บท 27: Rumors
- Wow... what a scene.
The first thing he thought, the first thing he said. Certainly that was not a pleasant sight, but it was reality.
A woman with long golden hair who was full of dirt, disastrous clothes like straitjackets and a nauseating smell that had contained the room was what could be perceived.
The worst thing was that that woman had no arms or legs and, moreover, she was chained so that she could not move.
"What is the meaning of this ... Why is there a woman here?"
Seeing such a condition of that one person, the young man asked himself more questions about the situation.
"Her arms ... her legs ... were they mutilated ... how long has she been in this place?"
The more he thought about it, in the end only one final thought came.
"Why did that child give me this address? ... Was it because of her?"
The woman sitting on the ground with her gaze bent down and covered by her messy hair seemed to be unconscious, for even if she was seen to move, it rather looked like spasms she gave her every so often which made the chains move.
Slowly, as if the light entered through her eyes and, when she looked up, the woman woke up to the thunderous noise of the creaking of the door that was opened.
The young woman seemed not to see well, and her pale, malnourished face wobbled a little, but as she noticed a blurred black figure in front of her, she immediately opened her eyes and tried to crawl backwards.
Yes, fear made her body begin to tremble while her face only looked down at the ground.
Aren, seeing her in such a state, felt sorry for that person.
Still not having made any movement, the young man stood there watching her for a few minutes.
The woman, as if tired of his despair, and even though her eyesight was blurred, spoke.
- J-Just ... kill me ...
The young man was not surprised by that request.
- Y-You've already ... d-done what y-you wanted ... with me ...
The young woman kept talking, but Aren didn't say or move.
The woman stopped talking and stood trembling. Just then, at that moment, Aren began to walk toward her.
The disastrous young woman felt a great fear and tried to crawl backwards, but the room was closed, there was only a window in the ceiling that allowed light to enter during the day.
- D-don't come closer ... w-what else are you going to do to me? ...
Ignoring her words, Aren didn't stop until he was a step away from her.
- N-No ... p-please ... no more ...
The moans and cries of that woman did not stop the young man in front of her.
As if he didn't care about the stench and dirt that covered the woman, Aren placed his hand on the woman's head with great kindness, then, he began to caress her accompanied by a prayer.
- Do not be afraid ... I will not hurt you ...
These words did not really calm that woman, but were the following.
- To tell you the truth, I don't even know you.
The woman felt somewhat calm, but at the same time distrustful. However, the warmth of the hand that caressed her made her suddenly fall asleep and fall to the floor.
It was as if it had been a long time since she had felt kindness.
- This ... reminds me of when I first met Alice ... what a time, eh?
The young man noticed the chains that bound her to the woman. They were of considerable thickness, but were somewhat rusty. Unfortunately it was not possible to break them.
- ...
Aren continued to observe those chains with coldness until, taking them with his hands as if they were made of thread, he broke the chains with a strange strength that did not belong to a normal man.
No, to tell the truth, not even a sportsman or athlete in matters of strength and grip could accomplish such a thing.
Carrying the woman with extreme care and delicacy, Aren took her with him, but he noticed a big problem: the door was small enough for both of them to get out.
- First the Luesia thing, then the train thing, then that creature and now this ... they don't leave it easy for me, do they?
With some effort, it took about five minutes for both of them to get out of that small room.
As they were leaving the closet that hid the door, the young man carried her again to take her away carefully this time; however, as he went towards the stairs, Aren saw an older woman in fine clothes in contrast to her face full of surprise and anger at seeing him with that woman.
- ...
- ...
- W-You ... Who are you?!
- ...
- How did you find out about this place?! Who sent you?!
Although the woman tried to find out what was going on, all she received was fear.
The young man, ignoring her questions, walked by her side naturally, but the atmosphere indicated that any other reckless word or action would end in the death of that lady.
Calmly the long-haired man continued walking and then went down the stairs until he disappeared from sight on that floor.
Suddenly the lady fell to the floor perspiring and exhaling heavily.
Going down to the second floor, the second obstacle was that the door was closed when the young man had arrived; however, the door was open. Certainly, the lady from before had left it open when she entered.
But what he had not considered was that, leaving that house and walking through the inner garden, the entrance gates were closed.
- Now ... what?
Aren was in trouble now, for, with his hands full, he could not climb up and out of the place.
After a few seconds, a breeze blew both people's hair.
- I guess ... I'll have to force myself again ...
Suddenly, the old woman left the house in search of the man she had found, but found no one.
The door was not open, so she wondered where was he?
In the end, she found nothing; the young man had disappeared along with the blonde-haired woman.
Leaving the apartment at about five o'clock in the afternoon, Renato set out to go for a walk, or so he told anyone who asked him where he was going.
However, Glen secretly followed him.
Actually, not so secret, since Renato had been aware of his presence from the beginning.
Walking along the sidewalks of the wide streets, cars came and went, as well as passersby were seen walking just as he was.
At one point, when the young man reached a fast food restaurant where they sold hamburgers in particular, a man raised his hand waving from one of the tables in the establishment.
- Over here, Ren!
Renato saw two men seated and approached them.
- Stop calling me that.
- Come on, we're like brothers. - commented that man with long white hair with a childish tone.
- Yes, yes...
- Let's leave the greetings for another time, then... Could you tell us more about what you found in the canyon, Renato? - commented a black-haired man wearing a black dress shirt and pants.
- ... As I told you, it was a monster ... he was holding Vil's head as if it were some garbage he picked up from the ground.
