Distance

by ShadowSector

He lived most of his life not caring. He lived most of his life doing what is necessary to survive and live, rarely enjoying anything other than his long given solitude and isolation. Always independent and isolated from people and emotions. Next thing he knows, little by little, things twist and change, all in a way he is not used to, all in a way in which he grows from afraid.

4. Meeting: Part 2

Victor's P.O.V

What the fuck?... I feel like shit...

My head was pounding heavily, torturing me with every beat that my heart made. I was capable of feeling the veins in my head enlarge and shrink every time my heart pushed blood through them. The aching was destroying my sense of concentration, forcing me to groan and shrivel my face with distaste. Apart from my head, my leg was also being engulfed by pain, a sore and dull pain as if I had gotten kicked with extreme force. The horrid feeling was brutal, nothing but brutal as it made me frown with displeasure even more than I already was.

I opened my eyes to reveal a yellowish-brown ceiling, signifying that I was inside a room. The room itself was lit from the window to my left; the sunlight from the outside was piercing the clear material into my room. The brightness of the streaks of light pierced my own eyes, forcing me to squint in return before I turned my gaze away from the hindrance. In my view was an empty area. The only thing occupying the open space was a small and short square table that was set right next to the bed.

This was my room...

Very carefully I began to raise myself, attempting to bypass any use of my left leg. I pushed myself up from my bed and swang my two legs over and towards the edge of my bed before slowly lowering them down and letting them make contact with the cold and stern wooden floor. Now I was sitting at the edge of my bed, dealing with a little bit of sleep inertia as my body slowly began to wake up and function. Lazily, I rubbed my two eyes, trying to rub off the sleep which was attempting to drag down my eyelids. I then stretched my arms upwards, causing a crack in my back echo throughout the big and empty room.

I looked down towards my left leg, noticing a hole in my black pants exactly where the arrow had struck me. It was ripped and rough, the edge of the hole covered with a dark layer of red, showing the dried blood which had escaped my body. Through the hole, I was able to see the purple, bruised, and bloated skin of my leg, meaning that my leg had healed decently throughout the time in which I was unconscious. It was still hurting like hell but at the very minimum, there wasn't a gaping hole in it. I tried to place weight on my left leg to see its condition for use but right as I began to shift my weight onto it, I instantly groaned from the agony and discomfort before I set myself back on my bed. It still wasn't in a condition good enough for me to be able to walk, or even move.

I looked over to my left arm and into my black and red digital watch. It was 5:46 PM. I was out for almost a whole sixteen hours, surprisingly. The last time I had suffered a heavy injury that rendered me unconscious, I was out for almost twenty hours. I ended up waking up with a bad case of hunger and dehydration, a horrible condition in which I was nowhere near to at the moment.

Did I mention that I smelled like a musty piece of shit too? Every time I moved a body part, a foul stench crawled into my sinuses, coming close to burning my damn nose hairs. The smell of dried and rotten blood, sweat, and adrenaline was reeking throughout my clothing and bed. I really needed to change my clothes, my sheets, and take a shower. If I had to smell this stench for another sixty seconds, I'll end up breaking my nose. Of course, my only problem is: How the hell am I going to move out of this damn bed?

Giving it a second shot, I tried to stand up. Instantly, my leg was demanding for me to sit back down. I honestly wanted to scream with every nerve I had because of this pain I was going through. Even though I had an intense pain making its course all around my left leg, I didn't give in to my innate desire to sit back down. It was pretty difficult to go against my yearning instincts but damn I really needed to take a shower.

After an excruciatingly slow attempt to stand straight, I tried to take a step with my left leg to test if whether or not I could tolerate my weight on it. Unfortunately, just as I was expecting, I ended up limping and almost instantaneously putting my right foot forward so that I could take all of my weight and place it on my only sound and healthy leg. Wanting to try again, I then took another step with my left foot which only repeated the exact same action as before. It was agonizing but at the very least I was managing to simply pull through.

