Hollow Repentance

- - - - - Izzy's POV - - - - -

Stupid Torren! How dare he spy on me as though I was preparing to run away? It was obvious that he didn't trust me in the slightest and he even tried to hide behind the curtain when I looked directly at him; pathetic! Carelessly, I followed the hedges along the outside of the maze until they reached an end. I had never seen beyond this point before, it had always been shrouded by darkness. Creepy.

Yearning for adventure and utmost freedom, I continued straight ahead until I reached the mouth of sparse forest and paused. Every horror film I had ever watched warned the poor defenseless girl to steer clear of the unknown, and this part of the garden simply screamed mystery. Taking a deep breath and balling my hands into tight fists, I stepped over the first of many protruding tree roots and weaved my way into the gathering.

What seemed like hours later, a wall blocked my path; not just any ordinary wall, a spectacular red bricked wall built so high, it disappeared over the treetops. I gazed up in awe. Suddenly, that annoying, nagging...angelic, alluring voice echoed in my mind as I recalled part of the 'lecture' from earlier.

'Stay clear of the walls...'

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled lightly to myself. What Torren didn't know, couldn't hurt him; what trouble ever came from looking at a wall, seriously? Well, I wouldn't just look, I wanted to touch it too. Cautiously (although I don't know why), I wandered over to the lower section of the wall and ran my fingers along the cool bricks, relishing the icy texture on my skin.

"I thought I told you to stay away from the walls?!" Torren's voice yelled, though I'm not sure where from.

Petrified, I freaked out, drawing my hand back and twisting on the spot, my eyes scanning through the trees to find wherever he was hiding. I wasn't going to forgive him for this! He sounded close by, otherwise I wouldn't have heard him, so I crept around the nearby trees, searching everywhere; there was no sign of him. Perhaps it was all in my head... Again.

Eventually deciding that I had just imagined Torren shouting at me, I turned away from the wall and headed left, which I hoped was away[]/b] from the mansion. It was difficult to find my way around such a magnificent garden; everything was so precise and complex, way to large for me to know how to get around. I had walked a little less than five minute when I wandered into a derelict little shed. Or, at least, it looked like a shed.

"What would a shed be doing in a place like this?" I asked myself aloud.

Obviously, having a very curious and prying personality, I strode over to the door and tried the door handle. Locked. Typical, but no matter. I smiled happily and tugged another hair grip from my hair. With great care, I straightened the tiny stick of metal out and pushed it through the keyhole, dropping down to eye level to guide the pick as quickly as possible.

The door slowly swung open to reveal an equally, if not more so, derelict room. It was barely even that; two metres squared, tops. Nothing lined the broken shelves and tiny shards of fragmented glass scattered the splintered floorboards. Disappointed, I turned my head away from the building but spotted a rusted handle in the centre of the floor. That caught my attention.

Cautiously and almost silently, I edged over to the tattered rug and crouched down to draw it back. An aged trapdoor slowly appeared before me. Something wasn't right here. Twirling the straightened hairgrip around my fingers, I thrust one end into the almost obscure keyhole and twisted my hands skillfully to find the catch. I had almost found it when an echoing and menacing voice yelled from I don't know where.

"Get out of there now!"

Startled, the hairgrip slid from my fingers and I leapt to my feet, darting out of the building as fast as my legs would carry me. I didn't know why I was so scared, I just found myself desperate to get as far away from that place and voice as possible. Panicking, I charged at a dead run out of the forested area and to the main path and driveway close to the entrance gate.

I didn't stop there. Unable to think, I continued straight past the path and over a large grassed clearing until I found the mouth of another forested area. Just ahead of the trees, I spotted a spectacular fountain, half covered in shadow and half in sunlight. Gasping for breath, I dropped onto the fountain edge in the shade and closed my eyes, calming my heart rate and listening to the soothing sound of cascading water.

I felt as though I had found my perfect place. My utopia. With nothing to do but relax, I held my eyes closed and rested my chin against my chest, thinking about everything that had happened and what was likely to happen. Would I be stuck with Torren forever, and would I ever see my family again? The very thought of my family brought tears to my eyes.

Suddenly, a twig snapped somewhere behind me and I blinked away the tears and twisted my upper body to face the darkened forest area. Straining my eyes, I spotted a shadowed figure leaning against a tree and my breathing grew shallower.

"T--Torren? Aldin, i--is that you?"

My heart stopped as the figure let out a deep chuckle and unfolded his arms, taking a single step in my direction. I could see him a lot clearer, and my heart stopped. Before me stood, not Torren or Aldin, but a stranger; a gorgeous stranger. He couldn't hold a candle against Torren, but his facial features were so sharp and thin, I couldn't help but stare.

"Good morning, my dear. Would you care to tell me your name?"

His suave, noticably Dutch accent contrasted his appearance entirely. I held silent and gulped, slowly backing away as the pallid, weak-looking male edged casually towards me. Something about him wasn't quite right, I could tell.

"No need to be afraid, my dear. I'm just curious why a delicious young girl, such as yourself, is out here all alone?"

That was it, I knew that he wasn't planning to let me walk away from him without something happening. Without warning, I twisted on my toes and ran for the mansion in what seemed like the distance. As I ran, I screamed as loud as my throat would allow me, making my throat sting as my voice rang out.

"Torren! Torren, help me!"

Suddenly, I felt the pallid man's cold breath on the back of my neck and gasped as he latched onto me, clasping one icy hand over my mouth and the other across my arms. I was trapped. He was stronger than he looked, effortless restraining my arms as I struggled desperately against his iron grip. Digging my heels into the ground and pulling with all of my might, I managed to force him out into the blazing sunlight. I had no idea why I wanted to get him there, but something in my mind told me it was the right thing to do.

Snarling maliciously, the stranger dragged me back into the shadows, withdrawing his hand from my mouth and brushing my hair to one side. My head jolted up and tears stung my eyes as an unbearable pain exploded in my neck, the feeling of two broad needles as they sunk deeper into my skin. Hoarsely, I screamed in agony and watched a distant figure swiftly approaching from somewhere near the mansion.

My eyes started to feel a lot heavier and I struggled to remain conscious as my blood trickled down my shoulder and it almost felt as though my blood was slowly being drained from my body. Losing the ability to hold myself up, my legs gave way while the stranger was still holding me and my head drooped forwards. Everything started to feel like a bad dream as I watched the floor, rapid droplets of my blood splashed onto the floor like the fountain beside me, faint footsteps echoing in my mind.

"Greytraw, you son-of-a-bitch! Get away from her now before I kill you!"

Even though I barely heard any of the words, I knew that they were angry, and murderous. Suddenly, the arms around my body disappeared and I collapsed face first onto the blood stained grass, my head tilted to the side in a way I could see the blurred silhouette towering over me but the words he spoke were too distant to understand. I was dying. Groaning in agony, I allowed the darkness to take over and eventually blacked out.

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