Fears To Face

∞ Chapter 40 ∞

Rayne

These were the darkest days of my life.

I lay on the ground in a dark, cold room. Waiting for that strange girl to come back again. A blanket lay under and on top of me, a cushion under my head. I looked around. I had no idea where I was and when it was day and when night, or how long I had been here, because there weren't any windows. Nature was far away from this place. Three walls were filled with shelves where small bottles were pushed close together. In one wall chains were attached into it with big, old, strong looking irons. I still didn't like the look of those. I moved nervously.

Immediately, all-consuming pain shot through my leg. I couldn't get used to that either.

First, in the woods, when the strange human girl was coming closer, talking to me, waiting every now and then, reaching for me, I just wanted her to leave me alone to die. I knew I hadn't much longer to live so I had surrendered, hoping it would come fast so this horrible pain would stop, but she didn't leave although I pleaded desperately with my eyes for her to go. She stayed right where she was, determined to get me out of there, wherever she had wanted to take me.

She came so close in the woods. My instinct told me that the natural response would have been for me to get on my feet and run, or even snarl if running was impossible. But I couldn't move, I had tried that, I was exhausted and next to that I was certain I was too weak to even stand on my own legs and the whole lower part of my body hurt excruciatingly. So instead of doing what my instinct was screaming at me to do, I just let her get even closer. It wasn't like I trusted any move she made, but what helped was her calm approach, her soft voice and sad eyes. That, together with the pain and fatigue, made me numb enough to let her do whatever she wanted. I knew it wouldn't take long before I was gone anyway. But even after deciding that, my mind kept trying to fight against it, making it unable for me to relax. The situation was just too stressful.

They, the girl with long dark hair and light eyes and the older man who looked tired and grumpy, unsure what to do with me, dragged me into this room. The man had left soon and then the girl had collapsed in front of me. Her shoulder shaking, sobbing. When she went away too I thought she left me for dead, that she just had wanted to torture me some more by moving me around to die in a cold room, instead of in the woods, my home, and I'd wanted to snarl at her. Yet after a short time she had come back and had brought food with her for me and I must admit, that had tasted good. Juicy, chewy flesh, just exactly right.

After that, she had stayed with me all day, trying to make me as comfortable as she could. She cried a lot, but at the same time she stroked my fur soothingly. Sometimes she was close to me, brushing my pelt, but at other times she got as far away from me as she could, pressing herself against that wall with irons chains. Maybe she realized I wasn't comfortable when she was close to me. I didn't know. I did know I appreciated some distance at certain moments.

Other humans visited sometimes. A woman who's eyes had something very familiar, yet I couldn't place. She looked tired and sad. A little while later came a younger guy. It occurred to me that the girl appeared stronger than she really was when the other humans were near, except for that one guy. He was a tall, skinny boy with longish dark hair, one eye covered. He'd watched me before he shifted his gaze to the girl, his voice thick when he'd said, "Mom told me. I – I don't know what to say."

She'd shrugged, trying to keep herself together, but as soon as she lay her eyes on me her bottom lip started trembling. She'd raked her hand through her hair, her arm leaning on her knee. The boy had walked over to where she sat on the ground close to me. He'd thrown his arms around her and she'd broken again. "Oh, Sam. He has to get better. I can't live without him. I can't take it when he won't survive this," she'd sobbed against his chest.