Running scared

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Winterwings

Guest
Original poster
Keira had been hiding behind a tree for quite some time - there was a strange thing on the ground, and she had never seen anything like it before. It was pretty big - even a bit larger than herself. What had caught her attention though, was what was inside of it. Food. She was hungry.


After making sure that she was all alone, she slowly approached it. She got inside, and was just about to reach the piece of meat, as she heard a noise. She quickly turned around, discovering that the way out had been blocked. For a few seconds she looked at it all, realizing that there was no way out. Terrified, she hit the fence-like walls surrounding her, tried to bite it, everything she could think of to break free.


She was lying down, silent. She was exhausted after all of her struggling. She was curled up, feeling vulnerable to the outside world. She wanted to hide. Her eyes were widely opened, alert for any kind of movement. It reminded about the eyes of a deer. Her eyes were brown, as well as her hair, her curly hair that reached to her hip.
 
Three years of doing this work and Galen finally had a chance to make it big - really big. There had been talk of some sort of creature living in the wilderness outside of the city for quite some time. After pulling some strings, he was assigned to investigate this "creature". He set out several traps where the creature was claimed to have been sighted, and now he just had to wait.

Then, a quite buzz vibrated through his jean's and he got out a tablet that notified him that he had caught something. Galen hoped that it wasn't just some poor rabbit or fox like all the other times it had happened. He quickly got up from his spot before jogging to the place where the trap was. He looked around to make sure whatever he caught hadn't somehow escaped, and then he finally looked inside the trap to see...was that a human?

He slowly walked up to the figure, not wanting to alarm the other person. What in the world was another human out here for? He walked until he was close enough to see that the human was a girl. Her back was facing him and she was in a fetal position. He looked with his grey eyes and saw that she had long, brown curly hair and seemed to have a fit body, though a bit skinny. She was only in a thin nightgown from the looks of it and it was a bit chilly out. Galen cleared his voice softly.
 
At first, Keira didn't move, as she heard the footsteps. Maybe whoever was there thought she was dead if she didn't move? The silence afterwards made her feel scared. Would it be a quick attack? As soon as she heard a sound, reminding her of a sound that she made sometimes, she turned around.


Quickly, she moved as far away as she could from the creature on the other side, although there wasn't much room more than for her to lie and sit in. She showed her teeth, growled and tried to look as dangerous as she could, although on the inside, she was terrified. She looked at the creature, she didn't recognize it. Everything was strange and unfamiliar - the walls around her and the creature on the other side.
 
Galen hopped back when the girl moved backwards and growled, showing her teeth and acting hostile. What the...why was she acting like this? Galen could only stare at the growling girl. He noticed how dirty she was. Wait...was it possible...?

"Shh," he tried, shushing her gingerly. He moved slowly, trying to show her that he was of no threat to her. "What's your name?" he asked softly. Was it possible that the creature everybody had been talking about was simply just a human woman?
 
When the creature moved slowly, shushing her, Keira stopped her growling. She tilted her head a little, confused. She saw how the mouth of the creature moved, sounds coming out - it didn't sound threatening. Although she was still alert for every possible threatening move he'd make, she felt a bit calmer than before.


Soon she didn't growl nor showed her teeth - she looked at him in silence, unsure of what to do. Every now and then she glanced at the cage for a possible way out, even though she kept an eye on him. She felt at the fence-like, hard and a bit cold material against her dirty hands, slowly understanding that she wouldn't be able to break it. She carefully kicked at it with one of her foots, scared that she'd upset the creature in any way, although she knew that she had to get free.
 
The woman stopped her growling, but she seemed confused at Galen. He wondered if she even knew how to speak, and from everything that has happened so far, it didn't seem like it. He sighed. Was he supposed to take her back to the city? She didn't seem very hostile now but he didn't know how she'd act if he were to free her. Would she try to kill him? Or would she just run off? She would have to know the woods and Galen would just get lost in them if he wasn't careful.

