I was walking through the trees. Pine filled my nose, as I bounced up and down through the air. It was dark everywhere except right around where I stood. A fog drifted and snaked around my feet. I looked frantically around to try and find where I was and where I needed to go. My feet were walking and I couldn't make them move faster.
"This is the girl?" The forest whispered around me. I looked frantically around, trying to locate where the voices were coming from. "Are you sure this is the girl?"
"Who are you?" I called out into the darkness. I turned around frantically and took off into another direction. As I forced myself to run faster, it seemed like time would slow. I was forced to bounce in time as I had been this whole time. I stopped and suddenly the world seemed to shake. The trees were shaken out of the ground, and the darkness was still so close to me.
"I'm certain this is the girl, mm."
I tried moving. I took off in a direction, but no sooner than I was off I was sucked back. The fog around me formed into a hand. The hand reached from the bottom of a deep sink hole and wrapped itself around my center. I was sucked backwards into the fog. At first I fell fast and was screaming at the top of my lungs. The closer to the bottom I reached the slower I fell and the quieter my screams became until I made a plush landing on grass and I was peacefully silent.
"Wake up girl."
I came to, quickly sitting up. My breath was fast and hard, but I couldn't remember the dream I just had. The world spun and my vision became so black I could only see through one very small hole in my vision. When I could see very well, I looked at the man before me.
He had sharp and glaring blue grey eyes. His blond hair fell long and covered half of his face. He towered over me, attempting to intimidate me. Of all of the training I was still going through, I was thankful of having finished the part of controlling a situation where the other company was employing intimidation tactics.
I inflated my chest, trying to make me appear to be larger than I really was. My arms and legs were tied together, making it impossible to stand or maneuver away from the man's gaze. The blonde leaned down to me as I narrowed my eyes. "About time, girl."
"Who are you?" My voice was steady and firm. The man cocked his head slightly and looked at me down his nose.
"Humph." The man pulled back and crossed his arms. His blond hair in the breeze, his cloak moving softly, it was all very dramatic. "Little girl, I could hurt you very bad. You know that, mm?" He squatted and stared at me in the face.
He moved his arm slowly to touch mine. It was slow motion, his hand neared my elbow. His fingers slowly curved around the air of my arm, and I could feel it. That's when I turned my head to my limb and notices there was no sleeve there.
It had been burned off.
My whole arm was burned. From my shoulder down almost to my wrist was charred and scabbed. My heart stopped when I saw his hand near my skin. "Please!" I called, fear washing over my face.
My head snapped to the blond man. His face was only inches from mine, and he had the most twisted smirk that showed even in his eyes. "Did you need help up, mm?" There was a split second that passed before his hand touched the blackened skin. It felt like the moment wouldn't end.
Then coldness was on my elbow. For the first moment, his cold hands felt almost good. Something in his hand was wet, sweat maybe? I didn't know, but for the second his cold and soft hands rested on my arm, it almost felt good.
His hand then squeezed, resulting in a soft howl that escaped from my lips. My eyes looked into his, begging with the fresh tears that came out of my eyes. His only response was more wrinkles beside his eye. I closed mine. There was sharp and shooting pains running from my elbow to my fingertips and up to my shoulder.
Then he jerked me up, onto my feet. The pain was unimaginable. It felt as though my veins were filled with searing hot water. The skin on the outside of my arm felt like it was being ripped off. "Why?!" I shouted at him. My face was twisted, and tears unwillingly spilled down my face. I was angry and clearly in pain. He slowly let his smile fall from his face.
"I am in charge." He warned. I was off balance when he let go of me which sent me falling to the ground. He towered over me, looking down at me with menacing grey eyes. "I know your family. I'm sorry, but if I don't break you now then I will never be able to, mm."
My arm ached as I sat on the ground. Not just my now bleeding elbow, but my whole arm from fingers to neck. It all pained me. I wanted to hold the blonde man's gaze, but I knew that it would be a bad move on my part to try and stand my ground. My light brown eyes turned from the man's to the ground.
"Good girl, un."
()()()()
It was dark out. There was a large field that the blond and I had made camp in. The blond saw me give up the first battle and, allowed my feet to be untied. "If you're a good girl, then I may even untie your useless hands." The man had said.
Useless, I scoffed in my head. My right arm might have been no good, but my hands could still work fine. The blonde and I sat in the middle of ta field as a campfire glowed between us. Neither of us has even spoken a work to one another since earlier. I was too scared to say anything, and he was too busy to want to say anything to me.
On the other side of the flames, he sat quietly. I couldn't see what he was doing but he sat with his hands in his lap. He was focused on whatever it was. I was curious. I wanted to know what was so interesting in his lap.
Slowly I craned my neck to see. When my neck was as stretched as possible, and I still couldn't see what he was doing I sat back and became inpatient. I scooted to my right to move around the flames. I leaned over as far as I could to try and see. I even went so far as to try and put weight on my tied together hands to try and see what he was doing. I winced when I had to move my arm into a more straight position.
"What are you doing, mm?"
I became suddenly embarrassed when I realized how much noise I was making. I blushed and sat back on my legs. "I was wondering what you were doing." I looked down into my lap in order to appear more subservient. "I'm sorry, I was just curious."
"Humph." I heard him stand up and walk around the fire to me. I looked up at him with wide eyes. In his hand was a kunai. He approached me and leaned down at me with the weapon. I squeezed my eyes and turned me head. I knew I should have stayed quiet, should have stayed still.
Slice.
Instead of feeling hot pain of the knife, I felt the rope slack around my wrists. My eyes slowly turned up to look at the man. I looked at him in utter disbelief when he gave me his reason.
"I feel like you've been broken enough for one day, mm?"