Chapter Five: Cyrus

I wake up to what feels like morning, even though it's dark outside, I know a few hours have passed, so I'm not surprised. I think I'm laying on a blanket, but it feels like one that should be long turned into dust, it is so scratchy and hairy. I sit up.

I look around myself to try and gather where I'm at. I let my eyes focus with what little light is allowed to touch my optic nerve, and scan the room. Dust, dust, and more dust. A lot of cluttered furniture, a couch being one of them; which I'm on, and it's warm, stuffy even, in this....basement? I'm covered up in a nice blanket, unlike the one I'm sleeping on. It is nice and soft, and has an image of a gorgeous, dark gray wolf on the front of it. It looks familiar from somewhere, however I am not sure where.

Suddenly the door creaks open and I hide under the wolf blanket, and pretend I'm asleep. I feel a hand pet my hair that is peaking out of the top of the blanket and I hear a sigh. The blanket is taken off of me, and I think folded, at the end of the couch. Couch is suddenly not underneath me anymore; he picked me up.

When I am set down in the new room, wherever that is, I can tell there is a light on, and I wait to hear the door shut before I open my eyes and look around. A bathroom. I notice a dulled, however still there, red, blinking light in the edge of my peripheral vision and look over to see a camera, well hidden in the top corner of the room.

Pretending not to notice it, I undress, dropping my clothes to the floor and run water in the tub to clean myself. I notice some three set claw marks on occasion on my legs, and a little scratch on my side.

Where did these come from? Oh well.

This is a constant occurrence for me, injuries, bruises or scratches I get all the time and don't know what they are from, or how long I've had them.

I finish washing up, then dress myself in the clothes left in a pile on the sink counter for me. Fuck folding the shit for your guest, I guess. How did I get here anyways? Last thing I remember was just making into the tree line after running from...what was it? There was someone in the house, I was attacked but then I wasn't, who saved me? I think it's the same person that brought me here.

A knock sounds at the door. I stand in silence waiting for them to get frustrated and shove the door open, but that never happened. So, I took a deep breath and answered.

"Yes?" I ask. I hear a shuffle from outside the door, as if in hesitation.

"May I come in?" he asked politely.

"Uhh... sure?" I watched as the door handle turn, for once nervous to meet the person that I think saved my life, or kidnapped me.

He opened the door and stepped inside, keeping eyes on the ground as if I were still half naked. Such a gentleman.

"I'm decent."

"Well I should hope so otherwise we won't be able to get along much." He smirks, proud of his little joke, then got serious. "You're hurt." He states as a-matter-of-factly.

I shake my head. Confused as to what he could possibly mean. There's no way he knows about my wounds unless...

I take a quick glance at the camera, remembering what I learned in school saying the blinking red light meant 'recording'. The glance couldn't possibly have been a second in length, but I know he noticed, because he said:

"I could smell the blood, the camera is only for when I take in any wounded forest animals, I leave them in here and monitor them while I'm away from the house. To be honest I don't know where the monitor controls are anyway to turn off the camera, so it's kind of still on. All the animals have been gone from the woods for quite some time now, unfortunately. I am not sure why, though. "

He looks at me, as if expectant for dialogue, but I just nod instead.

"My name is Cyrus, what's yours?" He asks as an opening to another conversation.

"I'm Casey. Casey Rineheart."

"Casey..." He says as if remembering something. "Who is your father?"

I blink, taken aback by the odd question asked to me just now.

"Umm, Elias Rineheart, why?" A flash of unease overtakes Cyrus' face, but is gone quickly.

"No reason, just thought I might know him, you look familiar."

I shake my head. "No way you could possibly know my dad. I'm not from around here. My mom passed away, willing her cabin out here to me, and I graduated a few days ago, so I decided to move out here."

"Interesting." He says. Then nothing more, and proceeds to the kitchen and grabs a Kool-Aid pouch out of the fridge, cherry flavored, and starts to drink. I walk over and grab one as well, and he stops me. "You don't want to drink those."

I shoot a small glare at him. "Really? And why not? You're drinking one."

"Trust me." He says and hands me another drink, a different one this time, a different flavor, and I take it. Watermelon. Gross.

"So how come you found yourself in my house? It's in the middle of nowhere."

He seems to think about his answer a minute before he responds. "I was in the area, and I heard what sounded like a scuffle and assumed it wasn't some human family rough housing, so obviously, I went to check it out and saw you getting attacked." He gulps, knowing that I know he gave himself away. Only question is, do I really want to know?

Yes I do.

"You said 'some human family'..."

"Yes." He said. And I never knew how much that one question was going to change my life.