My limping continued all the way up until I reached my bedroom door. Using my bedroom wall as support, I placed my left hand on the wall next to my door and used my right hand to turn the knob and push the door forward. Afterwards, as fast as I could've gone, I moved forward so that it wouldn't shut away my exit. By the time the door swang back, I was already halfway through the doorway, therefore, to avoid it slamming into me, I pushed it forward again with my right arm and kept it at an arm's reach. Slowly and carefully, I then finished limping through the doorway and let my door swing right back into its perfect position in the wall.

Now my next set of actions was to limp to my right, go past the staircase that leads to the first floor and head all the way down the hallway and into my bathroom. The whole trial couldn't have been any slower, boring, and painful but in the end, I managed to make it inside my bathroom. As I was in my spacious bathroom, I turned to my left and opened a big wooden cabinet which held multiple sets of clothing which were all identical to the ones that I was already wearing along with a couple of towels.

Clumsily I stood on my right leg and picked out my whole outfit. I collected a black t-shirt, a black pair of pants, a pair of black socks, and a garment of underwear along with a clean folded towel. After that, I began to slowly and awkwardly undress and placed my foul odored clothing into an empty hamper located next to the cabinet. Finally, after all of my struggles, I managed to get into the bathtub and began to let the water run over my sweaty and musty body.

The rest is nothing but procedural. I washed my body as best I could, dried myself off, and then changed into a clean outfit. It was rather difficult to clean myself but at the very least I no longer smell like a walking dead piece of flesh.

After my body's clean up, I left the bathroom and went downstairs to my kitchen where I looked around to see if there was anything that I could make with as little movement possible. After surveying in my head all of the food items I had gathered the past three days, I made my choice to consume a good healthy meal of three apples and water, mostly because my leg was being too much of a bitch and I didn't feel like walking around back and forth trying to make anything else.

After picking out everything that I was going to eat, I made my way towards the dining table near the exit of my home and sat down. I then proceeded to consume my food and beverage items as I simply stared into space.

I currently have an injured leg which is still healing. If I manage to, I could go to sleep to speed up the process, but, I don't feel any bit of sleepiness and chances are I'll feel like utter shit if I sleep any longer than I already have. Not only that but my room still smells like absolute garbage since I have yet to clean and change my sheets and pillows. Man, this blows. At the very least I am done with all of my chores so I don't have to worry about having to get anything else done for a good while now.

Still, having an injured leg makes my life boring as shit. I could've been swimming in the lake right now. I was looking forward to a relaxing and cool morning but my leg wants to be a piece of shit. How much longer is this going to take anyway? There's no longer a hole in it, but the insides feel so dull and sensitive that it feels like I still have the hole inside there. Every time I try to exert my muscles down there it feels as if there is a blade consistently rocking in and out. Fuck everything.

Before I knew it, I had already swallowed my pitifully small breakfast because of all of my thinking. All that was on my clean, wooden table was a glass which was empty of any liquids. Since I was too lazy to return to my kitchen, I chose to leave my glass on the table and began to make my way out of the house.

After I opened the door, a cool and bright atmosphere greeted all of my senses. The cool temperature greeted my skin, the bright sunlight greeted my eyes, and the smell of fresh grass greeted my nose. Throughout my vision, I was able to see multiple wooden houses lined up next to each other down the smooth stone path that extended from my home. Each house had a nice, fresh, and healthy garden that extended enough so that each home was separated by a decent amount of distance. Bright colored flowers were capable of being spotted in some of the gardens, and, if you looked closely enough, you could spot an occasional insect flying from one flower to the other.

Along with pain I began to walk between the houses and made my way to my favorite place in the entire village. Without taking too long, I arrived at an open, circular field that was vast and open. It was so open that one would have to walk for about ten minutes to get from one side to the other. In the middle of the luscious green circle, there was a gigantic tree which dominated the terrain in height. It stood so tall that climbing only a fifth of the way can put you in danger of possibly breaking your bone structure apart if you were to fall.

The area was almost completely quiet since there wasn't anything anywhere to make any noise. The terrain's brightness was beginning to darken as the sun was beginning to set, readying the world for darkness.

