Lonely

Chapter 7

“I just wanna go home. I fell, down a hole, and I don’t know where I am. I just wanna go home.” She said again. I didn’t answer, as I was trying to think. How could she even get in a hole? Of course there probably were some other entrances outside. I wouldn’t know about those. Quite sometime later, I answered her. “I can get you out. But I can only take you so far. The doors are not safe. You will get killed. We’ll have a better chance of survival if we go underground.” I said. “What’s your real name?” She mumbled. “I already told you my name. It’s Hanger.” I said again. Why didn’t she believe me? She frowned, her eyes drooping shut. She looked like she was giving up, and for some reason, this upset me. She had to keep fighting. The feeling was, I don’t know, protective almost.

“No, Hanger is the legend in town. The old man, who lives in here. The one that set the dog on those two kids, years back. Just another legend.” She said quietly. I didn’t answer right away. She wasn’t making any sense. There was no old man. I would have figured that out before, even if I hadn’t been to every part of the castle. I would know, wouldn’t I? The two kids, the large dog. Obviously, they had enriched the story a little bit. Like telling them I was a creepy old man, and that I set the dog on them. Maybe they really did think that I had set it on them. Oh well, let them think that. I’m sure they got over it. She shivered and hugged her knees.

“Are you cold?” I asked. She looked surprised and sat up a little bit. “No. Wait, what you mean I’ll die if I go out the door?” she asked, as if she just noticed that I had said that. I frowned, but I doubted if she could see me. The creatures will kill you. They don’t like any one near the doors. If I go near them, I get attacked. It’s happened a couple times.” I said. She looked shocked, and I thought maybe I should take it easy on her. “I mean, they might not kill you, just attack then let you go.” I said. It didn’t help her, oddly enough. She shook her head.

“You expect me to believe that?” she asked. I sighed again. There was no way to get her to understand. Unless… there was one monster I saw quite often. The large, fat green one. He didn’t seem too bad. Maybe she could just touch it or something. That would be pretty gross, but she needed to believe me if she was going to get my help. I didn’t say anything, and as I watched, she fell asleep. I had never seen anyone else sleep. After a while, she twitched. Every now and then her fist would ball up. Once she grabbed for the rocks around her, but didn’t wake up. Actually, she didn’t wake up once. I left after a little while to go get food. I was starving, and I was willing to bet she was ravenous. I looked cautiously around at the bottom of the stairs, but heard nothing. It was safe for now. The monsters would sense someone new in the castle though, and they wouldn’t like it.