Asking me in all sorts of ways, but repeatedly nonetheless, who I was or what reason724Please respect copyright.PENANAiasBu7LLyx
could I have to write such things. And after he untied the now even less threatening724Please respect copyright.PENANAWJzAQWWh4y
beast of burden, he helped me find my place on top of its generous back.724Please respect copyright.PENANAnz7p9kvhJP
He then went around it, patting its massive head as he passed quite comfortably in724Please respect copyright.PENANAkSz4khhiXn
front of it; and then he too took his place to my left.724Please respect copyright.PENANAPusehU5VQg
Now, with the both of us sitting side by side and ready to go, he smiled at me724Please respect copyright.PENANA5Rz1I93DZU
through the corner of his mouth before shouting for our advance. But the one he724Please respect copyright.PENANAZSzPy2uNya
called ´Gorliochi´ merely let out a howl of sorts... “Quit your blubbering.” He then724Please respect copyright.PENANAJvkAxKKA2b
began to pull those reins on the big beast’s neck repeatedly until finally, the beast724Please respect copyright.PENANAmqv2yoZ4pJ
began to move... “There we go. By the way, you pay no heed to these misbehaviours,724Please respect copyright.PENANAwuFGM0NIXj
alright? Ol’ Gorli here likes to act a bit lazy these days.”724Please respect copyright.PENANA2aeh626nV1
“I have never seen such a creature.”724Please respect copyright.PENANAzWBAdY2H16
“Yeah,” He let out a sad and drawn-out confirmation, “There are not many like him724Please respect copyright.PENANAvH0LzHUN6N
around anymore. Frankly, I would be surprised if we ever encounter another one of his724Please respect copyright.PENANAlvk3Tz0lng
kind.” He looked at me and then threw half a smile through the right corner of his724Please respect copyright.PENANAoDuSnGpfYe
mouth; “Now, why don’t you start by telling me what made you write such a thing?724Please respect copyright.PENANA60xSz1bd06
And more importantly: what is your real connection to that old fool? You know, he724Please respect copyright.PENANAKbB3ubLCOB
and I; we have been friends for the longest time girl, and I even spoke to him just724Please respect copyright.PENANAz6RgHYXuKk
recently.” He threw a quick look my way, obviously trying to fish for any kind of724Please respect copyright.PENANAm7Ybw8HZnr
reaction; “And he has never mentioned a single word about any plans for an adoption.”724Please respect copyright.PENANAXvchiWJcwG
“I am not that used to talking...” I warned, “what I mean is: I have not done it with724Please respect copyright.PENANA2vKf4WSSYa
that many people yet so, I might - how you say - run off at the mouth.”724Please respect copyright.PENANAh7rQkYPzT6
“Oh? Well then,” he explained through another crooked smile; one that revealed724Please respect copyright.PENANAyarfzD7wrE
how few teeth he still had left, and also how big his gums were, “You can be at ease724Please respect copyright.PENANAYNYJtvdRmd
since I am not that used to listening myself. “Besides,” he continued, “We still have724Please respect copyright.PENANAEtCQn8AUe5
ways to go, and nothing to do for the whole way but talk to each other. You just go724Please respect copyright.PENANAgLW7OWPslu
on for as much as you like without a worry. I am sure no word will feel unwarranted.”724Please respect copyright.PENANAoBaUKS1bgW
“Alright,” I replied nervously, but also thankfully. “I guess it would be better if I just724Please respect copyright.PENANA14ecxMLRpR
went back to the beginning; to the very first time I opened my eyes...”724Please respect copyright.PENANA8GnLipbH8J
“...” He threw me a look of disbelief, but after that initial scepticism, not once did724Please respect copyright.PENANAQtVxwVNPLH
he dare to interrupt me again. Not until I was done with that longest of replies, and724Please respect copyright.PENANAyJPzM18iGG
by then, we would already be making ourselves comfortable inside his most peculiar724Please respect copyright.PENANAfOknpQLz59
household...724Please respect copyright.PENANAqc3UImq4vp
“...I slowly opened my eyes, like I had done so many times before, but still, they724Please respect copyright.PENANAdJVXCx5yL6
could not trespass that pitch-black. It seemed that yet again I was to be frustrated by724Please respect copyright.PENANAJknsyRY1eh
blindness, and darkness was to remain as my only company. How long had it been724Please respect copyright.PENANAaEB8qWRh9x
since I first regained consciousness? How much time had already been stolen from724Please respect copyright.PENANAodBJpNE7m4
me? To seemingly punish me even further; I was to endure it all while strapped to a724Please respect copyright.PENANAjCEK4aHLU4
bed and surrounded by all sorts of sounds and smells that only increased my curiosity,724Please respect copyright.PENANAYV3CdLfgMx
only fuelled my already immeasurable desire to see - what a sentence. Another kind of724Please respect copyright.PENANAbs4cqXbYnB
darkness then swept over me as the shadows of frustration and anger began curving all724Please respect copyright.PENANA0jwWo1haw4
around my mind, slowly turning into large black circles of depression.724Please respect copyright.PENANA5rTX72jfIh
And then my body began telling what I could not: my fists clenched involuntarily724Please respect copyright.PENANA9khux8MwFU
as my tiny arms trembled, my entire strapped body began to twitch and turn724Please respect copyright.PENANAwWs428fi3F
whichever way, and shortly after my teeth too were showing eagerness in joining724Please respect copyright.PENANAyPSMCmmaJ9
that demonstration. I wanted to shout, to scream, to expel all that I was feeling, but724Please respect copyright.PENANALe3ppg6lAc
before my mouth could make its first echo, I began noticing that this time it would724Please respect copyright.PENANAjfslbrs4j3
be different. The darkness that had always been there in front of me, no matter how724Please respect copyright.PENANAPIko9egCGO
much my eyes would widen, began to dissipate and those feelings with it; slowly, they724Please respect copyright.PENANAHyezUg31Wr
all faded until other doings began to take over.724Please respect copyright.PENANAKMWaVLNjGq
I began moving my head as much as those restraints would allow, and as soon as724Please respect copyright.PENANASMZeSpbp6F
most of that blurriness left me, I found myself laying down in a poorly lit room.724Please respect copyright.PENANAV58AvFnVJM
All sorts of machinery scattered about, there were also other beds like the one I was724Please respect copyright.PENANAaWAkbqbSkk
laying on, most of them empty but a few with others like me. I knew right away they724Please respect copyright.PENANA155t4F2NoQ
were like me.724Please respect copyright.PENANADlIBJl1FwY