Once I was close enough to the trunk of the tree, I laid down on my back and turned my head so that I was able to look at the huge collection of leaves and branches above me. My leg was still bothering me but at this point, I'll just tough it out. Chances are, in a couple of days, I should be fine again to do whatever it is that I may want to do.

The silence was very relaxing and refreshing, and even though I had just woken up from sleep, I was able to stay completely relaxed as if I was tired again. Slowly I began to close my eyes and began to drift into my mind which was empty and clear of everything. Before I knew it, every bit of sound was gone from my surroundings. The only thing I was able to hear was my breathing and my calm heartbeat. It was amazing.

"Thank you." A soft voice spoke from behind me.

Hm? The hell?

The moment I heard the voice I opened my eyes and turned my head, facing a female who was standing, looking straight into my eyes with her grey irises. She had her hands cupped together, in front of her torso, twiddling her fingers as if she is conflicted. Although her body language showed signs of nervousness, her facial expression was mostly, expressionless. I couldn't read her face for anything and her voice sounded as if it was empty. Her white hair was all the way down and her body was as clean and healthy looking as it could've possibly been.

Her flawless beauty instantly struck me with familiarity. She was the person who I had saved. How the hell did I forget her already?

She was awake and perfectly fine. There was no sign of pain or wounds anywhere on her unlike my body.

For some reason, I had become incredibly tense. For whatever reason, her simple presence put me on the edge a little.

"For what?" My rough voice sounded the question, possibly giving a tone as if I was bothered. It was a redundant question as I already knew what her gratitude was for, but I needed something to work off of her for conversation.

"For saving me. You got me out of a tough situation. I just wanted to thank you for what you've done for me." Her voice still sounded empty as if she was saying the line out of obligation.

"Oh, yeah. Your welcome, I guess." Right after I turned my head back to the position it was on and resumed to close my eyes.

I don't know how much time had passed, but for a good while my surroundings were completely silent, so silent that I would periodically open my eyes so lightly and proceeded to turn my head to check if the girl was still standing there, only to find out multiple times that she was still simply standing there, looking around as if she wanted me to say something.

"Something wrong?" I asked after the fifth time I checked to see if she was still around me.

"Not really."

"Then why are you just standing there? It's kind of uncomfortable for you to be right here with me."

"Oh, sorry. It's just that I don't really have anything to do."

"Isn't there something that grabs your attention or anything that can occupy you? There's a good number of things to do here in this village."

"You're the only thing that grabs my attention." Her reply caught me somewhat off guard that I almost choked on my own spit. Had her voice not been empty, I would've taken it for something else already.

"I grab your attention? That's cute. How so?"

"Your body." What?

"What about my body?"

"Possible wounds. I remember seeing bad wounds on your body when I woke up over by the grass at the entrance of this village. You had a hole in your leg. I remember it clearly when I carried you to your house." Heh, so that's how I ended up on my bed.

"Oh, yeah. I'm mostly okay. It is still sore and the pain is incredibly dull whenever I try to walk but I can deal with it. It'll be fine within a couple of days."

"Can I see it?"

"What?"

"Can I see your leg? So I can see your wound."

"Uhh..." I was hesitant to say yes to that question, mostly because I was wearing joggers and in order for her to see my injured leg, I would have to take them off, and, the thing is, I don't think I am comfortable doing this type of thing with this random girl. "No, it's okay. There's no need for me to do that."

"Why not?"

"Don't feel comfortable doing so."

"All you have to do is take off your pants. There's nothing difficult about that."

"Maybe in the physical aspect of it, yes, it isn't too difficult. But considering the fact that I don't know you, I don't feel comfortable."

"Just take your pants off and let me see your wound." You're being really persistent, you know that?

"Is it really that necessary?"

"Yes. I want to do something for you to make up for what you did for me."

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"Touch it."

"And what is that going to accomplish?"

"Something that'll help you." Your vague wording isn't proving anything, neither is it explaining anything.

"Will it hurt?"

"Unlikely."

"Will it feel good?"

