Asking me in all sorts of ways, but repeatedly nonetheless, who I was or what reason748Please respect copyright.PENANAIOZk9PV8Nz
could I have to write such things. And after he untied the now even less threatening748Please respect copyright.PENANALB1aM8MjVG
beast of burden, he helped me find my place on top of its generous back.748Please respect copyright.PENANA2cQkXsOKGP
He then went around it, patting its massive head as he passed quite comfortably in748Please respect copyright.PENANA3aeJqR4nug
front of it; and then he too took his place to my left.748Please respect copyright.PENANAbiPIxu1Rj8
Now, with the both of us sitting side by side and ready to go, he smiled at me748Please respect copyright.PENANANeTgMNJTWN
through the corner of his mouth before shouting for our advance. But the one he748Please respect copyright.PENANAhtILmFfT1B
called ´Gorliochi´ merely let out a howl of sorts... “Quit your blubbering.” He then748Please respect copyright.PENANA089rK6nnOE
began to pull those reins on the big beast’s neck repeatedly until finally, the beast748Please respect copyright.PENANAkKMzXn6IDW
began to move... “There we go. By the way, you pay no heed to these misbehaviours,748Please respect copyright.PENANAtz9AkH7roc
alright? Ol’ Gorli here likes to act a bit lazy these days.”748Please respect copyright.PENANAZ6KgzM1r7X
“I have never seen such a creature.”748Please respect copyright.PENANA1a9absOHWN
“Yeah,” He let out a sad and drawn-out confirmation, “There are not many like him748Please respect copyright.PENANAV7FkVoWDIg
around anymore. Frankly, I would be surprised if we ever encounter another one of his748Please respect copyright.PENANAN1qxdWuCYJ
kind.” He looked at me and then threw half a smile through the right corner of his748Please respect copyright.PENANADpwV0J0vx9
mouth; “Now, why don’t you start by telling me what made you write such a thing?748Please respect copyright.PENANAgNESqOO6BW
And more importantly: what is your real connection to that old fool? You know, he748Please respect copyright.PENANAYbQUGkN02a
and I; we have been friends for the longest time girl, and I even spoke to him just748Please respect copyright.PENANAjRU52Qr8Sy
recently.” He threw a quick look my way, obviously trying to fish for any kind of748Please respect copyright.PENANAsgzdl1I5Dt
reaction; “And he has never mentioned a single word about any plans for an adoption.”748Please respect copyright.PENANAEdZXp4zCEB
“I am not that used to talking...” I warned, “what I mean is: I have not done it with748Please respect copyright.PENANAX6p2zkFFKG
that many people yet so, I might - how you say - run off at the mouth.”748Please respect copyright.PENANAZQeBWvL6mr
“Oh? Well then,” he explained through another crooked smile; one that revealed748Please respect copyright.PENANARYye0zqEYB
how few teeth he still had left, and also how big his gums were, “You can be at ease748Please respect copyright.PENANAhxH2rjZCKS
since I am not that used to listening myself. “Besides,” he continued, “We still have748Please respect copyright.PENANA1E1IEV7GJm
ways to go, and nothing to do for the whole way but talk to each other. You just go748Please respect copyright.PENANAsvMkKqxTmy
on for as much as you like without a worry. I am sure no word will feel unwarranted.”748Please respect copyright.PENANAqdBFh2m4d2
“Alright,” I replied nervously, but also thankfully. “I guess it would be better if I just748Please respect copyright.PENANAdpyQYp0v9G
went back to the beginning; to the very first time I opened my eyes...”748Please respect copyright.PENANAhG621v0In6
“...” He threw me a look of disbelief, but after that initial scepticism, not once did748Please respect copyright.PENANAsMGkUEwBi2
he dare to interrupt me again. Not until I was done with that longest of replies, and748Please respect copyright.PENANA9HfkzbdycZ
by then, we would already be making ourselves comfortable inside his most peculiar748Please respect copyright.PENANAxBVFCyyblt
household...748Please respect copyright.PENANAyL4w49GBao
“...I slowly opened my eyes, like I had done so many times before, but still, they748Please respect copyright.PENANAFA9mFELfaa
could not trespass that pitch-black. It seemed that yet again I was to be frustrated by748Please respect copyright.PENANAM8Hrf75wAh
blindness, and darkness was to remain as my only company. How long had it been748Please respect copyright.PENANA9v0S1GZ9cu
since I first regained consciousness? How much time had already been stolen from748Please respect copyright.PENANAgZyr1NOrtn
me? To seemingly punish me even further; I was to endure it all while strapped to a748Please respect copyright.PENANANEWcsTteBL
bed and surrounded by all sorts of sounds and smells that only increased my curiosity,748Please respect copyright.PENANACU4MFLLUzf
only fuelled my already immeasurable desire to see - what a sentence. Another kind of748Please respect copyright.PENANASKEbR0UfxY
darkness then swept over me as the shadows of frustration and anger began curving all748Please respect copyright.PENANA7O8yECgkEu
around my mind, slowly turning into large black circles of depression.748Please respect copyright.PENANA0c5Fn90zs8
And then my body began telling what I could not: my fists clenched involuntarily748Please respect copyright.PENANAB6YyKosUQr
as my tiny arms trembled, my entire strapped body began to twitch and turn748Please respect copyright.PENANAVQ4n42CZLC
whichever way, and shortly after my teeth too were showing eagerness in joining748Please respect copyright.PENANAeHWY9RFrUT
that demonstration. I wanted to shout, to scream, to expel all that I was feeling, but748Please respect copyright.PENANATesuG9zDha
before my mouth could make its first echo, I began noticing that this time it would748Please respect copyright.PENANAV8lhrXYwXd
be different. The darkness that had always been there in front of me, no matter how748Please respect copyright.PENANAh8pY2econK
much my eyes would widen, began to dissipate and those feelings with it; slowly, they748Please respect copyright.PENANADkdVJ37aKM
all faded until other doings began to take over.748Please respect copyright.PENANAfR2zuTP1AT
I began moving my head as much as those restraints would allow, and as soon as748Please respect copyright.PENANAHRyUPOUKLQ
most of that blurriness left me, I found myself laying down in a poorly lit room.748Please respect copyright.PENANAnko18gDfxK
All sorts of machinery scattered about, there were also other beds like the one I was748Please respect copyright.PENANAsb43ecES1v
laying on, most of them empty but a few with others like me. I knew right away they748Please respect copyright.PENANAZV20OX67nN
were like me.748Please respect copyright.PENANAOl5nlx18jO


