Petals floating by

Chapter 2: Back home

Hellooooo there :)) Second chapter wohooo! Vote or comment to let me know what you think:)) BYYEEEE

Love Mathiiilde :)))

*****************************************************************************

"Well, I'm Aaron." The boy said and smiled down at me. The panick caused by his former words was beginning to overwhelm me. 

"Where did you say you were taking me?" I asked my voice shaky. He just looked at me, as if trying to figure something out. A little wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. 

"I already told you. Back home with me, of course." 

"I know you're lying. And that's not what you just said.  Where?" I said. 

He didn't answer, but just kept walking, smiling slightly. 

"Are you taking me to the Manor?" I asked, my stomach full of fear just at the thought of it. At my words, Aaron's expression changed immediately. He looked down at me, his gaze very intense. 

"How-" 

"You cannot take me there. Put me down." I interrupted, trying to put some authority into my shaking voice. He just kept looking at me, wondering. 

"How'd you guess?" He said. I noticed his accent was different from the one in town. He contracted most of the words. Maybe he was from the countryside. 

"It doesn't matter how I found out, but now at least i know that you're lying to me. And-" 

"Yes it doesn't and no; I was not lying to you." He interrupted. "When told you I was taking you home with me it was true. Is that good enough for you, little, infamous flower?" 

I snorted. "Do not call me that."

Then the meaning of his words accured to me. If he was living at the Manor, he would be a part of the family. A part of my family. Was that why I'd seen him before? Could be. But something still didn't seem to fit into this. I would remember him clearly if he was part of the Torell family. Back when i wasn't Rejected, my mother made me learn all the names of our whole lineage, the living parts as well. I would definately remember his name and relations and his family seal, and all the other useless information she made me rattle off. But then again this boy, Aaron, who by the way looked much too poor to be a part of the Torell family, knew quite a lot about me, calling me by the name that only my mother used to use. With Aarons own variations, of course. 

"So tell me now. Lilyflower-" He chuckled at the face I made when he called me that. "How'd you guess, where we're going?." He turned and went into another alley, this one more narrow than the first. The houses on both sides of us, were almost brown form all of the dirt smudged on them. The city watch probably never cleaned this place up, I thought. Maybe the people in here weren't important enough to live in a place, were they weren't in constant danger of  contagion. At least that was probably what the important people in town had decided. The important people meaning my  former family. 

"Isn't it pretty obvious?" I asked Aaron. "You, a complete stranger,-"Though that was not completely true. Aaron seemed to notice my hesitation as i said this, because he said: "You do remember me, don't you?" But i just continued. "Kidnaps me, and calls me by the name that only my mother used to use, and says that he is taking me back home. It kind of paints the whole picture, don't you think?" 

"Pretty bright of you, Lilyflower." Aaron said without looking at me. Instead he gazed intently forward and suddenly everything became dark. 

"What is happening?" I asked, my voice demanding an answer.

"We're under the ground." He said. "Using the towns tunnel system."

Threads of icecold fear began to spread under my skin. "Underground?" I asked my voice shaking again. "N-no, can we pl-please go back up again?" I stuttered, mentally cursing myself for my fear of being underground. 

"You afraid." Aaron asked, I could only imagine the amusement in his face. "Don't worry we're up in just a couple of hours." My whole body shook at his words. He grabbed me tighter, which oddly made me feel a little better. I leaned my head against his chest and closed my eyes, picturing myself up in the fresh air, inhalling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling. I'd always been afraid of being underground. Almost always, at least. Ever since I as a little kid had been dragged into the tombs of the Manor by my two older brothers. They'd left me there, trying to harden me, they'd said. I was a softie, they'd told me, then closed the tomb doors. I was down there, almost a day, with the bodies of my deceased relatives. When my father brought me back up, I was dead silent, and wasn't able to utter a single word in almost two weeks. My brothers had gotten their punishment, of course, but my overnight down in the cellar had still been considered a neccessity by my mother who approved strongly of making me fierce and less scared of everything. Well you succeded mother, I thought to myself, I am stronger now. But not in the way you wanted me to be. 

Without me realising it, the ground turned into stairs and Aaron carried me all the way up, up into the fresh air. I breathed in an enourmus amount of air, and felt the relief fill my body. But the feeling dissapeared as fast as it had come, when I opened my eyes. There, right infront of me and Aaron, was the Manor. The Manor that I'd hoped never again to set foot on. Great and malicous, it towered over me, making me feel as if there was no more air even though I'd just gotten out of the dreaded tunnels. I didn't want to enter, as Aaron headed towards the gate. I had  an awfull feeling, that if i went in there again, I'd never get out. My family would make sure of that.