"Huh?"

The clanging sound woke me up. 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?

My gaze pointed to the sound. It was the family sword. The sword was located right under my hand laying on the kitchen floor. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥'𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. The sword was meant for self-protection. My dad kept it safe in its holster to defend our family. How did it end up in the kitchen and why isn't it in its holster? More importantly, why was there blood on it?

However, the sword wasn't the only unusual thing laying in the kitchen. My trembling head moved and locked on my dad's body. A lot of blood leaped out of his neck. "Dad why isn't your head on your body and why is there blood everywhere?" Of course, there was zero response to my question because my dad was dead.

I didn't look around any further. I didn't want to know what happened. I was scared of the truth. I left everything in its place and stormed to the front door. My trembling hands tried to open the door. I struggled with opening the door with this amount of stress. I never stressed so much in my life.

The door finally opened and I fell with my knees in the dirt. I stood up immediately and slammed the door behind me. It was dark outside. There was nobody in sight, as usual. I ran over the uneven grass fields. This was the first time ever, I would leave this area.

I ran without thinking about where to go. I wasn't thinking about anything of what just happened. So I thought about something else. 𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥? 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯... 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. It was true though, I shouldn't be able to run so easily with my amount of training (what is zero to be precise).

Without realizing how. I crashed into someone. "Hey look out where you're going! I stood literally in the middle of the road! Are you blind or something?" In front of me stood a middle-aged man. The man wore really stood out in the dark with his white clothes, but I still didn't notice the man, before I crashed into him. "Hey, you look panicked. Are you alright?"

"..."

"Okay kid, I'll forgive you this time. Can you please help me pick up my apples?" He grabbed the half-full bag located on the floor. The man must have dropped it after the crash. I picked one of the fallen apples. The grind on the floor left a bit of sand on the apple, but it could be easily washed off.

I placed it in the bag and grabbed another one. I tried to do this as slowly as possible so the man would pick more apples than me. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘐 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱 2 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 3 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

"Thank you for helping me. Do you know you're way home? Kids you're age shouldn't be outside this late. It is dangerous for the defenseless." The man looked worried, even after me crashing and collecting the minimum amount of apples.

I shook my head from left to right and it was true. I didn't have a clue where I was.

"Poor child." You could see he was thinking hard, about how to solve this situation. "You can sleep at my house for the night," he suggested. "Tomorrow we will find you're house together. Is that alright with you?"

I wasn't sure what to answer. So I asked, "Is it far?"

"Just in the town over that hill." He pointed to a large hill not too far away.

It was quite some walking, but there was nothing else close by. After all if there was one thing I really wanted right now, was to sleep in a bed. "Okay, I'll go with you."

"Then it's settled. By the way, my name is Martin. Can I ask your name?" he said while bowing to me.

"It's Reuben." My mom and dad told me to never talk to strangers and especially not tell them my name. This person was the first person I ever met, besides my parents and I already failed this simple command. I never really listened to my parents, if they wanted me to do something. I hate to do things.

"Okay Reuben, follow me. We need to be quick, if we want some sleep," Martin said while petting my back.

So I followed Martin to his house. It felt long, but we got there eventually.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥. 𝘔𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥... 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦... 𝘯𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦...

TO BE CONTINUED...