Tires screeching to a halt, the bus hisses as the engine stalls. Stepping off the metallic stairs onto the pavement, the lady sighs heavily.
"The trip was a lot longer than they said it would be," she groans. Brushing her strawberry blonde hair back, she glances at a clock on the brick walled bus station. "9:37 a.m. Huh, it's still morning, I guess it isn't too late in the day to look around."
She quickly studies the bus station. A few rows of paved parking spaces for the nonexistent buses and thick metal columns that hold a sun faded, myrtle green awning. It's clean, but empty with no other buses except the one she just got off from and another that ghosts the edge of the terminal. She spots the Tickets & Information booth across the way, the attendant obviously bored, while he stares down at his phone with no line in front of him. A small grin paints her face as she makes her way over to the window.
A delicate finger taps lightly against the glass.
Still fixated on his device, he lazily turns his gaze up and speaks in a dull tone,"Yeah. How can I help you?"
The attendant's eyes widen and his jaw drops just as fast.
Long, lustrous locks of rose gold hair stream down the sides of her cheeks; her face graced with dark, cherry wine eyes and plump, rouge lips. She leans forward, her chest threatening to spill out, and says softly, "Hi, I just got off my bus and I'm a little lost. Could you tell me how far the nearest town is?"
He immediately jerks to an upright position and replies. "O-Of course!" With a whiny, high-pitched crack in his voice.
After rummaging around his desk and rifling through the drawer, he pulls out some pamphlets. Still a bit frantic, he slides the papers through the slot. "Kleine Ecke is about a 30-minute walk from here. Those pamphlets contain maps of the local area with hotels and restaurants."
Gently, she accepts the maps and smiles. "Thank you, these will help a lot." As she turns to walk away, her warm smile fades and her expression falls downcast.
" A 30-minute walk... I guess that's not too bad.", she murmurs.
Noticing the girl's disappointment, his hand fumbles into the pocket of his black pants and he pulls out a ticket.
"U-um, Miss, there is a shuttle from here to Kleine Ecke and one of the passengers canceled their ride so... here." He nervously hands the ticket through the window to the woman.
A bright beaming smile runs across her face as she takes the ticket. "Oh, that is so sweet of you! Thank you!" The lady looks down at the small silver name plate on the man's uniform. "Wilhelm, you have been invaluable" she says in a honey-like tone.
With that, she turns around and begins to walk away, while the man sits awestruck and flustered. Snapping back to his senses, Wilhelm bolts right out of his chair and calls out to the departing beauty.
"W-Wait! What's your name?!"
Stopping dead in her tracks, she spins on the heels of her boots to face him and angelically smiles. "Renate", she replies, then turns and disappears out the door of the Station.
Staring through the tinted glass of the rumbling carriage, Renate sits alone, watching the dense greenery flash by as she descends further into thought.
"Thank God I didn't have to walk; I've been traveling for a while and I feel so tired. To make things worse, the bus on the way here broke down twice, making the trip even longer." She muttered to herself, groggily.
A look of exhaustion looms over her face as her eyelids become heavy. "At least I'm not in that god forsaken place anymore." Finally, she gives in to drowsiness and everything fades to black as she falls asleep.
In the midst of the dark silence, she becomes aware of the distant voice of a man. It grows louder and louder until it becomes clear.
"Hey! What the hell gave you the idea that you could run from me?! You little shit!"
His voice is gruff and booming and the horrid scene reveals itself in an instant.
Little hands clenched in a fist in front of her face, frightened out of her mind Renate is balled up and cornered on a cold dirt floor with her back pressed against a jagged, metal wall.
Dogs bark and growl all around her and it sends a shiver through the small girl's bruised body. She lets out a weak whimper as the man towers over her threateningly with a piercing, dead eyed stare and growls in a low, raspy tone, "It's about time you learn that running is NEVER an option."
He reeks of flat beer and stale cigarettes. The man reaches down, grabs her frail arm, and jerks her up to her feet. Suddenly, the little girl is being dragged across the rough dirt floor, her feet covered in cuts and calluses.
Finally, he stops in front of a large, old, rusted animal cage with the gate swung wide open. With a flick of his arm, her feet are no longer planted to the ground as she flies through the stagnant air for a moment, then slams into the cold bars.
"GYAH!"
The little girl lets out a pained cry upon impact, slides down and hits the bottom with a thud. She attempts to move, but even an inch is too excruciating, and her eyes begin to well up with tears. A searing pain throbs in her back, momentarily paralyzing her.
The boorish man slurs out his words in annoyance, "This is your own damn fault, y'know. Your little escape attempt is what got you here in the first place, and I'm not going to let this slide." As he finishes his rant, he forcibly shuts and locks the door, then turns around and disappears into the dark.
Click.
A familiar and ominous sound echoes from nearby. Soon more join in, one after another. Something stirs in the shadows and slowly unveils itself from the darkness. Deadly yellow fangs, black eyes throwing daggers, and long knifelike claws stalk towards her, ready to maul and tear their prey apart.
Her body stiffens and trembles as if she is in a snowstorm. Fear spreads over her face while more beasts creep forward, collapsing her world in on her. They snarl and slobber as they grow ever so close, ready to attack. Impatience overcomes one of the canines and it digs into the ground as it lunges at helpless, little Renate.
Her impending doom closes in fast, and she instinctively throws her hands up in front of her face, expecting the worst. Eyes shut tight, she waits for the inevitable, until she hears a familiar panicked voice call out to her.
"Eveline!"
Her eyes sluggishly open as she wakes to a completely different reality. She is no longer inside a cage, yet she still feels trapped.
The ground beneath her feet feels damp, rocky, and cold. It's covered with moss and the stench of mildew. In the dim light she can barely make out her surroundings. Her eyes finally clearing, she finds that she is surrounded on all sides by rough stone walls with no exit in sight and illuminated from above by an eerie blue light. Mysterious cave-like openings can be seen covering the walls. Unearthly, bellowing noises emanate from the dark orifices.
At the opening of many of the holes she sees peculiar white objects of varying sizes. Small bone shards are scattered in piles smeared with dark, blackened stains.
"W-where am I?" Renate breathlessly whispers, chilled and shocked to her core.
She becomes aware that her voice is not her own as her eyes turn down to catch sight of a more mature and curvy body. Her clothes are tattered and torn, but they appear to be very old fashioned, almost as if from the Victorian era. '"What is this?", she wonders under her breath.
Puzzled by her appearance, Renate hears the same worry-stricken tone that cried out that unfamiliar name to her from above. Tilting her head back, she peers up to see the figure of a man leaning over the pit.
She tries to make out his image as she strains her eyes to take in every little detail. Finally, she catches a glimpse of him. A vision of light brown hair crowning a man's head with suntanned skin appears, in spite of the dimmed light.
He seems panicked and distressed, like he frantically needs to reach her. Renate focuses even harder while trying to get a clearer look at his face, but before she gets the chance, a high-pitched screeching sound crashes into her ears!
Jolting awake in her seat; Renate hurriedly scans her surroundings, still confused and perturbed by the unsettling nightmare.
With her heart pounding out of her chest, she lightly glistens with sweat. All her hair stands on end as she takes a deep breath in. With her attention turning to the aisle, she notices a few other passengers, mainly elderly people, starting to step down off the shuttle.
She exhales a sigh of relief as she picks up her forest green backpack and pushes off into the aisle.