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☆ ━━━━ ❛ꜱ ᴏ ʟ ɪ ᴠ ᴀ ɢ ᴀ ɴ ᴛ❜ ━━━━☆
^(adj.) wandering alone^
☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☆
The battered girl ran through the thicket of blackberry bramble and panted heavily. She whimpered with pain but pushed on. She stumbled through the tree's branches, sobbing as she ran. The girl stumbled on a massive tree root, but only lay there for a flash before she was up and sprinting again. The background melted into a blur- the short cedar trees mixing with the rocky terrain. Maple leaves crunched underneath the girl's worn-out shoes.
The girl tripped at the sound and whimpered softly.
Crunch.
The snap of bone.
She bit back a sob. The girl was so tired. So tired. She laid there- not bothering to stop the downpour of tears crashing down her muddy face. The girl had been running for exactly 13 hours and 27 minutes. Her once rosy face was covered in dirt and scratches. Three long slashes stood out against her cheek. Her knees were bruised and bleeding from her fall. The girl hadn't even registered the pain. And she was extremely thirsty- she hadn't drank anything in fifteen hours.
The girl allowed herself to cry for one more minute and then began to run again. She ran faster than ever and the squat cedars turned into a field of grain. The leaves turned into dusty dirt and the girl coughed violently. The sky was pale blue by now, and she continued to speed through the tall stocks of wheat. She burst through the field and found herself in a damp forest with towering oaks leaving almost no light below. The roots were even more gnarled and larger than before- she slowed down slightly but kept her fast pace. The girl thought she heard hooves but they disappeared after a moment and she ignored them. She even saw an outline of what looked like a horse. But there was a sharp-looking object behind it, confusing the image. She sped to a stop and stared at the figure. It only looked back. It was much too far away for her to see the face, and before she could creep closer, it galloped away.
The young girl shook off her moment of intrigue and continued running. She had no clue where she was going, but she couldn't stay there. The girl's hair flew behind her as she noticed the land was creeping into a hill. The trees were also thinning out-there were only a few scattered about. She ran up the incline and stopped sharply. She gaped at the sight in front of her. A magnificent castle with turrets and towers overlooked a massive lake. The castle was in the middle of a beautiful valley, surrounded by snow-tipped mountains.
'Where was she?!' The girl first thought the castle was abandoned, but the lights twinkling amongst the huge walls suggested otherwise. She stumbled across the wet lawn and realized there were hooded figures running across the lawn to... 'her!'. The girl's eyes widened. She moved backward- 'who were they?!'. The figures stopped ten feet in front of her. One was wearing an emerald green cloak and the other sported a vivid yellow hat with matching robes.
The emerald cloak stepped forward and threw back her hood. It was a woman- with a slightly loose bun and sharp triangular spectacles. Her expression was confused and slightly concerned. She offered a hand and spoke in a brisk Scottish accent,
"How did you get past the centaurs?"
The girl was confused. Centaurs? What were those?
The woman must have noticed the confusion on her face because she said, "Nevermind that. Are you alright?" She said gently. The girl whimpered and debated. Could she trust this woman and her companion? Speaking of which- the yellow cloaked person stepped forwards and said in a warm sugary voice, "It's alright dearie, we're only here to help. What's your name?" She said kindly.
Perhaps it was because she was thirsty and exhausted. Or maybe because all of her mother's teachings of never trusting strangers emptied out of her brain. But she answered.
