#santamurphy

I was afraid of dying, and I am not afraid of anything at least I try not to be. When our commander said, “For your treasons, you will suffer death.” I felt my heart drop that day; though my face showed no fear, on the inside I was quivering like a young child. That’s why, when an opportunity of escaping popped up I did just that.

When my guard was paying no attention to me I bashed him over the head with a rock. Afterwards I felt really bad because the guard had been a really close friend of mine, but it was either he or I. I choose myself.

I knew for a fact our commander would not let a traitor go without paying for their crimes so not once have I taken time to rest. I have forgotten how long I’ve been running, almost a day I believe. I was dehydrated, hungry, and exhausted. All I wanted to do was to rest, but unless I wanted to be returned to the Ice Nation and be killed I could not stop. Taking a moment to stop and catch my breath I practically fell against the tree that was next to me. Placing my hands on the trunk of the tree to hold myself up I tried to calm my breathing with deep easy breaths.

The sound of twigs snapping and bushes ruffling caused me to perk up.

Glancing behind me I gasped as an arrow flew past my head. “No, no no no.” Pushing off of the tree I forced my legs to work. I honestly felt like I was floating on thin air my legs were so numb, which also meant I was running very clumsily. Crashing into trees, loosing my footing causing me to tumble to the ground before getting back up.  

My breaths came in short rugged pants, and my eyes were blurred from my tears that streamed down my face freely. I was no longer trying to watch where I was running because I could no longer see where I was going, and no matter how hard I tried I knew losing them would be impossible. They were experts in tracking and they never gave up unless they were dead.

Reaching a hand up and wiping the tears from my eyes I flinched slightly as a branch smacked me across the face, distracting me. My foot got caught on the root of a tree twisting it in the wrong way. A scream of pain slipped out of me as I felt my ankle shift out of place. Everything within the next few seconds seemed to happen within a few seconds. It felt like I was flying for a split second and then I smashed into the ground. A groan broke through the silence as my back collided with a large rock. Falling down the hill I could feel every sharp rock, every thorn and branch.

I knew the damage to my body would be more than external as I could feel my ribs cracking, and bones in my body popping out of place. After I hit my head though, all the pain that had overwhelmed me washed away. My vision had gone black despite the fact it was broad daylight out, I couldn’t hear anything except for a ringing in my ears.

Just when I felt like I was never going to stop rolling, I collapsed on top of a very hard surface on my back. My body was sprawled out very uncomfortably; my left leg was bent in a direction my leg should not go, one of my arms was tucked up under me causing my back to arch, my neck was craned as my head dangled resting on the steep side of the rock, my broken arm was resting at my side while from my elbow down was sprawled out to the right. With the positions my body was twisted in I was glad I was numb to all my sense and could not feel pain.

After a while my ears stopped ringing and I could finally hear the world around me again. Of course it was just the screeching of birds and the wind rustling the leaves. Though, eventually I did hear footsteps approaching me. Slowly, as it was clear they were trying not to tumble down the hill like I did. To tell the truth, I had no clue how I was not knocked out by now. I still couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t move my body in anyway, and my breaths were short gasps. As the footsteps approached I tried to turn my head, I tried to blink the darkness away, I wanted to cry out but I could do none of these things.

“Is she dead?” a rough voice spoke, a voice I knew but could not put a face to.

Probably because I couldn’t think clearly and there were gaps in my memory.

“Not yet, with the damage she took it is quite clear that she will not last long. Not in the shape she is in.” Dallas!! The sound of his voice made me strive to get his attention. I still had no control over my body so I lay helplessly.

I couldn’t tell what was going on, no one was saying anything anymore.

“Dallas, what are you doing?” The same rough voice from before spoke breaking the silence.

“She is suffering, I am going to put her out of her misery.” For a second my

heart began to race pumping blood through my body, which meant I could feel all the pain all over again. It faded as fast it came though, so I did not have to suffer long.

“No, if the commander were here she would say let her suffer. She deserves it, now get up and let’s go. We have to report this back to the commander,” his voice made me sick to my stomach because of the fact his voice was so dead. After he spoke I could hear the fleeting steps of the guards who had been hunting me down.

A deep sigh next to me caught my attention, “I’m sorry Hannah…. I hope you do not have to suffer long.” While he was speaking I could feel myself fading into darkness. The last thing I remembered was feeling him place a gentle kiss to my forehead. That moment was when everything went black.

~*~

I could not feel anything, I could not hear anything, and I could not see anything but I could smell the sweet aroma of logs burning. A smell I have loved since I was a child. Which made me think maybe, just maybe I was dead. In a world now where I could be happy and enjoy all things I love. The only issue with that is, if I were dead and in another world I would be able to feel, and hear and see. Right?

After a while though all senses in my body began to flood back. My first sense to come back was my ability to hear. I was welcomed with a loud ringing in my ears that slowly drowned to welcome the crackling of a burning fire. My next sense was the ability to feel. I was able to wiggle my fingers, even if it was painful and only my left fingers. Finally my ability to see came back. At first all I seen was a blinding white light, so I blinked repeatedly. Slowly the white light faded into stars, which then faded into darkness. Darkness that was solely lit by the burning fire that was sat a few feet from me.