He motioned his hands to himself. "My name is Galen. Me - Galen. You?" he tried again, still keeping his voice soft and his words slow. He then realized that he had a sandwich left from earlier that he didn't finish and he took it out of his bag. "Are you hungry?" he asked, walking closer to the cage and holding his hand out with the sandwich for her to take it if she wanted it.
 
The mouth moved again, sounds that still didn't sound threatening. She closely followed his movements, trying to figure out what he was doing. Before she was able to think of it any longer, he grabbed his bag, looked in it. Keira grew tense again - what was this, what was he doing? As soon as she realized it was food, she relaxed a bit, again.


Only to grow tense again once he walked towards her, that was. She looked at him, at the sandwich, for a moment. She glanced quickly at the piece of meat that she had been trying to get earlier when she had been caught - was this something like that? She looked at the sandwich suspiciously. She glanced at the meat once again, and then she quickly turned towards him again, her hands trying to pull both him and the sandwich away, although the cage got in her way from doing that. She made a bit of a scream, similar to a bark, threatening, before returning to the other side of the cage, as far away from him as she could get. Her heart was pounding fast as she took a hold of the fence-like walls with both hands on both sides of the cage, trying to break it.
 
Galen waited for the wild woman to either take his offer or reject it. He tried to keep a soft and friendly expression on his face, but when she tried to pull him and the sandwich, he panicked for a moment. However, she broke away and went to the opposite side of the cage, almost screaming and rattling the cage walls. He could only watch before he put the sandwich down in the cage, letting her eat it later if she wanted to.

"Calm down, it's okay," he spoke, moving his arms and hands to try and reflect his words. How was he going to let her know that he wasn't a threat to her? That he'd help her? Maybe letting her go was the only way...but he didn't want her to run. Oh well. He was going to risk it.

"It's okay, I'm going to let you go, okay?" he said slowly, walking to the door of the cage. "Hold on..." he clicked the lock open and looked at her. "Please don't leave me..." he said quietly, and then he opened the door slowly before backing up.
 
Keira didn't move as he got closer and opened up. What did this mean? There was something that wasn't right. She looked at him, confused and scared. As he moved back a bit, she felt better. She looked at the opening as if she was suspecting there to be something hurtful there, and then she slowly moved towards it.


After touching the sides of the opening and making sure that there were no threats, as she could see it, she stepped outside. Maybe a bit too fast, because she moaned a little as she fell to the ground. She glanced at her right foot, which was pretty badly injured from something else that had happened to her. She glanced at him, she didn't like that he saw her being weak. She made an effort to get up, determined to get away although her body wasn't capable of doing as she wished. She ignored the way her body said no by not using the injured foot as much as she wished for, when trying to stand up. She fell to the ground repeatedly, and soon she was rather exhausted, lying on the ground.
 
Galen nodded slowly when the woman looked at the opening of the door, hopefully letting her know that it was okay and she was free. She moved towards it and Galen smiled but it soon disappeared when she made a pained moan. He frowned when she fell to the ground and met her eyes when she glanced at him. He was going to help her, but when he moved forward, she was already up. He backed away and let her try to walk but soon she was exhausted and he guessed that the pain in her foot was very painful.

Moving to her side slowly, he gently touched her shoulder and looked at her with kind eyes. He positioned himself so he could pick her up bridal style. Before he picked her up, he looked to her to make sure it was okay. He was planning to take her to his cabin that was near the outer edge of the woods. There, he could tend her to her foot and possibly help her in more ways than one.
 
As he touched her, at first, she felt like curling up and not let him touch her, but she realized that she didn't have much of a choice. When he lifted her up, her grip around him that he now had, tightened. She felt scared not feeling the ground underneath her feet, not being in control was scary to her. She kept thinking about his kind eyes, it seemed like things were safe for now.


The pain in her foot wasn't as intense now that the foot was resting. She kept her eyes opened, she wanted to know where she was going, at least have a clue about it. She knew the woods pretty well, but she didn't know where he was planning on taking her, and for now, all she could do was to let him lead.
 
