6

He stood at the base of the bed, observing the Olive skin coloured, black haired beauty who still hadn't regained consciousness after 4 days. He had decided to take a walk when he'd seen her. The one time he decides to walk outside the forest, he comes back with an unconscious lady. Why did he have to come back with her? He didn't actually but he wanted to. He could have ignored it. Could have ignored that smell but.... He just couldn't. She smelt of two things and those things were what attracted him. The first smell was pungent.... Like ashes, hell's heat and gut, and there was only one species that produced such smell and even at that, only a select number of them.

The second smell was faded but he caught it. It was something he'd only ever heard of, described by some, but he'd never smelt it himself.... Never seen him, himself..... Forest, salty water and decomposing flesh. Judging by the wounds on her, she'd been through a lot but the question was, how was she alive? WHY was she alive? It made no sense. Whichever one of them did it, he hurt her, real badly, not just physically too. It was a done deal. Why let her live. That got him all confused and curious. Well, that and Anna called, saying "Keep her safe, please. Bring her to me when you have the chance. I need to see her. She has finally come", whatever that means.

He was able to treat her split forehead. Now, all that was left was a pink line, void of blood and wounds. Her ears, he'd cleaned up as best as he could, but her leg was a different story. He couldn't treat it as good. All he could do was shift the dislocated ankle back in place and wrap it up to heal properly. He'd clean up her head whenever she worked up a sweat from whatever it was that she dreamed about, but she didn't wake up. From her writhing, whimpering and gasps, he took a wild guess.... Maybe she was a liiitle traumatized. She'd seen things. Now, she just had to wake up and tell him what she saw.... Whenever that was going to be. He exhaled, cast her one last look and left the room

Eleanor ran. She ran and ran and jumped so hard and so far- She bolted up, panting for air. Her hands found their way to her head as a bad headache greeted her. Well, that and sweat. A dream... It was all a dream. A dream of-wait.... no it wasn't. It wasn't a dream. She WAS on a path and she DID run and she DID jump and- her heart began to race as she suddenly noticed the comforter. Her eyes darted round the room, then widened. Where was she? Did he get her? Or did- She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember but only got a thump from the headache, back. She had to get out of here. Wherever this was, she had to get out, get to a hotel, and figure out what the fudge happened. Yes, that was what she was going to do. She hurriedly looked for her suitcase and found it sitting to the left of the bed. She pushed away the comforter and threw her legs to the ground. She got up and fell, gripping her right leg and clenching her teeth in pain. Her leg... She'd hurt her leg and her ears and head too! Her hands rushed to her ears and it returned clean. She checked again... No blood. She touched her head and braced herself for pain but... None came. No wound. Almost like nothing had happened at all. Whomever had cleaned her up, did a good job, she'd give him or her that. Her clothes were still the same so she was untouched, right? She heaved herself off the ground, cautiously holding up her right leg and held onto her suitcase for support. When she was stable enough, she began to limp to the door and slowly pushed it open. A body stood there and her heart went through the roof and she released a shrill scream. He swore and tried to pin a hand over her mouth but she began to fight him

"Let me go! Let me go!"

He turned her around, pinned her body against his and clamped a hand over her mouth. Eleanor went deathly still, sweat coating her body with fear and adrenaline pumping in equal measure

"I am going to let you go now. No screaming. Do we have a deal?" He whispered in her ear. She hurriedly nodded. Was he going to kill her? He wanted her to be quiet while she was being murdered? No way! She bit down hard on his finger and he didn't even flinch

He exhaled "Ouch", he said in a dry manner. "No biting, no screaming, deal?"

She stumped down hard on his foot with her good leg hoping he'd let her go but no such luck

"Do you want me to knock you out?"

Her eyes widened and she quickly shook her head. "I am going to let you go and you will go sit down on the bed. Don't fight me. Ready?"

