daughter of esmund

Four

Annie's POV

The world around me begins to clear up.

My audio is the first to fade in. The quiet hum of crickets disturbing the silent area. I could hear the rustle of tree leaves as what I assume to be the wind blowing them. The sound of crackling embers from a campfire can also be heard.

Next, my sense of feeling returns. Along with the abrupt sharp pain in my side, I can feel the chill and mist in the air as the cold breeze hits my face. I can feel the weight of something that is draped around.

I try to piece together where I am from the clues I've been given.

Crickets...is it nighttime? But, last I remember it was the middle of the afternoon. The breeze and sound of leaves rustling must mean I'm outside, and the feeling of the scratchy grass from underneath my hands means I'm sitting in the grass, most likely.

Eventually, my eyelids go from unbearably heavy and impossible to open, to lighter and more open to the idea of opening.

My eyes flicker open a few times as I catch a few short glimpses of the night sky, speckled in stars, and the moon that glistens brightly.

Eventually, I'm able to keep my eyes open, my vision blurry for a few moments before focusing.

I'm sitting against a tree in the forest, a campfire a few feet away the only light source in the area. Someone's jacket is draped around my shoulders and bandages are wrapped around my side. I also notice that someone is sitting on the other side of the campfire, smiling kindly at me.

Vylad.

I try to stand up, try to walk away and get back to Phoenix Drop, but he stops me.

"No, no. Don't move okay? I'm not going to hurt you. I promise," he says, somehow reading my mind as he moves over to me and sits beside my feet

I stop moving for a second, staring at him for awhile before relaxing and sitting back down on the ground.

Something tells me I can trust him.

"W-what happened?" I ask, my voice hoarse.

"I, I don't really know," he says shrugging his shoulders and drifting his gaze to the ground, "I went looking for you shortly after you ran off and found some, bandit girl, dragging you behind her. You looked like you were hurt really badly. I fought her off and bandaged the wound. I thought that I would wait for you to wake up before I brought you back to Phoenix Drop. I didn't want to freak you out if you woke up on the trip back."

"You, you saved me?" I ask, doubtfully.

He lets out a small laugh, "Annie, of course I saved you. Why would you think I wouldn't?"

I stay silent, staring at him.

"O-oh," he says, his gaze dropping to the ground.

There's a long awkward silence, tension filling the area around us.

"Annie," he pauses his gaze drifting up to me once more, "what, what do you remember from that day?"

Tears instantly brim the edges of my eyes as the memories of that day rush back.

The happiness when I first saw him.

The pain I felt when I woke up days later.

Not just physically, but emotionally.

He hurt me really bad. Did he realize that?

"I, I remember y-you," I take a deep breath wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes, "I remember y-you sta-, stab-" I choke up, it being almost impossible to finish the words.