14
Toby
I see a dim light, and watch it slowly turn into a bright yellow light. I open my eyes and instantly find myself sitting up, and having to lay back down due to a surge of pain striking through my abdomen, and sudden dizziness. Looking at the ceiling I try to think of where I am, well also trying to ignore a throbbing pain in my head as well.
I move my hands but feel sharp pains coming from my wrist. I move my arms up and feel something slide off of my wrist. I look down and see bloody rags and even more blood slowly dripping from wounds that I can’t even recall getting in the first place.
I slowly moved my head to the side to observe the room and immediately noticed this elderly lady sitting in a chair beside me. I grasp the sheet underneath me and use it to help pull myself up. Slowly I reach over and lightly nudge the elderly woman.
“Um, M-miss…?”
I nudge her again but am forced to pull back because of another surge of pain in my upper abdomen. I lay back down , out of breath. Where am I? And who is this lady beside me? I look over at her again.
“Uh….L-lady?”
I turn back to the ceiling. She must be dreaming or something, she’s not waking up. Wait, is she dead?! I look back at her to answer my own question but come to see her nose flare as her stomach goes in and out. She seems to be having trouble breathing, although besides that she seems healthy. I should do better to wake her. Although…that does kinda feel rude. But I have so many things to ask her.
I force myself to sit up, trying to ignore my body's screams of agony. I slowly shift myself to the side and slide myself off of the bed, I use the bed to steady myself on my feet and slowly find myself standing beside the unfamiliar woman.
“Elderly woman… Um, C-can you hear…me?”
Me….? Who is me?
I reach over and lightly grasp her shoulder and slightly shake her. Her body jolts and her eyes open, I quickly move my arm away, startled.
“Good m-morning……Who are you…um…Miss...?”
She looks up at me with cold, empty eyes and smiles at me.
“Oh, sorry dear. Please follow me.”
She stands up and walks past me, and opens a door leading to more unfamiliar places.
I do as she says and she leads me out of the room and straight to this other room that has a tan cushioned bench and a wooden rocking chair in front of a fireplace. In front of the bench sits a long coffee table with a wooden pot filled with small lilies on top. She points to the bench and tells me to sit down.
“Go on now, I’ll be back with some tea.”
I do as she says and we part ways as I walk slowly to the bench and sit down. I look around and soak in the scene, but as I do, something seems to feel as if it's missing and I fill with a strong feeling of sudden dread.
I hear footsteps and silently watch as the elderly woman walks up to me and hands me a hot mug, filled with steaming tea.
“Be careful, it's hot,” she says as she lets go of the mug as I wrap both hands around it. She walks over and sits in the rocking chair.
“Um, I’m s-sorry. But, who are you?”
She smiles. “I am the only family that you have left. Well, actually. All we have is each other. I mean, yes , we have the people of Roselake but they could never understand people like us.”
“P-people like us?”
“Yes. You see, I am the elder of this village, Elder Rose…and you….you are what you may call my successor. You will do all that I do now, you will take over for me and….lead this village, well…take it down if you must.”
“W-why m-me? Why not s-someone else?”
“Like I said, you are all the family I have left. So, it has to be you. You are this village's future.”
“ I….I think I’m s-starting to understand.”
“You will understand more overtime. Just listen to what I tell you, and you will do just fine.”
“What mainly will I-I have to do?”
“Let me put it simply, If I said kill someone, you do it and don’t ask questions. If I said go retrieve a body and bring it to me, you do just that. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Y-yes” No. I mean yes but you haven’t told me why.
“Anyway enough of that,” she stands up and gestures to me, “finish your tea, then go retrieve those rags off your bed. I want you to rinse them out with hot water then reapply them to yourself. Other than that for today I want you to take it easy. I know it’s only morning but you mustn’t overwork yourself. You almost died. And how the heavens know…I can’t afford to lose you.”
“Elder R-Rose,” I call as she turns to walk away, “What happened to me? A-and where are you going so e-early?”
“I wasn’t there so I don’t know. I found you like that at my doorstep yesterday. But, don’t worry I already dealt with the person I think was responsible. Anyways…I have a meeting today at the school, they want to know if we should have a summer break or something, I don’t know. Anyway, after that I have to go around and make sure that I got all of that person’s belongings picked up and destroyed so people don’t get antsy. But before that I’m going to go get you some fresh clothes. You’ve been walking around shirtless for the past few days, and in those mangey pants for some reason. ”
“B-but Elder R-rose why-”
“Shhh. Enough for now. Like I said you’ll understand more over time. Now drink your tea and after you're done do as I said, do you hear?”
