Almost in Paradise

8. Saviour

"You really were an easy one" the man who locked me in says.

"Wha-what are you doing!?" I shout confused. "Let me out!"

He walks towards me and I feel a hard hit, as if it was a sword, through my stomach and falls to the ground. As I in difficulty embrace my pain, footsteps slowly approaches me, more than one at a time, and I feel like I'm surrounded by at least five persons.

I shouldn't have come here I shouldn't have come here I shouldn't have come here.

That's all there is in my head right now. There's obviously no way for me to get myself out of this, unharmed. I can't fight, and certainly not a five-one game, and I suck at coming up with escape plans, not like I've done it before.

I hear footsteps closing in and someone kicks me over so my face is in the floor. Then another foot places itself upon my head.

"Let... GO OF ME!" I shout and try to resist the pressure on my head, but when I stand up and look around me, I start to get dizzy. Five tall men looks down on me with eyes full of greed and madness, and I realise it's useless to resist. Even though I'd try to fly to the ceiling, any of them could catch me and cause me only more pain. I have no other choice but to simply give up, right?

"See now, little girl?" The one in green says as if he read my mind. "There's no way you can win to us. Now do you want to do this the easy or hard way?"

I look at him with fear and disgust and is just about to answer him when I hear a crashing sound from upstairs. The men react as well and without a second thought or even first thought I sprint in between the green man and someone else with the door in sight.

But just because I may have reached the door by now, I am still an idiot. I grab the doorknob and turn it around, but nothing but a clicking sound gives off. I do not have the keys.

"You little bastard!" I hear behind me, and the last thing I see before I pass out is the fabric of the moss green coat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There's a big pain on the left side of my head when I wake up. The cold wood to my chin and the smell of blood reminds me of where I am.

Wait, the smell of blood?

I grab the nearest thing to hold in, which turns out to be a black curtain, and tries as good as I can to stand up without passing out again. The headache and blood is really making me sick. I reach my hand to my back, expecting to find the source of this awful smell. But no, on my back is still the pair of wings I always wanted to have.

Then why the blood? After being awake a while, my eyes start to get used to the dark and I can finally see the red stains. There's a bigger stain a few metres ahead and then there are smudges all over the floor.

In the centre are the bodies. Actually, when I look closer, it almost doesn't seem like the blood is their's. From this angle, at least, there are no injuries in sight.

I walk even closer up to them. On top is the green hat. Still no too bad injuries from what I can see. But how did they get here then? Who fought them while I was passed out?

I hear the key in the door turn, and immediately hides behind the curtain. But as the door opens up and I see that tall man walk inside I step forward.

"Ban!" I shout.

"Oh you're awake" he says. He's wearing a black jacket now instead of his red, but that's not important now.

"You fought these, didn't you?" I ask. He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah no shit, who else would save you from your own stupidity?" I feel my cheeks blossom red and tries to explain but gets interrupted. "Blah blah blah, whatever you say, it doesn't matter. Just learn from your mistakes."

He walks up the stairs and I run after.

"By the way, how did you find me?" I ask from behind him.

"Saw you walk into a house with a stranger. Now get over here."

There's a hole in the ceiling and when I get closer he tosses me up to the roof. From up here, the festival is just full of lights and laughter.

Right before we take off, I ask,
"Why did you change jacket though?"

He smiles.
"They ruined it" he answers with no clue of if he's happy or sad about it. Well, whatever. I'm safe now and that's thanks to him.