Kennedy woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside her open window. She let out a soft moan as she stretched causing her nightgown to ride up a bit. She climbed down out of her loft letting her feet softly touch her cabin floor. She yawns thinking about what she wants to eat for breakfast. She opens her bread box to see she only has four slices of bread left over. She lets out a dissatisfied "hmph" before moving on to a hanging basket above her rack of antique cookbooks to see how many eggs she had. There were only four eggs, not nearly enough for her daily meals. She sighs walking toward her wooden wardrobe full of the most beautiful dresses that her mom hand sewed for her.
She picked a yellow ankle length sundress with pink lillies on it and her white boots. She picked her hair into a gorgeous afro before putting dried butterfly clips in random sections. She grabbed her woven basket out of the cupboard near her door before walking outside. The weather was perfect today, not too hot, not too cool...it was just right. She picked an array of flowers on her way to the village to hand out to the small children that played around the town as their parents shopped. As she saw the town up ahead she heard the sound of horse hooves softly crushing grass and branches behind her and she softly chuckled, already knowing it was Gus.
"Good evening, Gus," she said turning around to the older brown skinned man atop of the horse drawn carriage. He was an average sized man with a yellow beard, he always rode around the woods to give people rides to the village. He and his wife had two daughters who had recently gone off to pursue their dreams of being poets in the West.
"Hey there Kennedy, ready to head into town, the school children have been asking about you," he said, stopping the horses so Kennedy could get inside the carriage. She gets into the carriage to see another man already sitting inside. This isn't anything out of the ordinary. There's almost always someone else inside Gus's carriage but Kennedy thought today's conversation was a bit strange.
"I got word from my niece up North that someone attempted to destroy the capital yesterday," the unknown guest said. "Why would anyone want to do that?" Gus asked, slowly approaching the village. "I don't know but she said that "The King" sent out a message saying a young man was seen fleeing the capital shortly after the disturbance was heard," the man explains.
Kennedy was starting to get spooked so she stopped listening. She started thinking about her parents and how she should visit them or send them a letter soon. She always admired the way her parents loved each other and wanted to find love just like theirs. They met during secondary school when her mom ripped a hole in her skirt and her dad gave her his jacket to keep her from exposing herself. Kennedy wants to find love before she turns twenty-four but she's beginning to lose hope considering their weren't very many men her age. Kennedy snapped out of her daydream once she felt the repetitive rocking of the carriage stop abruptly. She looks around Gus to see everyone gathered in a circle looking at something.
She slowly approaches the crowd where she hears the shouts and cries of the usually peaceful villagers. She tries to peek through the crowd to see what everyone's looking at but fails. Gus rides up to the crowd resulting in everyone stepping aside just enough for Kennedy to see a mess of orange hair on the ground. She throws her basket on the ground and walks over to it. It's...it's a boy...that looks around her age. He was unconscious with multiple cuts and bruises all over his face.
"Why'd you do this to him, he looks to be new in town," Kennedy said. "He's the one "The King" said destroyed the capital, and there's a reward out for him," the woman that runs the village bakery says with anger laced all over her face. "Yea, the reward money could get my kids good jobs up North," the village butcher said with a sharp knife pointed at the unconscious boy on the ground. Kennedy's never seen the villagers act like this before and she doesn't want anyone getting hurt so she needed to be careful with her choice of words."It wasn't him because...he's been with me," she explained. "With you, why has he been with you?" another villager said, causing a huge response to be heard from the other villagers. "My parents sent him to me to cure my loneliness," Kennedy said.
She's never had a reason to lie to anyone before so her saying this to all those people who trust her made bile rise in her throat. She quickly asked Gus and another man to help put her new guest in the carriage. She still needed to finish getting her food so she asked everyone if they would please return to their respective shops. Everyone acted as if they didn't attempt to kill that poor boy and that put a bad feeling in Kennedy's stomach. ❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥
Gus and the other man helped Kennedy get her new found guest inside her home. They leave after getting him fixed on her couch. She cleans the cuts on his face and gives him a quick wash up. She could use potions to heal his cuts but he'd need to be awake in order for him to drink them so she just rubbed her home made herb mixture all over his cuts. She reached for the human anatomy book her parents gave her as a going away present and began looking for something that'll tell her when this boy'll wake up. She couldn't find anything so she resorted to her own solution. Reading to him. Her mom told her reading to plants will help them grow, Kennedy hoped this technique would work on humans too. She opened her favorite book and began reading aloud to him.
This went on for four days. She was beginning to get worried that he'll never wake and that he might die. She's been washing the visible parts of his body since she thought that he'd feel uncomfortable with a stranger touching his private parts while being unconscious. She's halfway through the last chapter of the book she's reading when her throat becomes hoarse so she gets up to get water. She comes back to see the young man on her couch opening his eyes. When his eyes land on her he immediately sits up causing him to become dizzy. "No no lay back down, you've been unconscious for four days that's why you feel fatigue," Kennedy says sitting the cup of water on the table in front of him. "Who're you and how'd I get here?" he asks, taking small sips for the water. "You were almost beaten to death by the townspeople so I told them you lived with me in order to save your life," Kennedy explained. "You could've just taken me to your local medical man," he says with a scowl.
"What's that?" Kennedy asks, taking his glass out of his rough hands. "You don't have a medical man, where the fuck am I?" he asks slowly, sitting up and looking around. "Your in Vaknekis, down South," Kennedy says. "How did I get all the way from Hinpama, someone had to set me up," he said. "Before we start talking about that, can we introduce ourselves?" Kennedy asked to change the subject. "Yea yea, my name's Finn," he replied dryly. "That's it, no last name?" she said letting his name sink in. "Nope, it's just Finn, what about you sweets what's your name?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. "Kennedy Faqeral, and no need to be rude," she says.
Finn chuckles, causing her to scowl a little. She doesn't understand why he's acting like she isn't the reason he's still living.
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