kellen maguire . (familiarspirit) wrote in exsanguious, @ 2015-10-22 15:51:00 |
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When he came to it was suddenly, abruptly, with a jolt and a start like an electric current had fired through his system to bring him back to awareness. It was with a gasp of cold morning air that he did so, his breath misting in front of his face on the way back out again and it came in short bursts after that, fear and confusion setting in quickly after the initial alarm had subsided. Where was he? How had he gotten here? What time was it? What day was it?
Kellen sat up, his dark hair falling right back across his face after he tried to sweep it out of the way, it was knotted and tangled and damp. Just dew, thank God. That did little to ease his concern, there was a bad taste on the back of his tongue that he didn’t recognise and didn’t much care to, something about it made his stomach roll but he managed to keep from emptying whatever its contents were onto the-- forest floor? All around there were trees, stretching way up into the sky, casting shadows down onto the ground below, the earth littered with fallen twigs and old leaves and every other sign that Nature ruled in this place. There were small animals scurrying around somewhere nearby, Kellen could hear them, he could smell them, they stayed out of sight but he knew they were there. When he swallowed it was dryly and with a grimace that he did so, a full-bodied shiver wracking his frame and making him realise, not without a fresh wave of concern and confusion, that he was naked.
Had he changed? With his breathing picking up speed and his heart quickening to match he looked around, trying to take stock of his surroundings, realising then that he was in something of a nook amidst a cluster of bushes and a few old rocks. A nest, almost. Perfect for a bear. The earth beyond the nook was rough and had been disturbed recently, Kellen could see familiar gouges in the dirt from claws just like the ones he’d dug in the back yard more times than he cared to recall.
Oh God. He had changed. When? How far away had he been? How much distance had he crossed? Why couldn’t he remember anything?
“Um--” Someone cleared their throat. “Hello?”
Kellen started physically and shoved himself back under more of the cover of the low hanging branches of the bushes, feeling them scrape at his bare skin. “H-hello?”
“Hi?” It was a young woman but there was someone else there as well, an older man who stepped forward just into Kellen’s line of sight.
“Oh my,” the man said, looking back over his shoulder at the young woman. Daughter? A few words passed between them in hushed tones and Kellen’s heart was pounding too hard and too fast for him to pick out what they were saying. The man’s eyes were back on him then. “Are you all right? Do you need help?”
For a few seconds he thought about saying no, shaking his head and insisting he was fine, but then it hit him anew: he didn’t know where he was or why, he had no recollection of how he’d gotten here in the first place or what it was that had made him change, he didn’t know what he had done. Before he could blink them back tears sprung to his eyes and he nodded. “Yes.” Clearing his throat to make his voice sound stronger he said again, “Yes. Please.” A pause in which he had to take a breath to steady the tremor that threatened to weaken what he went on to add, “Thank you.”