#ryna

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It was a cloudy day in the little village you called home, roosters constantly crowing as if they were trying to one up each other tended to awaken the entire town, no matter how much distance was between them.

You awaken to the morning sun in your eyes, so you turn into your pillow before pushing yourself off of your mattress.

Your family owned the most popular (and only) general store in town, usually selling the leftover products from various small farmers throughout the region.

Many people thought that your family was inspiring, others looked upon you with scorn, and yet, recently, the friends you had made never thought of even being jealous about how much more your family makes than theirs, or that they can afford separate beds for all of you.

And it was these friends that usually found themselves peering into your ground level bedroom window, typically with Bolek somewhere in your family’s tomato garden.

“Wake up sleepy head! We’re going to that old cabin that we found!” Celina says as she leans partly over your window frame.

“You forget-“ A yawn and a stretch interrupt your sentence “-I still have to help my folks and sweep the store.”

“Oh boooo!” Oleg says before giggling to himself.

Ryna spoke in her usual down to earth monotone voice: “We’ll just meet you up there if you want.”

“Actually yeah…you guys go do that.” You say before standing out of your bed and making your way to the kitchen.

“Crew, let’s rooooolllll out!” Celina says before they all leave for the cabin in the woods.

Your morning goes by mostly the same as normal, you have something to eat, clean the store for your parents and say goodbye before leaving.

Unknown to you however, a stranger had been trailing your friends up to the cabin they intended to investigate, they thought they had lost him…

You began your ascent to the location your friends had discovered the day prior, you all had been wandering through the woods but now there was a path of exposed dirt to follow.

You passed by many things on the way up however, random chicken, and what you assumed to be a pigs femur all strewn in the grass alongside the path.

The sky seemed to darken as you walked, a storm seemed to be approaching, or perhaps you were walking into it, you weren’t sure.

You passed by a rotting fence, and a metal object caught your eye, it was rusted and well worn, but it piqued your curiosity to the point where you stepped off the path to pick it up.

It sat in the grass that came no higher than your ankle, the handle was covered in dirt and looked like it could splinter you if you weren’t careful.

You lifted it to eye level to get a better look at the object, it was a mattock, a digging tool.

“I guess they were digging holes for the fence posts…but gave up?” You say to yourself, and upon hearing your own voice upon the hillside you notice, it’s gotten eerily quiet.

The birds that once sung their songs have all gone quiet, the wind that once rustled trees and blew against your ears has been standing still for the better half of a few minutes.

You began walking towards the cabin once more, quickening your pace for some reason, you didn’t know why.

Upon approaching the cabin you saw a raven with a pebble in its mouth tapping upon the window, another croaked upon the half destroyed wooden door that seemingly lead to an underground storage area, and lastly a raven landed upon your shoulder and began preening itself as the thunder rolled overhead.

Your curiosity had once more gotten the better of you, and you descended into the underground area, the stairs creaked as you walked, the air seemed almost stale…and metallic.

You descended deeper and deeper into the underground area and when you finally reached the bottom you saw three doors, the left and middle ones were closed, the right was open and there stood an older man, a lantern in one hand, knife in the other.

You saw Celina standing in front of her friends, trying to defend them…you don’t know what controls your body at this point, but you lunge forward with a “No!” And drive the pick end of the mattock into the man’s neck, before pulling him to the ground.

The older man looked up at you without fear, in fact he seemed rather impressed judging by his gaze.

“Well?” He asked, laying on the floor, blood spilling from his neck, and a crooked smile on his face.

Without a seconds more of hesitation you slammed the axe end down into his skull, once, twice, thrice, four times, before Ryna the usually quiet one grabs onto your arms to stop you.

“He’s dead.” She’s says, and you drop the weapon, collapse onto your knees and sigh, exhausted.

Bolek and Oleg tackle you to the ground in tear filled happiness, Celina and Ryna join soon after.

All of you embrace in the dark, dirty, musty, blood smelling basement as the old man finally dies, after all these years.