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

everything, his presence itself was enough to drive me nuts, but the plan was to keep him out, to never let him know that he had power over me.

“You are back.” Ryan said carefully, thinking maybe he was still angry at him, but he wasn’t so he just replied normally.

“Yah, I went over to the river that’s why I came back late. Father isn’t back yet, is he?” he said; his voice, I wouldn’t say it was like of an angel but pretty close to it. He then looked at me and that’s when I realized that I’ve been staring at him none stop, and soon after our eyes met I moved mine right away, I didn’t want those seductive eyes to captivate me, because I knew I would be totally drowned in them, in fact they were the ones who got me in this situation in the first place. If I didn’t look him in the eyes back in the woods I wouldn’t need to fight all these emotions and images in my mind.

“He is not back yet. But your mom is back, and she asked for you.” Ryan said, while I was acting like I didn’t want to talk to him, so he didn’t bother talking to me either, I felt a pinch that he didn’t bother to speak to me anyway, I wanted him to. Even a slightest interest on me made me happy, even though I was the one pushing him away.

“I’ll go and see her now.” He said shortly and headed to the kitchen with the rabbit and the bird he hunted, and once he was gone the intensity in my chest, the urge I could never know what it was, finally released me. It was just a couple of hours passed since I met him, but he already had so much effect on me, I didn’t want to know what it would be like after days.

“And I guess it’s my time to go home now.” Ryan said but suddenly I grabbed his hand,

“No, don’t leave.” I said in panic, my eyes wide open and my hands clenching his very tight,

“Okay, I won’t leave.” He said softly as if he saw how terrified I was,

“I mean until Peter’s father come.” I tried to act normal again and released his hand, I never knew I could get so scared of being alone, I mean Peter was here but as long as he knew I hated him, so sitting with me and chat was not possible. The only person who made me feel a little bit normal, and that I wasn’t completely lost was Ryan, that’s why I got terrified when he said he was leaving.

And to my surprise the door was opened again and someone got in, he was a man, fat with big belly and strong arms, also tall and he looked a lot like Peter except for the body; maybe because he was working in a bar and also he was a barker. The first person his eyes landed on was me and that scared the hell out of me. I thought he was going to kick me out right away, but when he saw Ryan beside me, his facial expression changed a little. He was more relaxed this time; I was proud of myself for asking him to stay because I could’ve been in a lot of trouble if I’d let him go before.

“Good evening Mr. Gilbert.” Ryan greeted him nervously, guessing he was as worried as I was,

“Evening Ryan, have you come to introduce,” he didn’t finish his sentence,

“Good you are back, come to the kitchen and have dinner, you too Ryan, and the beautiful girl.” Peter’s mother called, Peter’s father just cleared his throat and complied; then, Ryan and I followed, my heart was going hundred miles per hour. Because I knew there was going to be questions, and I was not sure if I would be able to answer them, I didn’t even know much about myself, how was I going to tell people about me then? This was definitely my doomsday. Except if someone was going to save me, and who was that person; I was hoping Peter to save me because he was the only person who could convince his father.

At the kitchen, there was one side where there was stove, and the other side there was a tiny dinning, Peter was sitting on a homemade chair and he was playing with two little children which seemed like they were twins, they looked so much alike. When I entered the kitchen both their eyes shot at me and they asked,

“Who is that?” the one with slightly brown hair asked, which made Peter look my direction and once my eyes met with his, I quickly looked to the ground.

“I’ll let you guess little one.” Peter said as he pinched her nose a little.

“I know, she is your girlfriend.” The other one with black hair said, which made me gasp in surprise.

“Where did you learn that? You know five years old children aren’t supposed to know that.” He said calmly and picked her up, then put her on his lap,

“That’s not true, every one of our friends knows about that, isn’t that true Bridgette?” she said confidently,

“That’s true Ana, even Sidney and Ken are calling themselves girlfriend and boyfriend.” Her twin sister answered, I guess Sidney and Ken were their friends.

“But that’s not right, you shouldn’t have boyfriends this young, or else the king will catch you and put you in the dungeon, do you like that?” Peter told them, I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but it was more likely a lie to scare his sisters.

“No we don’t like that,” they said in unison, and they looked a little scared.

“Okay children, sit on your chairs. And no more talking or moving around,” his mother ordered and they sat down, and so was all of us.