"Only if you let me go all the way."

"What does that mean?"

"It'll be exactly as I'm saying if you let me see your leg."

"Can you be more specific?"

"No."

"Why not?" Right after I asked, the girl ended up walking in front of me and then lowered herself on my right leg, straddling me from my right leg and then proceeded to lower herself so close to my face that she was only an inch or so away from mines, the closeness only feeling stronger as her shining eyes were staring into mine. Her clean and clear face was completely observable from my eyes. Her closeness allowed her breathing to actually land and disperse on my own skin. Her warm breath slowly warmed up my own face. Her whole body was so close that I was easily able to experience her warmth flowing on my own. If she was any closer, we could've been kissing.

As if her positioning wasn't already enough, she replied: "I want to help you as thanks for helping me."

"Is there a reason for you to be this close?"

"No, not this close as I am right now. But I do need to be near you." The girl then used her hands to lightly push the rest of her upper body away from mine. Through my thin t-shirt, I was able to feel her tender and somewhat small hands place themselves and apply pressure for her action. I was honestly becoming confused as to whether this girl was trying to seduce me since it was kind of hard to tell when her facial expression is unreadable and her voice is almost in a complete monotone.

"Fine, you can take a look, even though I have no damn clue as to why you want to." As best as I could've, I sat up and began to remove my pants while the girl was simply in front of me, still straddling my right leg. Of course, her being on top of me still wasn't really useful in terms of practicality.

As if she read my mind, she lifted herself away from my right leg and kneeled right next to me, still watching me. I was tense for sure as I really didn't know how it quickly came to this tiny event, but nevertheless, I continued, only telling myself to get it over with. Once I was able to get my left leg free, I extended it and straightened it to the best of my abilities, showcasing the great purple bruise that was located on my lower leg, covering a good portion of it. My leg was pretty swollen and looked to be in a bad condition.

For a minute, the girl in front of me simply stared at the injury as I simply stared at her full of confusion. I unclothed my leg as she requested and after everything she just said, she's just going to stare at it? Her eyes seemed a little sharp as if she was attempting to examine the incredibly obvious problem that I contained. Little by little, she moved her head a little higher or horizontally, as if she was trying to view as much of the leg as possible from her location. After she was done, she then looked at me straight into my eyes.

"Can I touch it?" Her question could not have been any more predictable.

"Sure. Just, be careful. It hurts like shit if you put too much pressure."

As I gave her the confirmation that she could proceed with her request, I watched her carefully, trying to pinpoint her reasoning for her action. At first, she simply had one of her fingers slightly poke my skin with caution. Then, she moved onto sliding her one finger down and around my leg, as if she was trailing it, trying to gauge the overall bruise. Then, she began to use the rest of her palm. Her hands were incredibly delicate and tender. My skin was absolutely confused as to whether cry of impending pain or if to enjoy the joyful and light touch she was giving.

As she did what she was doing, I was holding my breath and simply waited for her to finish or for something to happen. The fact that she was taking her sweet time only made me tenser since she kept touching me more and more.

"Does it hurt you when I touch you like this?" Her empty voice rang my ears out of tension, clearing my head and letting me breath at ease again.

"No, not really. For the most part, it's nothing to even describe."

"You're tense. I can feel your leg flex a little every time I drag my hand. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't hurting you."

"Oh, okay. Just, please hurry up with whatever it is that you're doing."

"Sure." Her hand immediately left my leg, so now, she was simply staring at it again. "Well, your leg seems to have healed pretty well over the time that you were asleep, although, it's obvious that it's not in any condition for perfect use." Once again, her hand then resumed its previous action of trailing up and down my leg, but this time it was a little different.

Little by little my leg began to feel... warm. It was... tingly. It felt... Nice. It was a cozy and comforting sensation. I couldn't really describe it. The best that I could say was that it was... relaxing. As the feeling grew stronger, I noticed that on my leg, a green light began to grow brighter. The light was not only growing more noticeable on the bruise on my leg, but it was stemming from the hands of the girl in front of me. Her gaze was growing serious as if she was paying ultimate focus to what was happening in front of her.