- Really? can you explain what he looked like again? - Gajel commented.
Renato sighed.
- He had the shape of a man, but his arms were very long, so to speak, plus on one of his shoulders he seemed to have warts or rotten sores that went all the way up to his head. The last thing I saw was that it had a tail and its legs were like a leopard's ...
- ...
- It really looks like a fantasy monster, doesn't it? But if what you say is true, I guess the team they'll send to take the corpses away will encounter that thing.
- ... Right, what about the job? - Renato asked seriously.
- About that ... we have already spoken to our contractors ... and we have sent Licard with others to take the minimum required.
- I see, but will they have time? Also, have you been warned about this creature?
- Don't worry, everything is coldly calculated. - commented Gajel with the same childish tone.
- ...
- On the other hand ... you seem to have made some good friends, haven't you, Renato? - commented the black-haired man sarcastically.
Renato remained silent, directing his gaze at a young man who was near the counter buying a couple of hamburgers.
- Yes, double cheese, please.
It was Glen who was buying.
In a hotel room, a young woman with clothes that looked like dirty rags was lying on a bed; that woman with battered blonde hair seemed to be inside a bag, since neither her arms nor her legs were showing.
On the other side, a young man was bringing with him a towel and food. A couple of loaves of bread and a bottle of water along with a wet towel was what he was holding.
The woman seemed to be unconscious and the young man took the opportunity to clean her up a bit, as the stench she was giving off was very strong.
The hotel was not very hygienic either, but just for that reason the young man had no problem entering.
- This ... is worse than when I treated Alicia ... What led her to be in this condition? - murmured the man as he wiped her face.
He carefully tried to remove those dirty cloths she was wearing and what he found was disastrous: arms and legs cut like an animal, marks of blows and untreated wounds, as well as ugly bruises and sores in various parts of her body.
They had really abused her mercilessly, but what surprised the young man was that the woman's mind had not lost its reason, as it was still coherent; this meant a great mental strength that the young woman had.
When he had the naked woman in front of him he noticed something strange, it seemed that the woman did not suffer from sexual violation, perhaps it was that being in such a state, those who did this did not feel any sexual attraction.
All this was somewhat confusing, even more so with the strong stench that the woman gave off; it was as if she was rotting.
Taking the wet towel, the young man began to clean her, trying not to infect the wounds, then, with the sheets, he tried to cover her so that she would no longer wear the dirty clothes she had worn before.
Little by little, the woman woke up.
The first sight she saw was a shadow moving in various places and, although her vision was still blurry, she could understand that it was the man from before who was now still with her.
- W-where... am I? - asked the woman in a low voice.
- Are you awake already? ... We are in another place, one where those who kidnapped you, will not be able to find you. - commented the young man.
This filled the woman with relief and she began to cry.
- Y-You... who... you... are... you? - stammered the young woman.
- I am ... Aren ...
- ...I see...-It's the first time I've...heard a n-name like that...
- Don't force yourself to speak...
- N-never mind that ... p-soon I'll die ... but before I w-want to know ... how did you find me?
While Aren was lifting her up so she could eat and drink some water, she answered.
- Someone gave me this address ... it was like her last request.
The woman showed a confused expression.
- Last ... request?
- Yes, since he passed away. - Aren replied indifferently.
- W-Who ... was it?
- A boy ... his name was Marcellus.
This caused the woman to fall silent, her eyelids opened slightly and she stared up at the ceiling. After several seconds, the woman began to laugh lightly.
- S-So he died... and... sent you in... his place...
- ...
- Do you think ... for doing this ... I will ... f-forgive you?
The tears on his face came again.
- You look like you knew him.
The woman smiled in frustration.
- Knew him? ... W-Was he like ... a younger brother ...
Aren who was feeding her, fixed his gaze on the woman's eyes.
- But ... he ... he ... m-he sold me ...
It seemed as if the woman's anger was increasing, but it was not at all beneficial, in her state, to get angry. Therefore, the young man asked a question.
- ... Do you want to live?
- ¿?
The woman did not understand the question immediately.
- I asked Marcellus the same question, but he refused. So you tell me ... What do you choose?
Many thoughts came to the dying woman's mind: hatred, sadness, resentment, disappointment, but she answered with another question.
- L-Live? ... How am I supposed to live now?
- ... That doesn't matter, but tell me ... do you want to go on living?
The woman's tears kept flowing more and more; and, though she had many things to ask and many more to say, she answered only one word.
- Yes.
Then Aren stood up and, having given her enough to eat and drink, curled her up on the bed, covering her up.
The effects of the food and her condition made her feel sleepy again and, before she fell asleep, she heard him say.
- Rest up, you'll have another chance tomorrow.
As Glen, Renato and Renato's two male acquaintances sat down, a not so pleasant conversation began.
- It's nice to meet you, Glen. Tell us, how can we help you? - said Gajel.
Glen was uncomfortable.
- I-I was just passing ... by ...
Gajel and his companion smiled somewhat mockingly, while Renato sighed.
- Hey, at least hide well if you're going to harass someone! - Renato said somewhat frustrated.
Glen was embarrassed.
- Come on, don't treat him like that. Besides, wasn't he one of the ones who 'helped' you? - commented Gajel.
- ...
Glen was a bit thoughtful and confused, since he didn't know what they had talked about before.
- You are one of the ones who found that creature in the canyon, aren't you?
Glen was a bit stunned.
-Don't worry, Ren already told us, but, if you don't mind, we would like to hear your version. - Gajel commented with a somewhat intimidating smile as well as his eyes.
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