Chapter 2 : Limbo
EPOV
I feel cold and numb, but I still feel. I feel pain in my lower back, I can still feel pain. Breath comes trough my nose out my lips and I peek my eyes open so see a few things all at once. First there's red, its covered everything, and then I see the black monster that is the shadow of the tree above me, I'm on the ground. I can make out the familiar rope dangling up above, the loop torn. I turn to my side and see the box I had left behind, tucked inside roots of this old tree. I am alive, and now I am crying again. Gasping, I hold my neck. It hurts but not bad, like a sun burn. Its the internal pain the drowns me. The weight of what I had failed to do. This is not what I wanted. Adrenaline makes me shiver and I sit up. The red sky warns of nightfall as it fades to pink and then to a bruised purple grey. I take a fist full of grass beneath me and yell into the tree above me. This wasn't part of my plan.
I've sat there until my toes went numb, and stared at the box. Thoughts were going through my mind. Mainly, how'd that damned rope break? There had to be a reason to this. But its no matter now, I will die here in this wilderness, I've got nothing in my backpack but a few things. A pocket knife, hand sanitizer, a spare shirt, a few quarters, my wallet, and a half empty bottle of water. Not to mention a smashed phone in my pocket. Instead of a few minutes of pain, now days of pain. I barley had the strength to use the rope. Now, I was going to suffer. I could use the knife but decide against it, the blood would make me faint. Maybe I deserve this.
Throwing around that thought, I feel the adrenaline fade. Feeling the cold early spring air bite my limbs it wakes me from my trance and I stand up. I'm okay for falling out of a tree, a little bruised. With the last light of the day leaving, I can make out a clearing a few feet away. Taking one last look at the box I pull the backpack back onto my back and push a couple plants free from the clearings edge. In front of me was a meadow covered in nothing but brown green grass. There, at the other end of the clearing was a small outline. A cabin.
I walked hurriedly to the cabin, it was covered in the forest growth. If you weren't looking from the correct angle, It would be too camouflaged to see. I approach the door of this little hut, one window next to a door on a porch. The rest was ivy and moss. It looked frail as I went to knock on the door, noticing the ivy had climbed on the door hinges. No one had been here in very long time. Well might as well go in then, I shoved the door with my hands and it groaned back, giving a little. Backing up, I used the flat of my foot and kicked the door. It cracked at the lock and swung open shaking, taking bits of ivy and dust with it. I peered inside, taking small steps inside and stale air. It was very dark now and I could make out a small kitchen, a living area with a fireplace, and a bare bed springs as the mattress has dissolved off of it. There was something placed over it, A tarp? This make shift bed was placed in the corner. Closing the door behind me, and made my way to the "bed". I sat my pack on the head of the bed and dusted off all I could off the tarp. Reaching in my bag, I pulled out the shirt and put it on, Now having two layers under my thin jacket made me feel a little bit better. I crawled on this creaky thing and closed my eyes. This was the worst day of my second life it seems. I waited for the normal nightmare and it never came.
All I remember was a few flashes. My parents smiling, hands grabbing the earth, a crescent moon fading into a new moon. A flower in flames. snow falling on eyelashes, and a doe with piercing brown eyes. I am still cold, very cold I think. Turning over, I look around the room. There's hardly anything in here. I wish there was a fire going in the little fire place, but there was no way to start one. Hungry, I look to the kitchen, empty. I considering laying there but curiosity gets the best of me and I roll to get up. As I'm rolling a sharp pain goes through my thigh. Quickly I move and see a spring had torn through the tarp and stabbed me, great. It wasn't a bad cut, just a little blood didn't bother me.
Getting up, I walk to the kitchen, shivering. I open a few cabinets that are still in place and find one metal plates, a few forks, and one spoon. One drawer contained four paper packets, there was writing on them, "pomadoro, carota, barbabietola, and bellarosa" . Shaking one, I hear seeds inside. Interesting. Well its something I think, and walk to the fire place making the floor stress under my feet, rewarding me with a great creaking of the boards. This is now my new little home, I think and head to the door. As I step outside into the morning, there's a stillness that I find...peaceful. Which is strange, I haven't felt this refreshed even given the circumstances. Maybe staying out here for a while wont be as bad.