In short, this girl was healing my leg.

"Hmm... So you can heal people?" The question was basic but it was a good enough to start the new conversation.

"Yes, I can, although, it isn't too effective. It takes me a while to heal even small wounds depending on how much energy I have." Her expression was still stern and displaying focus, almost as if she was going to dismiss my question.

"Energy? Are you talking about some form of magical energy?" In this world, a lot of things don't make too much sense when you try to piece occurrences together. Because of that fact, things such as skeleton's weaponry suddenly despawning when they are eliminated, the world bringing monsters at night, and the way my leg naturally began numbing and healing itself rather quickly for the injury it sustained are all not worth paying too much mind for.

The fact that I am witnessing the power of this girl is not too surprising to me.

"No, I'm simply referring to my physical energy and mental state. The more tired or emotional I am, the less effective my healing becomes."

"Really? So you're capable of using this power indefinitely, under proper conditions?"

"Well, technically I could, but just like you, I need food, water, and sleep in order to function well. If my body lacks any of those needs, I'll end up struggling to keep my power going. Not only that but I need to remain as calm and focused as possible. If I am in disarray, I won't be able to do anything at all."

"Interesting..." As I said that, I paid one last bit of attention to my leg before I chose to lay all the way down on my back to regain a sense of comfort by looking at the leaves above.

My leg has healed pretty well ever since she started her little process, but I can tell that she wasn't kidding when she said that this takes her a while. Right now, the delay between her telling me that I'm good to go from the point she started is considerably long. If this was to happen in the middle of combat, it would be completely ineffective. The light it shows in the dark, the length it takes for the full effect to arise, the conditions needed for the power to work properly, and the vulnerability it puts on the participants are all nothing but signatures for a death wish.

If that power didn't need so many prerequisites and had a stronger effect, it would be incredibly powerful. To be able to pull away from a battle for approximately five to ten seconds to completely restore one's self would be nothing short of divine. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case.

The more complicated topic is that there is probably more to her power than from what she has chosen to tell me. In the end, the idea and place of magic in a world is incredibly intricate if one would think about it.

The fact that I've met someone now with this type of power is intriguing. I have so many questions.

After several minutes of thinking, I began my questioning.

"Can you strengthen that power?"

"For the most part, I think I can, but I don't really know any effective process to do so."

"What do you mean?"

"I've had this power for the longest time and my power has changed somewhat from when I was younger. It seems that having a strong and athletic body seems to help the strength of my power, but apart from that, I don't know if anything else can enhance it."

"Have you tried anything else?"

"I have tried a form of stamina training to enhance it. I would simply try to sustain my power for a longer duration of time but every single time I did so, I would always end up stopping at a similar point in time as any other attempt. I couldn't extend the duration of use no matter how many times I tried. Later on, I tried to meditate so that I could enhance my ability to focus but that idea didn't help much either. In conclusion, strengthening my body was the only thing that was somewhat effective."

After her explanation, I felt the warmth on my leg slowly disperse and disappear, signaling me that whatever was affecting it was going away. I sat back up to see that my leg was no longer bloated, purple, or aching but was instead clean, stable, and in perfect condition. My leg was completely healed. There was no sign of injury.

To test my leg, I leaned forward and began to push down on the muscle heavily to only find out that it didn't ache horrendously as it would've before. Afterwards, I extended and retracted my legs into the air slightly only to find out that exerting the muscle wasn't causing pain either. It really was healed.

"Damn. The injury is completely gone." Since there was no reason for me to have my leg exposed anymore, I began to put my joggers back on fully while the girl was simply staring at me. It was kind of tense for me, but I figured that I should just get used to it.

"Yeah, although it took me a while for me to heal you completely. Sorry if the wait troubled you." She apologized even though she did something useful for me.

"This isn't something to apologize for. The fact that you healed me through the wait makes up for the delay." I began to stand up to get a feel for my leg again. Just as I thought, it didn't hurt at all.

"It seems that you're in perfect condition now."

