Diary of a Lost Girl

Day Three

The first thing I feel is pain. My whole left arm is burning away. Then I feel a cold fluid douse the fire. The cold was soft and gentle, not frigid and bone chilling. I hear a sigh and realize it came from me.  "Herald... she sighed! The infection must not have been very bad. She'll make it through yet!" Then darkness crept into my mind. Sometime later, I regain consciousness to low chatter. "Jord, we can't support her. We're low on food and the monster count keeps growing. If we need to move, we can hardly force her to carry her own pack..." "She managed to survive for Freya knows how long, alone in this world. You don't think she could carry a pack on her own? She was carrying a pack containing nearly fifteen pounds of apples on her back, you know."  "All I'm saying is she's only a girl. Barely fourteen years of age! She cannot last a trek through the mountains when it's almost winter!" By now my body was realizing it was cold. I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling. I raised my head and looked around, taking a quick survey of the room. I was lying in a white bed, with a thick red blanket covering my body up to my neck. A square bedside table stood next to me with a small candle burning dimly. Next to the candle a plate containing a single apple, laid there, taunting me. I looked over toasted my feet and saw a dark wooden door, closed. From outside I hear Herald and Jord talking. I sit up and pick up the apple tenderly. I study it for some time before taking a bite out of it. It tastes sweet and has a slight crunch to it. I quickly finish the apple and climb out of bed. I realize I am completely naked and look around for my clothes that have kept me safe and warm for so long. I walk over to a tall double door and open it silently.  Inside I find many clothes hung up. I find a shirt that is roughly my size and tug it on. The shirt is a solid purple and fits my form. It is definitely meant for a girl, but I hadn't seen any one else with the two men yet. Puzzled I tugged on a pair of pants made of brown material. It again fit my form comfortably. I looked through the clothes and found other smaller form of clothes, but i left them hanging.  I head over to a clear square in the wall and look out. I seethe beautiful sun rising and the zombies receding into the forest. The door opens slowly behind me and I crouch down next to the bed, bright green eyes looking for a way to escape danger. Jord pokes his head in and looks at the bed. Confusion passes over his face as he steps inside the room. He looks towards the room full of clothing and steps towards it. As he looks in, I creep towards the open door he came in from. I look back towards the room Jord is in when I hit an unmoving object. I fall backwards with a small cry, curling up, waiting for analogue to bite me again. Instead I hear laughter. "I ain't gonna hurt ya Missy. Though you age me a great scare there!" Herald crouches down and offers his arm to help me up. I tenderly wrap my tiny arms around his bulging bicep, and he lifts my up into the air. I shut my eyes as he hoists me up, opening them when I stop moving. "Seems you found Cici's clothes. I couldn't imagine her mindin' or anythin'. Just make sure an’ thank her if she notices." he studies me thoughtfully. "Don’t talk much do yer?"  I stared down at my feet timidly.  "Would you stop interrogating her Herald, for Pete's sake?" Jord says as he exits the clothing room. "You’re a craft girl aren't you? Nothing has ever escaped my view before." he clasps his hand on my shoulder with makes me flinch slightly. I mumble an apology, keeping my eyes trained on a piece of dust.  "Well miss we have ar jobs ta do. Mind findin Cici? She'll be out in ta garden out back, yonder a ways." That said he and Jord exit the room to go off to their "jobs." I head outside after a while, in search of the girl Cici. Whoever that is. I exit the maze of rooms out into the bright sunshine. I breathe in the fresh air of the lake, oak and pine trees mixed into a sweet smell. I detect a different smell, almost acrid and realize the smell is from the billowing smoke coming out of the open roofed building. I follow a dirt trail out behind the house towards the stream, where I splash some water on my face. I dry off my face by wiping off the droplets and letting the warm sun suck up the rest of the cool water. I continue on the path towards a building with a window instead of a roof. Inside I find rows upon rows of crops, ranging from sugar cane to wheat, cocoa to barley, tobacco to hops. Tending to a wheat plant, is a slender girl of around twenty years old, far younger than Jord or Herald. Her shock of fine red hair streams down her back, held away from her face by a strip of green cloth tied through her hair. Her crystal blue eyes concentrate on snipping a couple dead leaves on the wheat stalks. Her green and brown apron is stained from the soft damp earth she kneels on and her hands and fingernails are covered in dirt.  