the cure; lmd

ch; 4

james is such a dick. i can't believe i still have to share a house with him. i wish i could just wish him away like old times.

i'm sick of the awkward silence and the way he deliberately tries to avoid me. don't get me wrong, i'm heartbroken that ruby had to be taken, but she even said herself that if she was to leave us then we should fight for a cure for this monstrosity. she never said anything about moping around our rooms about her being useless.

whatever he can do what he wants. i'm going to find this cure and the first thing i'm going to do when i get it is revive ruby and tell her what an asshat james is.

~~~~~

another day had passed when i had the realisation that our house was one of the five left standing in our neighbourhood. it was time to do something about this. i can't keep going outside only to be greeted with depressing black spaces where former friends had been. i'm going on a little road trip.

i say 'road trip' although nobody owns an actual car here. there's just no point when you can take a walk and enjoy the nature, you know? well, not that the environment still looks beautiful. the grass has turned a wretched shade of grey and all of the flowers have died. the skies are forever a swirling mess of clouds and the sun doesn't even bother to show itself anymore.

i trudged down the small pathway separating the houses from one another and turned down the dark forest path. i never bothered to say my goodbyes to anyone as there wasn't any point anymore; everyone was too caught up about this situation to actually do anything about it.

i suddenly realised i actually had no idea where i was going and what i was looking for. a lab, maybe? has anyone even wished for one down here before?

shaking my head to clear my thoughts, i heard tiny footprints coming from behind the evergreen trees. i couldn't see anything so i just thought it was my imagination and carried on down the path until i heard it again. i peered around the thick trunk of the tree to find a lonesome fawn that appeared to be injured. i think its the only living animal i've seen so far.

i carefully tiptoed towards the fawn while she looked back at me with sorrowful eyes. i decided to take off my scarf and wrap it around her leg to cover the wound, although it would not do that much good, it was the least i could do to help the fragile thing. i smiled to myself and reached out to stroke her immaculate coat. she didn't seem to mind, and carefully stood up after i had finished stroking her.

i decided to waste no more time in this eerie forest and carried on my way. i took a few steps down the path before i realised the fawn was following me. i turned around to her and crouched down to admire her beauty.

i've always loved wildlife. even the dangerous animals and plants i came to love. they're all just so exotic and unique, carrying in with their lives without a care in the world. i found i was almost always drawn to anything that felt the tiniest bit soft.

i figured the fawn was following me because of the small tub of blueberries i had bought with me in my backpack along with other supplies. i took a few out of the tub and placed them infront of her. she looked at them hesitantly before taking one. i decided now was the best time to leave while she was distracted. i didn't want anything to happen to the poor baby on my adventures if anything does. i have no idea what's in store for me yet. i've always stayed within a few feet of my house, and i must admit i am intimidated by how dark and grey my beautiful world had become.

i was quickly snapped out of my thoughts as i realised the sun was now setting and i was at the edge of the forest. infront of my lay a barren field with dead trees dotted around here and there. however, on the horizon i could just about make out the silhouette of a house, with smoke coming from its chimney. maybe they could help me.

~~~~

it seems that the house was not as far away as i had thought. but, alas, my hope was once again shattered. the door was left open as an elderly woman lay there, with grey skin and blue veins.

it's such a shame. it looks like this has only happened recently as well. well, there's nothing i can do about this now. i gingerly pulled a sheet over the woman and explored her cottage. i'm sure she wouldn't mind if i rested my legs here a little.

i soon found myself cuddled up on the sofa, drifting off into a dreamless sleep. let's hope tomorrow will be more successful than today's adventure.

~~~~

i woke up with a start, as i saw the sun was still rising. i didn't want to spend another minute in a dead woman's house - it feels and sounds wrong.

i quickly stood up, grabbed my bag and headed out once again.

i stood on the doorstep for a few minutes, figuring out where to go next. to the right of me was a modern looking house surrounded by small fountains that had stopped working. to the left was a magnificent mansion surrounded by now dead trees and plants. carrying on forward was just piles of rubble which I'm assuming are from former residents of the village. i decided to check out the mansion.

it wasn't that long until i was struggling to open the iron gate to get inside the mansions grounds. with a loud creak it opened finally.

i quietly walked to the front door and knocked twice on the door just in case. not long after i knocked it opened slightly and i caught a glimpse of long black hair and bright green eyes.

"y-you're not here to take me back, are you?" the girl stammered.

"no, no. if anything, i'm here to try and figure out how to bring back the ones that were taken." I chuckled. After a few minutes hesitation she unmatched the chain from the door excitedly and let me into her beautiful house.

"i'm so glad someone else is also looking for a cure! i've been testing out formulas upstairs in my lab, though they tend to fail as i am not a scientist." she paused for a moment, "oh! how rude of me to not introduce myself! my name is hael, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"hi hael, i'm anna. i'm so glad to have met you too! so, you have a lab? i used to work in one back on earth if you want me to help with the cure?"

"oh my god yes! that's so cool thank you so much! follow me, there's quite a lot of corridors in here so you might get lost." and with that, we both climbed the staircase upstairs, and lightly chatted about our past lives.

hael seemed trustworthy, though i do wonder why she has this massive mansion all to herself. mustn't she get lonely? well, i feel like it would be rude to ask that seeing as i just met her, so i pushed the question to the back of my head and focused on our conversation.

after many hallways and doors we had finally reached her laboratory. it was massive, with all of the equipment needed to actually get some research done. we both fingered that it would be best to find some resources from outside to examine, until we realised we don't have anyone to test it on.

"hey! i know! i could be your test subject!"

"hael no i'm not injecting strange substances into a little girl who i have literally met not even half an hour ago."

"but think about it, anna. it's not like there's anyone else left around here for miles. besides, it doesn't really matter to me whether it fails or whether it works. either way i'll be happy. i had as much of a great life up there as i did down here, anyway." she exclaimed. she always seemed so happy. i do wonder how she did it, for not even i can remain happy forever.

"okay you do have a point. are you sure about this though?"

"positive." and with that we laughed and ran outside to collect samples to examine.