by James Wolfe
I loaded up a basket with various vegetables as well as several large pieces of chicken that I could use to make a stew. I could have it for dinner tonight and tomorrow. I also picked up some blueberries and strawberries for breakfast tomorrow. I didn’t usually eat breakfast, it was a meal I often skipped, but I thought maybe Daniel ate it.
Daniel… just his name brought a chill down my spine. I was so enthralled with him, and, though it was glorious, it was also so difficult. Because I wanted nothing more than to go home, climb in to the bed where he laid, and cuddle him… but I couldn’t. I couldn’t hold him as I wanted to. I couldn’t shower my love and protection on to him.
And it was killing me.
16
Daniel
The next time I woke up, it was to the smell of something delicious cooking. I couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but it wafted through the cabin and made my stomach grumble.
It had probably been over twenty four hours now since I’d last eaten. I’d skipped dinner when Rich had decided he’d wanted to go to the bar. I’d thought I’d just grab some nachos or some fries or something while we drank, but, of course, that hadn’t ended up happening.
So, now, I was damn near starving. My head still ached, and my body wasn’t feeling too great, either, but I forced myself to stand up and walk my way over to the door to find out where the smell was coming from.
“Alexander?” I called out as I opened my door.
Suddenly, he came in to the hall and was rushing to my side.
“What are you doing?” he asked immediately. “You need to stay in bed.”
“I just smelled food and—”
“I will bring it to you,” he insisted. “I’ll bring you soup, but, for now, you must go lay down. Rest your head, rest your body.”
He wrapped one arm around me, his hand resting gently on my shoulder, and it sent a small chill down my spine. Not a bad chill, though, not one of those chills you got when a guy was totally creep-touching you. No, it was one of those chills you got when you started feeling a warmth well up from inside your body. He made me feel warm.
It was weird, because I’d never really been the kind of guy to develop crushes or anything. I knew it was something other people did, but it had just never happened to me. I’d never looked at a guy and had been like oh, yes, I’m totally into him.
No, all my romantic connections happened pretty slowly. Like with Rich, I hadn’t really been interested in him at first. He been part of a larger group of friends I’d used to hang out with, and he’d slowly but surely worn me down. He’d kept making his advances and making his advances, and, eventually, I’d been like okay, fine, I guess I’ll give you a shot.
And that was always how it’d gone for me. Someone would just pursue me until I thought yeah, they’d make an okay partner. But I’d never been enthralled with someone from a first meeting, from a first touch. But I really had a crush on this guy, and I couldn’t figure out why that was.
I mean, he was really good looking, there was no denying that. He had the muscles of a Greek god and a perfectly chiseled face. He was undeniably attractive. But I’d met plenty of undeniably attractive men who had never had this effect on me.
So, maybe it was actually just the circumstances. He kind of was a hero to me. The last thing I remembered: I’d been about to be eaten by a big bad wolf, and he’d saved me. And not just from the wolf, but from my ex-boyfriend who had been extremely close to kicking my ass.
I’d been feeling more vulnerable than I ever had before. I hadn’t ever been in a situation that had put me in such danger. And now that I had, I felt pretty weak.
And this happened when you were feeling weak, right? You opened yourself up to feelings you might not normally feel. You saw that hot guy in front of you as a superhero instead of just a regular human being, and you got feelings for him.
But they weren’t real feelings, I was sure. They were feelings that would pass. It was probably not even safe for me to be having these kinds of feelings, all things considered. Like, obviously I was in a very weird situation. A situation where I should have been more concerned with getting home and how I was going to make that happen.
But all these weird gushy feelings were making me not give a fuck about going home. They were making me wish I could stay with this stranger forever.
“Thank you,” I said to him, as I climbed back into my bed.
“For what?” he asked, a little cluelessly.
“For helping me out, for taking care of me when you really don’t have to. This is really, really nice of you.”
He smiled at me. It was a very soft, subtle smile, but I could definitely see it this time.
“I have no choice,” he said, making me raise an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
He paused for a moment, confusing me even more. It was like he was trying to work out exactly what he was going to say next.
“I could not leave you hurt out in the middle of the woods,” he finally told me.
Right, that was what I’d thought he’d meant. That any decent human would have had to take care of me. Still, the tone in his voice had suggested something a little more mysterious.
“Of course. But I mean, you don’t have to continue taking care of me. You could just send me home, not have to cook for me or check in on me…”
“I don’t mind,” he answered quickly. “You are free to stay as long as you like.”
“Don’t tempt me,” I laughed. “It’s going to be hard to go home after being treated like a prince here.”
“So stay,” he gave a little smile when he said it, but his eyes looked dead serious.
I was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to respond, and he sensed the awkwardness.
“Let me go get you stew and some water.”
“Okay, thanks,” I nodded to him.
I should have been totally creeped out that he’d said that. I should have been completely bothered that he’d insinuated I should just stay here. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me, it should have been creepy…
So why had it put butterflies in my stomach instead?
He walked back in just a minute later, a large bowl of soup in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He set both down on the wooden bedside table.
“Here you are,” he said.
“Thanks!” I said excitedly.
For a moment, I forgot about all my weird, mushy feelings for him and became obsessed with the soup in front of me. I was hungry, but I hadn’t known just how hungry until I had that bowl right in front of me.
And maybe it was my hunger or maybe Alexander was actually that good of a cook, but I swear it was the most delicious vegetable chicken soup I’d ever tasted. And I was not much a soup person, but, oh my god, every bite was heaven in my mouth! Salty, savory, delicious heaven.
i didn’t even speak again until I had almost finished with the bowl.