She nodded

He let her go and Eleanor hobbled/ran to the bed without turning back. She sat and lowered herself to be as tiny as possible, shaking and sweating, with her mind playing scene after scene of her journey through that path. He observed her stance and slowly walked up to her. Eleanor felt his presence and lowered even more

"Please. Please, leave me alone. I'm sorry for hurting you"

A hand gripped her shoulder and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming out "please" she whispered.

"Look at me", he let her go

Her eyes widened and her heart sunk. Another one of them. Tears welled up in her eyes

"Not again" she grit her teeth "Not again! You let me go just to treat me and continue with all this?" She threw, still facing away from him

He rose a brow

"Turn around"

"Same thing!"

His lips slowly curled up in a barely there smile. She didn't know who he was, thought him a threat and wanted nothing to do with him, yet, here she was, cowering in fear, knowing he could hurt her, but still opposing him. Hm...

"What is your name?"

She chuckled in defeat "Don't you already know that?''

"Listen to me. Listen closely" she felt the bed behind her dip "It sounds like you think I'm someone else. Do I sound like the person?"

She scoffed "You must think I'm dumb. You were able to sound like me. Why wouldn't you be able to sound like anyone else?"

"How you are so scared and still arguing with me without a stutter is refreshing but please turn around. I'm tired of this"

"I am scared, I agree, but I won't let you kill me without giving you a huge headache first!"

He rose a brow in amusement then got up, walked around her and sat in front of her. Their eyes met and she gasped. Those eyes..... Those eyes, she'd seen them before. Suddenly, his sharp green eyes flashed an emerald green and she fell off the bed in shock. He just watched her as backed away, shaking her head

"Wh-who are you?"

"There's the stutter"

She couldn't tear her eyes away from his eyes. So familiar

"Are.... Did he send you? Are you human?"

His eyes strayed down "You'll hurt your leg further"

"Answer me, darn it! Who are you?! What are you?! Where is he?"

"Tell me your name"

She stared at him with all the distrust she could muster, but still said "Eleanor"

"Well, Eleanor, I don't know what you are talking about. Care to explain?"

She looked at him for a long while, then looked into nothing. She couldn't wrap her head around anything. She had never felt so lost. She couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes

"Did you see my phone?"

"No" came his quiet response

She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her legs. The tears flowed. He didn't know what to do nor say. He planned for everything, anything at all, not tears

"Eleanor"

She sniffed "if you are going to kill me, please don't. I know how to fight"

He rolled his eyes. She cried and he let her cry, just watched her. She finally rose her head and slowly looked at him. Actually looked at him. First, she saw his long dark brown hair. Hm, she didn't expect that. Then his sharp green eyes, framed by thick long lashes and full eye brows, down to his sculpted face then his shapely pink lips, set in a straight line. If his clothes were any indication, his body was well sculpted and judging by the way he was sat, he was pretty tall. In other words, he was smoking HOT and if she weren't feeling downcast and lost, she would have offered him a handshake or a smile. Not flirt. She couldn't flirt to save her life. She sniffed. "You are very hot"

She watched a tiny tiny smile form on his face "Thank you"

Sweet God, he was good looking! "There. I just complimented you. Please tell me something, anything, why am I here? Who are you?"

She saw his eyes flash orange and squinted. "Did your eyes just change color?"

She was already too deep into the mystery of the place. What was one more? He nodded

She chuckled "I am officially in boogey town"

He rose a brow

"The home of the boogey monster. If I wasn't almost losing my mind, that would have been cool"

He smirked. Actually smirked and she gave a wobbly smile. She didn't know what God made him out of but darn, was it solid material!

"How about you go take a bath-" he pointed to a closed door behind her "- and when you're all cleaned up, we can talk. Sound good?"

She looked behind her at the door, then exhaled and nodded

"But wait, just to be clear, you are not out to kill me, are you?"

He stared at her with intense eyes and she stared right back"You're human" he stated

Her eyes widened "YOU AREN'T?!" of course he wasn't!

He stood "Go take a bath" and left.