My Beginning & The End: Where The Road Led [REWRITTEN]

Despondent expedition

10.

A curse that binds us and drowns us together.
You wanted me, and I wanted out.
You were an escape till it was my end.
It all came to the same place.

A body of water and tears of pain.

I slept on the forest floor and woke up to the sun rising and shining through the trees. I tried standing up, but my feet were blistered and bloody. I fell down and got back up using a branch for support. I walked tirelessly for a few minutes, which felt like excruciating hours. I kept having this nagging feeling I wasn't alone. I looked around, and there wasn't a soul there. There were no birds chirping or deers running. There was no bear to fight or a hunter to follow. I thought I was all alone, but something was punching my gut, which made me feel otherwise. I kept looking back on my regrets, which included not taking my shoes before running out. I didn't expect myself to get so far. I thought I'd be pulled back inside the minute I touched the cold gravel outside. I was still entrapped nonetheless. There was only one way out, and I had to get there. But then maybe I wasn't a prisoner after all. It could have been I mistakenly thought he'd actually care. Why would he care about anything, especially a woman like me, but then again, he went through the trouble of dragging me out of the water and feeding me each evening. He's still a monster. He's still after me, isn't he?

"There's nothing out here for you unless it's turned against you." He said calmly as he emerged from behind a tree. I screamed when I saw him and started running but immediately tripped and fell flat on my face. I heard him chuckle as he came closer. I made an attempt to crawl away but didn't get far before I gave up knowing my dammed fate would never let me get away. "You think there's away out of here? I've yet to find it myself." He said, mocking me for trying as he followed down my path. "Just leave me here... please, I beg you. There's someone waiting for me." I cried out to him. He bent down over me and picked me up like I was as light as a doll. He walked back to the cabin like he knew the forest better than his own idea of keeping me there. Before I knew it, we were back to the start.

I washed my feet, and then he bandaged them for me. We hadn't spoken a word since we got out of the forest. I decided my best way out now was befriending him and instilling paranoia into his nonexistent plan. I would realistically never get justice in a world of controlled by corruption and wealth. The only way out was death. Each time I tried to live, I was pushed further back, and now I was at the bottom of a pit I didn't even know existed. "You don't recall anything at all... do you?" He said saddened. I looked at him, confused and tiered. "You asked me to run away with you, and I didn't listen. I was thoughtless and didn't know the consequences of not leaving with you." He said as he reminded me. "Who are you?" I asked as I suddenly had a moment of déjà vu. We had been through this agony before...

- - -

It's been two days since I last heard from him. He was supposed to meet me by the willow tree. He promised me...
He left me stranded and all alone. I thought he'd agreed that it was the right decision. I had to explain to father that I was just on an evening walk, but he wouldn't listen and would have none of it.

He knew.

He somehow he had figured out my plan. I couldn't figure out why he would want to keep me around only to suffocate. I had lost my freedom to leave. I was never getting out. This was the end.

- - -

"-In the end, it was death that swept us apart and kept us separated." -"It all fell apart." He kept talking, but I couldn't listen to any of it. I stumbled to my feet and fell down. Memories flashed before my eyes of a life I didn't remember living. I could feel the past crawl up on me. The suffering felt doubled. How was it possible. Suddenly the world went blank and everything was black. I was paralyzed.

I woke up, and he sat beside me. He held his head in his hands and stared down. "Damien?" I said quietly. I noticed the light in his eyes sparkle as I said his name when he lifted his head up and looked at me. He was no longer terrifying, only stupid. I didn't remember everything but I remembered him. He was a poor butler on the lookout for a job. He stumbled down the wrong street and accidentally found me as I was running down the road. He saw my father run after me and set his foot out, and tripped him. I glanced back and saw him smile at me. He was a naive boy looking for trouble, and soon, the trouble chased him back.

Only just a dream. It's all imagination. This can't be reality. Nothing makes sense now that I know. I didn't want to believe in fairytales, and I definitely never wanted to live in one. This was another nightmare. Dear Death, why would you let him linger on knowing he would only keep chasing the past?

I looked into his eyes and felt like he was missing. There was nothing real there. Like a glimmer on water, he wasn't the hope I was looking for. I was stuck with him in a past that I didn't even know I had left behind. I hate him now just as much as I once loved him.