The Awakening

S

Scarlet

Scarlet awoke feeling groggy, and not quite sure of where she was. The grogginess faded as she began to realize she was staring at a pale blue sky. Slowly, sitting up, she looked around her, and found herself sitting in a grassy field of some kind, her hands tickled by the blades of grass as she ran her hands over the ground trying to remember what had happened to her. She seemed to remember… A successful job being followed by the usual celebration of a couple of drinks… and then it was all blackness.


Suddenly she jolted, reaching for her hip, and breathing a sigh of relief when she found her knife still firmly in its sheath. This only confused her more though, because surely if someone wanted to kidnap her, they would take her weapon away from her? She then reached inside her pocket, making sure the photo she always carried was still there, and was relieved to find it was there as well. But it seemed all her other possessions had been taken from her as she checked her other pockets.


Once she determined what she had, Scarlet decided to try and figure out where in the world she was. A quick look around the area didn’t seem to offer much, just a grassy plain seemingly surrounded on all sides by a forest. “Just my luck…” she muttered to herself as she climbed to her feet and began walking towards the woods. ‘Not gonna get anywhere if I just stay here’ she thought to herself. It was logic that had served her well in the past, and she hoped it would continue to do so here.


After a couple of hours walking aimlessly through the forest, Scarlet realized that she was getting nowhere, and with the sun now beginning to set on the parts of the horizon that she could see, bringing with it the darkness of night creeping upon her, she came to the conclusion that maybe she was in trouble. It was then that she heard the snapping of a twig behind her, followed by the quick rustling of leaves. Scarlet whipped around, knife in hand, slowly approaching where the noise came from. After a moment's hesitation she asked “Hello? Is anyone out there?”


She was surprised to see a small boy poke his head from around a tree after a couple of seconds, the one eye that she could see filled with fear as it stared at her. “Are you here to hurt me?” The little boy asked her.


Scarlet hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, and decided to put her knife away, showing the boy that her hands were empty as she slowly walked towards him. “I’m not here to hurt anyone little one.” she told him. The boy seemed a bit skeptical, but came out from out from behind the tree, allowing Scarlet to see all of him. He was quite a small boy, probably eight or nine Scarlet guessed, and was wearing clothes covered in dirt and patches. He had dark brown hair that was also covered in dirt, and had dark brown eyes to match. His skin was tanned, as if he spent his days in the sun often.


“My name is Scarlet.” She told the boy, extending her hand to him. “What’s your name?”


The boy acted as if he hadn’t seen her hand at all, as he instead seemed very interested in her face. “My name... is Jason…” he said slowly, his voice thick with hesitation. “I think... you should probably come with me... if you aren’t going to hurt anyone miss.” He looked around before saying “It’s dangerous to be in the woods at night.”


Immediately warning bells began to go off in Scarlet’s head, but she silenced them as she considered her options. 'Following this boy, even if it is into a trap, is a better idea than wandering the forest aimlessly hoping to find something.' “Okay…” she said slowly, still not entirely sure of herself. “Where are we going?”


“To a safe place... Probably...” he responded as he turned and began to walk back in the direction that she had come from. It dawned on Scarlet that this boy was quite odd, and for a moment wondered what he had been doing in the woods alone, and for how long he had followed her, but tried not to let it bother her too much as she followed behind him.


As she walked, a hand found itself rubbing at the rose on her neck that was itching her, but she ignored it as she followed Jason in complete silence except for the sound of their feet crunching the leaves, noting that she was making far more sound than he was despite her attempts at a quiet approach, for almost an hour. As soon as she got a glimpse of a light source in the distance, Jason turned to her, pointing at the light.

“Welcome to Father’s house.”
 
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