Unexpected encounter
Everybody has dreams. Some… nightmares. Dreams are one's escape from reality. Their haven if you will. On the opposite side of the spectrum, nightmares are what happens when your dreams blend with your fears to form something mortifying. Nightmares are what we escape from both in reality and our dreams.
For me, I was unable to dream but fully capable of suffering at the hands of my nightmares. My nightmares were not something I could easily escape. I faced them both in reality and in my dreams. Whenever I shut my eyes for slumber, I knew only pain awaited me.
It had been going on for about 15 years. My entire life.
Torment always awaited me. It was my only companion. It was the friend that consistently stuck around even if you did not want them there.
What was my torment? I did not know...Several images would flash by vividly in my dreams but by morning they would be gone leaving behind the pain and anguish they had caused me so graciously.
During that period of my life, I had no one. Meaning no family, relatives or friends. A pure-blooded orphan.
It meant spending my life on the streets, I was scavenging for food, fighting rabid neighbours for scraps and sleeping under the stars.
It honestly wasn't easy and I was taken advantage of on so many occasions.
Like the time I was almost sullied. A handsome black-haired young man who went by the name, Alex, approached me when I was about ten. Being young, I could not see past his smiling face and naively trusted him. In the end, he sold me to a rich bastard who had a fetish for small girls.
At the time, depression kept me company as I could do nothing and could not save myself. It all turned out alright as a kind man saved me. I knew he was kind as due to previous circumstances, my perception of the human heart had greatly increased. Though I wish I could have gotten out of the situation unscathed.
Thus my life continued, throwing unpredictable curve balls which I usually had no hope of countering. My only companion was the night sky. I would spend hours on end just staring at the darkness which shone with its twinkling lights. The moon was the main focus of the beautiful masterpiece. It added and increased the magnificence of all the other celestial bodies.
It is truly a beautiful sight that a measly camera could not fully capture and give it justice.
Anyway, that was my hobby and I liked it. My life was pretty ordinary for an orphaned girl and I thought nothing interesting would specifically happen to me except get adopted until…
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One day as I was preparing for the blood moon which happens every few years, I noticed something off or rather felt something off. My whole body itched as if it had been dumped in a batch of poison oak. I felt like ripping out my unruly platinum blonde hair and scratching my back on the surface of a road but I resisted.
The unbearable itching almost drove me to madness. My skin grew redder and redder as day faded into night. The intensity weirdly went up when the blood moon occurred. The intensity seemed to increase as the moon shined brighter and brighter.
After some time, my last strand of resilience waned thin. I've had enough! I began running around looking for a place to ease the itching. Scratching my back on various surfaces. Mayhem and chaos followed me in my wake as I acted like vicious and ravenous animals with fleas.
I ran like a madman, bumping into disgruntled passers-by and scaring toddlers with my face full of blotches. I soon found myself in the Luni Business District. At least I thought it was. I was too poor to be even considered respectable enough to enter.
I gawked at the glowing lights which brought light to each stand. The moon above cast its light over the district, making the place seem like heaven on earth with a beautiful display of ethereal colours spilling into the sky.
I was jolted from my trance by the shoving and pushing of other pedestrians on the street, however, I failed to notice the itching had completely stopped.
Being a street kid was difficult, especially now as I had no idea how to move in crowded areas so I moved with the crowd. Rather the crowd moved me like a plank of wood being carried by a large tide.
The crowd moved so fast that I had no time to gaze fondly at the wondrous sights lain before me. Every time I blinked the crowd had moved to a different section of the district
It was too tiring. I dismally attempted to break free but it seemed whatever powers were at work with no intention of escaping the cage of human flesh.
Suddenly, I felt a hand grab me and pull me towards the opposite direction of the crowd. I struggled defiantly in being pulled by a stranger who might or might not be a pervert with whom I had a 'perfect' experience. Unluckily for me, spending most days starved meant I lacked upper body strength so the arm easily resisted my struggle, and to my discontement, also with ease pulled me out of the crowd.
After the struggle to get out of the crowd, I felt the mysterious stranger's hand leave mine and I landed onto the ground on all-fours. I felt my sensitive knee scrap against the hard cold concrete, followed by a sharp sting.
