Even though she had somewhat convinced herself that she could stay in that house forever -she had spent years as a couch potatoe after all- Hope quickly learned that being outside was something she had grown fond of, and eventually she couldn't resist any longer. But she refused to go alone, so she ventured out with Smeagol after dinner, and they walked along the edge of the forest together, talking about random stuff.
Hope pulled Smeagol's arm around her waist and hooked hers around his, smiling cheekily. "We're going to get caught," he said, looking around.
"Fine. We'll go by the river then," she said, and they turned, heading in through the trees. It was dark, but the fireflies were out, and she smiled as they zipped by, blinking in yellowgreen colors. When they were at a point where Smeagol was certain no one would see them, he drew her closer and kissed her cheek. Hope grinned, realizing he hadn't done that in a while. He kissed her cheek again, and her neck, and she stopped in midstep. She turned herself to face him and took his face in her hands. Smiling at her he leaned down and kissed her.
The thought that they were doing this behind a lot of people's backs, and that they were getting away with it sent rushes down her spine. She had always been one to enjoy the thrills of sneaking around after all. A few seconds later Smeagol pulled back and ran a hand through her hair.
"You're beautiful," he whispered. She grinned and nestled up closer to him.
"And you're oh so pretty," she muttered, unable to remain serious for one minute. He snickered and kissed her forehead, then her jawline, and finally her neck. There was something different in the way he kissed her though.
Before, whenever they kissed it was always just goofing around or shameless flirting, but there was a more serious tone in the way he did it, as if there was some sort of unspoken phrase he could only get out through his kisses.
She kissed his mouth tenderly, wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to press herself as closely to him as possible, and let herself fade away in the moment.
The moment, unfortunately, was just that. A moment. And they were quickly called out of it when there came the loud snap of someone stepping on a branch.Smeagol stepped back from Hope, looking around curiously,
and Hope felt a rush of adrenaline come with a spike of fear. Had they been spotted? She bit her lip and stepped behind Smeagol, secretly hoping that perhaps he was enough to hide her. "Who's there?" he called, taking Hope's hand to reassure her. There was no answer, but Hope had a burning feeling that they were not alone.
"Hurry," whispered Smeagol. "Go back to the house by another route, and I'll go back the way we came. They may not have seen us both, but if they see us together now it'll look suspicious."
"Okay, got it," said Hope, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, then walked ahead as Smeagol turned around and started to head back. It didn't occur to her until a few minutes later that perhaps being alone in the woods wasn't a very smart idea, despite what the town people would have thought.
It was strating to get dark, and she quickly decided to only stay in the forest for a few more minutes, then start to head out.
Each step she took seemed to lead her to a much colder place, and soon she hugged herself to keep warm. She walked until it felt like it had been five minutes, then turned to head out of the woods. Only the minute she turned she heard another branch snap, and froze. Her eyes turned down to her feet, but there were no branches or sticks she could have stepped on. Her blood turned cold. She felt like she had not too long ago, and a brief image of the ragged hobbit flashed in her mind.
"No one is going to hurt you, Hope."
She rolled her eyes, thinking of Deagol's words. Where was he now when she needed him? Or better yet, where was Smeagol? How could he have even thought of leaving her alone in the woods? Why did that even sound like a good idea at the time? What were they thinking? An idiot could have seen this was a bad idea. Standing still she thought frantically, what should I do?
----
Smeagol was almost out of the woods when the same thing that hit Hope hit him. What on earth were they doing? Turning around, not caring what the town thought if they were to find out, he took off after Hope. He had a burning feeling that something was wrong.
----
Hope stood still until she heard another branch snap, and then, not knowing what else to do, she took of running, debating on whether or not she should scream. Behind her she heard the footfalls come in pursuit of her, and she quickly darted further into the forest, not entirely concious of where she was going.
Her foot snagged into a root and she flew forwards with a cry, crashing violently to the ground. She had cut her face on a rock, and her ankle was twisted again. But the pursuer was still behind her, and she could hear him coming closer. Pushing herself up, pine needles going into her palms, she darted away, running as best she could on her ankle.
She twisted around a tree, jumped over a small bush, and tried to zig-zag as best she could. If only she had run out of the woods, she thought. At least people would have seen the hobbit pursuing her and they would know she wasn't crazy. After a while she began to feel that she was losing him, but continued to zig-zag, not wanting to take any chances. But after a while she finally made a mistake. She tried to twist around another tree, but had twisted her body at too odd an angle, and fell again. This time she felt something snap, followed by a very sharp pain, and she glanced down at her ankle. It was already beginning to swell up, and she knew it was broken.
Not thinking, she tried to get up, but the minute she shifted her weight on that ankle, the pain was so intense she screamed and fell again, tears rolling down her face. It hurt so bad, and she knew whoever was after her was sure to get her now. Opening her mouth, hoping she wasn't too last in the forest for anyone to hear, she screamed out at the top of her lungs in terror, and awaited for her attacker to claim her.
----
Smeagol heard the scream, and turned, realizing it was coming from deep inside the woods. His face drained of color. Something had happened to Hope. "Hope!" he called out, and ran to her, praying he wasn't too late.
----
There came a crash and Hope turned her head in time to see, in the darkness, a silhouette coming right at her. It stopped to look at her, and then raised its arm, Hope noticing there was something in its hand, and he threw it at her. It landed beside her, missing her by inches, and she withheld a scream when she saw what it was. An axe. That was when it really sunk in that he was trying to kill her.
She looked up at her attacker, still unable to see his face and screamed, twisting herself over on her belly, trying to drag herself away. Behind her she could hear him drawing closer, but she continued to struggle, deciding she was not going down without a fight, broken ankle or no. What happened next was something that no one saw coming.
Out of the darkness in front of her another form came running to her, but this one she could see the face of clearly. He stopped in front of her and kneeled down to look her in the face. Hope screamed. It was the ragged hobbit who had tried to hurt her the night before. He stared at her as she screamed and sheilded her face, waiting for him to kill her. Only he did not kill her. It took her a minute before she finally looked up and realized he was walking past her and headed for the hobbit behind her.
Unwilling to put her ankle through the pain of rolling over on her back, the turned her upper body around to get as good of a look as she could. The ragged hobbit lunged at the one in the shadows and they fought each other, though Hope was still trying to understand that this hobbit she thought was trying to hurt her was now saving her skin. The shadowed one lunged past the ragged hobbit and reached for the axe beside Hope. She didn't even think to grab it before he could. When he had it, he raised it, trying to kill her still, but the ragged hobbit was on him like a bolt of lightning, and fought with him violently. Hope looked away, knowing that it was not going to end well, and waited until it died down.
When she craned her neck around again, the ragged hobbit was still standing, though clutching at his arm which had been injured badly, and looked over to Hope. Behind him the hobbit, still in shadows was running away, and Hope's heart sank. He was still alive. But fortunatley so was she. "I don't believe it," she said to the ragged hobbit.
He walked over to her and held out a hand to her. That was when she remembered her ankle. "I can't stand," she said, still feeling nervous around him. He grunted a little then reached down, scooping her up in his arms, and staggered off with her. Hope didn't know where he was taking her, but she didn't care. For the moment she felt safe with him, though she was still eager for answers.