A Tall and Small Collection | Soren

Back in the Box

Bliss and darkness. Silence. They lasted for a bitterly short time. At least being unaware in the darkness kept the tremors and twisting insides at bay.

Soren was slowly coming to consciousness, and a few things stood out to him. The first thing was his body was warm and only shaking slightly now. His insides were still twisting, but not as intensely as before. The same taste as before was in his mouth. He couldn't place what it was, but it was familiar at least. One last thing – something cold was pressing against his forehead and tracing from one side to the other along his brow.

Instinctually and without thinking, he reached up and grabbed at what was pressing against his face. The movement stopped as his had grabbed at something soft and wet. It wasn't a cloth. His fingers laced in between the cotton fibers. When he extended his arm, he felt the piece of cotton was attached to some sort of rod.

He shoved it away passively, noting that it was a challenge to push away. [Where am I? What's going on? What is this?] Soren pried open his blurring eyes. The moment his vision cleared, his hair stood on end as he opened his eyes and came face to face with a human hand holding some sort of cotton tipped rod.

His heart jumped into his throat and his breath hitched in his throat. The tremoring in his body returned as he looked past the hand to see the human, the same woman, who had captured him before. His jaw slackened. [It's her. What's she going to do? She watched me escape before...]

"Glad you're awake. I was beginning to wonder about you," she said softly as she removed her hand.

Soren pushed himself upright and pressed his back against the box. He noticed a few things that weren't there before. First and foremost, two of the walls of the box were removed and laid on their sides. The human cut off but kept them attached to the box. More importantly, Soren could see his walking stick as well as his other supplies such as his borrowing bag, his mouse pelt, and his hook near one of the removed walls.

[Did she bring them back here? She kept my things? It looks like they're in okay condition. More importantly, it looks like I'm still in one piece.] Soren took an additional moment and looked over his arms and wiggled his toes. Yes. Still in one piece.

Soren knew he had to face the human again, but now he knew more. He swallowed dryly and looked up into the human's face. He hadn't noticed too many details about her other than her blue-grey eyes. Now, he could see faint, dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was tied into a tight, messy bun and her sleeves were rolled up. She was holding a small cup of water in one hand and the strange cotton covered rod in the other.

Somehow, and Soren couldn't contribute it to one thing or another, but she seemed less menacing now – only a little though. She was still utterly terrifying, and Soren was still having a hard time identifying her motives. Before Soren could finish evaluating the circumstances and his returned predicament, the girl glanced away awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Look, I want to apologize." Her statement threw him completely off guard. She continued. "I was pretty rude to you and wasn't thinking when I made those comments about knowing you can talk. You seemed pretty freaked out; and I can imagine all of this is pretty scary for you. Waking up and basically seeing a giant can't make a good morning."

Soren couldn't believe what he was hearing. It sounded like the human was expressing sympathy – trying to see things from his point of view. Was this real? Was it a trap? From what she said before to what she was saying now almost seemed to conflict. Soren pulled the blankets closer to him, as if covering parts of his body would make them invisible to the human. He had to think, but the throbbing in his head was making it difficult.