecstatic as she smells a bit of food, and listens to a bit of movement in the distance. It brings tears to her eyes, thinking that finally, after so long she's been able to escape the wrinkly hands of Taka.

She moves to the outline of the forest, watching for a while, waiting for the place to be deserted enough for her to make her move. She looks out to the café, her main option, thinking that maybe she'd get some scraps out of the dustbin, if they were hopefully wasteful enough.

She looks down at her feet, littered with cuts and bruises, glad that her journey had ended when it did, knowing very well that her throbbing feet wouldn't have taken her for any more than two hours in the tiny hard flipflops.

Moving fast behind the trees, she limps fast, going straight for the back of the café, but also falling into step with the two people getting out of it.

"Ahhh!" they all scream in unison, startled by the fact that, well... everything.

"Shit, I think it's one of the Sasquatches they told us to look out for," the girl tries and fails to whisper to her friend.

"Shut up, Stacy!" the dude says, also failing to whisper, leaving an awkward Gràzelda just standing there.

"Ahum," the guy clears his throat, for no apparent reason, "Hello, dO yOu NeeD any HelP?" he asks, as though he were speaking to a toddler.

"Uhm, yes, actually. Wait, no. Just, uhm? Go back to work. Yes. That's what you do right? Work?" Gràzelda says, sounding the most bit suspicious, but also not wanting to sound weird, asking for scraps of food.

"See, I told you, she even seems really suspicious."

"No, I don't, I'm just really dirtified."

The girl, Stacy, gasps, as if taken aback by the fact that Gràzelda addressed her. "S-See?? She even has like, the weirdest English. What in hell is 'dirTifIed'?" going back to her terrible skills in whispering.

"I can actually hear you, by the way. Oh and sorry, I get really bold and unable to speak correctly when I'm nervous," she says with the weirdest smile ever.

"Well, why would you be nervous if you weren't a Sasquatch?"

"I'm not a Sasquatch."

"THAT IS EXACTLY  WHAT A SASQUATCH WOULD SAY!" she screams, if you haven't already realised, then goes on to breathe heavily for about five minutes, with her friend holding her by her shoulders, trying to keep her calm.

What did I stumble into? Gràzelda thinks to herself, really wondering if this were just a dream and that she'd wake up with chains on her feet. Happened once, could happen again.

"Okay, so let's say you weren't a Sasquatch," Delightful. The dude joins Akeala in the Bee. "What would explain your well.. appearance. Sorry, but you actually kind of look like well.. a Sasquatch."

Gràzelda sighs, her stomach folding into knots for all the terrible hunger it's suffered. "I was kidnapped by a Sasquatch, it thought I was it's child, so it made me look the part," she says with a little bit of emotion to punctuate her whole lie. Well, it wouldn't fully be a lie since Taka did look like a mythical ugly creature. No offense unless you're evil.

Another gasp, "Oh my, Buttery buns! Yo-you're  one of the survivers aren't you?" Stacy says, her eyes as wide as a building if it were round and not square.

She believes this?

"What? There were more like me?" testing the waters, but also surprised by what she said.

"Oui,oui, my dear survivor. They were found a few weeks back, mumbling something about seeing a beast during their hike. Ugh, I wish I were as bad ass as you," she whispers the last part dreamily as she continues to stare at her.

"Anyway," the male subject says, not really believing any of this, but also tired of how dumb his friend seems to be, "What's your name?"

Eyes wide, eyebrows raised, butt oddly clenched, she looks at him and is frightened for some reason. Or maybe that's just because that was the first question Taka asked her when she took her, but went on to give her another name anyway.

"Squawk, squawk, I'm Tensile."

"Tensile. Right."

"Mhhmm!"Gràzelda hums with a high pitched hum?

"So, Tensile as in tensolite? Or Tensile as in tense?"

"I rebuke any of your words and refuse to answer you, now please get back to work, my ladies."

"Oh, that reminds me, Stacy, could you go check what time it is?" the gray headed dude says. No, not gray headed as in his hair color, but gray headed as in the beanie he's putting on. Which also makes no sense. It's like really hot out.

"I thought you'd never ask," she says, earning a couple of stares, a pause of silence, then some more stares from the two.

She really has some issues with that brain of hers.

She ignores everything, including the wall, skipping right into it, and dramatically passing out.

After poking her with his shoe, he says, "Come on, you don't remember us?"

Furrowing her eyebrows,

"You're making me exhausted, Gràzelda, just get in the café and tell me everything."

And with that, no one even knows what happens because Gràzelda also falls unconscious, not as dramatically as the last, but still falls to the ground. And the guy who's name we still don't know closes this chapter.