Every rain drop seemed like a dagger made of ice. The temperature had suddenly dropped, leaving the air with a chilling aftertaste. Kurt shivered as he made his way through the woods, hoping to find the road. His heart was still heavy with the events of the day but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that he could live on his own. The anger and fear that had nipped at his heels as he ran was now a dulled throbbing in his heart. Kurt wanted his mother's kind smiles and his father's warm hugs back. He wished to be safe in their arms wrapped in the blankets of ignorance they had coddled him in. But now the world was a cold alien place. Kurt felt alone, was alone. He hunched over onto a ball and curled up beneath a tree as new sobs shook his body. The tears that flung themselves from his eyes were now for his stupidity, for his loss of ignorance, and for his recognition of reality, 'Monster'. The word floated through his mind and climbed into his bones ensuring that it would never be forgotten.
Sudden splashes made Kurt stop crying and squint out into the rain around him. Kurt hadn't even given any thought to what might be in the forest, wild animals, dangerous terrain, or even people? A new fear swelled up inside of him, a fear of humans. If today had given him nothing else it was a new understanding of what he was. Kurt tried to get up but he fell, slipping in the mud, covering himself in the wet cold earth. Without even realizing it he had made a groaning sound as he tried to stand once more. Kurt's head shot up in realization of the sound he had made. Had whatever was out there heard him? Was it coming for him? Would it hurt him? Kurt's mind was reeling, a thousand different fears swept through his mind and down to his legs prompting them to move faster.
"It's okay, it's okay…" he whispered to himself, hoping to calm the shaking of his limbs. He couldn't tell if this uncontrollable shivering was from the cold air that forced his body to creak as it moved or if the heated fear was merely making his body unreliable. Either way he needed to get away from whatever had made those noises.
"It's cold out. You shouldn't be playing in the woods when it's raining so much." A soft voice from behind him stated. Kurt froze. Had he gone mad? He hoped he had. He hoped that the voice was merely his mind playing tricks on him instead of a person, instead of a human, actually being near him.
"Hey can you hear me? I said you had better go back to your home. It's cold out here. You're going to freeze to death if you stay." The voice said. This time Kurt could hear the sound of footsteps behind him. His body froze. Every one of his nerves was suddenly standing on end, waiting, hoping, that the voice and the footsteps had just been an illusion.
"Seriously are you deaf? You shouldn't be out here. The rain is going to freeze you where you're standing and besides you look horrible…" the voice lectured. Kurt was now beyond fear, he had passed into a world of all out horror. The voice had said that he 'looked horrible'! Did the person behind him also find him revolting? Would they too throw rocks and scream for his demise? Kurt wanted to run, wanted to fling himself from this place but his legs were frozen in the chilling mud and his body was so tired. He was drained both emotionally and physically. All at once he broke. His mind fell to pieces as his legs gave way to the harsh rain and he fell to the ground.
"Hey… Are you okay? I mean I know you were out here for a while but I didn't think you were this tired…" the voice said. Kurt could hear the footsteps getting closer. He let his head fall forward and tried to concentrate on the ground, on anything other than what the voice was going to say next.
"Wow…. You're…" The voice said as Kurt heard the footsteps stop in front of him. He braced himself for the next word, for the accusation, for 'monster'.
"Really dirty…" the voice finished. Kurt's head shot up in surprise. Wasn't this person disgusted with him? The being standing before him though made Kurt's heart skipped a beat. She was small, probably a year or so younger than him. Her limbs were skinny, too skinny, and her hair fell in a mess around her shoulders. A ragged, once white, long sleeved dress hung on her tiny frame. But it wasn't those factors that made Kurt gasp; it was her skin, her hair, and most of all her eyes. Even in the dark rain he could easily see her stark white skin. Her hair was an even brighter white that stuck to her face as the water droplets ran down her skin. However, these factors could easily add up to some sort of skin condition. 'But those eyes…' Kurt thought, 'There's no way to explain those eyes'. A milky red swirl of color swam through her eyes covering the entirety of her eyes. She had no pupil that Kurt could see, but a lighter section of the reddish color seemed to stay at the center of her eyes and move as her vision did.
"Really, are you just going to sit there? Come on I'll help you up." The girl said as she moved her bone white hand down to him. Kurt's body moved before his mind could process the situation. His larger three fingered hand grasped her small white one in a tight grip.
"You're… You're not scared of me?" Kurt asked. His eyes looked up to her in a pleading gaze hoping that she would say anything that would absolve him from the word 'monster'.
