Hey there, citizens.

Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favs regarding the first chapter of this new adventure.
It means a lot, that's for sure. ^^

So, without furder ado, here's the next chapter.
I hope you guys like it.
Enjoy, and feel free to leave a review once you're done, always very much appreciated.

Later!

Chapter 2

The soundwaves of the voice made their way over to Charley's ears and once transported through the ear canal to the brain, they kept echoing through her head, over and over again.
Somehow, the sound of it took her off guard.
There was just something about this voice that triggered something in her body.
As if it awoke after a long, deep slumber.
It was a feeling she hadn't felt before.
Therefore, she couldn't name it.
It was just there.
A certain… lightness.
Was she dreaming?

She soon got the answer to that question.
It came in the form of the man, that twisted and greedy man that was still on top of her.
He would never be there if she was dreaming, for she wasn't just lonely in real life.
No, even her dreams were overshadowed by loneliness.
So were her nightmares.
But he was here now.
She felt it.
And not just his weight.
His weight, that pushed her ribs almost through the wet asphalt, which made it almost impossible to breathe properly.

No, she felt how he tightened every muscle in his hideous body when he heard the voice coming from behind him.
She even felt how he slowly turned his head, to look over his shoulder.
To find out who was brave enough to disturb him during his late-night activities.
She caught herself asking the same thing, actually.
But frankly, it didn't matter.
All that mattered was that this was real.
And so was the scent…

As the lovely melody of the voice drove away the black hole that tried to suck her in, that tried to consume her, her sense of smell returned and to say that the maddening fragrance hit her like a train was an understatement, to say the least.
It felt more like the train just ran over her without slowing down.
Without mercy.
Or something like that...

Her heartbeat increased even further, as far as that goes, so was her breathing.
The scent whirled through her nose into her lungs like a tornado, or perhaps that wasn't the right way to describe it.
It actually felt as if she was breathing fire, but in a good way.
The strange yet delightful odor seemed to spread warmth through her body, softening every pain it encountered, leaving every nerve ending tingling behind, yearning for more.
How peculiar.

It was the sound of man's voice that broke her out of her trance.
That brought her back to the not so pretty reality and for a moment, she hated him even more, a thing she never thought possible.
She wasn't a violent person.
She had never laid a hand on someone.
She had never thought about how it would be to kill someone.
To just end their miserable life.

But all she wanted right here, right now was to wrap her hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of his disgusting body.
It somehow scared her.
Yet, at the same time, it felt extremely liberating to only think about it.
But of course, she didn't do anything other than that.
She just lay there, listening to how the man responded to the sudden and unexpected company.
And they say that wolves are brave…
Snakes are.
Apparently.

"Get the fuck outta here, I had her first!", that same snake now snarled between clenched teeth without even the slightest hint of fear.
Judging by how the sound echoed the other way, he was still looking over his shoulder.
That could explain why he was pulling even harder on her hair.
It kind of felt as if he was about to rip her entire scalp off her skull and Charley let out a groan in pain as she squeezed her eyes shut.
The darkness, the one that had been gone for a few moments came back as fast as lightning, trying to consume her again.
God.

She wasn't able to hold this much longer.
She was strong.
She was a wolf.
But she was about to break.
Even the strongest people have a breaking point.

Luckily, she didn't.
Break.
Not because she was able to stop herself from breaking, but simply because salvation was closer than she thought.
"Well, you know that they say — who comes first… dies first."
Charley's eyes flew open by hearing the threatening undertone, for the sound alone was enough to give her goosebumps all over her body.
It was enough to know that this was someone one didn't want to mess with.
Not even some lowlife scum who had harassing women at night as a hobby.
Not even a snake.

And suddenly, the weight was gone.
So was the hand.
Her head fell forward, giving her the feeling as if she was a lifeless rag doll instead of a fully grown human made out of flesh and blood.
But despite the sharp pain in her neck, she was able to stop her head from hitting the cold asphalt again.
It was a close one, though.
Her nose floated only inches above the ground.
But it was good enough.
Oh, it was good enough alright.

It was then when she suddenly realized that she was free.
Well, sort of.
Her hands were still cuffed.
But the man was gone.
Thank God, he was gone.
Taken by the owner of the intoxicating smell.
The owner of the melodic voice.
Not wanting to waste any time thinking about what the stranger was doing to the man right now, she bent her arms and placed her tied hands on the hard underground, right under her chest, which was quite the challenge with the handcuffs and all.