"Of course. Anyways, about your power, is there any way for you to change the way it works?"

My question seemed to have been a difficult one since the girl ended up giving me a confused look. Maybe I should've worded it differently.

"What do you mean?"

"Can you change the way it can heal someone? As in, instead of having to be next to the person in need, is there a way to make it ranged so that you can heal the person from afar?"

"I don't think I've ever really succeeded in changing the way it works. I think that I'd have to increase its effectiveness to be able to do such a thing first, right? I mean, if I can't increase its strength when I am next to the person, then how would I be able to maintain its strength over distance?"

She's right. If she can't enhance it, then how could she change it? It was a stupid question to ask now that I think about it.

"So physique is really the only factor for you then?" Instinctually, I began to stare at the girl in front of me who kept her attention on the guy who asked the semi-rhetorical question.

In terms of physique, she really was at a peak. Her face didn't have any excess fat, neither did she have any form of acne. Her face was clean and symmetrical, giving her face an alluring picture of beauty. Her white hair seemed incredibly clean, smooth, and silky, especially as it shined in response to the light that bounced from it. Whenever her head turned, her hair would move and flow mythically.

Her eyes, due to them being almost completely grey, shined with alluring emptiness and mystery. Her teeth, whenever she talked, would shine due to their consistent whiteness.

The rest of her body only complemented the grace that her face displayed. Her arms were slender and hairless and yet they showed signs of having toned muscle. Her hands were soft and tender in touch while her nails were cut evenly and cleanly. Her torso contained the ever so powerful hourglass figure. Her white shirt showed the shape and roundness of her breasts which were proportionate to the size of her body. Her breasts weren't big, but neither were they small. Due to her shirt having had also been tattered from the bottom, it seemed as if it was a makeshift crop top which showed her curves and flat yet strengthened abdomen. There was no excess fat anywhere but instead only toned muscle.

Her legs were no different in condition as the rest of herself. They were toned as one could see the muscle which lightly shaped the bottom half of her bodily hourglass. The fact that she was wearing short denim shorts only accentuated her curves and lower half even further.

Her physicality screamed beauty and sexiness in one. If I had met her next to some form of clean, spring lake as she wore an asymmetrical, white bodycon midi dress, I wouldn't blame myself if I came to believe that she was a goddess.

"Yes, I believe so." She responded to my question which then resulted in the end of my visual examination. I looked over at her face to only notice that she was slightly blushing. The redness of her face was almost unnoticeable but I still managed to notice it because of the faint yellow sunlight which was covering the landscape.

Shit. I may have stared for too long.

As best I could've, I put on a poker face and tried to remain neutral in expression so that the newfound awkwardness doesn't grow. It was quite embarrassing to have to realize such a thing.

"Well, I'm out of questions for now." I didn't have anything to ask or say anymore so I began to walk back to my house. As I began to walk, I began to hear footsteps behind me, signifying that the girl behind me was following me.

This girl behaves like a drone.

I looked down at my watch to notice that it was 6:37 PM. The sky above me was beginning to darken as the sun slowly began to hide behind the horizon. Due to the size of the walls around my village, however, a big shadow began to cast over the village from one direction, limiting the natural light that the land would've naturally received. Instead, the mass number of torches around the land began to fully run their purpose, shining the yards of houses, the smooth stone walkways, and the open areas around the location.

The walls were tall, taller than from what I originally wanted. They towered over the village, guaranteeing complete protection from the dangers of the outside. Although they grant great protection, they took me a hell of a lot of time to make even though structures in this world aren't difficult to make. It took me about a month to finish those damn things. I'm just glad that they were worth it.

Well, now that my leg has been healed, I think I'm going to go over to the lake. There's nothing else to do after all.

Towards the south end of my village, there is a natural, indefinitely clean lake. Because of the fact that it never got dirty and because it was close to the houses and the gigantic tree, I chose to surround the lake with the gigantic walls too for personal enjoyment. Whenever I wanted to release some stress, I would simply relax and swim around the lake, appreciating the cool and fresh water.