Galen smiled when the woman seemed to give him permission and he picked her up, one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back. She wasn't as light as he thought she would be, but she was still pretty dainty. When she clutched to him, he realized that she was probably afraid of not being able to touch the ground, so he was careful about where he was walking.

In about ten or fifteen minutes, they were at Galen's cabin. Galen managed to get the door unlocked and walked inside the homey cabin with the girl. There was a small kitchen to the right of the building, a twin bed tucked in the left corner, a couch, and a bathroom just to the left a little. It wasn't a big cabin, but it wasn't very small either. He walked to the bed and set the brown-haired girl down. He looked around his cabin then. He was sure that he had some bandages around there somewhere.

Looking through a couple of drawers and cabinets, he finally found a roll of bandages. Walking back to the girl, he squatted down and gently took hold of her right foot. He glanced up at her before examining the foot. It was a bit swollen and seemed to be only sprained. He looked back to the girl and showed her the bandages, letting her know that he was going to use them. "Your foot is only sprained," he said. "It'll heal without these bandages, but they will help make your foot heal faster." Before he started to wrap her foot and ankle, he looked to her to ask for her permission.
 
When he had put Keira down, she looked around slightly. Everything looked unfamiliar to her, she didn't recognize it - she felt as if she'd been thrown into another world. She listened carefully, still alert for whatever could happen, but she didn't feel as scared as before. She looked at him as he got back to her, noticing that he had something with him. She followed his motions with her gaze as he took a hold of her foot and looked at it. She looked at the bandages as he showed them to her, unsure of what they were for. She looked at him again as he spoke.


She looked at her foot, and then at him again. She moved backwards while sitting on the bed, still facing him. She took a hold of her foot, gently, and glanced at it, and then at the bandage. She hid her foot underneath her clothing and then looked at him, alert, suspiciously. As if she was ready to either attack or run depending on his next move, although the situation wasn't as extreme. She knew she was at an unknown territory - she had to be careful.
 
Galen noticed the way Keira was looking at everything. He knew that all of this was extremely strange for her - it must have felt like a completely different world for her. When he took her foot, she looked at him and backed away towards the wall, taking her foot with her. He stood up slowly. He figured he should give her some space, so he set the roll of bandages on the small table next to the bed and went to the kitchen to get himself a banana. "Do you want one?" he asked, showing the banana to the girl.
 
Keira looked at him, relieved that he would give her some space. When he came back, she looked at the banana. She had a hard time deciding whether to take it or not - this far, food hadn't been a good thing, but, he wasn't being hostile or anything like that towards her. And besides, she was hungry, she couldn't deny that. She bit her lip, knowing that accepting it would be a risk. He offered it to her, though, which was a good thing, she thought, confused.

She leaned against the wall, without letting him go with her eyes. She was hungry, and with him offering her food, it would be foolish not to accept it. She stood up and moved towards him slowly, trying not to think of the foot too much. When there was still a bit of space between the two of them, she stopped, and reached her hands out. She waited, a little impatient and sort of stressed to be standing there. Without waiting for more than a second, if even that, she moved a little closer - just as much as was needed for her to reach the banana - and took it. She moved, as quickly as she could without falling because of her foot, back to the bed, and sat down. She looked at him and hid the banana under her clothing.
 
Galen had closed the fridge and and walked to the woman who was sitting down on the bed. He waited patiently for her to decided, watching her as she looked between the banana and him. And then he finally got it. She probably didn't trust such easy access to food since the last one was a trap...he cursed himself inside of his head. He didn't know the creature was going to be a woman!

Still, he held out the banana for her. She seemed to make up her mind when she slowly moved forward, carefully like it might be another trap. She definitely had the instincts a lot of people didn't. Then, she reached her arms out and took the banana from his hands and moved quickly back to the bed, sitting down without stressing her food. Strangely, she hid the banana under her clothing. Why would she do that? Was she trying to stash food? Galen didn't dwell on it much though, deciding that he'd figure it out later.

