Hidden Society by Denis Daniel (short story to read txt) 📕

I was deep in my thought that I wasn’t even aware when someone got in the house, and Ryan was calling me but I didn’t hear him, so he called several times and shook me on the shoulder a little,

“I’m sorry, I was thinking about something.” I said after coming back to my senses.

There was a woman standing before me and she was looking at me with speculation; she was tall with blonde and brownish hair, just like Peter; anyone could tell that she was his mother. Her eyes were slightly brown too, different from Peter’s which were gray; maybe he had his father’s eyes.

“Hello, I am Peter’s mother, but you can call me Suzy.” she said charmingly, which was promising, and she seemed like she had a good sense of humor. Simply she was likable.

“And I’m Lexa. Nice to meet you ma’am.” I replied as I was extending my hand to shake with her.

“Oh, please just call me Suzy, simply like that. When people call me that it makes me feel old.” she said while chuckling, I wished Peter’s father could be like his mother, things would get real easy for me to stay in their house while searching for my home and my past too.

“Where is Peter?” his mother asked, and instantly I started to wonder and getting worried about him, I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help it.

“He went out, but I’m sure he will be back soon.” Ryan told Peter’s mom who soon left the room and headed to the kitchen, I think.

I wondered why she didn’t ask me anything, anything at all, like why I was in her house or why I was wearing her son’s cloak, she just left. I was at ease that she didn’t ask anything, but still I was worried she didn’t ask anything, or could it be possible that Ryan told her everything already. If that was so, then I would be grateful to him, even more, for saving me all the explanation I would never be able to give.

“Does it mean it is okay for me to stay here for the time being?” I asked Ryan after she’d left,

“She is okay with it, but Peter’s father is the one you should be worried about. But I’m sure Peter will convince them for you to stay.” he encouraged me,

But I was not very sure about it because of the way Peter left; it didn’t seem like he was going to want me to stay in his house. But I didn’t say it out loud, I just smiled at him and then I leaned on the chair and started looking at the roof and there was a beautiful ceiling of woods, maybe his house wasn’t that bad after all.

****

“Ugh, what is her problem? I’m real starting to hate her. She is so irresponsible, and annoying. I can’t believe she called my house stuffy, like her home was a palace or something.” I talked out loud on my own, didn’t even care if I would seem crazy. This girl drives me crazy, I’ve never felt like this before; I wanted her and I didn’t want her at the same time, I felt sorry for her and at the same time didn’t want to see her face. What was happening to me? I didn’t know.

I went to the woods to catch a rabbit or a bird to get mind off her because I was going to go crazy if I would keep thinking about her. I think that was the same reason why I left the house, she kept playing this sweet nice girl with Ryan while pushing me away, like I was a bad person. If I could know why she treated me the way she treated me, at least I would’ve tried to change but I didn’t know why.

I shoved the whole thing out of my mind, and started to set traps for rabbits because that was the only thing that was going to make me calm down. And after that, I went to the stream to get some fruits and swim for a while in the river, it wasn’t a very bad day for a swim. I loved swimming, but I couldn’t say the same about Ryan, he loved staying in and drawing, that was his favorite thing. I had no doubt he was drawing Lexa by that time, and she wasn’t going to resist it since she liked him more than me.

I arrived at the river and quickly I stripped my clothes off and jumped in, the cold chilled my bones, but instantly my body got used to it and started to enjoy the chilly water, I dove in and out of the water for a while, then I flipped on my back and stayed that way while looking at the beautiful sky with scattered clouds, which were like foams divided in different sizes. For a while I was normal again, I never had to worry about anything; I even forgot all about Lexa, and it was just me having a good time. I stayed in the water for a while until it was almost afternoon, and when I remembered that I set traps for rabbits and that there could be humans or animals who could steal my hunt, I suddenly bolted off the water, got my clothes on and rushed to when I left the traps because it had been hours since I put them there.

As I was approaching the place, I looked around for any sign that there was someone who messed with my hunt but it was utterly quiet, so I assumed if the trap caught something it was perfectly fine, which was a relief to me because I wasn’t ready for another loss today.

