The Last of Us

Chapter 3

I walked out of the now abandoned house. My parents were dead and so, I had nothing left here for me. I tightened the left strap of the napsack a bit before taking a final look around the front room. I was going to miss this farm, sure, but I wasn't going to miss the blood.

I stepped out into the crisp night, the northern lights glowing over head, swaying like snakes against the constellations. I watched them for a moment before turning, a stuffed coin purse in hand, and walking down the dirt road to the main one. My bare feet his the stone with a slap, causing my heart to jump, not expecting the noise to be so loud.

Looking towards the docks then towards the hill going up to Solitude and the road away from it, I decided to head up the hill, away from Solitude. I traveled for a few minutes in silence, the noise of crickets and my feet slapping stone the only sounds to keep me company. Once the road sign was in sight I looked and decided to go towards Whiterun. It seemed to be the best place for now. Homey, safe, warm.

I looked at the coin purse in my hand for a moment before deciding to sit. I opened the bag and began to count out the gold. I had just hurried and grabbed every gold piece I could possibly find in the farm house before leaving. I counted up to 97 gold in total. It wasn't much, but I knew I could get by on it for a bit.

As I continued my walk to Whiterun I thought back to when I got to visit there. Ma had to take some crops up there to sell with the man running the stables. I begged for her to let me go with and she agreed, only if I promised to do my chores as soon as we got back without complaint.

When we had arrived there, ma sold the crops and asked if I wanted to see Whiterun before leaving. I eagerly responded with a 'Yes, please ma!' which was said unheard do to me already running up and around the wall to get to the front gates.

The gates of Whiterun are wood instead of iron like in Solitude. It was different and I had enjoyed it. One of the guards at the gate were rude and tried to get us to pay a toll to enter the city but ma knew there wasn't really one to be paid. So he let us in while mumbling something about ma being stupid.

The city was beautiful, peaceful looking. I had started looking around in awe before I turned to ma to see if I could explore. She had simply nodded before I took off. I ended up exploring every inch of that city.

It was the first time I had gone away from home or Solitude, and it was the best day ever for me. But I didn't feel that joy in my heart when thinking back. I only felt the sharp and numbing pain of loss. It didn't make me feel any better than I was thinking of ma again.

I felt something running down my neck and realized I had started crying again. I didn't realize I had stopped in my tracks either. I looked around to see if I was alone. When I knew nobody was there I dropped my stuff and fell to my knees. I cried. Harder than I had ever cried before. My heart ached and it wasn't going away. They were gone. Both ma and pa.

I looked up to the sky, screaming at it, needing something to yell at for their deaths. I yelled out at nothing, closing my eyes tight. I let the tear flow. Anger, sadness, confusion, guilt, and self hatred. They were all coming out as one. Grief.

Then there was silence. It was calming, peaceful. I felt hot tears streaming down my face still, dropping to the ground in front of my knees. I opened my eyes again to see the northern lights, once filling me with hope and happiness, now filled me with sorrow and anger.

I looked around the road, finding a log to sleep in for the rest of the night. I basically crawled over to it, not being about to find the strength to fully get up and walk. The bark was rough, covered with moss and leaves. It was hollowed out on the inside and seemed good enough to sleep in.

I took my napsack off of my back and set it inside first, planning on using it for a pillow. I scooted in and tried to get in a comfortable position but the log was a bit smaller than I had first thought. Eventually I got in a good spot and curled up, still crying. I pushed my shoulders into the napsack to mash down something that was jabbing me in the back and rolled over.

The sounds of the forest beyond me were soothing. The chirping of small bugs in the grass, the wind rushing through the trees, animals howling at the night sky or just making noise because it was too quiet for them. It lulled me into an uneasy but empty sleep.

*Time Skip Brought To You By: Your Lazy Author Who Forgets To Update*

Waking up in a log is far more unpleasant than I had originally thought it to be. I expected to wake up with a few aches and pains but instead, I was greeted by my whole body being stiff and cold. It hurt to move just about anything, which wasn't very good considering what I woke up to.

I had woke up to voices and the sound of birds chirping overhead. The voices weren't familiar so I was planning on running into the forest just a few feet from the log I was occupying, but when I tried to move... Well, you get the picture.

I tried ignoring the pain of my body and focused on listening to the people outside, assuming they weren't aware of my presence. If they knew I was here they would have either taken me somewhere, pulled me out and asked what I was doing there, or maybe just wait for me to wake up to see what I was there for. Maybe they were doing the last one.

"I don't know what you were thinking, running off like that. Chief would have your head on a pike if he knew. I covered for you this time, but next time, you won't be so lucky." A mans voice rang out. It was sort of like a higher pitched deep voice and had a slightly off accent. His vowels were more pronounced than peoples usually were.

"Thank you. But you wouldn't understand. Nor would the Chief. Everyone, the others at the fort, the people I go to raid, the people in the cities. All of them taunt me. They laugh, point, make crude remarks, jokes, and even go so far as to throw things at me. The guards in those cities even join in. I have no choice but to run off like that." This mans little story made me feel bad for him, but not enough to try and make my way out. His voice, being thickly accented, was deeper than the first mans. 

The first made scoffed and spoke, quite insensitively.

"Grow up, will you? You're a bandit. People in cities are going to do that. Guards as well. At the fort, everyone is joked about. Be a man about it. We all have our share of humiliations and problems." I flinched inwardly at how insensitive he was being. I'm pretty sure the other man flinched as well.

"I told you. You don't understand." I could hear the pain in his voice, nobody understood the pain of his humiliation.

"What else is there to understand? You can't take the jokes and humiliation that we all get. That's all there is to it." The first man was completely oblivious to the other man's pained voice.

I heard the second man sigh before I heard some shuffling, assuming it was the second man standing up.

"Where are you going now, Norakvar?" The first man asked, walking over to him.
The second man was standing right in front of the log where I was previously sleeping. I froze, waiting.

"I'm going for a walk is all. I'll be back shortly. Just need to clear my head. Why don't you head back to camp, I'll take care of the child when he comes to." I felt a sudden new wave of adrenaline rush through me at the mention of me.

"Just get back here shortly. I'll send Sveen out to check in on you and the boy within the next hour."
And with that, the two men began to leave, walking off in opposite directions. Leaving me alone, to finally get out and deal with my achy, stiff body.