Confusion greeted him as he stirred from his slumber, filling his head with a muted sensation, like cotton had been stuffed in between his thoughts. As he attempted to lift his arm, he could barely feel his limb respond, it felt heavy, numbed and unresponsive. When he found the rest of his limbs just as unnaturally lethargic, he would slowly look questioningly again towards the priest and the young girl.
“Whuz, goin on…?” his words came slurred, slowed and thick past his tongue, the belated realization of a piece of paper sticking to his head, amongst other place of his body while he attempted to focus on his eyes on the pair.
“That, is the question young man,” the priest spoke rather, carefully as he would look down towards the boy, his eyes flickering somewhere between wariness and care as he looked him over, “When we found you, you were in a rather, distressing condition.”
“You were all dirty and bloody and had some kind of dark aura and oh yeah, you were almost naked!” the girl piped up, before blushing lightly at the last part, “What were you thinking, running around naked like that?!”
“Uh…” the boy merely looked at her, unable to even really think as he tried to wrap his foggy thoughts around the words the two had said, only to have them slip like fog between his fingers, “Whu?”
“What was the last thing you can remember child?” The older man spoke simple, looking down at the boy as he chose his words carefully, placing a hand on the young girl’s shoulder when she started to speak up, silencing her with a look.
“Whuz, whuz…” the boy’s brow furrowed, trying to concentrate past the foggy haze that saturated his mind, grasping at the wisps of thought that tried to elude him, “whuz talking, tired, hurtin.”
“I see, and who were you talking to my boy?” the man peered down at the boy curiously as he watched him, studying him intently.
“Her,” the word was vague, half formed as he laid there, his mind refusing to come into focus more than vaguely, “Hard ta think, too hard, whuz wrong?”
“Who is this ‘her’?” the man in the priest’s robes carefully ignored the boy’s question, looking down at the boy as he again tightened his grip on the girl’s shoulder, just as she again looked to speak up once more.
“Unno, inside, hurtin like me, scared, tired like me, we, we were-“ the boy shivered unconsciously as he shifted, his half lidded eyes widening as the memories started to come alive in his mind, “They were all over us, c-c-clawing, biting, scratching, hurting us… Over and over… Pops kept throwing us back, over and over. Into da hole, into the black and the pain and the c-c-cats… they hurt us, over and over… clawing, biting us.”
The priest watched in shock as the boy curled up on himself, his eyes clenching shut as tears began to well up in his eyes, pouring down his cheeks as he began to choke out, “Over and over again… until we couldn’t take it, couldn’t take it anymore… then then…” His voice broke off, before he slowly spoke up again, “Then, I dunno…then I was safe, out of the pit, no more… c-c-cats, no pops… just alone, tired, hurting in the forest, and I managed to find her.”
The man frowned slightly, a thoughtful look on his face as he would carefully look down at Ranma, “And tell me my boy, how did you manage to find her?”
“Remembered the lessons those old guys kept sayin, breathin and focusin and stuff,” Ranma mumbled softly, “Couldn’t move, bad idea to sleep, kinda felt her… tried the stuff and kinda found her.”
“Ah I see, I see,” the priest nodded sagely before he looked at the boy, “And tell me my boy, what did you learn when you found her that way?”
“Told ya,” the words were stronger now as he looked back at the man, grumbling a bit, “Like me, scared, hurting, an tired… Trouble thinkin now, can’t feel her too good.”
“Ah yes, about that,” The man cleared his throat slowly, debating how to put things in a delicate manner, just before the young girl chose that moment to pipe up once more.
“Gramps and I could sense that bad dark stuff on you so we went and put all the wards on you and sealed it up and brought you in here!” there was a swelling of pride in her voice as she smiled broadly towards the boy.
“Wha?” there was a look of confusion in his voice before a gleam of realization appeared in the boy’s eyes, “That’s why its so hard ta think, ya did this ta me…”
The man gave a bit of an admonishing glare down at his granddaughter before he would gave a slight nod towards the young boy, “As I was about to say, about that…”
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(Posted Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:47)
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