I stand in the doorway, waiting to be noticed or acknowledged. She hums a quiet tune to herself while she moves along the crops, pruning and watering them. "Jord, would mind filling my watering pale up please?" she says towards me standing up. Her line of sight turns towards me. "Jord I said- oh hello. Sorry I thought you were someone else." she brushes her hands on her apron before hanging it up on a hook at the door. "And what's your name?" she asks kindly, eyes studying me curiously. "I... Don't know..." I utter my first words since waking up some three days earlier. "Really? Your mother never named you? Speaking of which, where are your parents?" "... Don't know... I just... Woke up..." I replied sheepishly.    " Well, regardless where you came from, I can't keep calling you girl. You need a name." She announced. She wrapped her Arm around my shoulders and guided me outside, and farther down the path. "Jord told me you had a bundle of apples when they opened your pack. I could name you Apple, but that sounds to weird..." As she was talking, we neared a wild patch of red flowers. I changed angles slightly, and headed to the flowers. I picked one and studied it, like a child would study a new toy. I smelled the inside of the flowers, sneezing quietly. I giggled and smelled the flower again. It had a sweet, sugary smell that made me smile slightly.      "That's a rose. Careful of the thorns, they can cut your hands quite easily." Cici informed me, as she walked over next to me. I stood up from my crouching position and smiled. I picked off the thorns carefully so it couldn't slice me. "Very pretty..." I said in a small voice.     "Yes. They only grow in the days before winter, for some reason..." Her green eyes brightened up slightly. "I've got it. I'll name you Rose." I nodded in silent approval. "Great. By any chance are you wearing my clothes?"     "Yes... They're very nice..." I said blushing, eyes looking anywhere but in her eyes.       "They're my clothes from younger days... you can have them. in fact, let's go through the closet and have you pick some more. We can have Herald and Jord construct a new room for you." She stands up and starts down the path, my hastily following after her. She enters the house and leads me down halls and around bends, passing signs reading STOREHOUSE, KITCHEN, and other rooms. we enter a room CICI'S, which seems to be the one I had awoken in an hour earlier. Cici skips over to the closet and starts up a flurry of flying clothes. She mutters to herself as she digs around the closet, saying things like "too small..." or "Too big..." I wait patiently as she fills the floor with shirts, sweaters, skirts, dresses, night gowns, and more of the little clothing. I pick on of the mini clothes up and observe it. She stops for a moment to look over. Smiling she explains it’s a bra, used to support my breasts, keeping them healthy for when I need them. Blushing, I ask when I would need them. “When you get older, ill tell you.” She promises.  When she is finished ransacking the closet, she cleans up quickly and lays out two t-shirts, two shorts, one dress, one pair of socks, three bras, and three pairs of underwear. I study the mixtures of colors used throughout the outfits. Red reigns supreme in the color palette, it seems, while there are hardly any yellows or browns. I enjoy the red and thank Cici.  “No problem. Now let’s check on the progress of the boys.” We head out the door, down a few hallways and to an unmarked doorway. She pokes her head in and looks around. “It’s done. Ready to see?” she asks. I nod my head in childish excitement. She flings the door wide and leads me inside. In the center is a new bed made of polished oak for the frame, and sheep’s wool for the mattress. Covering the matress is a thick purple blanket and a white fluffy pillow. Off to the side is a second door leading into an empty closet, which is where Cici hangs the clothes up in. Hung on one of the walls, is a picture of a cascading waterfall, with animals drinking out of the stream below. On the opposite wall, a window juts out, with a wide ledge, where I can lay in the sun. In such a short time, they had found out so much of me, and I felt accepted, with a purpose and reason to live. Just so I could see Cici’s face the next day. Now the sun sets and I change into a nightgown, brush my hair with a pretty wooden hairbrush Jord made for me. The bed awaits my arrival, so I best not keep it waiting.