strength

Part 1. ''Where the sun doesn't shine''

Keep in mind that this is an intro. Technically this isn't the real first chapter so please bear with me. Thank you all :*

~~

 Branches breaking.

Leaves crunching.

Wind howling.

A loud thud.

A muffled groan.

Here he is.

~~

His eyes shot open. His body was heavy and his head felt like it was about to explode. It felt like the earth –or at least that’s what he hoped it was- was moving. He breathed in through his mouth, gasping for air, only to receive a mouth full of.. mud. ‘Thank Goddess’. The thought flew through his mind. The thought of what he could possibly be laying on was terrifying. What could he expect from a world he didn’t know anything about?

He moved his head and opened his eyes. His vision was blinded by the sunlight. It wasn’t much but after sitting in the dark for what seemed ages, even the smallest light could bring him to his feet. He tried to move his body. Apparently they didn’t want him dead. His body was stiff but still complete. He pushed himself up and took a deep breath.

He reached out and his fingers were hanging in the air until they slightly brushed against a hard surface. He turned to it and with much focus he saw the tree that his fingers were gripping tightly. His eyes were closed as he inhaled deeply. Forest. He exhaled and opened his eyes fully.

The view was different. Not specifically bad but he’d rather see his own home. The sunlight was dimmed through the trees. He had seen large trees in his life but these blew them all away. The smallest one was at least a hundred feet. It would surprise him if the tallest tree was at least five hundred feet tall. His eyes flickered over the tree and his hand slid down. It had been so long since he had been in the forest. Since what happened to his friend. To Luke.

Memories flooded into his mind and it felt like his knees would give up underneath him. Intense sadness rushed over him and memory after memory seeped into his mind. Sawyer, who felt guilty, thinking that he hurt Luke. Anthony, slipping away without a word. Ian, his ex, going bat-shit crazy and revealing himself as Angel. The war between Heaven and Hell. His father, burning in the cabin. And Shane.

Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he double folded  and bit his knuckles not to scream. Who knew what could be hiding in the trees?

The memory of losing Shane was fresh. It hurt and it stung. He cried silent tears but remembered quickly why he was here. He was here to find Shane. He was here to help. He whipped away the tears but hissed when he touched his scraped cheeks. He pushed his hair back and looked up to the trees.

‘No way in Hell that I’ll be able to climb that high’ he thought as he looked around, searching for a path, a sign, something to give him a direction. Something to lead him the way.

The world looked like he was seeing it through dirty glass. The colours faded into each other and it looked like they mixed grey with every colour. It looked so empty. The ground was filled with bumps and the trees were so high that, not until forty feet from the ground, the trees started to grow branches with leaves. This made looking around a lot easier. There were no tree branches to block his view. The only thing that was growing on the ground were large bushes.

It almost seemed like it was abandoned but he knew he couldn’t be so lucky to be alone. His eyes darted over the ground, looking for footsteps or something. His body was still stiff and it hurt to move his right leg. When he for sure knew it wasn’t broken, he let out a breath of relief.

He began to become nervous. What if he indeed wasn’t alone? What if he would be taken hostage somewhere? It didn’t look like a place where Little Red Riding Hood would walk and it made his blood run cold just thinking about it. Where was he supposed to go?

Suddenly he heard something. It was pretty far away but he wasn’t going to risk a damn thing. With panic leading his body he climbed up the lowest tree near him. Pulling himself up wasn’t that hard. Pulling his leg up was a different story. He muffled a groan as he pulled himself up until he was sure no one would be able to see him.

The leaves hid him properly and five minutes later he huffed out a soft ‘Goddness Gracianias’ when a group of men, that didn’t look older than thirty five, came walking down a trail he could now see. The worst thing was that the trail led exactly underneath the tree he was hiding in. The men stopped walking and he held his breath.

They looked around and sniffed. In any other moment he would’ve laughed. Now, shaking from fear, he didn’t dare to make a damn sound. Their clothing was ripped and covered with mud and something that was probably blood. His heart rate sped up and he held on tight to the tree. He wasn’t going to die. Not now.

“When do ya think Boy will be dead?”

“After you chopped his leg off? An hour. Tops”

The two on the right were laughing loudly and the rest grinned. ‘Why would you chop someone’s leg off?’ he asked himself. ‘What could be so incredibly wrong with those men?’.

“When are we going back?”

“Soon, but the two guys are still on the path”

“So what?”

“So what? They look like sweethearts but man, I’ve learned my lesson.”

The guy who was standing on the left rolled up his jeans and tapped on –for what he could see- a wooden prostatic.

“I’ve always thought Puh did that to you”

“HEY! I might have chopped Boy’s leg off but that doesn’t mean I’ll chop off random legs!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, got a problem Sal?”

A short men stepped in between the two men and pushed them slowly apart.

“Guys stop fighting. That isn’t gonna bring us any good.”

“I can’t see why they would ever send you here Poppa. You are too good for this Godforsaken world.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment” 

The two men slowly stepped away from each other and the one he recognized as Poppa looked at the ground.

“What’s wrong Poppa?”

The men stepped  closer towards the tree and looked with worry written over their faces at the man.

“Someone has been here not long ago”

The words were like knifes in his chest. ‘I’m a dead man’ he thought while closing his eyes and biting his nails. ‘I’m gonna die here and now’.

“is it far?”

“No, but it’s not from here”

He looked at the men and prayed to whatever was out there that they wouldn’t look up. Anything but that. Anything.

“Poppa, it’s getting dark”

The man with the long, white hair looked up from the ground and nodded.

“We have to hurry boys. Before the Darkness comes”

They glanced around nervously and he could only imagine what was waiting for him. The skies were grey and the air was cold. Shivers ran up his spine as he felt the wind brush his bare skin ever so lightly in this strange new world.

The men picked up their duffel bags and made their way through the trees. They didn’t say a word and he couldn’t help but think that there must be a good reason for them to stay silent. When their silhouettes disappeared into the distance he let out a shaky breath. His fingers were frozen and his face was numb. His leg hurt like a bitch and he had nothing to warm himself with. Hunger was eating away at him and panic came rushing in at large amounts.

Where was he going to go?

What was he going to do?

Where the hell was he even?

Yep, Joey Michael Graceffa is a complete idiot.