I tried to sit up but in doing so pain shot through my body causing me to cry out in pain.

“Don’t move. Moving will cause you excruciating pain.” an orotund voice spoke catching my attention. I turned my head, craning my neck just to look at him.  

It hurt to turn my head but I wanted to look at him, I wanted to see his face. I couldn’t turn my head far enough to look at him though and yet again pain coursed through my body.

“Hey, I said not to move,” as he spoke he walked over to where I was lying.

“I-I” I croaked trying to speak which was a mistake because it sent me into a coughing fit. In-between coughs groans slipped out, the young man was quick to get to my side. He placed a hand on the back of my head, lifting it ever so slightly before placing what was supposed to be a makeshift cup to my lips.

“Drink this, you might not be able to talk for a while but your throat will not

be as sore.” As he tilted the cup forward enough that water drizzled into my mouth I studied him. He had deep brown hair that hung grazing the tops of his ears. From what I could tell he had blue eyes, much like mine, but a deep-sea blue. His skin was a relatively normal color, but was a bit more on the tan side. Since he was kneeled down next to me I could not tell what the build of his body was like, but from what I could see he was fairly well built and a bit on the slim side.

When my eyes finally wandered back to his he was already looking at me.

When he lowered the cup thinking I had had enough water for the moment, he set it down on the ground next to him. He sat staring at my face intently for what felt like an hour, but in reality was only three minutes. Which was when he decided to get up and walk over to wherever he had been before I had waken up. “When I found you, you were covered in blood. I honestly thought you were dead already when I had found you, as you weren’t breathing, at least it looked like you weren’t. Then you started coughing, and groaning,” he seemed to pause as he was speaking. Thinking through his thoughts, deciding what would be safe to say and what wouldn’t.

I managed to turn my head enough to see him. He was sat resting against a tree a good distance from the fire, staring down at his feet. When he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Never mind, you probably have no clue what I am saying to you.”

“I may not-“ trying to speak again had caused me to cough slightly but I had gotten it under control after a few seconds, “may not be exactly like you, but I understand the words you speak. How, I do not know. I just do.” That was all I had to energy to say, it hurt too much to try and say anything else. Opening my eyes I looked over to the man sat against the tree. He looked at me in a curious manner; his eyes were clouded over with an emotion unknown to me.

After a moment the corners of his lips turned up into a smirk and he shook his head brushing his hand through his hair. “Do you remember anything?” he questioned the smirk fading from his face.

I tried to chew on my bottom lip for a moment, but hurt too much so I lay there thinking. Trying to remember anything I could, but I remembered nothing. No matter how hard I tried to think of something I came up blank. “N-no.” my voice was rough and shaky. He probably had a hard time understanding me so I shook my head in reply. When I looked over to him his face was expressionless, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

I studied the way his jaw would clench and unclench as he was thinking, and the he would automatically brushing a stray strand of hair back out of his face. How his deep brown eyes stared off into the distance emotions flooding into his eyes before fading away.

“Anyway; I’m not a doctor or anything but I can tell when bones are broken, and when injuries are to great to be fixed by one man who has no healing skills,” he chewed on his bottom lip slightly before standing up and walking over to me, “your ribs they aren’t broken, at least not from what I can tell. Though there is something wrong in the area of your body. Your arm- is broken quite clearly. That’s it for broken bones, but you probably have a ton of fractured bones and there is nothing I can do about that. Lucky for you I know some people who could fix you right up.” As he walked over to where I was he grabbed the cup of water and lowered down into a crouch next to me.

He lifted my head off of whatever it had been resting on and placed the cup to my lips, slowly allowing me to drink the water. When he sat the cup down and lowered my head back down my gaze wandered to the sky. Studying the stars that shun above us, glowing and dancing in the night sky. “My name…. My name is Hannah.” I muttered having no clue how I knew that.

He looked at me, almost startled for a second before a smile rested on his face. “Well Hannah, you should rest. It will help your body to heal.” He spoke his tone gentle.

He stood up and turned about to walk away when I reached out and grabbed his arm, “Your name. What’s your name?” I was truly curious and I had no clue why.

Maybe it was because this man had saved my life.

“Murphy. My name is John Murphy.”

36: have you ever wanted to be invisible?

yes oh god yes /horrible flashbacks to every single embarrassing moment i’ve lived through/

37: have you ever wanted to be everywhere?

nope, there are some places you should never want to be o.o

38: if you could change any one thing about your current surroundings, what would it be?

... the company /glares at the unwanted guests in my living room/

39: do you hear things in layers or all at once?

due to my tendency to overanalyse everything, probs in layers.

40: neon light or natural light?

neon

41: if you could choose one instrument to master overnight, which would it be?

a torture instrument guitar probs i should really pick it up again one day

42: are you okay?