
Asking me in all sorts of ways, but repeatedly nonetheless, who I was or what reason362Please respect copyright.PENANAt3zeg2qbOm
could I have to write such things. And after he untied the now even less threatening362Please respect copyright.PENANAQefhzZilk9
beast of burden, he helped me find my place on top of its generous back.362Please respect copyright.PENANAlO0lxQYJDm
He then went around it, patting its massive head as he passed quite comfortably in362Please respect copyright.PENANARx07gVAzx8
front of it; and then he too took his place to my left.362Please respect copyright.PENANAnDt7THHpFc
Now, with the both of us sitting side by side and ready to go, he smiled at me362Please respect copyright.PENANAxF5DA4fBzN
through the corner of his mouth before shouting for our advance. But the one he362Please respect copyright.PENANAKOsXT4t5SW
called ´Gorliochi´ merely let out a howl of sorts... “Quit your blubbering.” He then362Please respect copyright.PENANAFNHcP1PGN9
began to pull those reins on the big beast’s neck repeatedly until finally, the beast362Please respect copyright.PENANAI33NVH35UH
began to move... “There we go. By the way, you pay no heed to these misbehaviours,362Please respect copyright.PENANAUW5ZcaWQla
alright? Ol’ Gorli here likes to act a bit lazy these days.”362Please respect copyright.PENANAC0u2lblL4v
“I have never seen such a creature.”362Please respect copyright.PENANAH0Ag0TD6zw
“Yeah,” He let out a sad and drawn-out confirmation, “There are not many like him362Please respect copyright.PENANAXHAnlRDKvx
around anymore. Frankly, I would be surprised if we ever encounter another one of his362Please respect copyright.PENANAWMNZvI6dwR
kind.” He looked at me and then threw half a smile through the right corner of his362Please respect copyright.PENANABJ9DzSJEij
mouth; “Now, why don’t you start by telling me what made you write such a thing?362Please respect copyright.PENANAdFlFYvdO4a
And more importantly: what is your real connection to that old fool? You know, he362Please respect copyright.PENANAlequ77en5v
and I; we have been friends for the longest time girl, and I even spoke to him just362Please respect copyright.PENANAc9H74cnTSB
recently.” He threw a quick look my way, obviously trying to fish for any kind of362Please respect copyright.PENANAHdY1B4Vk9t
reaction; “And he has never mentioned a single word about any plans for an adoption.”362Please respect copyright.PENANA5KYIsxzPX7
“I am not that used to talking...” I warned, “what I mean is: I have not done it with362Please respect copyright.PENANA0gY3yEnoKX
that many people yet so, I might - how you say - run off at the mouth.”362Please respect copyright.PENANACfxZsy3inO
“Oh? Well then,” he explained through another crooked smile; one that revealed362Please respect copyright.PENANANLL4BsMtqb
how few teeth he still had left, and also how big his gums were, “You can be at ease362Please respect copyright.PENANAiYejwCmQab
since I am not that used to listening myself. “Besides,” he continued, “We still have362Please respect copyright.PENANAtxR05DOoLy
ways to go, and nothing to do for the whole way but talk to each other. You just go362Please respect copyright.PENANA6OfTqTAkLz
on for as much as you like without a worry. I am sure no word will feel unwarranted.”362Please respect copyright.PENANAU4yIdMxqxa
“Alright,” I replied nervously, but also thankfully. “I guess it would be better if I just362Please respect copyright.PENANA1P8C4boC3O
went back to the beginning; to the very first time I opened my eyes...”362Please respect copyright.PENANAVCqaNiminG
“...” He threw me a look of disbelief, but after that initial scepticism, not once did362Please respect copyright.PENANAgRYO4uABbb
he dare to interrupt me again. Not until I was done with that longest of replies, and362Please respect copyright.PENANApvBuM3PRNf
by then, we would already be making ourselves comfortable inside his most peculiar362Please respect copyright.PENANACoHcGFHL9n
household...362Please respect copyright.PENANAxxypGXkbFm
“...I slowly opened my eyes, like I had done so many times before, but still, they362Please respect copyright.PENANAWejQ7MnZwz
could not trespass that pitch-black. It seemed that yet again I was to be frustrated by362Please respect copyright.PENANAY2AMQuV7qL
blindness, and darkness was to remain as my only company. How long had it been362Please respect copyright.PENANAkxCoJGcHHl
since I first regained consciousness? How much time had already been stolen from362Please respect copyright.PENANAPahD0k8uWY
me? To seemingly punish me even further; I was to endure it all while strapped to a362Please respect copyright.PENANAdngZDyf0wI
bed and surrounded by all sorts of sounds and smells that only increased my curiosity,362Please respect copyright.PENANA0YTFpDtjoq
only fuelled my already immeasurable desire to see - what a sentence. Another kind of362Please respect copyright.PENANAoVkNJtckjL
darkness then swept over me as the shadows of frustration and anger began curving all362Please respect copyright.PENANAQwLZBCMIrs
around my mind, slowly turning into large black circles of depression.362Please respect copyright.PENANA1gZ7ASW7US
And then my body began telling what I could not: my fists clenched involuntarily362Please respect copyright.PENANA9YCFcn5kRv
as my tiny arms trembled, my entire strapped body began to twitch and turn362Please respect copyright.PENANAtfsazD3HXz
whichever way, and shortly after my teeth too were showing eagerness in joining362Please respect copyright.PENANAzan6GAKNNy
that demonstration. I wanted to shout, to scream, to expel all that I was feeling, but362Please respect copyright.PENANAVFFfhgPWPF
before my mouth could make its first echo, I began noticing that this time it would362Please respect copyright.PENANApqL62MB8zN
be different. The darkness that had always been there in front of me, no matter how362Please respect copyright.PENANANZArvjmpRd
much my eyes would widen, began to dissipate and those feelings with it; slowly, they362Please respect copyright.PENANASclxOOqQZ6
all faded until other doings began to take over.362Please respect copyright.PENANAkjE9wM0LiY
I began moving my head as much as those restraints would allow, and as soon as362Please respect copyright.PENANAFunXcSdcfm
most of that blurriness left me, I found myself laying down in a poorly lit room.362Please respect copyright.PENANAue21BJBHLd
All sorts of machinery scattered about, there were also other beds like the one I was362Please respect copyright.PENANA14TGKad8Rx
laying on, most of them empty but a few with others like me. I knew right away they362Please respect copyright.PENANAI56jmLXITS
were like me.362Please respect copyright.PENANAo8QONcHECy