Love Hurts

Tamara's POV

He smiled at me. I smiled back and batted my eyes. He was charming. I couldn't deny that. But he wasn't very bright. Couldn't he see the way I looked at him? No, they never did.

I met him while I was roaming the town in which he lived. I'm still not sure how I had even arrived. As far as I could remember, I just woke up there, on a riverbank. I had only been searching around for a few minutes when he appeared, walking past that river. When he saw me, he reached out to me. He asked me several questions and I answered every single one of them but only through body language. It was strange. I was usually pretty chatty. Even I didn't understand why I had suddenly lost the desire to reply verbally. If it bothered him, though, he didn't show it. Instead, he accepted it and since he was able to understand my choice of movements (nods of the head, simple enough), he took all my answers without hesitation. He was very cute... Slowly, then, he moved closer to me and took my arm. I smiled at the gesture and, arm in arm, we walked back to his home. As we got closer to him home, he sang a little song in my ear, just for me.

"Trust me, trust me, darling dear. I'm so sincere, there's no need to tear. Trust me, trust me, darling do. Just like I trust you!" his voice was so soft and gentle and sweet. I could've fallen in love with just his voice and that would've been enough. Suddenly, then, the compulsion to speak returned to me and I smiled up at him and finally spoke.

"I trust you," I said and he looked so pleased to have finally heard my voice. I think I was in love.

Once we reached his little home in the far side of town, he sat me down on his couch and asked who I was. I told him that my name was Tamara Lounds and I didn't know where I was, or why or how. As a matter of fact, I couldn't remember anything before waking up lost. I tried to give him more, but that was literally it. He nodded sympathetically but said nothing. It was a peaceful, easy silence but as it carried on, I felt my shyness flare up again and I decided to fill the gaps.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"My name?" he asked back. He sounded genuinely surprised. Did he forget that he hadn't told me yet? Or was he just unused to giving out his name? Either way, I nodded and urged him to go on. He looked at me for a long moment but he did finally surrender an answer. "My name is Scorpion and although I'm not sure how I got here either, I just know that I've been in this town for quite awhile now and I actually really like it."

"Oh," I replied. Everything he told me then had been something I planned upon asking about later but to hear him lay it all out on the table in one sentence was a little disheartening. I hadn't learned anything at all. I still had no clue where I was or how or why. My one consolation was that Scorpion made it sound like this was normal.

"Maybe you can just stay here," he offered, seeming to have sensed my displeasure. "Hopefully you'll remember who you are soon but, if not, you can always live here!" he leaned closer to me, hopeful.

"That sweet of you, but I couldn't possibly!" I blushed, both because of his offer and his proximity. "Besides, I already know who I am!" I added.

Suddenly, then the house's front door creaked open and in came a hooded figure. The figure took off the hood to reveal a strange woman underneath. By strange, I mean that she had skin as cold and pale as porcelain. She had heterochromia eyes that seemed to never blink and her hair was so blond it was white. In addition, a big, black, web-like scar covered the right half of her eerily pale face. That was probably the most unnerving of all of her other creepy features. I wondered how she could've gained such an injury, let alone survive it. Then another unsettling thought came to me. She had just barged in. Did she live here? What relationship did she have with Scorpion? Before I could ask any of these questions, she had turned to him and busily pantomimed something I couldn't understand. I felt very out of place just then. But she left shortly after conveying this taciturn message and, to my relief, left the house.