Taking her place

An Angel

I walk as I continue to yawn with a small tear making its way on my right eye as I rub on it to get rid of the liquid.

“What a surprise!” Mike says as he looks at me with a smile. “you aren’t the type to be tired. Are you finally tiring out from all the work?” he asks as he looks at me and then at my cape. “why are you?”

It's orange.

The number one color I would never wear but have to.

According to lily, Kuro was eyeing this particular shade of orange when she took him out to buy pastries in town a while back and she suggested I should try to make him happy by wearing it along with him.

The shade itself is a bit dark so it makes me less slightly irritated but it is still orange at the end of the day.

“don’t,” I put a hand up as he looks away with a smile and sees Kuro walk out of the house with the exact same orange in his clothes. “I see, there’s only one person who can manage to make you wear that kind of thing after all.”

“I want to dig you a grave and just bury you.” I smile as I wave at kuro whose eyes begin to sparkle. “too bad there’s a kid and half of my staff present.”

He continues to look at Kuro as he puts his hands behind him as if he had proper Ettie quite. “you say some scary things with that smile of yours.”

Behind him, Noah walks silently as he keeps his eyes on the boy in front of him.

The combination of the dark clothes that he is wearing and his somber expression that he wears as he stares at his master makes him look slightly doleful.

Mike's face slightly tilts as he questions with a low whisper “whoa, who’s that guy?”

“he’s a someone who will be taking care of Kuro while this entire thing is taken care of. We can’t have him be a weakness to the Artema family, especially with such a heavy risk of kidnap and murder these days.” I smile as the boy gets closer to me and with a smile he holds my hand.

“Lenna said you are going to take me horse riding!” he shouts with a wide grin.

“of course, we have some time to enjoy ourselves after all.” I smile as I carry him into the carriage and sit the boy next to me. “now you must remember to stay close to Noah and never walk away from him you got that?” I smile as the boy nods happily.

Mike and Noah proceed to sit in front of us as the door closes with a slight thud and we embark on our small adventure into the woods.

The small ranch is filled with wildflowers of every color.

The green grass reminds me of what golf parks looked like in my modern life and I sigh slightly.

The breeze hits us as I shiver slightly at its coolness.

I have always enjoyed the temperature of spring during both of my lives and it seems to have followed me to this one as well.

Kuro gets down from the carriage with sparkling eyes as he looks around us.

I smile as I see the small innocent eyes of a young child shine brightly at the sight of flowers.

My smile slowly fades as the image of the boy from my nightmares makes it into my mind.

“help me…” his face is covered in blood and dirt as he looks up at me with his dull eyes. The coldness of the night is there and it makes me shiver in a completely different way from just a second ago.

A daunting shiver, one that I don’t want to feel ever again.

‘what the hell?’

“Blair,” Mike says as he steps in front of me to catch my attention. “you alright?”

My breathing continues as I realize that I was holding my breath and I gasp softly. “what?”

“you look pale. You sure that you aren’t”

“I’m fine,” I say as I smile this time. “I was just thinking of something.”

I grab Kuro's hand as he looks up at me with a worried expression. “don’t worry, its nothing.”

He stares at me for a while as if trying to read my lies but he can’t. The lies at this point in my life are like my oxygen, I can’t live without them.

They are a part of what makes me, so unless you know all of me, you can’t tell that what I say apart from truth or lie.

He finally smiles as his grip tightens on my hand as he pulls me towards the horses. “can I pick the one I want?”

I look at the horses as he points at this beautiful pitch-black horse with beauty superior than any of the horses here in the ranch.

“I apologize but this particular horse isn’t for renting out or for sale.” The old man who owns the ranch walks up to us as he bows with his hat at his chest. “I really do apologize.”

“Please raise your head.” I look at the horse with a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Although I know that the kid isn’t technically a kid I can’t possibly be inhumane enough to make him ride a full-grown horse on his first time. If he were to fall from that he could die.

“Oh sir!” the old man says with an excited tone as he looks at Noah who stands behind Mike. “if I had known that you would come.”

“you two know each other?” Mike asks as he looks at Noah as he smiles politely.

“yes sire, he is the owner of that horse you see.” The old man begins to tear up as he bows at Noah who looks at me with a nervous expression.

“if it's him then he can use my hors-”

“do you have a pony?” I ask as I look at the owner of the ranch with a serious expression.

“yes of course I have that.” He smiles as he runs inside of his stable.