"Do you have a home?" he asked, sitting down on the couch on the other side of the room.
 
Keira looked at him as he sat down. This was sure strange to her. She looked at the couch for a moment, and then at him again. Home. She was pretty sure she had heard it somewher else, but she wasn't sure where. She thought about it. Was this his home? She wasn't sure if she had a "home" - sure, she had some places around the woods where she had some food, and some places where she knew it was safe to sleep. She bit her lip and looked around. She spotted a window and looked at it. Was it a way out? Was it really as easy as that? She looked at him again, just to see so that he hadn't moved, and then she looked at the window again. She could see some trees on the other side, and a bit of grass as well. She pointed at it, the window, not sure if he'd understand what she meant. Maybe she had gotten it all wrong - maybe 'home' wasn't what she thought it was. She knew she wouldn't tell him too much though - it was important not to reveal where the safe places was, where she felt safe and could hid from other animals.

She couldn't hide here though - she didn't know this place, it was all strange and weird to her. Where did he hide? Looking around before, she hadn't found any place where she thought he would hid. What kind of place was this? She felt a bit anxious not being in her own enviroment, but letting him know that she was scared could mean the end. Weakness was bad, she thought. All of sudden, she heard a noise, and jumped a bit. She quickly looked at the window that she had been looking at before - a bird had hit it. Within seconds she had hid under the bed, with wide eyes and listening to every sound. She crawled to the end of it where she felt the wall, and then she looked around, her heart pounding, waiting for him to attack. He killed the bird, she thought. Some other trap.
 
Galen wondered if the woman even understood what he was saying. But of course not. He saw her glance at the window a few times and realized that she probably wanted to be out there. That out there was her home. All of it. But then, she pointed to the window. His eyes widened a little; had she understood what he meant by home?

All of a sudden, something hit the window and made a decently loud thud. Before Galen could even blink, the girl was under the bed, probably scared for her life. Galen stood up quickly and looked out the window, seeing a bird perched on the ground and about ready to take flight. He carefully looked under the bed, getting on his knees and looking at the girl. "Hey," he said softly. "It's okay, it was just a bird. Sometimes birds fly into the window because they think they can get in the house," he tried to explain, looking at her with a soft expression. "Here, I'll show you," he said, extending his hand just a little bit, enough for her to reach out and take but also just enough for him to quickly pull back if she tried to hurt him.
 
Keira's heart was pounding again - almost as much as it had when he'd captured her in the cage. This was quite similar - if he wanted, he could make sure she didn't get away from underneath the bed. On the other hand, in a way, she felt a bit safe, as it was the only place where she could hide. Not like he didn't know that she was there, but it made her feel less vulnerable. She swallowed, all alrert, as he got on his knees and looked at her. She crawled backwards a little.

His voice was soft, but she still wasn't sure whether to trust him or not. As he reached his hand in a little, at first, she crawled backwards a little more, but she stopped, as she realized that he wasn't going to try to take her out of there. She looked at him, at his hand. Her eyes were wide, alert, but had a bit of a calm expression as well, as he didn't do anything that felt too threathening to her. She reached her hand towards his, carefully, and took it. Then she was out on the floor again. She stood up and looked at him, and then at the window. What had he done? She glanced at him as she got closer to the window, and then, to her surprise as she tried to get closer, there was something blocking her way. She put her palm at it, scratching her nails against it, surprised. She looked at him again.
 
Galen waited for her to take his hand. She crawled backwards a few steps, but seemed to trust him after a few moments. He smiled when she took his hand and he helped her up, letting her get out from under the bed. He watched her walk towards the window and he slowly trailed behind her. He smiled again when she became surprised by the clear thing blocking her way. When she looked at him, he walked to her side and put his hand on the window.

"Window," he said. "It let's us see outside but keeps things we don't want from getting inside."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back