Can you Save Me?

Encounter

Amber Mikelson

It had been a month since we moved in from our old place. You should expect me to say I missed that place since it was my birthplace and I have lived there for eighteen years but I loved this new place.

Being a secluded, anti social person I preferred small towns, hill station, and country side kind of thing but with good Wi-Fi. The new town, Westwend was small but beautiful to say the least. It was one of those places not to cold, not to hot with lots of trees.

Our house was built on slightly hilly area, almost three kilometre walk from the main city with a beautiful forest and lake around. Being a really silent and lonely place, the house we bought was good one at a cheap price. Earlier me and my sister had to share a room but now we got our separate rooms. She and I were seven years apart; hence I was comfortable with separate rooms.

The house was completely made of wood and it smelled funny, of mud and flowers, of sunlight and fire, just warm and comfortable. We moved from our place in city to Westwend because my father is a veterinarian and he decided to be the generous volunteer and move to a place where he was needed.

This was the reason my parents told me but I knew that new head of hospital where my father worked was some old man with vendetta and he sent us to this out of sight, out of mind place. Everyone in my family hated it, everyone except me. The only thing that worried me was the new school. I suck at making friends and I hated leaving one back home.

“Amber, mom wants you to go get some groceries for dinner tonight.” Candice, my sister said with a smile.

Her smile told me that the task was for her and not me.

“You mean you have to go and get the groceries, right?” I said already pulling up a jacket over my shoulder knowing well that I will end up going after all.

“Kate misses me and I have to Skype chat with her. You now it is for distance relationships. She is my best friend.” Candice said whining like a true eleven year old.

“Fine, I will go.” I said giving in easy.

I also wanted to get out and see the place for myself.

I realised that mom and dad were busy with unpacking so without alerting them I stepped out of the house. A light breeze hit me and I realised even in August, the place was chilly. It was hilly after all. I pulled my jacket closer in attempt to snuggle into it as I walked down the path.

It was a long walk, some two kms downhill and then some seven hundred meters through a forest. It was sunny so I felt comfortable but I had to be back before dark since I was not quite sure about the hilly areas and animals. Since there were no turns and twist the path was easy to remember.

The market was better than I expected. They had all the latest snacks which I thought would be difficult delivering there. I picked up the usual groceries, eggs, milk and some snacks I liked. I also got myself a chocolate ice cream since I was doing the hard work here.

Besides the general store the market had a small cafe, pharmacy, salon and a book store. Naturally my feet dragged me to the book store and i looked around for books just for the fun of it! I had no money left to buy a book. The book store was not fancy looking , it was like a small library with both old and new books.

Just tracing the books with my hands for a while, I stepped out realising I can spend lot of time in just admiring books.

The sun was setting and I quickened my pace not because I was scared because my parents will scold me for being careless. The market was still all lively and open but as I crossed the area of population and climbed up the steep path silence greeted me. There were only trees around me and the breeze was even chillier than before.

I was not the person to get scared that easily but I was worried since I could see no shop or even a single on the road.

After a while thankfully I crossed a music instruments store and my pace relaxed on seeing presence of life form. But I didn’t have enough time to look into the store, even though it looked beautiful. As I wanted to share this with my sister, I took out my phone and took a picture of the peculiar looking wooden shop.

As soon as I was done taking the picture I turned and collided hard into a taller form, raising my arms to form a barrier on instinct.

I immediately leapt apart from the person I collided into, to apologise or to run depending on the situation. But as my eyes shot open, my heart failed me and a dreadful feeling built inside me.

A pair of amber eyes looked at me with so much hatred that I cringed inwardly. It felt like he was trying to shot laser through them. But that was not that made my heart stop, those amber eyes was just the part of dream like memory.

The tall guy growled at her in a most inhumanely way and she staggered back.

“Why are you here?” He said the words in such a low grimace that he didn’t expect her to hear but she did.

She heard the pain, the disgust, the hatred and anger behind those words.

What the hell was wrong with him?