The Story of Midnight

Chapter 4

This chapter is dedicated to Recklis who is my first fan.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

—Dr. Seuss

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Someone was shaking me to see if I was alive.

"Silver, open your-oops, I mean, come back to us!"

That was definitely my feline friend.

"Nice save there, Dawn," I grumbled, dazed.

She gasped, and started rubbing her cheek against mine.

"I thought you were gone!"

I forgot how dramatic this cat can be, I thought as I carefully pulled her away from me. I noticed I was lying back in someone's arms, and that someone could only be...

"You're lucky I caught you before, well, you know."

I flinched at the sudden contact and quickly put some distance between us trying to keep my breathing and heartbeat steady. I hugged myself and began to rub up and down my arms as my body started to shiver.

Cloud was surprised by my strange actions and looked at Dawn to help him fill in the blanks. She walked over to him, and carefully whispered her explanation.

It's been a while since the last time I've been touched. It was from being tortured not of what you're thinking. The results of that made me jump whenever someone attempted to touch me. I guess you could say it left me scarred, but I always hated being touched, let alone being hugged by a stranger. But, for some reason I was okay with me touching them.

I then noticed that we were inside of a nature-made hole near a hill in the forest, shielding us from the rain. After Dawn was done explaining, Cloud said, "Here," as he extended a piece of fruit out to me, almost seeming like he never heard what the cat spoke to him about.

That's when I realized that he managed to carry me, unconscious, to this dirt-cave, and save all the food Dawn and I gathered.

I must've fallen from a pretty good height to somehow become unconscious from it.

I composed myself and slowly reached out to grab the apple and started to nibble at it.

As the four of us ate, I was taken aback by Cloud's actions. He wasn't like the villagers or the Army. He could've let me fall, left me for dead, and bring back the news of my death to the people of Shade, the name of the village. How they would cheer at the thought of the Grim Reaper finally gone, the demon was finally sent to Hell where it belonged. But, instead, instinct told him to save me, and look for a place to hide from the powerful downpour. I really thought everyone was out to get me, plotting ways to catch the blind girl. Turns out I was wrong. Only one person dared to be this close to me, he dared to actually save the life a monster.

Even though we finished eating, the quietness still stretched out.

Finally, the question that lingered in the air was spoken, "Why did you save me?"

He looked at me with what I could only picture was a pained expression and said, "Because I couldn't just let you..." His voice trailed off as he thought about what could've made him do those actions.

A few moments passed before he spoke again.

"You reminded me of someone," Cloud said almost in an inaudible voice.

My brows furrowed slightly, even though he couldn't see it, at the comment.

I reminded him of someone...By personality or by appearance?