“wait, if he wants to ride my steed than he can,” Noah says as he looks at me with an annoyed expression.

I look back at him as I lift an eyebrow at his attitude. “I can’t possibly make a child learn how to ride a horse with a fully grown horse.”

“he is very capable of riding a horse of that breed if you just give him the chance then there is a possibility that he will remember faster.”

‘the faster we can get his memory back the better.’ That’s probably what he is thinking to himself and he’s not wrong. There’s a possibility that this kid will get the hang of it immediately but there is always still that chance that he won’t get it at all.

I sigh softly as I smile politely. “I’m not sure how you people teach your children over at Vespers but in the Artema household, we have always begun teaching the young ones with a pony. It’s a tradition I’m not willing to break.”

The old man finally begins to walk towards us with a full-grown pony. The chestnut color makes it look friendly as it walks towards us with a calm demeanor. “this child is the calmest horse that I have. He is a perfect fit for teaching a child how to ride a horse.”

“thank you, if you would guide us please.” I begin to follow him with Kuro following me with our hands still connected as he looks back at Noah.

The old man begins to put on the saddle and tightens it properly as I make sure that Kuro has his boots tightened. I pick up a small hat from the side of the gate as it hangs there waiting to be used and put it on Kuro as I make sure that I tighten it properly.

‘if only we had padding for the knees and the elbows but this world is just not quite there yet.’

I grab the rope as the owner of the barn hands it to me.

Kuro stands beside the pony as he looks up at me waiting my approval as I nod my head. He lifts one leg and jumps and he swings the other over the pony without a problem and I begin to move the horse gently. “hold on alright, if you feel like you are slipping let me know immediately.”

After a couple of circles, I finally prepare to give Kuro the rope for him to control the pony himself since it seems that he caught on to it pretty quickly.

The sound of a horse at full speed catches my attention as a soldier gets down from it and runs over to Mike as he whispers something in his ear.

Mike looks at me as he signals out that he needs me to follow him immediately and Noah walks inside the gates and joins me.

“take care of him.” I give him the rope as I look at Kuro who looks as if he is ready to protest. I touch his cheek as I smile gently. “there is something I must take care of, swear that you’ll wait for me here?” I ask as he pouts. “I can’t hear you.”

“I swear.” He says with a frown.

“I’ll be right back.”

Noah bows as I begin to walk away.

“prepare two of your best horses,” I command as the old man begins to speed walk towards the stables.

“what is going on?” I ask as I get closer to Mike who turns to look at me.

“I received some valuable information.” He leans towards my ear as his serious expression stays on his face. “there is someone who spilled information on the possible meeting between the opposite faction that is against your family.”

“let's go then.” I begin to hear the horses walk towards us as I walk away from Mike and towards the pinto horse as I get up.  “we will pay you accordingly.” I say as I grab the rope and wait for Mike to get on the bay horse as fast as he can.

He begins to ride it away from the ranch following the soldier. Before I begin to follow them I give one last glance to Kuro before I make my way towards whatever place they might be taking me.

“Hyah!” I yell as the horse begins to run towards the men in front of me and soon I catch up to them as I continue to ride the horse with great curiosity.

‘is this something useful or will it just be a trap?’

We ride for at least an hour before they begin to slow down.

“well have to get down here if we don’t want to be caught!” the soldier yells as we come to a complete stop. “the cabin is over there.” He points at the bottom of the hill where beyond the trees stands a small cabin with no one outside of it.

We all begin to get down as we tie the horses on different trees. “where are they? It looks empty?” Mike answers as he observes the surrounding area carefully.

“beyond that hill to the right side of the cabin, there is a lake. I am sure that they all went there for the moment but this allows us a small window of extra time to take a look at the cabin. The soldier begins to walk towards the cabin but I interrupt him.

“you’ll stay here. Someone needs to keep a lookout, if the horses get stolen then we won’t have a way back.”

“right.” He says as he bows to Mike and I. “Please do be careful.”

We begin to walk down the hill as we cover our faces from the leaves of the many bushes that are blocking us from getting down any faster.

As soon as we get close enough to see the small cabin I can feel the sensation of heat coming out from the chimney as if it were being used a couple of minutes ago.

There’s wood halfway chopped in front of it and the back has a long rope hung between two trees with the marks of chopped grass in the area only. I walk towards it as I observe the dirt. There’s marks of circles in some areas and the marks of feet that are too small to belong to a man. I touch the cut grass in an area that looks oddly dark and I feel the cold sensation of something that I could never and would probably never be unable to recognize.