"Are you ok, Miss?" an innocent-like voice reverberated inside my ear drums. I looked up and my eyes were easily drawn towards a pair of innocent blue eyes staring intently at me.
I couldn't speak. My breath hitched as I gawked at the astounding beauty that looked down at me.
"Are you OK?" He repeated sounding unsure perhaps wondering if I might require extra help. I shook my head in response still unable to respond properly.
I did not need help. I was just dazed. I must have looked like a bumbling buffoon to him.
I opened my mouth to speak and encouraged my raging heart to stop its excitement for my words to flow clearly.
"Sorry, face…is…too handsome," I said clumsily. After listening to those awkward words escape my mouth, I inwardly slapped myself. How could I have been so blunt? I had surely gone mad.
I desperately wanted to change this visually pleasing human's outlook on me. I did not want him to think I was a pervert. I am not a pervert.
Before I could explain, I noticed him let out a sigh of relief and shrug as if it were normal. How could he be so cool about it? A random girl just told him she was left speechless by his extremely handsome features. Was it a normal day-to-day occurrence?
He seemed to notice my astonished look.
"I am glad you are alright," he said brushing off the unsaid comment. I extended my hand, he perfectly understood my actions and hauled me from the concrete floor. I was now standing on my two feet with my knees bent as they still hurt.
The handsome gentleman noticed this and in one swift motion carried me in his arms. I swear if my eyes could pop out of their sockets in surprise they would have at that very moment. He walked steadily towards a far-off bench in the corner of a fast food stand, holding me like a piece of fragile glass.
I leaned my head against his chest and felt his body go rigid. He did not stop walking so I thought nothing of it. I listened closely to the steady beating of his heart which surprised me. It was as if carrying me was an easy task. I wondered if I really was that light.
I could not bear to ask the question, so an awkward silence fell, as we both dwelled on our own thoughts. After a seemingly long time, we soon reached the bench and he carefully placed me on the bench.
He heaved a sigh of relief and walked off. I was momentarily shocked, but realised he must have been looking for a moment to escape from such a troublesome situation. Unexpectedly, he did the opposite and came back with a bottle of water and a small white pack in his hands.
"Miss, to treat your scrape," he said as he swayed the items in his hands from side to side. I stared at him confused.
'Why was he going through the trouble? '
He got on his opened the packet and took out a small brown bottle. He grabbed a cotton stick from the packet and swabbed the contents of the bottle with it. He carefully rubbed it on my scrape, sneaking glances as if to see if all was well.
Of course, all was not well. I winced in pain as the stinging pain from my scrape increased a bit. I tried not to show signs of pain but I accidentally let out a small squeak. Unfortunately, the man was impressively perspective and heard my squeak.
"You will be alright, Miss," He cooed repeatedly as if I would suddenly burst into tears like a newborn. He was soon done with his task and stuck something that looked like a bandaid on my knee.
As if admiring his handiwork on my knee, a beautiful smile formed on his face and it reached his eyes. He stood up from what I thought was an uncomfortable position and dusted himself off.
With a grin, he handed me the bottle of water. " Please drink. You will feel better," he said convincingly. I nodded accepting his reasoning and took the water. The water was so refreshingly cool that it lessened most of the tension which was present in the body.
"Thank you," I let out weakly. He smiled softly at me and said, 'You are welcome '.
" Now that you are fine, I best be going. I wanted to buy a meal but I can't have you having something so unhealthy," he gestured to the nearby fast food stand to which he received a deadly look from what seemed to be the owner.
He awkwardly scratched his head at the ordeal he had thrust onto himself and sighed. He saw me staring, grinned and waved goodbye. I stared entranced by his retreating back.
It struck me I had not said goodbye as well. I let out a long disgruntled sigh and mulled on what to do next. After a bit of contemplation, I decided to return to what I considered home. I was already tired of the confusing adventure.
I walked slowly towards the grandiose gold gate to let the pain only affect me a little. I must have looked more diseased than usual. A cool breeze blew swinging my hair back and forth after I escaped to my reality. It felt like what I had experienced was just a dream.
The stinging pain in my knee reminded me it was real. Everything was real.
The district's glow was still brilliant, though, it looked weak as people were probably closing up shop. I smiled at the sight and turned away to live my true reality.