But Charley wouldn't be Charley if she didn't make it work and after taking a deep breath, she pushed herself off the ground.
She almost smiled when she noticed that it worked, but without warning, nausea washed over her and she stopped for a moment, giving her body some time to get used to the new position.
She so didn't want to puke right now.
As if she needed anything else to worry about.
Jesus.
What a night.
What a fucked up night.
She had never felt this miserable.

But she needed to keep going.
She couldn't stop.
She couldn't give up.
Oh no, she would never forgive herself if she did.
You see, it was important to find a place to hide in case the man would come back.
Snakes were resilient, after all.
Devious, too.
She didn't want to lie here, completely helpless, if he would.

And so, she forced herself to keep moving, even though the whole world around her was spinning.
Even though she had to swallow continuously to keep the nausea at a safe distance.
Even though the pain almost paralyzed her.
She didn't let it stop her.
She just kept going.
Like she always did.

Eventually, she reached the big green dumpsters at her left.
She had no idea how she had managed to pull it off, but the fact remained that she did.
There was a small open space between the two bins, just big enough to fit one woman in need, which made it the perfect place to hide until she was sure that the man wouldn't come back.
Still on all fours, she crawled into her temporary safe haven and with some extra effort, she turned around and slumped back against the wall.
It was tempting to think that she was out of the danger zone now, but the truth was — she wasn't.
Her feet were still in sight, and so, she took a deep breath before she pulled her legs up, just far enough to hide her feet in the shadows of the dumpsters along with the rest of her body.

It was that last move that caused another wave of nausea, no matter how hard she tried to keep it away and she rested her head against the cold steel of the garbage can, too tired to think about the germs and all other microscopically small diseases that were living there.
All she hoped was that the cold surface would cool down her overheated body, but it didn't.
Of course, it didn't.
God didn't seem to be on her side tonight.
Maybe he would have been if she had faith.
But she hadn't.
How could she?
If there was a God, she wouldn't be sitting here, all alone, hiding for the monster that was supposed to stay under the bed.
Nope.
She was on her own.
Nothing new.

Her gaze lowered and landed on her cuffed hands.
It somehow made her so sad, all of a sudden.
Sad because the world was so fucked up.
Sad because there were people like this man.
Sad because he had chosen her as his victim.
Sad because she still wasn't home.
She just wanted to sleep, so badly…

Without really realizing it, a tear left her eye, but instead of rolling down her cheek as she expected, it got stuck somewhere halfway.
With a frown, she raised both hands and first cautiously touched the wound on her forehead.
A sharp pain made her almost gag, but she managed to stop it right on time.
Okay, note to myself: do not, I repeat, do not touch that wound.
Geez.

Her fingers slid down to her cheek, to follow the path of the tear and eventually, they ended up in a somewhat sticky fluid.
Even though she already had a pretty good hunch about what it was, she still lowered her hands and looked at her fingers.
Her eyes focussed on the blood that slid down her index finger, how it filled every small wrinkle in her skin.
It somehow made her feel even sicker, strangely enough.
Or well, maybe not that strange.
She never really was good with blood.
And her body seemed to see it as another good reason to shut down.
Worst... timing... ever.

"No… stay awake, Charlene. Come on. You can't faint, not now…", she mumbled to herself, trying to sound confident and strong.
But all she heard was despair and sadness and much to her frustration, the edges of her vision already became blurry again.
She cursed herself for being this weak.
For being the damsel in distress.
She was no damsel.
Perhaps she was, indeed, in distress.

But she always took care of herself.
So why couldn't she do that right now?
What made it so different all of a sudden?
"Come on, keep your head in the game, girl", she breathed as she pinched herself, but not even the mean pain was enough to stop the world around her from getting darker and another tear left her eye.
Goddammit.
She was clearly the losing party here.
And oh boy, how much she hated losing.

But again, she got saved by the bell.
Or well, by the scent.
Because right before she fell into the big black hole, the characteristic metallic smell of blood got overruled by that other one.
That mouthwatering one.
It was stronger than it was before and even though her brain was already halfway shutting down, she wondered why that was.
Was this mysterious stranger getting closer?
Still fighting against the darkness, she lifted her head and pricked her ears.

It cost her about all the strength she had left in her overtired body, but she needed to know.
She needed to know who this person was.
This person, that was already important to her.
This person, that already meant something to her.
A feeling she always tried to avoid with all costs.
But it was here now.
And there was nothing she could do about it.

