Loving Sang

Chapter Two: My Only Friend

My house seems to sit in the middle of the woods. I'm not even sure how close the nearest neighbor is, or if we even have any to be honest. I've roamed these woods for hours at a time and have never come across another human being. Except for that one stormy night.

Mom had been in a particularly bad mood for the past few weeks. Ranting and raving about my father. About the whore that was my mother. How I would end up just like her one day. I sat there and listened to the awful things she called me. Suffered through the beatings that followed because I was a reminder of what my father had put her through.

She was extra generous with her hands and feet that night. I never cried out or let on how much pain she was causing. When she finally allowed me to go back to my room, I waited until I knew she had passed out and dashed out the back door into the woods. I needed to let out the pain, the anger, and the emptiness I felt. I wanted to yell out all of my frustrations. It was the only way I knew to keep myself sane. To not let her words seep into my soul and corrupt it like her own. I didn't want to crumble. I needed to stay positive for the future when I could eventually be free.

That's when I had my first interaction with someone. He was sitting at the base of a large tree several yards deep into the woods. I hadn't realized how far I had ran until I spotted him. He was hard to make out with the wind blowing the rain every which way. It seemed as if he was tying something around his arm though.

I approached silently. He didn't know I was upon him until I sank to my knees just within reaching distance of him. He jerked and let out a muffled curse. The fabric hanging from his mouth is the cause, I'm sure. I just sat and watched him work, occasionally seeing him looking up at me from beneath his lashes.

When he finished his task, his breathing was labored and he rested his head back against the tree with his eyes squeezed shut. Several minutes passed by in comfortable silence. This boy fascinated me. I'm not sure what it was about him, but I was like a moth to a flame. I couldn't help but try to get closer.

Shuffling my knees a few inches from his outstretched legs, I came as close as I dared, yet still not touching. He must have sensed me because his eyes snapped open to focus on my face.

"What's your name?" he asked with a deep voice with a curious accent.

"Sang," I replied in a soft voice, it had never recovered from one of my mother's more inventive creations. Lemon juice and vinegar was not a beverage of choice I would recommend.

We fell back into the whirlwind of the night. My curiosity got the better of me and ended up scooting closer so I could possibly see him better. It was too dark and too rainy to make out any of his features. I could just tell his outline and when he would move certain body parts.

I can tell that he is taller than me by at least a head and a half. I can also make out his broad shoulders but not any of his actual facial features. This upsets me. I want to know what this mysterious boy looks like. I wish I had some type of light to shine upon him. Touching his face was an urge I had to forcibly stop myself from doing because I knew that would be stepping over some kind of socially acceptable line.

"What are you doing out here?" I ask timidly.

I don't want to run him off. I'm perfectly fine with just sitting with someone in the dark. Having a companion of sorts.

"Got lost when I was running," is his brisk reply.

"May I ask what you were running from?" I inquire while moving a few more inches closer.

I watch his eyes flicker down to my knees as I shuffle closer. I stop immediately and his eyes come back to me.

He shakes his head in the negative slowly like he wishes he could tell me but knows that he shouldn't. I don't pressure him but instead ask a different question.