“Oh my god, this is so good, thank you!” I muttered.
“Glad you like it,” he responded in his usual stoic way.
I ate the last few bites and then immediately went back to observing him. I had this weird feeling where I felt compelled to learn about him. I wanted to know what kind of person he was. But I wasn’t even sure where to start, let alone how to learn about him during a casual conversation without making things weird. Though, let’s be honest, things were already kind of weird.
“So before, when you said you lived in a village, deep in the forest…”
He looked at me steadily. “Maybe I should not have said that.”
“It’s not true?” I asked. Because it would make sense that it wasn’t true, all things considered. I’d never heard that there was a town in the woods. And how could there be? I mean, there weren’t even any roads. Not so much as a dirt path leading anywhere. The woods were just… a mess of woods.
“It is true. But I still shouldn’t have told you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”<
br />
He sighed.
“There’s so much I want to tell you. I want to tell you everything, explain all that would be confusing to you, but I’m scared to.”
I let out an awkward chuckle. “Why would you be scared to tell me anything?”
“Because I don’t want to chase you off.”
Once again, he was saying things that I should have considered creepy. But once again, I was just flattered that he seemed to have some kind of attachment to me. Even though he absolutely shouldn’t have. Even though we didn’t know each other at all. I mean, clearly. I didn’t even understand his living situation.
“I don’t think you’re going to scare me away,” I told him. “If everything that’s happened so far hasn’t run me out the door, I don’t think there’s much you could do to scare me.”
His eyes shifted. “You don’t even know the half of it. You don’t even know the beginning. What you’ve experienced so far… it is so small compared to the truth. And it most certainly will scare you, or make you think I’m crazy, and when it does… I don’t know what I’ll do.”
There was so much to address there and, again, I wasn’t sure where to start. Did I ask about what could possibly be so intense that it would scare me? Or did I question why he didn’t know what he’d do if he scared me off?
Yes, that, I’d have to start with the latter. Because that was what I was more curious about. The way he was talking about me… it was the way you talked about someone you’d known your entire life. Someone you were scared to lose, someone you loved deeply… and I was not that person to him. I couldn’t possibly be.
“Why?” I asked, not explaining myself well at all. I was normally much more articulate, but, with the whirlwind of emotions, I just didn’t know how to be.
“Why what?” he asked.
“Why don’t you know what you’ll do? If you scare me off, I mean?”
He sighed again. “I just… I don’t know where to start. I cannot even explain that small part without explaining all of it. And, again, if I explain all of it, then you might just… leave. I cannot let that happen.”
“Well, it’s a little out of your control, right? Whether I leave or not?”
“Yes, I suppose,” he looked at me curiously.
“And if you tell me nothing, if you don’t explain why you’re looking at me as if you’ve been in love with me for years, that’s what is inevitably going to happen, right? I’m going to go home like this day never even happened and go back to my regularly scheduled life?”
“Yes…”
“So, really, you have nothing to lose. That’s what’s going to happen anyway.”
This didn’t appear to settle him at all.
I took in a deep breath. “Look, maybe if you explain things… maybe that will change the outcome. I’m just saying, you’ve got nothing to lose, so you might as well try to talk to me.”
He still seemed unconvinced… or, maybe not unconvinced, but at least unsteady. Still nervous to tell me. But what I was saying was logical. It was the only thing that made sense. So he began to explain anyway.
“You’ve never heard about our village because it’s kept secret,” he began. “We live completely separated from the rest of society. We are autonomous, growing our own food, creating our own shelter, living solely amongst ourselves.”
“But how’s that possible?” I asked. “I mean, how is it possible to keep your entire town secret? It’s pretty common for people to hike in these woods, right? How does nobody find your town?”
“We have a few safeguards in place. First, we have a fifteen foot solid fence, so, even if somebody were to reach the perimeters of our village, they wouldn’t actually see the village. And surrounding the fence is a perimeter of trees and shrubbery, so, chances are, most people don’t even see the fence itself. And if that wasn’t enough, we also have people constantly on guard, walking around the perimeter and insuring nobody comes too close. That is my job in our village, actually. I am one of the guards, and I was on guard the night I found you.”
“Okay…” he began slowly. “But… why? Why would you ever need a secret village like that? Is this, like, some kind of religious thing or…”
“No, it’s not religious,” he answered. “I guess you could say it’s… tribal.”
“Tribal?” I asked.
His eyes shifted once again, and I could tell he was withholding information.
I don’t know what drove me to do it, but I suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Look,” I said, “I don’t think you’re going to scare me away. So, don’t hold back, okay? Tell me whatever you’re thinking. I want to know whatever is going on in your head.”
Now I was acting like I’d been in love with him for years. But I’d meant what I’d said. He was right, the situation was only appearing weirder, but it wasn’t scaring me. I was actually just thrilled to be learning about him.
“We have to stay far away from the humans, because, if we don’t, we will be ostracized,” he said suddenly.
My eyes widened. “Humans?” I asked. “Did you just say… you need to stay far away from humans?”
“Yes,” he said.
Okay, now he’d lost me.
“So… I don’t get it… do you live here with a bunch of animals? Are you, like, the only human in your town, or…?” Admittedly, if that was the case, I probably would have been inclined to think he was a little crazy.
“I’m not,” he said.
“So, there are other humans who live here…”
“No,” he said definitively.
“Okay, I really don’t get what you’re trying to say here. You’re making no sense.”
He looked into my eyes for a moment, reading my expression. “This is the part that is going to scare you,” he explained.
“Okay…” I said hesitantly.
“I’m not human. I’m not human at all.”
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