How did we end up like this

1.

I never really knew where I belonged, it was always easier for me, or rather for our kind, to hide, to run away and especially not to look back. A few years ago there were many of us, we lived in peace, we had families, friends, everything was normal. It was a long time ago, I was still very young, when the war came among us, my parents joined the secret resistance, which fell, but the war ended with it. After that, we hid in the woods with a few survivors, we learned to use our magic, our whole species was forgotten, or so we thought.

It's a day I have been running through the forest, through the parts we were not allowed to go. I have no idea where I'm going, I need to stop for a moment, just to catch my breath. I hid behind a larger tree and tried to catch my breath. I had no idea where I was going, I was already exhausted and I could hardly see where I was going as it was very late in the night.

"This forest has no end". I say to myself. I hear them catching up with me. I run out from behind a tree and don't even have to look back to know that all four of them have noticed me and are running after me.

Suddenly, I'm hit by the spell that one of them used and I roll down the hill and onto the dirt. I slowly raise my head and try to stand, noticing a small yellow light, resembling fire, that must be less than a yard away from me. I get up and try to run towards it, I'm only a few metres from the edge of the forest when another spell knocks me to the ground. I don't even have the strength to get up, so I just try to crawl as far as I can.

"Well, well, well, what have we found here, a little bird is far from home," says one of the men who just ran down the hill and is slowly walking towards me.

I'm still crawling, trying to get as far away as possible. Then one of them sends out a spell that causes a small explosion right next to me and I automatically cover my head. I tried to get up again, but to no avail, and fell to the ground again. This only makes them laugh and they move closer to me. I look back to see where they are and with a quick wave of my hand I throw a boulder out of the ground, hitting two of them who were close together. I then do the same with my other hand, knocking the third to the ground just before he can cast one of his spells.

"Crucio." I hear, just before I start to writhe on the ground in agony. The spell lasted a few seconds, but with the pain it felt like an eternity. As the spell wears off, I feel myself shaking, my eyes start to water and even the slightest movement is painful. I can hear him approaching me and slowly kneeling down beside me. He takes a strong hold of my tangled, leafy hair and lifts my head off the ground, closer to him.

"Nothing personal, little bird," he says in a lower voice, just before releasing me. Then we both hear someone calling out to us and quickly moves towards us, only now realising that we're out of the woods.

I just heard him say something to himself and come close to me.

"Hey, what are you doing out there?" I hear the same voice again, this time more insistent. Then he takes a few steps back and disappears to God knows where. I'm overwhelmed with relief and feel my eyes closing.

Now and then I would feel like I was being carried somewhere and then I would stop being aware of it. After a while I woke up again and was lying in bed, the only light in the room coming from a candlestick beside me and an elderly woman in a white robe with a nurse's cap on her head leaning over me. She was using a wand to heal the wounds on my arms. When she noticed that I was awake, she began to converse with me, but I couldn't bring myself to listen and closed my eyes again.