Okay, now I knew something was wrong. I may have been an ignorant kid, but I was pretty sure that London was just as technologically advanced as any other major city in the world. I mean they definitely had stuff like cars, busses, neon signs, and stoplights. So why was he telling me this place was London? There were none of those things. Plus there were more people dressed in old-fashioned clothing and the streets were brick instead of pavement.
I wanted to ask him why he was lying. I wanted to ask where we really were, but it was still too much trouble to speak.
“What’s with that face? You don’t believe me?”
I jumped. Could he read minds? Or maybe I was more predictable than I thought… That thought kind of made me mad. I would have to watch out around him from now on.
We went to the undertaker’s shop. It didn’t look like any undertaking place I had been to. It was more like the way you would imagine an undertaker’s place to look if you were a little kid just learning about it; like the place where a vampire might live, or like someone had gone all out to decorate for Halloween. Was this really where he worked?
‘Wow. Imagine how strange it would feel to come in here to have someone work on your loved one… ‘
At first I was kind of uneasy. I wasn’t sure how I would react if I saw a body. I’d only been to one funeral, after all; and of course that body had been cleaned and made pretty. At the moment I didn’t see any in the shop, but they were probably in the coffins he had all over the place.
I wondered what I would do now. He had already helped me way too much so it would be wrong to take advantage of him further. But it was kind of hard to refuse his help, as I still couldn’t find my voice and I really had no one else to turn to anyway. He went into a back room, saying he would find me something less bloody to wear.
‘Maybe I could leave now, while he’s distracted!’ I found myself dismissing the idea because I had the feeling that he would track me down and make me come back here with him again, anyway. The thought of that man chasing me down made me shudder; it would be scary to get on his bad side.
//////////////////////////////////////////////
Well, my cell phone was finally dry enough to turn on, as I discovered after changing. The only problem was that there was no signal. I sighed. My poor parents… where were they now? What were they doing?
Well, never mind that, I didn’t want to get myself crying or else I would never stop. Instead I typed up a text message to them and sent it. It wouldn’t go through yet, but as soon as it caught a signal it would send it.
Now I turned to look at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a simple black dress with long sleeves that flared out slightly at the ends. I found a black ribbon in the pocket of my camouflage pants (yes, I wear ribbons like a little girl- what of it?) and used it to tie back my wet hair. I hadn’t been expecting that I would be able to bathe. It was strange to do something so familiar after all the bizarre things I’d been through. How wonderful to no longer be covered in dirt and blood!
‘Well, what should I do now?’ I wondered. I supposed I should probably be looking for someone from the real world; someone who wasn’t stuck in this time warp.
I went to the window at the front of the shop and looked out. Nothing but old-fashioned people in their old-fashioned clothes; all the women were in skirts and everything. Wait! There was a lady wearing pants!
(AN: That’s my favorite sentence XD)
That had to mean she was from a modern place like me! Before I knew it I had run onto the street after her.
I looked around frantically and finally spotted her through the crowd. So began my chase through the city. She was almost unnaturally fast, though. Soon I realized she had probably noticed I was following her and was trying to lose me. I stopped then and shuddered in the cold air. I hadn’t even thought about needing a coat. It was way too late to keep going after her and it was getting cold.
‘I’ll head back now, I guess,’ Those words came to my mind easily, but I realized I now had no idea where I was. With no other choice, I just started walking in the direction I thought I had come from. The strange city was even more menacing now that I didn’t know where I was going.
Maybe that man really would track me down, I thought hopefully. He did before, after all. My stomach twisted when I thought of the mad doctor and how close I had come to losing my organs.
There was a park nearby. I don’t really know why I chose to go in there; probably because it was quiet and I was sick of being near so many people. However you want to rationalize it, I went in and when I couldn’t find a bench to sit on, found a secluded spot and just sat on the ground. I must have fallen asleep there, because suddenly it was pitch dark and I could no longer hear the sounds of people talking or horses moving nearby.
Well, at least someone was nearby. Their footsteps echoed as they came nearer. My heart sped up, ‘Who is that?’ I didn’t dare open my eyes to find out. There was a musky smell- similar to the cologne boys sometimes wore at my school- as the person came closer. I could feel their breath on my face; it smelled faintly of smoke. Then their hands were on my face. My eyes opened, ready to see some creepy man hanging over me. I was mistaken.
I knew as soon as I saw her that it was the woman I had been following earlier. Her long, silver hair was tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing a black trench coat, black pants, and a black hat. This black outfit contrasted well with her eyes, which were bright green.
“Maiden,” She spoke in a kind voice, “It’s dangerous to sleep here,”
I didn’t answer her.
“Come now, it’s dangerous here,” She repeated, making me sit up. When I was again silent, she smirked, “I see… So you don’t speak? Fine then, I’ll speak for you,” At that, she lifted me off of the ground and carried me bridal style. I gasped and held onto her tightly; she was very tall and heights are a big problem for me.
After seeing that I was afraid, she agreed to let me walk on my own but insisted I hold her hand. Honestly it was beginning to weird me out. It was like she was flirting with me, or something.
It seemed she had given up on trying to make me talk, so she announced that she would find a suitable place for me to stay.
“Maybe you could come to my place?” She suggested, slyly. That didn’t sound like a very good idea to me, so I shook my head no. She only smirked and leaned closer to me, “C’mon, why not?”
I blushed. I’d rejected a guy before but how do you reject a girl?
Would I finally be forced to use my voice after all this time? I hoped not- it would probably sound really terrible and croaky.
I was saved from answering, however, when a voice called to us, “Ah- there you are!”
We looked up. There was a figure approaching us. When he passed under a streetlamp, I saw that it was the Undertaker.
A relieved smile broke out across my face. Without thinking, I ran to him and threw my arms around him. He looked taken aback, but then smiled, “Did you get lost? You shouldn’t have wandered off like that,”
When I looked back at her, the woman, too, seemed rather taken aback, but in a way I couldn’t quite pinpoint. She also looked kind of annoyed- probably because I had blown her off.
She and Undertaker exchanged some words. The way they spoke gave me the feeling that they knew each other vaguely. She seemed to act very respectfully to him. It made me curious, probably more so than it should have. What was with this guy? I had just thought he was kind of an odd person, but now it felt like there was more to it than that.
As we turned to leave, I looked at the woman, whose name I had found out was Jeane. She took the opportunity to wink at me and wave bye. I shuddered, hoping I would never see her again.
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AN: XDDD So what do you think of Jean?~
lol dun make fun of her- she may be a fuck up but she's my fuck up XD
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