I arrived to trap and there was a rabbit hanging on it, carrots always play the trick, I thought as I pulled it off the strings. After that I started to prepare it, I never wanted my mom to do everything, so I always got the intestines out and wash it. Before heading home I went to hunt a bird, there was this place before the river bank there was always lots of turkeys, so I went there to get one, since I was pretty good in using arrows, it wasn’t hard for me to shoot one, it was as easily as drinking water. After that I started to head home.

Memories of earlier in the morning and Lexa, Ryan and the explanation I needed to prepare for my father; my mother wasn’t problem, but I doubt my father would just accept her. My father was a very self-cautious person, he always double checked everything and made sure of everything before doing anything. Bringing a girl you found in the forest in his house, that wasn’t going to be very acceptable to him. Besides he had a theory about these people who appear out of nowhere. My father is one of the oldest people in town, probably from when people started to live in it. He used to tell me stories he was told by his father when I was little, but then I thought they were just stories, so I didn’t pay much attention to them. And somehow, finding Lexa like that in the forest, made me remember those stories, but then, I thought I was too old to think about some old tale.

I pushed all them out of mind and started to think of how I was going to convince my father to let Lexa stay in our house. I remembered that I lied to one of the King’s officer, all the more reason for my father to kick her out instantly, but he would kick her out only if he finds out that I lied for her. So, that gave me the upper hand, still I needed a solid reason to make him let her stay.

I could say she was my girlfriend and I wanted to stay with her, but that would not be possible; first, because I was sure Lexa would rather kill herself than be my girlfriend, and she already chosen Ryan anyway. Second, people weren’t allowed to live with their girlfriends but their fiancé, my home is old fashioned like that. Even after cracking my brains out I still couldn’t find a sound trick to use on my father, so I decided to wait until I see him that’s when I’ll know how to convince him; well my father is easy to convince when he is drunk, if he was going to be drunk that was going to be a huge score for me.

****

It’s been hours since Peter left and he hasn’t come back yet, I wasn’t supposed to worry about him but I was. And there was no way I could put it away, Ryan and his mother weren’t concerned about it at all, like it was totally usual. I never knew this boy, but why was I so attached to him, why did I want to know how he was, why did I want to know what he was thinking, why was he the only person I was thinking about all the time?

I never wanted anything to do with him, but I still kept thinking about him, the more I tried to push him away the more his image kept lingering in my mind. Was I supposed to give in to what I felt just like that, no, no way in hell I was going to let him get a hold of my life just like that. I wasn’t even sure if the feelings were pure, or if it was just an infatuation because of saving me in the forest. Even though I fought so hard to keep the worries away, but I still wanted to know if he was okay, and unless I asked someone if he was okay there was no other way I could make myself feel at ease, so I asked Ryan who never left my side since Peter left,

“Peter isn’t back yet, do you think he is okay?” I asked Ryan while hiding how worried I actually was, and that I was just showing a little concern about him instead.

“Don’t worry, nothing knows those woods than him, he’ll be back soon.” He said comfortingly, then he looked at me adoringly. If it wasn’t because of Peter, Ryan was much easier to love than his friend, and I would’ve loved to be his girlfriend, but it looks like my heart preferred a different path, if what I felt for Peter was love because I didn’t even know what I felt for him was.

“I wasn’t worried, I just asked.” I protected myself from embarrassment, I didn’t want him to know that I was worried about his friend because he would tell him.

“Okay” he said shortly,

Soon after he finished the front door cracked and at first I thought it was Peter’s father, and that he was going to kick me out unless Peter comes back quickly. But my thought was completely changed when I finally saw the person standing at the door post. I got real excited inside, I wanted to jump and go hug him real tight, I felt my cheeks stretching to a wide grin, but I didn’t want to show him that. So, I kept my mouth as tight as I could and washed it out with one deadly serious face, like I was really annoyed with his presence.

He was holding a dead rabbit on his right hand and a bird on his other hand and his bow was hanging by his shoulder together with its sheath. His height, his body, the muscles on his arms and his massive chest made me want to run my hands through it. And his face was hot as hell, I never could get enough of this person, he was just irresistible. If someone could ask me what attracted me to this person I would say