music recommendation for this charpter is Billie Eilish: no time to die
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She felt the responsibility that the universe had just dumped on her shoulders and she knew the only way out of it was death, rest assured she still had a lot to live for so she didn't see herself backing down from all this. She knew a part of her was anxious and kept wanting her to fall back but she couldn't imagine her life after handing all of humanity to the darkness in a silver plate.
No ways!
She pushed the oak door and made her way in, at least it hadn't turned completely dark outside so she made it in time for dinner. She decided on taking a quick shower before going about food. She was starving, not to mention how her purposeful life had missed her a world class opportunity to take a soulful bite into pastries. She was going to make up for it tomorrow before her official training day begins and she had a lot of questions but it seems that she was running out of time and she figured she could always make time for questions after her mission. She took out the ipod that she had stuck in her pockets and realised it's dead.
Just great!
she decided to start wth getting herself cleaned up, she will charge it afterwards. She removed her clothes and and wrapped a towel around herself, her hair was still tied in a bun so she let it loose and turned the faucet to hot water so she could get herself warm. She took a deep breathe when she was satisfied with the water temperature and stepped in.
Today had been a very long day for her and this was a much needed relaxation.
Today was an awakening of sorts. She took her shower gel and had the inclination to sit on the hard floor and just massage her scalp and so she did exactly that. She listened to the rhythm created by the drops of water on the shower floor and it soothed her mind like a lullaby. She closed her eyes to savour the moment and released a deep sigh. The glass already foggy from the steam of hot water gave her some privacy to relax and let go in her birthday suite.
The are trying to claw their way in . . . desperately so that even though their fingernails bleed, their mission get undeterred.
She gasped and her eyelids flew open in an instant, the determination she saw in their intent was too raw even for her. What is she up against? She shook her head and stood up from her sitting position to switch off the tap. She roughly dried her hair before wrapping a clean towel around her head and another one around her body, she brushed her teeth before stepping out of the bathroom. It's a good thing that her grandmother was thoughtful enough to at least have a full body length mirror in her bedroom. She pouted her lips the way only she could pout to get a favour done when she thought of locking the door and started checking herself out. She found solace in the fact that she had an average body : not too fat or booty, not too thin or slender. Everything about her was average, nothing flashy on in your face like those supermodels she had stopped envying. She took her body lotion and sat down at the edge of the bed to have full sight of her body while she lotions herself up. She was pleased with what she saw afterwards, when she checked outside the window it was already dark but not past dinner time so she could afford just a two minutes nap before gearing up for dinner.
She felt a persistent tug on her upper limbs and wondered who was bored enough to wake her up. She then remembered its dinner time plus she hasn't eaten since her last meal in the morning.
She rubbed her eyes and realised she was still wrapped in nothing but a towel with a thin lacy underwear, her bare feet padding on the cold floor she felt the urge to pee so she reached her hand out to open the door to the bathroom which turned in a soft click before she felt a jolt rush through her veins like she was being electrocuted and she gasped with momentary shock. She heard the chirping of a cricket and decided she can't sleep without getting rid of it. She pushed the door using her feet while holding the seam of the towel on both ends to secure it, the moment her foot stepped out of her room she fell face-first into the dirt and blinked two if not three thousand times
WTF!
Her mind screamed at her and she wondeted who's flat ass did she kiss to end up in trouble one way or another. She picked herself up and looked at her surroundings feeling anxious bit by bit with the realisation that she couldn't find a farmiliar resemblance within the radius at which her eyes could reach. What now?
An owl hooted from a distance while a lone bird chirped at a high branch of a tall tree. Where is she? What is this place. She twirled in circles before she decided to at least lose her sense of direction than her own sanity, wondering about things no one could tell her answers to right now. She took a step towards the part of the forest that seemed to have a ray of sunlight peeking through the blanket of trees. Three steps and she shrieked in pain as she placed her barefoot on a thorn that was facing upwards.
Someone must think about cleaning forests, this was unacceptable!
She limped to the nearest tree to lean on it to try and remove the thorn. She tried to move it inch by inch which summoned her entire nerve system to life, burning her brains away and she stifled yet another wail.
Come on Dana, you need to do this . . .
She chanted to herself before closing her eyes and removing the thorn in one stromg pull. This time she had to bite the inside of her cheeks hard, drawing blood, to avoid what could've been what a banshee would've had to sit tight and take notes from. She tried to touch her heel on the surface and she was greeted by shooting pain. How in God's earth is she supposed to limp on a single leg. Good thing the treeline seemed to have been planted symmetrically which was going to come in handy. The needed something to stop the bleeding otherwise she was going ro bleed to death in this place, all alone and she wasn't ready to die. Not today at least and most definitely not in a dream. She had heard enough stories about trapped souls to last her a lifetime.
She was about to take another step forward when she heard a beastly growl that sounded not further than ten feet from her. She froze but her erratic nerves knew she had to run.
If bleeding to death isn't her cause of death then its going to be this huge black beast behind her which seemed to have finally found its meal for the day after a long day's hunt. She figured she would rather die of the former. She tested her heel again to see how far she could run with it and it seemed to understand that this was an emergency.
She sneaked a glance behind her and cast a fleeting look to her towel before she figured the animal won't care if she is left in a lace or not, even if it's a shifter bear because right now its priority was to feed so she unwraped the towel and thought what to do with it. contemplating her options and seeing the bear not shift its stance as if calculating her moves, she threw the towel in its face which flew short before landing on the animal's feet and she knew she had to run now.
She ran like never before and decided she will tend to the bruises and scratches of the lower branches scratching at her, once she makes it out of here alive. She ducked where she could before she felt the leaves rustle infront of her
Oh no! God not another one please!
She was trapped but soon strated moving in the direction of whatever was coming her way than to wait on the fast approaching death behind her.
"Duck"
She almost smiled when she heard a voice and decided to show gratitude by heeding to the voice's command but she tripped and fell on the dirt again before she could think on which way the voice came from so she could duck. A whistling sound was heard on the wind before the black bear gave a fierce roar, going down in a blaze of glory before it collapsed ontop of her lower limbs
"Aaaaaaaarhhhhh" she chorused with the bear's guttural roar as she felt a wave of pain that threated to swallow her whole.
"Give me your hand" the deep throaty voice said
"I . . . cc-ant . . . brrr-eathe" she tried to reason before she blacked out
"You have to try . . . wake up now"
She shot up straight from her bed and heard a crack sound from her ribs. What a day to die and live to see another day!