Drop [On hold]

The Red Man

Despite her best efforts, Annavi couldn't prevent herself from staring. How was he alive? He shouldn't have been alive. Annavi couldn't decide whether she was glad he was or not. Every moment she spent with him, he became stranger and stranger in her eyes. Surviving unsurvivable falls, coming out without so much as scratch from an arrow through his head. He grinned at her, as if he wasn't supposed to be a red me she had seen him without it, since their first encounter. His hood was down as well, revealing black hair that stuck up oddly. He wasn't flickering, though, unlike the last time he had lost his scarf.

"Good to see you, Anna," he said. He hopped off his end of the railcar, and grabbed her hand. Before she could protest, he pulled her off the railcar and off the side of the tracks. The ground was solid here, mostly flat stone with mud and damp moss. Annavi took a look around, gripping Jacques shoulders to avoid having her legs give out under her. She was gripping someone who should have been dead. He was cool to her touch, but she assumed that was due to the chilling air outside.

They weren't outside anymore, however. Wherever outside was, they had left it behind when they had ridden the railcar. Annavi glanced around. It looked like they were in a cavern. Over Jacques shoulder, she could see multiple tunnels, some of which were smaller than others. The walls had a sickly green hue, and had vines and moss patches growing everywhere. They had bottles strung up around as well, which seemed to emit the multi colored light that filled the cave.

"You're a bit rough around the edges, huh, Sweet Pea?" Her attention was brought back to him.

"You really need to stop calling me that."

Clearly he was ignoring her. He lifted up her torn cloak and looked at all the small rips in the fabric. He let it drop. "I didn't realize it was this bad."

Annavi gave him a quizzical look. There was a lot she could have said to that, but she let it drop for the time being. There was something more important on her mind. "You shouldn't be here right now."

His grin faltered. "Are you not happy to see me?" he asked her.

She herself wasn't sure. It sounded like an attempt to change the subject again. She avoided his question, and posed her own.

"How are you alive? I saw you falling. The sail ripped right off the mast."

Jacque shrugged. "I landed in water. A huge lake I guess. It wasn't too far from the rocks you landed in." He didn't seem to think much of it.

"You didn't break anything?"

He shook his head. "I'm a-okay."

Annavi tried not to cringe at what he had just said. "How is that possible?"

"I guess I'm just lucky."

"How lucky do you have to be to survive such a high fall, and come out without a single broken limb?"

"I guess I'm just very lucky," he said. He obviously wasn't saying every detail that came with his survival story. Nobody could be lucky enough to live through all of that. Annavi knew now that Jacque had a habit--or perhaps talent, depending on the way you looked at it--for leaving out essential truths.

Her thoughts were interrupted. "Look, we should get going."

Annavi looked around. Apart from the fact that she wasn't sure she trusted him enough to follow him anywhere in this strange new place, she didn't see anywhere to go. "Where do you think you're going?" She tried to emphasize the fact that she wouldn't be going with him, but he obviously didn't catch on.

"Away from the way we came," he replied simply. He turned around and nodded to the assortment of tunnels. "One of those looks good." Unsettling squelching sounds rung out through the colorfully lit cave as he began to walk towards them. Reluctantly, she followed. For the time being, he was all she had, and going it alone wasn't in her best interest, whether she trusted Jacque or not.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked him. She figured if he knew, he might not tell her that either, unless she asked.

"No idea," he said. He stopped in front of the biggest tunnel. The tunnel itself was only about half his height, and it was dark. A little ways down, you could see more multicolored light. He ran a finger around its top, jagged edge. It came off with grime and dewey moss bits. He wrinkled his nose and wrung his hand to shake it off.

"What are those lights?" She stared at the bottles and jars strung up on the walls.

He shrugged and got on his hands and knees. She doubted that strongly, given his silence. She followed suit nonetheless, and soon found herself crawling through the tunnel. The roof of the tunnel scratched at her back. She could feel the cold water soaking through her clothes. She shivered.

She couldn't see the light in front of them properly with Jacque in the way. She peeked over her own shoulder to see how far they'd gotten.

A pair of feet were on the other side, clad in crimson boots.

She turned back to Jacque and poked his leg. "I think there's somebody back there in that cavern."

Jacque stopped. "Really?"

"I see a pair of red boots."

Jacque seemed to stiffen. "Hurry up." He started crawling away faster.

Annavi didn't go any faster. "What is it?"

"Just come on," he said. Annavi grabbed his foot and pulled him back.

"I'm not going anywhere until you properly explain something."

Jacque looked back over his shoulder and tried to gently shake her off. Gentle wasn't anyway to get Annavi to stop, though. Her grip didn't loosen.

"Later, okay? I promise."

She obviously didn't believe that. She looked back. The red boots were gone.

"There's nothing there anymore," she replied. "You can stop for a second and explain."

"No, I can't," he replied. He continued moving forward, and began to drag her along with him. She wanted to let go and stay put, but also didn't want him to get away without explaining to her. She tried to dig her free hand into the hard ground. That was when she felt the hand on her ankle. It was icy, and bony. She gasped and felt herself being pulled back. She clung desperately to Jacque, but it didn't help much. He lost his grasp on the ground beneath them quickly, and was dragged with her. They had almost reached the entrance to the tunnel, when Jacque managed to grab onto something. Annavi was half out of the tunnel, and glanced back.

The only thing she recognized was the crimson boots. They were buckled and heeled, and made the wearer much taller looking. The man in question had a long cape that swept the ground, with a deep maroon color. The trim was laced with gold thread, and had ruby-like beads sewn on. His white pants were stained with mud and bloody patches, and his loose fitting cream shirt was equally dirtied. Fluffy, golden blonde hair was caked with blood, giving it orange tints. He wore a manic grin. The red man yanked her by her leg, but jacque managed to keep them in place.

Annavi looked back at the tunnel, hoping to see Jacque now that the light was closer. Instead she saw his foot in her hand. The rest of him that should have been visible in the tunnel was gone. She let go in horror, and felt herself being pulled back. She struggled against the red man's grip as he tried to pull her up.

The next instant, another pair of hands reached out of the tunnel and grabbed her shoulders. She was pulled away harshly from the man's grip, and found herself being dragged back into the darkness of the tunnel.