We all fit perfectly around the table with lamps that was above at the ceiling and on every corner of the room, which gave an unusually comfortable light in the house. There was rice and fish and vegetables, and also some fruits; my guess they were raspberries.

Couple minutes passed and all of us were quiet, the only sound was of spoon moving on plates, and of the two children who were whispering about things to each other while their mother was shooting warning looks at them. Peter’s father was busy eating and Ryan as well; Peter was thinking about something, I could tell from the distant gaze of his eyes, and with time to time spoonful of food. Maybe he was thinking on how he was going to tell his father that I was going to stay with them. And if what Ryan told me was true that’s why he was so stressed about it.

“Who is this young lady? And she is not your girlfriend, is she Ryan?” Peter’s father asked out of nowhere, with his mouth full of food,

“No Sir, she is not my girlfriend.” Ryan said awkwardly,

“Then she is Peter’s.” he suggested, and that made the little girls giggle quietly,

“Can I talk to you father?” Peter’s voice sounded nervous, and I wasn’t sure if what I was thinking was right or not, because I thought he was going to confess that I was his girlfriend, so that I could get to stay in his house. The mere thought of it made me feel butterflies in my stomach, and at the same time made me change my position on the chair because suddenly I felt very tense, I didn’t know whether I liked the idea or not. But there was no other choice, if he was going to tell his father that I was his girlfriend then I was going to have to roll with it.

“But not before you finish your dinner first.” His mother interfered, and his father cleared his throat in agreement, then the whole table went quiet and I was most scared of the silence, it was eating me, I didn’t remember my past but I had a feeling that I never liked too much silence. Then, thank god the dinner was over; Peter and his mother and his father went to the living room to talk about something while Ryan and I were left there at the dining table, the little girls were told to go to sleep afterwards and left right away. I was nervous, I never knew I could get this nervous before, so I kept rubbing my hands with each other until Ryan stopped me,

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I know Peter, he is going to make them understand.” Ryan said as he put his hand on mine, which gave me some assurance I needed.

 

****

I knew my mom was okay with it since Ryan already told her everything. And now the problem was my father, I couldn’t say he was conservative, but he was pretty close to that. And my job was to make him understand that it was no harm letting the girl stay with us for couple of days, even though I knew that it could be longer than that.

“Okay Peter, what is it you wanted to tell me?” my father cut straight to the point, the one thing he knew how to do very well, maybe it was because of working at the bar or something.

I cleared my throat and used the same method he used, “she is not my girlfriend, but she needs to stay with us. Because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” I said cautiously, but my dad suddenly said,

“She appeared, didn’t she? David, do you know what those people are?” he went from normal to def. con one in an instant, and that was not good at all.

“Father, she is just a normal girl. And she needs our help.” I said quietly but strongly just like him, we were being quiet so that Ryan and she wouldn’t hear us.

“Let me tell you, those people aren’t like anybody around here. They come here for a purpose, how do you know if she is a villain or hero? Or if she is something worse?” he said in panic,

“Dad this is no time for stories, what does villains and heroes have anything to do with that girl?” I asked in confusion, even though I remembered his stories in pieces I still couldn’t connect the dots.

“Her coming is called an occurrence, there hasn’t been any in a long time. And that is a sign that it’s only a beginning because there’s always a set of events with it, if she is a hero then we must be thankful, but if she is a villain expect some suffering, a lot of suffering.” He said but honestly I don’t think I understood half of what he said, he was like some kind of prophet for a minute there.

“What are you talking about dad?” I asked him,

“What I’m saying is that these people always come with chain of events, some of them are good and some are bad, terrifying even. But you won’t understand it now,” suddenly he was calmer and very thoughtful, but I already knew he was going to be okay. I still wanted to know one thing though.

“So can she stay or not?” I asked him, a little impatiently this time.

“If there is a person who can keep an eye on her, things might not get so much out of hands, so I guess we may keep her. Yes, she can stay.” He finally concluded,

And that was the one thing I wanted to hear, all those prophetic blabbering he was blabbering about didn’t matter to me at all. I didn’t even understand what the hell he was talking about, and I knew asking for explanation will only result in more confusion. We went back to the kitchen where we found Ryan and Lexa waiting nervously.

“Well, I’ve talked with my son and we’ve reached a conclusion, you can stay.” My