The Forgotten Wife

New Beginnings

Lorna groaned while she slowly opened her eyes, her body was aching all over. She sat up and took a look around at her surroundings. She was in a dimly lit room, there was a metal lantern on a table in the middle of the room and a wooden bookcase near a closed window. The room was quiet and still, she had no idea where she was right now. Whimpering slightly Lorna carefully placed her feet down on the floor, her head felt sore and her right side was hurting. She couldn't remember much at all, she remembered seeing the old Landlord lying in a pool of his own blood and her parents being bungled into a carriage. Her head was still spinning, she felt sick. She carefully got up from the leather bench she had been lying on, she wobbled slightly as she began to walk over towards the window. But she stopped when she got to the table, her left side was killing her. Her body wasn't going to let her go anywhere right now, she was too weak to search for her parents. She rested her hand on her side while she pulled a chair away from the table, she sat down on the chair and took a few deep breaths while she leaned back against the chair. Her chest felt tight and painful, she didn't feel well at all.

" You're awaken, I'm surprised I didn't put you into a coma with the beating I gave you.." Said a familiar male's voice from the other side of the room. " In the future I would advise you to listen to what I've got to say, I hate repeating myself to arrogant little brats..."

Lorna jumped up from the chair when she heard the voice, she quickly looked around the room and saw Levi standing in a doorway. He was holding a wooden tray in his hands with two teacups on it, she watched him walking over to the table. He placed the tray down on the table and ordered her to sit back down, she did what he said. She placed her hand back on her side and groaned when she felt a sharp twinge in her side, she tried to get comfortable on the chair.

" Easy there girl, you're do yourself another injury if you're not careful." Levi said whilr he placed one of the teacups down in front of her. " Drink this tea, it will ease your ailments for a short time."

" Where am I?" Lorna asked. " Where are my parents?"  

" Your parents are now the property of the Military Police, they're better off dead than in their custody if you ask me." Levi replied. " You on the other hand are free to go unless you want me to eliminate you like Kenny Ackerman had planned. You were the loose end I was meant to dispose of along with your Landlord, but I was double crossed and decided not to go through with his plan. I had no idea that the Military Police were involved in his plan, I would never consider working with a bunch of filthy pigs..."

" Why did the Military Police take my parents?" Lorna asked. 

" Thievery, they were part of a gang that stole something of great importance from the Survey Corps many years ago." Levi replied. " From my understanding they were holding onto three dimensional maneuver gear until these unknown merchants arranged to buy them for a handsome price, so let me make it clear for you. Everything you had overheard or were told was nothing but lies, it's seems like I'm not the only person who's been lied to here."

Lorna looked down at the teacup full of tea in front of her and closed her eyes, this couldn't be true. Her parents were not capable of thievery, they were always kind and polite to everyone who visited the tavern. Unless it's got something to do with their past, she remembered being told the reason why they had left Karanese District in the first place. She opened her eyes when she heard a chair being pulled away from the table, she looked up from the teacup and saw Levi sitting across from her at the table. He was hold his teacup in a strange manner, he told her to drink the tea while it was still hot. She picked the teacup up from the table and smelt it, she could smell a strong odor of sawdust in the tea.

" Drink it." Levi said.

Levi told Lorna that he had added willow bark to her tea, he said it held pain relieving benefits which would help with her aching joint. She took a sip from the teacup and hissed when the liquid made contact with her lips, her lips felt like they were on fire. Also the tea tasted disgusting, she placed the teacup back down on the table and touched her mouth with her finger tips. Her bottom lip felt puffy and swallow, she could taste blood in her mouth. She had no idea why Levi had beaten her so badly, all she could feel was pain right now. He said he was meant to eliminate her on the behalf of this Kenny Ackerman, but she didn't know why he was ordered to kill her. She had never really done anything wrong in all of her life, she always kept herself out of trouble and never mingled with the riff raff of The Underground City.

" I'm sorry about your face, it was necessary." Levi said.

" Necessary how?" Lorna asked. 

Levi explained to Lorna that Kenny wanted to see her dead body, he had no other choice but to beat her black and blue until she was unconscious. He said the blood and cuts would make her look more like a believable corpse, the Landlord on the other hand wasn't that lucky. He went onto tell her that he had left her in the alleyway behind the tavern, he later came back to collected her and brought her to his home because he said he felt some form of guilt for leaving her helpless in the alleyway. She picked the teacup up from the table with a sigh, she didn't know what to think about his explanation. She drank some more of the tea and asked if she could use his washroom to clean herself up before she left his home. But he refused to let her leave his home just yet, he told her that she owed him a favour for saving her life and that her debt to him needed to be repaid before she left his home.

Levi gave Lorna permission to use his washroom, he went onto tell her that he had already filled the washroom's basin with hot water and laid clean towels out for her to use before she turned in for the night. She slowly got up from the chair, she excused herself from the table and then asked him where the washroom was in his home. He pointed over at the doorway he had walked through not long while he drank some of his tea, she partly hurried over to the washroom's doorway and closed the door behind her. Locking the door behind her Lorna rested her forehead against the door, this had to be a nightmare. She wasn't even sure if this Levi was telling her the truth, he could be making it up to keep her here like a prisoner. She took a few deep breaths and walked over to the basin filled with water. She pulled the red ribbon from her dark brunette hair, she let her hair fall around her shoulders while she looked at her reflection in the mirror above the basin. 

Lorna's face looked terrible, there were bruises forming on her left cheek and she had a dark circle underneath her right eye. She sighed to herself and unbuttoned her blue waistcoat. She took the waistcoat off along with her red cotton skirt, she took her leather boots off next and placed them near a wooden chair. She unbuttoned her white shirt next while she sniffled, she took the shirt off and dropped it on the floor with the rest of her clothes. She tried to look at her body in the mirror, but she couldn't really see herself that well in the mirror because it was quite small. She noticed a few bruises forming across her chest, she couldn't really see any other parts of her body because of her undergarments. She looked back at her reflection in the mirror while she let out a quiet sob, she needed to get out of this place and find her parents.