After everything I've described in my village, I'm sure many would assume that it's huge, and they wouldn't be wrong assuming that. I did put a lot of time into this place after all.

"What are you going to do?" The soft voice behind me asked.

"I'm going to go take a swim in a lake south of my village."

"A lake?"

"Yes. A lake."

"Can I go with you?" You're already following me and you live here, I don't think there's a reason for you to ask me for permission anymore.

"Sure, but if you plan to actually swim, I suggest that you take a towel with you."

Technically, you also need a set of underwear, assuming that you're not going to swim naked anyways.

"Where do I get a towel from?" What?

"From whatever house you live in."

"Oh, so I could live here?" Wait, she hasn't picked out a place to sleep in yet?

"Yeah, you can. I don't really care what you do as long as it doesn't cause me problems. Pick whichever house you want to live in. As for the towel, just follow me to my home. I'll give you one of my spare towels so we can save time."

"Oh, thank you. I appreciate the accommodation."

"I'm just surprised that you haven't picked a house yet. The hell did you do when you woke up? How long have you been conscious anyways?"

"Well, I've been conscious ever since the morning I think, and all I've done was heal you so that the hole in your leg would disappear, take you to your home, and wander outside of this village. I wasn't sure if you'd want me here by the time you woke up so I went around looking for a place to go, but I couldn't settle on anything since I don't even have a weapon. I just figured that I'd wait for you to wake up so I can ask you if I could use anything in the village, but I didn't take into consideration how long it would've taken you to wake up."

Hm, so she healed me back then too? That would make sense of how my leg was only bruised when I woke up. Usually, an injury of that scale would leave me fucked since my body can't naturally heal fast enough to compensate for the loss. The worst I've ever experienced in terms of injuries was a gaping slash on my right arm, but that injury was nowhere near as bad as having a hole.

After pondering a lot of random details, we reached the door to my home. I opened the door and entered the house which was illuminated by the orange lighting of the torches inside. The girl behind me followed closely, so close that she almost bumped into me as I slowed down to open the door. Afterwards, I began to make my way to the bathroom to pick up the towels and an extra pair of underwear for myself.

"I can't believe that you waited all that time just for my permission. I brought you here by my own choice you know. I don't understand as to why you would have to wait for my permission so strictly."

"I understand your point of view. However, I wasn't so sure of your motives. You may have saved me, but I wanted to know why first. I was so close to death that I felt that it may have been pointless to save me. I don't remember anything well, but I know that whatever you did put you in great danger because when I woke up, I noticed a gaping hole in your leg. To me, it didn't make sense that you'd simply save me."

Hmm, this girl is either really smart or really cynical. I guess from her point of view, it really would be confusing if some guy just came to save her. We are in a world of survivalism after all.

"You sound as if you were wary of me."

"That is because I was. Even if you put me in safety, it doesn't mean you're not a bad person. For all I know, you could've kept me as a prisoner or some sort of slave."

Oi, that is really dark. What type of expectations have you implanted in yourself? You aren't holding me up to those expectations either, are you?

"That is one dark expectation." I didn't really know what to say to that. Her response hinted some form of personal experience to me and I didn't want to get myself wrapped in her personal matters.

I can tell that whatever this topic came to be was quite a personal one since the girl behind me stopped talking and rose silence instantly, either that, or she had nothing else to say to me. I simply made my way to the bathroom and picked up the towels, ignoring the fact the girl behind was extremely quiet to the point that it didn't feel natural, even though I had recently met her.

Once the towels were in my hand, I turned to the girl and handed her the towel that she might choose to put to use. She took it even though her gaze was pointed towards the floor. She really wasn't herself.

I simply walked past her and made my way back to the front door. Procedurally, I walked out with the girl behind still keeping close. I then turned to my right and walked straight down the stone path which guided us both to the pure lake. For the longest of time, I could only hear my footsteps along with hers. Even though I tried my best to remain stoic, the tension was beginning to wear me out and the silence was actually deafening me as if it was trying to tell me that I should say something. For the first time in years, I was not enjoying the bliss of silence.