I lifted my head after listening carefully to his story. Backstories aren't something I'm too keen on, but this time I had no other option.
Tears started to fall from the man's eyes as he finished speaking. Then, a big, soft smile formed on his face when he looked at me. "It's okay now… Since you're here now, everything will be alright…" he told me as he got closer.
I tried to move away, but due to the ropes around my body my attempts were useless. I watched as the man approached me slowly, touching my cheek with his thumb.
Just as I did before, I bit his hand to make him stop, but the moment my teeth were buried on his skin, he caressed my hair instead of moving away. My jaw started to apply more pressure on the bite, causing his hand to bleed out. Still, even as his hand released blood under my teeth, he didn't pull his hand away.
My mouth set his hand free, hoping that he would take that gesture as a sign to get his hand away, and luckily, he did. I spat the blood on my mouth on the ground, letting out all of the fluids in it until I felt completely dry.
The man laughed at my actions as he sat on the ground in front of me. He said that he was "admiring me", which made me think he was even more creepy.
At that time, to forget all the embarrassment I was feeling because of my situation, I closed my eyes. Once I couldn't see what was in front of me, I tried to make a self report on the situation.
To begin with, I was tied up to a tree. Axie's and Dom's location were unknown, same for my t-shirt and my hoodie.
After that self report I gave myself, I tried to summarize all the relevant things that could help me get out of that situation. First, the man didn't seem dangerous, just a bit crazy. Second, since he didn't seem to have the intention to hurt me, the ropes weren't tied too tight, so if I made the right moves, I could escape by myself. And third but most important, I was being held captive because he was mistaking me with someone.
Apparently, I had the same face and behaviour of his first love, and he was holding me captive so I wouldn't run away just as she did in the past. The idea was stupid and crazy, but since we were in The Fall, one could say that it was common or average behaviour.
"Glasgow, huh?" the man said after asking me to open my eyes. "Do you remember everything now?" he then asked.
I opened my eyes, feeling pity as I saw him. I was the one who was tied up, but after seeing what love turned him into, I got convinced that the one who was being held with ropes was him.
I closed my eyes and exhaled all the air in my lungs. "Can you pass me a cigarette? I'll tell you everything after taking a hit…" I asked him while giving him an awkward and exhausted smile.
The man stood up and walked to the campfire, returning a minute later with a cigarette in his hand. "You sure seem to have a lot of these!" he said after laughing. The man then took a lighter out of his pocket and lit up the cigarette, putting it in my mouth and saying "It's good to see that you haven't changed at all during all these years… You're even using the same brand that you used before you left."
I inhaled a big quantity of smoke and after feeling it get into my system, I blew it all on his face. The man laughed as he coughed, getting closer to kiss my face while saying "You do remember me, don't you? You used to do this to me after all…"
My body squirmed under the ropes as I tried to move away from him. He didn't seem too dangerous at first, but what he was doing now seemed like something that could escalate quickly…
I made use of all the muscles in my body as I thought of pushing him away, and just as he was just a few centimeters away from my face, my leg broke free. As I moved my face to the side, trying to avoid his lips, my leg moved up and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall back.
After breaking, the ropes on my lower body loosened, allowing me to move freely around the tree. I moved all the way to the opposite side of the tree, and once I got there, I used all the strength in my arms to open a gap big enough to allow me to slide under the rope.
I fell to the ground, gasping for air as I felt all of my body being able to move freely again. I started to curse the man in a low voice, hoping that he wouldn't hear me, but after hearing him groan and get back on his feet, I knew that I had to take action.
With the help of the tree, I supported myself in it and stood up with effort. The man got up almost at the same time as me, and after seeing that I was free now, he rushed to get me.
I spent all that time tied up and listening to his boring story because of his fault, so instead of running away, I stood completely still, waiting for him to come at me. I got on my fighting stance, feeling a bit uncomfortable for the changes I had to make (since my body was now lighter because of the disappearance of Axie and Dom).
"I'm so glad to see that you're not running away…" the man said when he got close enough to me, delivering the first attack. To my surprise, despite his big build, he was surprisingly fast with his moves, and just as I saw him get through my guard, he hugged me, making me lose all of my focus on the "fight".
"Thank you…" he said as he held me tightly and effortlessly in the air. I felt awkward at first, since being hugged during a fight is something that surely makes you lose your cool, but after recomposing myself, I kicked him with both of my legs, making both of us fall to the ground..
BUMP
Right as we crashed against the grass beneath us, I managed to get out of his grasp. Since I was on top of him at the moment of the fall, I was the one with the upper hand.
My fists closed and my legs moved to immobilize him. At first, I only used my knuckles to hit his face, but after remembering all the embarrassment he made me go through, he started getting elbow strikes. At that moment, I wasn't keeping my cool in any way, I was just letting myself be driven by my own emotions.
5 minutes passed and his face, my hands, my elbows and the ground were covered in his blood. Exhausted, I somehow managed to get up. With trembling and slow steps, I started to walk toward the campfire.
As I reached my destination, my legs gave up, causing me to drop on the floor. I lifted my head after the impact and then crawled to a log that the man was using earlier to sit. My arms gathered all the strength that was left on them and then used it to pull my body up, sitting in the log afterwards.
After taking a breather, I realised that under a backpack that was beside the campfire, a piece of fabric was peeking out. I pulled it and after a few seconds, I saw that it was my hoodie.
Since the hoodie was pulled, the backpack that was on top of it rolled aside, showing everything that was beneath it: 2 axes and a blood stained t-shirt. My hands rushed to retrieve them from the ground, hugging them for a few seconds. "I missed you…" I whispered as I gave a kiss to Dom and Axie.
I took my time as I had my reunion with my beloved weapons. As I talked to them while explaining the situation we were in, I began to get dressed again.
Once I finished putting my hoodie back on, I put both Dom and Axie back in their place. I then stood up and took the man's backpack as I started to walk in his direction. "Be grateful they weren't in my hands" I said as I spat on him.
After seeing his sad figure lying on the ground, my body turned around and began to walk away from him. But just as I finished taking a couple steps, I heard a pair or groans behind me. The groans then turned into whispers, and as much as I wanted to get away, my curiosity won me over, making me return to where the man was.
I crouched in front of him, trying to make out what he was saying. A gentle and low "Don't leave again… Please…" escaped his mouth before going back to mumbling and crying. I felt pity for him, so instead of just leaving him there, I dragged him to the fire and helped him sit on the log.
"Look, man…" I said as I started explaining the actual situation. I let him know that I wasn't who he thought I was, that it was just a coincidence that me and her were so similar. But just as I finished talking, he dropped in front of my legs, crying and begging me not to "leave him again".
I let out a sigh when I saw him in that posture. It was obvious that he was so crazy that he couldn't believe that I wasn't the Layla he was talking about. So instead of just walking away and leaving him crying, I put my head in his head and said "Don't worry… this was all a dream…"
And just as I finished speaking, I stood up and started to walk away. The man looked at me with the desire to go after me, but after remembering that "it was all a dream", he just curled up and started crying, sobbing and asking Layla to go back to him.
I walked away while listening to his crying, resisting the urge to look back. I could've gone back to soothe him, but I had no time to waste: I still had to look for the weapons that would lead me to my father…