HI! This is a story I'm posting on OTHC too, but I'd love to know what you all think! I totally depend on replies, so that I can change things and get better. Thank you all for taking the time to read this! )
Ems
Chapter One
The gentle breeze blew through his slightly ruffled hair. His half open shirt fitted his taunt chest, tightening in all the right places. The moon was shining and illuminated the path in front of him. There wasn't much noise; the only thing that could be heard was the steady trotting of his horse. He was a cowboy, but for no particular reason. He worked for no one, had no animals and absolutely no responsibility except for his horse.
He pulled a hand through his hair and sighed. He liked this time of the day; or rather night. The temperature wasn't boiling like it was during the day, and it let him cool off. The cowboy hat he'd been wearing had finally been taken off, and he enjoyed the feeling of wind on his head and hair. His jeans were faded and thick, but they did get too hot during midday. The shirt he was wearing was originally black, but all that time in the sun had faded it to more of a greyish colour. He rode through the desert day in and day out, not quite sure what for. He knew that he was looking for something; he just didn't know what it was.
Suddenly, a small, black dot became visible and he squinted to try to make out what it was. No such luck… He urged his horse forward, galloping towards the unknown black dot in the distance. As he got closer, the dot grew and soon he was pretty sure that it was a house of some sort.
He was almost there when he saw something that looked like movement in one of the windows upstairs, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. Getting off the horse quietly, he kept his gaze on the window. The horse gave a low snort.
"Shh…" he whispered as he patted the horse. "Be quiet Ziva…"
The house looked as if it were a wind blow away from being firewood; it was so old and damaged. At one point, it must have been a gorgeous house, but time had not been kind to it. It also looked as if there had been a fire and the damages were pretty severe. He walked up what was left of the front steps, his boots making a hollow sound in the tired wood. He looked down nervously, but continued walking. The front door was closed, but not locked, so he went straight in and looked around.
'Wow' he thought. The damages were much worse on the inside; everything just looked black. Parts of the ceiling was gone, the floor definitely wouldn't hold much longer, the walls were trying their best not to fall apart. They were failing. All of the furniture that must have been there had transformed into piles of grey ash that rested on the floorboard.
He wondered carefully around on the first floor, speculating on what drew him to this place. Along the way, he had seen plenty of abandoned houses, so why was this so different? Why did he have a feeling there was something that was wrong here? Then he heard a sound from upstairs and he froze. Making his way silently towards the stairs, or what was left of them, he listened intently for another sound. Nothing. Very nervously, he climbed up the stairs.
"Hello?"
he said and waited for an answer. Still nothing. "Is anyone
here?"
A whimper. He was absolutely sure he had heard someone
whimper nearby. Looking around, he decided that it must have come
from the room at the very end and he inched his way towards it
slowly. The door was slightly open, and as he pushed it, it creaked
loudly. As he entered the room, he was a little shocked. This room
looked almost untouched by whatever damages there had been to the
rest of the house.
There was a bed in the middle of the room, a dressing table and a closet. The walls were painted a dark blue, and the curtains were open. Behind the bed, he was pretty sure he could see the top of a head. Slowly, the head peaked up from behind the bed, and it didn't look happy. In fact, the arms that belonged to that head were pointing a rifle at him. He couldn't help but notice that she was extremely beautiful; her rough but golden hair framing her pale, porcelain skin and her very confused brown eyes. She was wearing a nightgown that was several sizes too big for her, and he couldn't help himself from looking.
"I'm not going to hurt you" he said and put his arms up in surrender. The woman said nothing. She must be around 20 he thought. He had never been very good with people, but in his 24 years on this Earth, he had learned a few things. One of these things was that you should surrender when someone points a rifle at you.
A few minutes went by, and nothing happened. Her eyes bored into his; studying whether he was safe or not. Slowly, the rifle was lowered and soon placed on the floor.
"There we go…" he said and smiled. "My name is Nathan Scott. I just saw some movement up here, and I thought I ought to check it out. I really had no idea there was someone living here. What's your name, and why are you living here? Obviously, it's going to fall apart any day now…"
The woman said nothing. She just looked at him and sat down on the bed before waving him over. Nathan carefully sat down next to her and wondered what she was going to do. Her eyes bored into his again, this time they were searching for answers. To what, she didn't know… He shifted nervously, wondering what he was supposed to do and how to react to this.
