I didn't know where I was going. I just knew that it was dark, and that made it twice as dangerous to be out at that time. I hadn't thought to bring any weapons, but even if I did, what would I have brought? We didn't just have dangerous objects lying around, except maybe kitchen knives, though I was so inexperienced with any type of fighting, much less fighting with weapons that it wouldn't do very much if I needed it.
Where was there to go? I could walk for hours and not find anything, or I could walk right into a group of people and most likely be tortured and then killed. I could go to the dried up steam, as I didn't remember anything being near it, but that was eight years ago, and even if it was the same as it was the last time I was there, would I be lucky enough to find it again?
I decided to look for it, because even if there was a chance I would never arrive a my desired destination it was a better option than wandering around defenseless waiting to be stabbed to death.
It had been a couple miles away from my house, if you were to move from behind the house. We had learned about maps and north, south, east and west in school, but I had never really cared enough to figure out which way my house was facing. It wasn't like it mattered. My house was facing the way my house was facing, and even if you were going to go into specifics to give perfect directions my house would still be facing the direction it was facing. There were other things to worry about.
Behind my house was a row of trees, stretching on for miles, dividing the tiny backyards from the field beyond. I never went in the field, not because I wasn't allowed, but because I had never really thought about it. It was probably one of the worst places to be at night, but it was the only place I could go. The sun had only just set, and although that meant that there was nobody in front of my house quite yet, there would be soon, and even though I was in my backyard and nowhere in immediate sight, there was still a higher chance that they would find me there than if I went into the field.
I slipped through two trees that stood next to eachother, my hand on the bag that was strapped around my shoulder to make sure that it didn't bang into either of the trees and make any noise, even though the noise wouldn't be that loud. I felt like I needed to be overly cautious, because you never really knew what might be lurking around.
You could tell that this was one of the borders of the field, though it seemed endless in any direction that you happened to look. It seemed strangely empty, and I wasn't entirely sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
My best hope would be to walk straight through it, because I wasn't sure how far it went on for on the sides, or even what I might find when I reached either of this borders. Hopefully my dark clothing would make me harder to spot, from a distance at least.
The screaming started from somewhere behind me, and so I started to run, as though my past was chasing me. Every scream was a person, and maybe if I ran far enough away so that the screams couldn't reach me anymore, that person would be okay, as though my denial was their key to safety. I could have gome back and helped them, like I should have, but it was so much easier to keep running, and I felt like, for once, I needed something easy.
I didn't let myself think about the fact that that might be what some kid had to tell himself every morning. I didn't le myself think about him telling himself that every night as he tortured an innocent, letting the mark of murder tattoo itself onto his hands each and every night. I didn't let myself think about the fact that he told himself that it was easier to be feared than trusted, and that easier was better. I didn't let myself think about anything. I just shut my eyes and kept running.
~-:-:-~
I opened my eyes to see a masked face above me, and I felt cold metal touching my neck, but only slightly. I couldn't move, because I feared that if I did it would all be over.
My legs were almost numb, though I couldn't remember how long I had ran for, or falling asleep. I could feel the grass under me, but there was no memory to accompany it.
"Who are you?" His voice was muffled through the mask, as only his eyes were visible. It sounded like a e, but at the same time it sounded lik his voice was fake, as though he was making it soud deeper. His eyes were green, though I couldn't see any emotion in them.
"Who's asking?" I said and smiled cheerfully. There was nothing I could to escape, so I was going to most likely die, but for whatever reason I couldn't help but to be happy about...something.
He looked at me strangely "You have a knife pressed to your kneck. I don't think this is how you want to approach this situation.
I shrugged slightly. "Doesn't really matter to me. You're not very intimidating, are you?"
He pressed the blade into my skin and my smile disappeared as I felt the tickle of blood. "Name. Now."
"Raven Clarke." I said quietly. He stood up reached his hand out, as though to help me up. It was surprising, though I wasn't in much of a position to do otherwise, so I grabbed his hand.
"People are looking for you." He told me as I brushed the grass off my jeans. "A mob broke into your house last night. You're lucky that you weren't there."
My eyes widened. "Was my mother there?"
He shook his head. "From what I heard there wasn't anybody there when they broke in. The place was completely empty."
I slowly started to laugh. I didn't know why, as there was nothing funny about the situation, but I couldn't help it. I had somehow escaped from death when I had no experience whatsoever when it came to defending myself, or anything really. I hadn't needed to defend myself. I just needed to disappear.
"Now are you going to tell me your name?" I asked him, because I could tell that he was starting to wonder why we had blthered helping me at all. He hadn't really helped me much at all, but at least he had woken me up from whatever sleep I had fallen into.
"Ryder Donovan. I believe we met, if you consider you staring at me after I was beaten up by a bunch of idiots. Now, I would take off this mask but they left me with a particularly nasty swollen lip that I'm not all that fond of."
"Oh come on." I grabbed the top of the mask and pulled it off his head. "Now, is there any reason that you've decided to help me or are you doing it just because."
"It's part of my job. Well, it's not technically a job, more like a part of a secret group that's planning to overthrow the government."
I stared at him.
"It's a joke." He explained.
"I don't get it."
"Well you don't have to. Just have and make it seem like you found it funny so I don't feel like an idiot."
I tilted my head after a moment. "You're not from around here, are you? Because nobody just jokes about overthrowing the government. Not unless they have a deathwish."
"Maybe I'm just special." He said with a slight grin, though I could tell that there was a topic he was avoiding. Something most likely about where he was from, or something relating to that. I wanted to know what it was, but we had literally only met just then, if you didn't count that incident in english, so even if I asked it was highly unlikely that he would tell me.
"Right." I nodded slowly and smiling slightly, so that he didn't appear weird to the point where he would possibly decide to leave. "If that's what you call it.
