Isolation: Chapter Four: Introducing...

[Ema]

It felt like hours before Amarantha was finally calm enough to think clearly. Her breath still came far too quickly, though it was more manageable now.

She pushed herself off the wall, stumbling a little bit as she moved out onto the sidewalk. The street wasn't very crowded, which was good for her. She looked around, hoping to find Mother in the slight crowds passing by, but had no such luck. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't because that wasn't helpful. What was helpful, though?

Wait for Mother. That was it. Stay in one place, and wait for Mother.

-/-/-/

It took far too long for Amarantha to realize that she was no longer in front of the shop she had stepped out of earlier. She had no idea how she had moved so far, that should have been impossible, but it had happened. That was around the same time that she realized it had been close to four hours and there was still no sign of Mother.

The sky was getting darker. Amarantha hadn't thought it had been that late in the day, but the bus ride was pretty long. They had been planning on a nice late lunch for Amarantha's birthday, but it was now far past lunchtime, approaching time for an evening meal. Amarantha knew she couldn't stay out here, where the buildings were close together and someone could grab her at any moment, for much longer. She remembered seeing an area with house, a safe-looking place, on the bus ride into town. She decided to head that way, thinking that she would be a little safer there. And even a little was enough for her.

She was so tired, though, that she couldn't make it far. She stopped far sooner than she would have liked, sitting down on the curb outside a small white house. It looked like the house in her books, the ones where kind women with angelic children and helpful husbands lived. Amarantha just hoped the inhabitants wouldn't attack her.

She drew her knees up close to her body, wrapping her arms around them and propping her chin on her kneecaps, looking out into the quiet, empty street. Every now and then a car whizzed past, not slowing down or giving her a second glance, which she was grateful for. If one of them had stopped, she knew her panic would return. For Mother had spent a lot of time telling Amarantha about the dangers of the world, but not any teaching her how to fight them off.

She had been sitting there for some time - she didn't know how long, but at least half an hour - when headlights approached. Amarantha watched as the car attached to them turned into the driveway beside her, and then stopped. She knew the person was watching her. She could sense it. Amarantha scrambled up, not about to take whatever happened next sitting down. If whoever this was wanted to hurt her, she would put up a fight.

The car turned off. A door opened, and then slammed shut. Amarantha's eyes, which had at first been blinded by the headlights, were now thrust back into darkness, and she found herself not able to see how had gotten out. She could hear them, though, walking around the back of the car, getting closer....

A light came on, a bright light that was carefully shone away from her eyes. So this person didn't want to blind her, which was more reassuring than Amarantha had thought it would be. The light was coming from a small box of some kind that the person was holding. She couldn't tell what it was. The person holding the light was visible now, though, a boy a little taller than her with dark hair. He wore jeans, and a comfortable-looking sweatshirt. He was skinny, like her, and didn't look like he wanted to hurt her.

But Amarantha knew better than to assume.

"Hey," the boy called out. He appeared to be trying not to frighten her, though that point had long since been passed. His voice was kind, though, and warm, if a voice could be warm. "What are you doing here? Are you lost?" He took a step forward. Amarantha scrambled back, holding her hands up, palm-out in front of her body as if to fend him off. "Woah, hey, I'm not going to hurt you," the boy said. "I want to help, if you need it?"

Amarantha scrambled for an answer, wishing once more that Mother had taught her more of how to act around other people. "How can I trust you?" she asked, surprised at how much her voice trembled.

The boy kept his distance as he said, "I promise, I won't hurt you. See, I'll stay back. Is that okay?" Amarantha didn't move, not knowing how to react. She didn't think he would hurt her. He seemed concerned, his eyes slightly narrowed and the downward turn of his mouth corroborating that. "My name's Adrian," the boy continued. "I live here. Do you need a place to stay? You look lost."

Amarantha knew Mother would punish her for this when she found her, but she nodded. "Yes. I'm lost. My name is Amarantha." She made sure to keep the distance between herself and Adrian, still not totally trusting of him. He was strange, and strangers were dangerous, Mother said.

"Nice to meet you, Amarantha," the boy said, pausing after saying her name. "That's a unique name." he ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, if you need a place to stay, my mom'll probably let you stay with us. She won't hurt you either, she's a nurse. She's good with people."

Adrian seemed to have caught onto Amarantha's fear of strangers, at least, and she called that a good thing. She took a deep breath, still trying to keep her panic under control. She had to keep it under control, otherwise she wouldn't be able to react if something went wrong. Just breathe deep....

"Do you? Need a place to stay?" Adrian's voice shocked Amarantha out of her thoughts, making her blink and realize that she had not yet made a decision. How could she? She knew nothing about these people. She didn't know if they were serial killers, or ran a human trafficking ring, or anything. But something told her she could trust Adrian. She didn't know what it was, exactly, but he seemed the trustworthy type.

And he hadn't attacked her yet, which was a decent sign in her book.

So she found herself nodding. "Yes, I do." she said. "Thank you." She didn't move any closer to Adrian, which didn't seem to surprise him as he smiled at her, turning away to move towards the front door of the house behind them.

"Come on," he said, "Are you hungry?" He began to walk towards the house, expecting Amarantha to follow. Which she did.

"Yes," she said, "Very hungry."