"Who are you?" he asked. Her mouth twitched, but she didn't open it. Something about this woman definitely intrigued him…
He waited for her to respond, instead she just sat there. Her lips moved a couple of times, but never long enough for there to develop a sound. She started cracking her fingers and licked her lips. Nathan sat there and watched her, wondering what was with her. He decided to try another question.
"How long have you been living here?" he asked. Her head shot up and she looked deep into his eyes. Absolute silence. Then she looked away again. Carefully, she got off of the bed and walked over to the window. The floorboards creaked menacingly but she paid no attention to them. She looked out, and her head shot back to his. There was a look of terror in her eyes.
"What?" Nathan asked. "What's wrong?"
She pointed outside; to the horse. Nathan got up carefully and peered out the window to se what she was looking at. At first, he couldn't understand why she was acting all frantic; it was only a horse… And then it hit him.
"Are you afraid of horses?" he asked her. She hung her head low and moved away from the window, shivering slightly. Nathan chuckled, causing the woman's head to shoot up and her face had an angry expression. She squinted her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest before slouching down on the bed. He felt bad immediately, and went over to her. Crouching down so his face was level with hers, he rested his hand on her knee and looked her in the eyes.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you, but I promise that Ziva is far from dangerous. Look, I don't want to invade your privacy or anything, but a woman shouldn't be alone in a damaged and unlocked house… The desert is dangerous, as is this house. I think it is best that I stay here tonight, and then get you somewhere safe tomorrow. Okay?"
Her eyes looked, if possible, even angrier. She shook her head and lay down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. Nathan had to admit that he was a little taken aback. She was most certainly tough. And stubborn. Frowning slightly, he got up and walked over to where her head was.
"No what? No, I can't stay here? Nod if I can stay here."
The woman nodded and gave a hint of a smile. Only a hint, though… Nathan then presumed that she either didn't want to leave, or didn't want to leave with him. He decided to find out.
"So, do you not want to leave?" he asked. Immediately he could see pain flash through her eyes, mixed with anger. She shook her head violently before shifting slightly in her bed. Then she turned over, so that her back was now to him. He couldn't help but notice that her nightgown rode up a bit; showing her smooth legs. He groaned quietly. When he heard a low sob escape her mouth, he walked to the other side of the bed.
She was crying… Tears were spilling out of her eyes, and every now and then, she would let out a small sob. Nathan was stunned. He really didn't know how to handle a crying woman; in fact he didn't know how to handle women at all… He thought they were way too complicated, and tried to steer clear of them. He had, of course, had his fun with them, but he hated that word that begun with and r- and ended with –elationship.
"Please don't cry…" he whispered softly and put his hand on hers. She immediately pulled away and sat up in the bed. Once again, anger shot from her eyes and she clenched her jaw. Nathan didn't notice, but her hand sneaked out to the night side table and grabbed hold of a wooden candle stick. She held it tightly in her hand before swinging it around to hit his side.
"Ouch!" he screamed in pain before sitting down on the floor, clutching his side. The woman took this opportunity to swing the candle stick at his head, and Nathan fainted…
His head pounded and he groaned as re-gained consciousness. Opening his eyes slowly, he saw the woman leaning over him. She took something from next to him and patted his head with it. As she leaned over him, her nightgown revealed the top of her chest and Nathan gulped. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying desperately to control himself. After all, she did hit him over the head with a candle stick!
"Ugh…" he groaned as he sat up and looked around. He was now on her bed, and he wondered how the hell she had gotten him there. There was still a steady thumping in his head, and he cursed her under his breath. He looked around to see where she had gone to, and he saw her hunched in a corner. She was staring straight at the wall, and she seemed completely lost in her own word.
He got up and sat down next to her. She didn't seem to notice, even when he sighed a little. He looked at her, studying her features. The way her chest heaved, how her eyelids hardly moved when she blinked and how her lips looked so extremely plump and inviting. 'No' he thought to himself. 'I can't think about her this way'
"You know, that really hurt." Nathan said and looked at her. The sound of his voice seemed to startle her, and she was torn out of her gaze. She looked at him before looking down at the floor. And then she burst into tears again… Nathan was shocked and had absolutely no idea what to do, so he did the first thing he could think of; he pulled her into a hug. He let her cry into his chest and comforted her as best he could.
"I wonder what happened to you…" he whispered to her. "And I wonder why you don't talk. You can speak, can't you?"
She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders a little. He saw the confusion in her eyes and he couldn't help but hope he'd hear her beautiful voice just once…