"I said to leave me alone." Her voice cut deeply into his chest. Lucas did not know what to do. His arm that had been outstretched to comfort her fell to his side.
'She doesn't want me.'
He had finished washing up by the stream and found her sitting not far from where he had been. His heart skipped a beat because he had not heard her approach.
'Why is she here?' he had thought.
She had covered her mouth with her hand in order to cover her sobs. The look on her face would remain emblazoned in his mind forever.
He backed away.
Realizing he dropped his bag he slowly reached for it and turned to head back to the camp. What else could he do?
He forcefully stepped away from her crying sobs, hating himself with each step. Each new sob caused him to flinch and his chest felt like there was a gaping hole in it.
She had asked to be left alone. How could he just obey so easily? His mind fought with itself once more, but he could not deny her wish. Not when she so firmly told him to leave her alone.
He had seen her cry before when she was scared or when a dream haunted her in her sleep. Each time he had been able to do something to relieve her suffering. This felt different.
Lucas stared down at his empty hands, that had dropped the bag he was holding near the fire. Remembering the danger she had been in just days before he could not stop himself from returning to watch over her.
He hid himself from her sight so that she would not see or hear him. A tree slightly far away served his purpose and he climbed to a high branch that could support his weight.
The tree felt cold under his hands as he surveyed the area around her. She had buried her face in her arms and curled into a ball. From this distance she looked very small and fragile.
Her voice now could be heard echoing in the trees around them. Lucas felt helpless as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. His fingers dug into the bark of the branch as he took his frustration out on the tree.
She told him to leave her alone, but he could not just leave her. If he only knew what had caused her to be in this state he could do something. He could make it better.
Lucas ran different scenarios through his mind of things he could do. Holding her in his arms seemed to help last time. Or he could try something else? He searched his memories, but he looked down as he realized he had no experience with this sort of problem.
Calming distraught humans was not something he was ever taught so all he could do was sit quietly and watch over her until her sobs subsided and the light of the day turned into the blackness of the night.
The animals in the forest seemed to take a long detour around the loud noises coming from the human. Their usual noises quiet, as the noisy cries faded into the darkness.
Lucas finally moved once the silence settled in and she had ceased moving entirely. The forest floor crunched slightly as he landed several feet below the branch he had been sitting on for hours.
He silently crept up beside Eva. She had curled up into a ball on her side with her tear streaked face tucked into her arm.
Lucas brushed the messy hair behind her ear. He nodded to himself once he had determined that she was deeply asleep.
He reached down and lightly picked her up. Lucas remembered the look on her face the first time he saw Eva in the woods near his village.
The way her cheeks were streaked with tears and the puffiness under her eyes were the same. A deep ache in his chest filled him with agony.
It wouldn't be a lie to say he had fallen in love with this sad face. Standing over her bedroll he pulled her closer into his chest.
His cheek pressed against her forehead. His nose tickled with the slight woody scent of the forest where she had laid on the ground.
His lips pressed against her hair. With regret he laid her down and moved to the other side of the now dying fire.
Eva turned in her sleep and immediately covered herself with the blanket next to her.
'She looks cold.'
Regretting letting her fall asleep in the trees, he began putting more wood on the fire so that she would be warm.
This would have to be enough. She had asked him to leave her alone and he wanted to respect that wish within reason.
The words echoed in his mind as they repeated over and over. He felt like his mind was torturing him as the darkness, that usually provided him more freedom, blanketed the area beyond the warm fire.
************
The white bunny appeared in the grass once again as if it was trying to lead her somewhere. Eva tried to follow it, but it would always disappear right as she was about to catch it.
'Where did it go?' she thought as she searched the tall grass around her once again.
It was like a game she played when she was younger. If she had been looking at herself from far away she would laugh and call herself childish.
Catching the bunny was important, but she did not know why she must catch it. Deep inside finding the bunny was important to her, as if it would solve all of her problems.
The bunny popped up again several feet away near some trees. A forest came into view that she did not see before.
'This forest seems familiar.'
A warm feeling filled her stomach. As she approached the forest the bunny disappeared into the undergrowth between the trees.
Her bare feet were replaced with sturdy leather boots and a bow appeared in her hand. She felt the weight of her quiver of arrows on her back.
The white dress she had been wearing was replaced with her usual hunting gear and a cloak sat on her shoulders.
The sudden change in clothing didn't alarm her. If a bunny could suddenly disappear then simply changing her equipment was but another part of this strange dream.
She saw white ears twitch in a bush further ahead. Eva briefly thought about drawing her bow, but hurting the small white bunny felt wrong. She frowned.
'Am I meant to catch it with my bare hands? But then why am I carrying a bow?'
Her thoughts were answered as a large bear with strange red markings swiped at the ears of the bunny she had been chasing all this time.
'A beast…'
She felt afraid. Her body moved without another thought and drew an arrow pointed at the bear beast.
However, this time when the arrow flew it had a strange light surrounding the arrow. The bear and forest seemed to fade into the darkness.
'What a strange dream,' Eva thought as the darkness faded into another dream of which she would not be able to recall the next day.
******
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