Ava opened her eyes and looked directly up at an unfamiliar roof. Her eyes widened in shock, alongside the flow of adrenaline rushing through her body, jolting it until she sat up straight. Her gaze wandered about in the room, desperate to figure out where she was, but to no avail. To her right, it was a small bed stand and on a chair a few feet away from where she laid, several bandages laid about.
Where was she?
She moved her legs and the second her feet touched the stone floor, the sharp pain spread through her ankle and up into her entire body. She couldn´t do much but remove her leg from the floor. As the pain in her ankle made its presence clear, so did the throbbing headache. Her hand moved slowly to touch the point which ached the most, and the second she found the source, her nose wrinkled.
A sudden cry from the door caught her attention, and as she looked over, a young girl looked at her with big eyes. Ava´s eyes widened as a relieved smile spread on the young face before the news of her awakening left the kids' lips. Moments later, someone who she could only assume to be the mother, stood in the doorway, equally as relieved.
"I´m so glad you´re awake," she walked quickly into the room, "How are you feeling?"
Caught off guard by the sudden kindness, Ava could barely stutter forward an answer. The number of questions lingering in her head wouldn´t leave her mouth. Her brain worked slower for some reason.
"You must have so many questions, I´ll answer them after you get some food into your system."
Great, she didn´t even have to ask.
The stew which was brought to her on the bed was some of the best she had ever tasted. Come to think of it, she hadn´t eaten warm food since - how long had it been? How long had she been here? How long had she stayed at the cabin, eating salt crackers, berries, and dried meat? Nonetheless, she was starving.
"So, what's your name?"
Ava swallowed hard, as she remembered the fact that she was a fugitive. If she had fallen into the wrong hands, and they figured out who she was, it would be the end of her.
"Mallory," Ava responded with a hoarse voice. It was her mom´s first name and to be frank, it was the only name that made its way into her mind.
The woman in front of her smiled brightly by the name. She crossed her legs over one another and started to flatten her skirt. It was something familiar about the woman in front of her. The bump on the nose, the green eyes, the freckles which laid like stars over her cheeks - it was too familiar.
"Nice to meet you, Mallory. I´m Eleanor."
Ava stretched her hand out to shake Eleanor´s hand but came to a halt as she saw the several small cuts in her skin. Eleanor completely avoided the wounds on Ava´s arms and shook her hand politely.
"My husband found you in the forest whilst being on a hunt," she informed. "You laid in the snow, blood coming out from the wound by your temple, trembling as a withering leaf. So, he brought you here. You´ve been here for about a week or so."
An entire week? She couldn´t remember leaving the cabin, which would have been stupid considering her injuries. Why had she left the cabin, to begin with? Had her survival instincts completely left and let her wander about in the snow with a sprained ankle?
She should consider herself lucky. If Eleanor´s husband hadn't found her, she would have most likely frozen to death in the middle of the forest. Ava looked at Eleanor, who was now glancing out the window where the snow continued to fall from the gray sky.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, "I can't remember if you answered the question earlier."
"Just a headache," Ava responded, "Thank you for letting me stay."
"No need to thank me," Eleanor smiled reassuringly as she placed her hand on top of Ava´s.
Eleanor left the room after making sure that Ava was as fine as she insisted that she was, with the parting words to rest up. As Ava laid back down on the pillow, she couldn't help but question why she had left the cabin, to begin with. She couldn´t remember that she had done so either. What had made her leave?
Once again, she found herself with the lingering gut feeling that told her that she had forgotten something crucial. If she could have given away everything she had, just to have a functioning brain and memory, she would have gladly done it.
After a while of grumbling, she started to doze off. As she opened her eyes again, she looked at the roof she had been confused with the last time she woke up. Had she managed to get a good night´s sleep for once? As she was about to lean up on her elbows, the stench made its way up her nose.
Her eyes widened in utter horror as she remembered the gruesome stench she had been living with. Terrified, Ava didn´t dare to turn her head. She didn´t want to see where the source of the smell came from, even though she could feel the weight beside her. Nauseous by the smell, she turned her head and looked over at the woman who should have been a skeleton years ago.
She turned her head and looked directly at Ava, with a gaze that looked directly through her soul. Ava couldn´t do much more than to stare horrified back, questioning how and when she should start running for her life. Except that she couldn´t move a single muscle. Everything was frozen in place.
Then, the woman opened her mouth, a sinister smile spreading on the wrinkled and boil-covered lips. As the mouth opened, it revealed a smile with more black holes than yellow teeth.
"The truth is scary, isn´t it?"