‘blood.’

I freeze as it all begins to come together.

The pieces are scattered but at the end of the day they are there and I can’t ignore them no matter what.

“stay out here.”

“what?” he asks as he looks at me with a confused expression that slowly turns into a cautious one the moment that he sees my expression.  He makes no sound as he walks away towards another part of the area as I stare at the back door of the cabin.

It’s run down and it looks as if it's covered in dirt even inside.

I close my eyes as I try to relax myself.

‘control yourself.’

I take a small breath before I begin to try to open the door but it’s locked.

At this point, I begin to use my magic as I unlock the lock from the inside but the door still won’t budge.

At this point, my suspicions are met as I close my eyes once again and begin to use my magic again.

‘tree locks. They even locked it with a mechanism that needs to be meet at three points at the same time to that no one can go inside.’

I finally open the door to see the pitch dark cabin with no windows showing any kind of light as I walk inside.

There is a strong smell of sweat in the air as if whatever these men do inside of the cabin requires for the constant production of sweat but it’s mixed with something else. The smell is barely there but I can still smell it.

Along with the sweaty musk, there’s a slight smell of honey coming from the deepest part of the cabin. The room at the farthest is where it’s coming from and I begin to walk towards it with the sensation of dread in my chest.

The smell of sweat gets so intense at one point that I feel as if I need to throw up from how much the smell is intruding on my nose.

I stand in front of a wall as I try my hardest not to gag and pull the tears that are threatening to come out back into the back of my eyes.

‘fuck.’

I continue to walk until I’m in front of the door and I try to open it but it's locked.

I don’t bother to open it without damaging the door and instead, I use my magic to melt the locks completely as the door begins to loosen up and it begins to slowly open up on its own.

I stand there for what seems like the longest time, staring at the many things inside the room.

Tears begin to fall down my cheeks as my right hand begins to twitch.

I would normally try to make it stop but the urge of killing is something that I want to embrace at this very moment.

The room is filled with what looked like badly washed bloodstains on both the floor and the walls. There are small pieces of cloth on the floor as if they tried to make it more comfortable for themselves and on top of them is a young girl.

After what seems like a century I finally walk inside of the wretched place as the girl sits into the corner of the room with the pieces of cloth at her feet as the sound of clinging metal hits the floor.

“when you think of what they have done to you?” I look at the walls and study them. They have sealed the entire place with metal so that no light can pass through. “what is the fate you wish for them to experience?”

The girl looks up at me as she begins to shake. “you need to get out of here. If there’s someone here they’ll get mad.” She covers her head with her hands as she looks at the floor and then squeezes her eyes shut.

“Just because you close your eyes, it doesn’t mean that what is happening right now will disappear.” I kneel down as I extend my hand to her.

She looks up at me as she stares at my hand and for the first time since I opened that door, I can see her beautiful light pink eyes. 

“I can’t ever make you forget what happened here.” I continue to extend my arm towards her as she stares at my eyes now. “but I can help you get those chains off, I can get you a better lifestyle, and I can give those who hurt you the fate you wish for them to have.”

She stares at me and then she shakes her head as if wanting to forget everything and I by pure desperation say. “my name is Blair, what’s yours?”

She stops shaking her head as she freezes. For a long time, she just sits there as she stares at something in the wall next to her but I don’t interrupt her, I just wait.

She slowly begins to stand up as the stains of blood in her legs begin to show from how short the cut-up dress she is wearing is and moves closer to me as she slowly grabs on to my hand. “Eva,” she holds my hand a bit tighter with her small skinny hands as she looks at my eyes. “your eyes are glowing, are you an angel?”

“Eva huh,” I sigh softly as I look at her legs. “may I?” I ask as she looks at them and nods.

The chains fall as soon as I put my hand on them and the only thing left is the marking that they caused on her ankles as she moves her legs from one place to another causing herself to fall as I catch her before she hits the ground.

“I can't feel my legs.” She says as she looks at me with a worried expression.

As if she had worn those chains for so long that now their absence makes her lose her balance.

I put her down on the ground as I unhook my cape from my side and clasp in around her neck.  

Once it covers her completely I kneel down and carry her in my arms, outside of the doors of this wretched place.

‘too bad I’m no angel.’