“Y-yes, Elder Rose.”
“Good.” She walks over to the door to my right and slips on these sandals that were sitting on a rug. After that she opens the door and leaves. Leaving me all alone with not a clue of why I’m hurt, what happened to my clothes, and who I even am.
I get up slowly and walk around the cottage trying to memorize its layout. After going around two times I went to what I assume is my room. Not only because that is where I woke up, but because it seems familiar to me in a way, like I’ve been here before.
I grab the rags and walk to the bathroom. I turn the sink on and wash out the blood with warm water. As I do so, I look up and see myself in the mirror. Me.. I have black fluffy hair, that's all knotted and looks dirty. I run my hands through it. It’s all greasy. I should take a shower.
I look at myself more closely, trying to remember who I am. I look into my unfamiliar gray eyes, and look over my pale face and down unto my wounds. I grab the bandage covering my upper abdomen where a lot of my pain has been coming from, and slowly take it off. When the bandage is fully off, it reveals a bloody hole like wound. It’s shaped kinda like a line, but open and revealing tissue.
I look down at my wrists and notice all kinds of wood splitters and cuts and scrapes even on my knuckles. I sit down on the floor with my rags. I lay the rags on my lap and then I start to slowly remove all the splinters. One by one, it hurts, but it's the only way I figure to get rid of some of this pain and pressure I have that isn’t coming from that abdomen wound. When I’m done I lay the rags across my wrists and stand up with my palms facing up.
I then look in the mirror again, and look at the wound that seems like I got punctured with something. I move and notice little drops of blood bleed from it still, even though the wound doesn’t seem to look fresh.
I go to my room and slowly lay down, and look at the suns light shining across the ceiling and bouncing onto the walls. Then I start to think, and try to put all the pieces together.
What could I have done to create that puncture wound? Whatever I did, it must've been stupid. After all, this thing hurts like hell. Is it because of something I did? Was it for Elder Rose? Did she make me….kill someone? I hope not. Even though she said that this would all make sense over time, it barely does now. Maybe, if she said why, it would make more sense but she seems to be avoiding that part.
I hear a door open and close, followed by slight rustling. Footsteps come up to my door and then stop, to be interrupted by the sound of my door opening to reveal Elder Rose holding some folded clothes in one hand and in the other a steaming mug filled with what I presume is tea. She sits the clothes on the chair and then looks over at me.
I slowly sit up as I feel more blood slowly seep from my wounds.
“Careful. Later I will have to give you stitches. I should actually do that now before I leave. Hang on for a second.”
She carefully hands me the mug and then leaves the room. I slowly sip the hot tea and she comes back holding a needle and thread, along with three syringes filled with some liquid.
“Finish your tea then I will quickly give you stitches. But, after this I have to leave.”
After I finish my tea, I sit it on the bedside table with a half-melted candle. She then tells me to lay down and then she hovers over me with a syringe.
“E-elder Rose….what is that for?”
“This is so it doesn’t hurt,”
“Oh, o-okay.”
She takes the syringe and pricks me by my abdomen wound.
“C-can I talk to you while you do…that? So, my mind won’t think s-so much about it.”
“Sure, about what?”
This is my chance. “What is my name?”
She looks up at me with a weird look in her eye. “Your name is Toby.”
“Toby….and um….w-why or where did the wound that your stitching now come f-from?”
“Your mother.”
What?! “W-why would she do s-something like this? What h-happened?”
“I am not very sure. I went to check on you and your mother was standing over you as you were sitting there on the verge of death. I took you back here after cleaning it, I bandaged you and let you rest.”
This isn’t adding up to me. Something isn’t right.
She finishes stitching me up, “All done.”
“T-thanks.”
She nods. “I hope that's good enough,” she says as she grabs my clothes and puts them beside me on the bed. “It’s a tank top and overalls. Nothing too fancy. Anyway, I have to go. If you feel up to it, you should take a shower, but after that you should rest.” She then gathers all her things that she used to stitch me up. “Also, if you go outside, don’t go far, and leave your shoes on the carpet, your shoes should be around here somewhere but like I said take it easy today.” She turns to the door and lingers for a second before turning back to me again. “One last thing, if anyone comes here-……just kill anyone that seems suspicious or up to anything. And that goes for anytime I leave. ” With that, she leaves, without another word or any other bit of information.
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