She was desperate, lost, bewildered, furious, scared. Everything. So perplexed was he, at her emergence, her look, her behavior. Everything.

That is it – she died. She's dead. She kept thinking and saying it loud.

Is it so? He wondered watching as emotions tore about inside her and then stilled. She was like a driven game frozen and realizing that is it, the end, but then made another dash, whether unbelieving or not ready to give up.

And so she jumped from one rebellious side to another of indifference. Back and forth. "Who cares? I don't," whoever she tried to fool as if having accepted 'the fate'… She died and there's no use trying to change something, no need trying anything at all…

But she kept opposing him and made him doubt again his freedom and question spirits again, is it all real?

Is his heart back or he's been deceiving himself? Can he feel something or he fakes it up? Next moment he grabbed her, pulled her into him and forwardly kissed her… demanding, craving… demanding and craving to feel…

As soon as their lips parted she looked daggers at him and a slap across his face came to be very feelable. "That's inappropriate!"

Yep, might be not a bad way to shut up and smooth a girl what could work in her world, but rather a weird method to greet and get to know each other in these so drastically incomprehensible circumstances for both.


Whatever, Huntsman. That flashbak strangly nipped. Is it disappointment in her? Come on! Like if she's thought of that. Hoped? Kissing him? No. Inappropriate, that's it. She wraps herself tighter, however it's not cold, and turns away from him staring at her clothes as if from her gaze they will dry faster. Anything to dress up and walk on, just not to confront each other this awkward way.


And why, if it's the hell, it should be stuck in ancient times? Why can't it be an up-to-date modern hell? That's what she thought when they reached an old abandoned village. An ignorant mowgli-type guy is one thing… but… Ok, enough grumbling. It's better than a shelter in the woods or even the lack of it. It's getting better...

They chose a house and settled. First night under the roof. First night on something resembling a bed. There, actually, were two of those at the opposite walls. So that also was the first night separate.

"You're not sleeping?" he asks as she tosses and sighs again.

"And why you not?" She didn't know he was awake as he was completely silent and still. Maybe that is what bothers her. She tried to ignore him through the day – and why then? – playing self-sufficient and he preferred not to object. Is it a big deal? He doesn't have to babysit her. He doesn't.

"I'm not used to… stay inside the walls," more than that, it brought yet vivid memory of his last imprisonment . "And what is your excuse?"

She's quiet for long, so he thinks no answer will follow.

"What is after? Tomorrow? And after tomorrow? Where are we going? Why?... And you don't have to stay with me. I'm a burden. You know that. You don't need it… We got used to different things, you see? We're so different. There's nothing keeping you… And I don't want it… And if you care whether I'll die from hunger, or rather how soon… then I don't… I don't care… 'Cause we're already dead… That's my kind of hell…" she takes a longer pause before concluding, "So go. Go. 'Cause it's not your kind of hell. It's mine. And you're not allowed in here."

As she speaks last words she feels like banishing a ghost. Oh, could he be a ghost? A demon or a guide? But whatever. She just sets him free.

And so he goes. Gets up and gets away, out. Silently. He's gone.

Dread fills her heart and despair plunges its claws into her flesh. What's now? What's coming after?


One negligent step and she's falling. Her life floats before her eyes in milliseconds. But she grasps something, God, she desperately plucks at the roots of the tree on the bluff which is now meters higher and only abyss beneath her. That is it, the end. She doesn't know how much time passes, instants or minutes, but arms hurt and eyes get fogged with tears. Even if she could shout for help, she knows it useless. There's nobody there. No need trying... And so she can't hold any longer...

That is it...

If only it was a nightmare, but it's not...