She cocked her head to the side and lifted an eyebrow, "Scared? Why would I be? You're like me." She stated giving him a smile and pulling him to his feet. "We really need to get out of this rain though; I don't want you getting sick." Her words nestled themselves him Kurt's heart and ignited a hearth that the harsh words from earlier had extinguished.
She led Kurt to a small den under a group of fallen trees. The ground wasn't as wet and the fallen branches kept the wind out.
"So what's your name anyway?" She asked as she plopped down beside a group of mushrooms. The ground where she sat was indented, a sign that she had been using this faulty shelter for some time.
"My name is Kurt… do you live here?" He asked sitting down and folding his legs up so he could fit under the branches. The air was heavy with the scent of rotting wood and wet earth. The smell calmed Kurt down and brought him to a more stable place in his mind.
"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, I guess for now, but it's not anything permanent. I mean in a few weeks the trees will really start to rot and then they'll collapse. But, it works for now or at least until those dumb saints stop chasing me." She answered absent mindedly picking a mushroom from the tree above her.
"I don't understand… saints? Oh and you never told me your name or what you meant when you said 'you're like me'." Kurt answered. His senses were awakening him to reality and at that moment reality was full of confusion.
"Oh, sorry, my name is Nym. And as for the saints they're those damn cross and church people who have been trying to catch me. And you are like me, aren't you? We both don't look like normal people…" She trailed off trying to grasp if Kurt understood the information or not.
"I guess we don't look normal. But people are chasing you? Did you do something to them?" Kurt asked trying to get to the bottom of her odd reasoning.
"No! I never did anything to them! All I ever did was go through their town about a month ago. They saw me and called me a demon, just like everywhere else I've been, but these people were worse than the other people I've met. Usually people just avoid me but these people came after me with whips and stones! They actually caught me once, it hurt a lot! See!" She explained turning her back towards Kurt. He could make out several large rusty red stains on the back of her dress. Suddenly Nym pulled her dress up over her back. At first Kurt turned away, trying to be decent. But as he glanced at her he saw the large welts and cuts that adorned her back. He counted about seven altogether. They ranged in size as well as how deep they cut into her skin. Kurt could tell that they were only a few weeks old. Most of them had large puffy scabs but a few of the deeper ones were still open wounds.
"They did that to you?" Kurt asked in disbelief. Nym pulled her dress back down and turned to face him.
"Yeah, I was really scary… but it doesn't matter because I showed them! After they hurt me they put me in a sealed room but I escaped and then I stole all of their money! Hahaha," she giggled reliving the moment of her revenge, "Then I dumped it into the river and it all got washed downstream! But the best part was that they couldn't figure out how I had gotten out of stolen the money from the church. None of the locks were broken but I still got out!" A triumphant smile slid over her face and Kurt's mouth fell agape at her story. Could this little girl really be so strong?
"But…How did you do it? How did you get out of the room or get the money out?" Kurt asked scooting closer to her as if that would somehow reveal the secret.
"Huh? You mean you don't have powers too? I figured that all demons would…" She said bringing her face up into a scrutinizing expression.
"Powers? I don't understand. And why did you call me a demon?" Kurt asked. He really was having a hard time understand her cryptic way of speaking.
"Well you're like me right? We both get hurt by other people," She said motioning to the cuts on his head and arms, "so I figured that you were a demon like me. Besides can't you do things that other people can't?" She finished cocking her head again.
Kurt thought back. He had always been a great acrobat, the tail and feet helped him to climb to the tops of trees in seconds while his dad struggled to even get up the first branch. "Well I guess I am a really good climber and I can jump really high." Kurt stated hoping that these traits were what she meant. And a little piece of him hoped that she would be impressed with his accomplishments.
"Hmmmm, I guess that might be it, but, here let me show you my powers…" Nym said as she lifted her hand up to a mushroom and plucked it from the rotting tree.
"Now just watch the mushroom." She ordered. Kurt scooted closer and kept his eyes on the mushroom as ordered. Suddenly the mushroom began to dissolve into her hand and then it disappeared all together.
"How?" Kurt asked examining the bottom of her hand to see if the mushroom would pop back out.
"Hehe, No silly I can absorb things. See this branch?" She asked as she lifted her hand up to it. Kurt nodded hanging on her ever movement. As she moved her hand into the branch it too disappeared into her skin.
Kurt was in shock. It was true her skin had literally absorbed the branch just as it had the mushroom.
"And now for the grand finale!" Nym said excitedly. She moved her hand over by Kurt and suddenly the branch came out of her hand, a tiny mushroom stuck on the end of the branch.
"See?" Nym said happily scooting closer to Kurt, "I have powers, powers that other people don't, just like a demon!"