Nothing but stay awake.
So she could see him.
So she could thank him.
So she could look him in the eye to see him looking back.
To feel how it was.
How it was to feel something again.
How it was to let someone in.
To care…

And indeed, her ears caught up the sound of approaching footsteps.
With every step the stranger took, the sound of his feet touching the ground got accompanied by a ringing sound.
Again, it reminded her of those old western movies.
They always had that one scene.
That scene when the fearless cowboy walked into the bar, his weathered face hidden in the shadows of his hat and his right hand resting on the revolver that was attached to his belt.
And as always, the crowd inside the bar fell silent when he entered the building, their eyes following him as he walked to the bar, his spurs rattling with every step he took.
This didn't make any sense.
She just needed to see him.

After clenching her teeth, she pushed her upper body away from the dumpster and peeked around it to see who was coming her way.
She had to see him.
But it was no use.
Not only because the pain in her head and neck made her look cross-eyed, but also because the ally was too dark.
There was nothing to see.
Not even a silhouette.
Besides, the sound of footsteps had stopped as well, all of a sudden.
Perhaps she was dreaming after all…

A soft moan escaped her mouth when she slumped back against the wall and as she closed her eyes, she rested the back of her head against the cold stone of the wall.
God, her head was killing her.
How in the world was she supposed to get home?
She could barely keep her eyes open.
What a mess.
What a fucked up mess.

With her eyes closed, it was actually quite easy to give in, to just let the darkness consume her but a small voice whispered inside her head that she needed to open her eyes.
That she needed to stay awake, for she wasn't safe yet.
With reluctance, she did what her conscience told her and she stared at her cuffed hands.
Maybe she should try to get them off.
Yeah, sure, great idea, but how?
Good question.

Heaving a sigh, she gazed up to the clouded and gloomy sky and for the first time since forever, she thought of her parents.
Is there sunshine where they are?
The way there was when they were here?
She had no idea.
All she knew right now was that she missed them.
She had never missed them as much as she did now.
If only they were here…

So she wasn't alone anymore.
She suddenly couldn't stand the loneliness that usually kept her going.
Not anymore.
But she didn't exactly have a choice.
Because if she would lower her walls, if she would let someone in, that person would go away too.
Maybe not immediately, but eventually, they would.
Just like her parents did.
And the pain of their loss was already suffocating enough.
It was already too much to bear.

God, what was she thinking?
She wasn't ready for more.
She would never be ready.
And so she was forced to remain alone.
Forever.
And not even this mysterious stranger, this person that was her hero could change that.
No…
Not even him.

Sudden movement at her right caught her eye and if she wasn't feeling this miserable, she would've jumped back on her feet.
Or maybe she would've even let out a scream.
Wasn't that what women did when they were startled?
Maybe.
But not her.
Not now.
No, all she did was turning her gaze away from the sky and eventually, it landed on a pair of worn-down shoes that stopped right in front of her.
Shoes.
No boots.
No spurs, either.
So no cowboy after all…

She wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.
Probably the latter, for it wasn't a snake either.
As she stared at the shoes, more details became visible and she suddenly realized that they weren't just shoes.
No, they were biker shoes, although it was a model she had never seen before.
Maybe that was because it was still a bit hard to distinguish the smaller and refined details in the darkness of the alley.
Or maybe it was because she wasn't really a person who knew the latest fashion, not even in the biker world.
Yeah.
That's probably it.

As she stared at the shoes, she bit her lower lip and took a deep breath through the nose.
She wasn't really aware that she did.
But she was now because the scent was back and stronger as ever.
It somehow embraced her, even comforted her and without thinking, she closed her eyes again.
A field.
A field with flowers.
Birds singing their most beautiful song.
The sun shining down on her as she walked through the field, her fingers sliding through the long and soft grass.
A smile appeared on her face as the warmth spread through her body again, taking away all the pain in both body and soul…
"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Her heart skipped a few beats by the sudden sound of his voice and her eyes flew open again.
The shoes were gone.
Or well, they were still there.
But they had become one with the shadow of the silhouette that was kneeling in front of her and she blinked a few times, trying to wrap her mind around the things that were happening here.
It was crazy.
It was too much.

