Day Five/Six

 Oops, I forgot to post yesterday. I've been editing my book some more. I'm not sure about where this section leaves things. I don't want it to feel like a random incident in the book, but the larger explanation for it doesn't come until much later. Does it feel out of nowhere to you?
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 Esmeralda opened her eyes the next morning to find she had slept comfortably and soundly. She looked around, but nothing looked different from when she had gone to sleep. She didn’t know what she had been expecting to happen. She was starting to think there was anything to be worried about. ‘All in my head,’ she repeated to herself. Once she was on the path again, she began to relax. She really was doing this. She left Fishery, and she was on her own. 

When she got to the next town, there was about an hour of daylight left. Esmeralda went to the local inn, got a room, and went directly upstairs to relax until tomorrow. She lied on the bed, staring at the ceiling. There wasn’t much to do besides letting the time go by, and think. She went into her bag and pulled out her dinner, some salted meat. ‘I can’t believe this is going to have to pass as my dinner,’ she considered broodingly. She nibbled at it, watching out her window, waiting for the sun to go away so she could sleep and start again the next day. She knew this journey might be dangerous, but she hadn’t considered how boring it’d be at times. 

It wasn’t long before she wanted to check out the town. If she was looking for her siblings, she was going to have to do more than travel and sleep. The only thing to decide was whether she should do more than travel and sleep right now. She was unlikely to find them here, after all. She heard them. They were going to Penance. And they left over a week before she did. Although as Esmeralda questioned herself, she began to see it was because she was worried. The inn felt very sketchy, and the room was not well kept. Eventually, she convinced herself that she should be more adventurous because she wasn’t going to find her brother and sister if she wasn’t brave enough. 

Perhaps it was because she was accustomed to the noises of Fishery, but the town seemed exceptionally quiet. No dogs barking, no chatter. She was also surprised how nice the town looked. They didn’t look expensive, but rather like normal looking cabin type houses with nothing decorative, but nothing wrong either. The inn certainly didn’t reflect this. Perhaps they just don’t like visitors here. It was a tiny place, so it didn’t take her long to see the town. Feeling a bit cheated out of a good walk, and wanting to avoid going back to the inn, she decided to explore a bit more in depth. Esmeralda walked along the large wall at the back of the town. She’d assumed it was to keep out the swamp natives, until she came across a narrow pathway in the middle. For someone who was so worried about leaving the inn, it might seem surprising that the girl never considered the possibility that she might not want to come across whatever was on the other side of the wall, but paths are meant to be followed. The burning curiosity of why this pathway was here and where it lead to pushed out the thoughts of whether or not she wanted to find out.

On the other side of the wall seemed to be the majority of the town, though much more run down. There were many shacks, and even some tents. There were more people around, but they all seemed to only be out in order to get somewhere else. These were probably the people who worked for the people who could afford real houses on the other side of the wall.

As she was reaching the edge of the town (the real edge of town this time), she thought she heard someone yelling. She started walking towards it before her mind had a chance to make a decision. ‘It probably wasn’t even real. I’m sure I just imagined that. It’s just that it’s gotten dark.’ She stopped and started backing away, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. ‘It’ll make me feel better just to see… I’m sure it’s nothing.’ Unfortunately, as she moved closer, it didn’t go away. It turned into a man, pleading with someone. She couldn’t hear what was being said, just the begging and sobbing of a broken man. Her mind tried to convince her to go back. ‘Pretend you never heard anything. It’s none of your business. He probably deserves it.‘ And yet her feet kept moving forward. She saw the man as he was collapsing to the ground. More importantly was the man standing over him with a sword (or a knife, she wasn’t entirely sure). 

‘RUN. Run now!’ Her feet were ready to obey her now, but didn’t get the message before the man turned around to see her. She ran as fast as she could. He was faster. He tackled her and held her to the ground.

“What did you see?”

“Maybe next time you should do private things in private.” He pulled her head back by the hair and a knife appeared in front of her throat. ‘Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I’m so stupid. Did I really say that out loud?’ “I…I meant nothing! I heard nothing, I saw nothing! All I meant by it was… if you’re concerned about what I saw, maybe you could benefit from some more, uh… discretion?” This wasn’t going to work, was it?

“Who’s asking about me?”

“I don’t even know who you are!”

“I’m nobody. And who the fuck are you?”

“Just a random girl, I swear! I don’t know anything! I was just coming through town and I thought I’d look around. Please, I’m sorry.”

“Bullshit. No one looks around town. Only two kinds of people come back here. Which kind are you?”

“I—I swear I don’t know! Please. I was just all cooped up in the inn, and went looking around. It was dumb, I know, but please don’t hurt me.”

Esmeralda held her breath as she waited for the man to answer. He was taking his time to consider her story. She closed her eyes, trying to think of any way that the decision of whether she lives or disappears into the afterlife could lie with her instead of this man. But what could she do? She could barely move. So she began begging in her head. Silently praying and begging, to no one in particular, for her life. 

The knife disappeared and Esmeralda was flipped over. The man’s face had clearly been on the wrong side of a blade before. He smiled a revolting smile, took his dirty, bloody hand and gently rubbed her cheek. “That’s okay, beautiful. I understand. You still put me in a bad position, my love. Now, you understand that, don’t you?” She nodded frantically. “It would, however, be a shame for such a beautiful creature to leave this world, especially like this.” A kiss on the cheek. She felt as though she were being kissed by the swamp itself. “Perhaps we can work something out.” Oh, no. No no no. A kiss on the neck. He lingered. She closed her eyes. Was this really happening? ‘Just think. You can get out of this. Maybe I can… God, I can’t breathe. Concentrate on breathing. Just breathe. Am I breathing yet?’ She felt lightheaded, and the last thing she felt before passing out was his hand pressing against her chest.