All she wanted was to go home and sleep like she always did, every goddamn night.
And yet here she was.
Trying to see who sat in front of her, to catch a glimpse of the face that belonged to the person who had saved her from a very dark fate.
But it was too dark.
All she saw were dark lines painted on the black background.
It was frustrating, to say the least.

As her green eyes followed the dark lines, still determined to find out more about this mysterious person with his lovely scent and his melodic voice, she suddenly saw something that made her question her mental well-being.
It just didn't make sense.
Actually, this whole thing didn't make sense, at all, but it was about to get even weirder.
Because it looked like the shade had ears.
Well, not just ears.
Big ears.
As in… Mickey Mouse ears.

Okay.
She was officially losing her mind.
She must have hit her head harder than she thought in the first place.
Or maybe her savior was a fervent visitor of Disney World.
Who knew?
Stranger things were happening in this world, after all.
Still...

"Who are you…?", she whispered as she reached out her cuffed hands without thinking.
But she somehow felt the sudden need to touch him.
She wanted to find out, more than anything, if her mind was playing tricks with her.
But a warm hand that gently took hers stopped her.
A shock went through her body the moment the hand made contact with her skin and she gasped in both shock and wonder when she felt her entire body tingling.
It was weird but rather nice at the same time.
Comforting.

"It doesn't matter who I am", the person in front of her answered softly without letting go of her hand.
Charley frowned when she heard the barely audible undertone of regret, but before she could ask another question, a hissing noise made her almost jump out of her skin.
It wasn't because she didn't know the sound, because she did.
It was the same sound that was heard when one lit a match, but it was misplaced, somehow.
But there was no time to think further.
Because a sudden and bright light illuminated the dark environment for a moment.
And even if it was only for a moment, it was enough.
She suddenly could see her hands, the metal of the cuffs reflecting the bright light.
She also saw the other hand that was holding hers.

It was covered in a black, fingerless glove, but that wasn't what took her attention.
No, it were the long and somewhat delicate fingers that did.
She wasn't sure if it was because of the still poorly lit environment or just because she had hit her head not once but twice, but there was something about these fingers that made her hold her breath.
Because they were white.
Too white.
A bit on the furry side, too.
She really was going crazy...

Another hand came into view, holding the source of the light, which looked a lot like those flares they used in war movies, but then smaller.
Her eyes followed the object every movement, as if she was hypnotized.
But she simply couldn't turn her gaze away from the hand.
She needed to see how the strange white fingers held the object with a certain care.
How he slightly bent the wrist, to bring the flame closer to her cuffs.
When the red-colored fire made contact with the small chain that was in the middle, the light became even brighter and much to her shock, it cut right through the steel like a knife through butter.

The heat tickled her skin and in a reflex, she pulled her hands back but the white fingers held them in place.
Slightly compelling, but mostly lovingly.
"I shouldn't even be here in the first place...", the voice mumbled in the darkness.
It was then when she raised her eyes.
She didn't even do it on purpose.
It just happened.
Maybe that was because she had no idea what he meant by that.
After all, she was more than happy that he was here.
Then maybe it was because of the sadness that now joined the regret in his voice.
His mesmerizing voice...

Or maybe it didn't matter.
It just happened.
Everything just happened.
Not just that, it all happened in a split second.
It made her wonder if she still wasn't dreaming.
At the same time, it somehow surprised her that she was even able to think while everything went so fast all of a sudden.
Everything was completely out of her control the moment she looked up.
She had to look up.
There was simply no other choice.
And so she did.

Since the flame had become brighter when it cut through the cold and almost indestructible metal of the cuffs, there was suddenly enough light.
Enough light to see the face of the person who had managed to not only save her, but to rock her foundation as well and that with only his voice and scent.
For that alone she should congratulate him.
Perhaps she should even give him a medal.

But it wasn't what she had expected, at all.
Frankly, there was nothing that could've prepared for what she was about to see.
Big ears.
White fur.
A silver mask.
Red eyes.
Those eyes…
It made her breath stop in her throat.
It was also the last thing she saw.

Because as soon as she laid her eyes on the creature in front of her, her brain decided it was enough.
It just had enough.
And after one glance into those peculiar but somewhat sad eyes, she let out her breath and the whole world became pitch black.
No more shadows.
No more dark lines.
No more doubts.
No more fear.
No, just darkness.
Calming and soothing darkness.
Safe.
She was safe.

'Who is that shape in the shadows...?
Whose is the face in the mask...?'