Extra long chapter! Thanks for waiting😘

I regret this, more specifically I regret falling completely asleep.

I woke up stiff, crusty, and with what can be best described as punk rock hair.

I am still as naked as when I was born with only the sack to cover me.

The sack was so warm and cozy I didn't even realize that I had fallen asleep.

What woke me up was a feeling of flying through the air. The feeling was so jarring, my mind tried to make sense of it while I was asleep but when it couldn't,  all kinds of alarms sounded in my brain.

He had taken me from the platform to sit on the chamber's floor near a fire place carved into the wall.

The fight yesterday only highlighted how close I had come to being ravaged by that huge brute. I am still very shaken up from the experience.

I poked out my head from the sack to see what was going on in a panic.

Only to see him sitting a couple feet away, still completely naked, staring.

My eyes shoot daggers at him. He clicked and licked his lips. I am very suspicious is he going to do that again so I squint in intense concentration.

I want him to believe that I am not easily broken or afraid and I will not back down.

We both stare each other for a while until a small cackle from the fireplace got our attention.

He shuffled over carefully. A long stick protruded from the hearth over the small fire, he grabbed it and pulled out what looked like a sizzling piece of meat.

It smelled so good, my mouth watered. I'm famished.

He moved backward to the place he was first seated and held the stick in the air. His head moved from side to side looking for something, he stops on his left side finally finding what he was looking for.

One of his hand reaches out to pull out a large smooth wood slab, sliding it under the meat.

The meat is swiftly taken off the stick and he shreds it with his fingers with care.

The steaming meat makes my stomach growl as I eye it with longing.

While I devour the meat with my eyes. He again moves carefully to the fireplace to swiftly put another large raw piece of flesh onto the stick to cook.

This time he didn't go back to his place. With the slab of wood in his hand he mimed eating and pointed to me.

I guess common gestures and pointing is pretty much universal.

I look at him with wary eyes and hash out my limited options.

Option one: I refuse the food because I don't trust him and starve in defiance.

Or.......

Option two: accept the offer and keep my strength but somehow give him the wrong impression that I am grudgingly accepting some of his terms.

I furrow my eyebrows as he slowly crouches closer with an out stretched hand. Does he really think that will make me any less angry?

I swear if he does anything I won't hesitate to bite like a rabid animal.

He pauses a couple inches away from me and stabs a strip of cooked meat with his long claw offering it to me.

Now this is where it gets tricky for many reasons....For one I am completely without any clothes here. The stretchy material holding the sack might stretch too far and not return to its original state if I take out my whole arm out to independently feed myself.

This worries me.

Either I let him feed me or squeeze just my hand up through the opening and feed myself T Rex style. Both of which are kind of embarrassing.

So I choose the second option for eating. I can see his eyes twinkle in amusement as he places the meat into the hand that is shoved in front of my face.

Sniffing the delicious meat, I then scarf it down with large smacking noises. He seemed pleased by the way I ate the morsel and his shoulders relaxed. The fire cackles again. He looks over and shuffles away. Returning with the long stick, he collects the meat and stares at me while I lick my fingers.

I grimace at him. He laughs in a deep throaty voice. That makes me notice even more his sharp teeth and his translucent skin.

It was weird....Him being so close.

I could actually see the fine mineute cross hatch marks allover his skin. He must have seen many battles over the years and fought in them too...maybe? He has so many scars.

My eyes grew wide in surprise as he popped a strip of meat into my mouth instead of my hand. Without me noticing my jaw had fallen open while inspecting him from close up.

I was gaping at him, great....

Chewing the meat in my mouth I contemplate so many questions.

He offers me a new strip each time I am done onto my waiting fingers until there was no more meat. He gently clicked and moved away to another corner of the room.

When he came back he had a bucket which looked like it had been scavenged from some kid's sandbox. It was neon green with little turtles randomly swimming around, cute....

He sat beside me and pushed the bucket toward me. The bucket had a thick sloshing liquid inside, it looked a lot like the consistency of the thickened water our nan use to drink before she passed away suddenly. Well, what is it?

My eyes narrow at him and his eye twitches.

He mimes scooping up the thick liquid and smearing it allover his arms.

No....I don't know what the liquid is and I don't want to smear it allover me. I am already dry and crusty, thank you.

I turn my head and try to roll away. Since we can't really communicate in each other's language this is my best shot to let him know no way no how do I want to.

Unexpectedly he gets up, turns me around, and yanks the band holding the sack closed away.

The cold air rushes across my vulnerable skin. My eyes moisten with hot tears.

How dare he? I am not just a thing he can command willy nilly.... I said NO.

He crouches down sniffing at my hair skimming over my bare skin.

A whimper escapes my lips.

My eyes watch as his arm reaches for the bucket. I hung my head low clinging to the portion of sack still covering my body.

I really do not have choice, do I?

Quickly I reach into the bucket before he could and I smear a glop of the stuff on my arm. He freezes and searches my eyes intently.

Growling he shoots me a hard look then softens his gaze. He lets go of the bucket on the ground softly and leaves without looking back, his hand covering his eyes.

As I watch him leave the room his shoulders sag and his back hunches.

He must've realized that he was doing something wrong on some level? He is giving me an opportunity, right?

Well, I want to avoid him rolling me around and smothering me with the stuff like a buttered corn on the cob.

Its better I do it myself and get it over with...

Dipping my hand into the horribly thick liquid I grasp a glob of it and smear it on my other arm.

I repeat this process over and over again until my body was covered thickly in the stuff.

But, big BUT I refuse to put any on my face. That is where I draw the line, ok. Everywhere else is fine.

Gently I hang my hair over the bucket and smear the last bit of it over my strands.

I stand like an old black and white movie zombie with legs shoulder length apart and arms up in front waiting for the drying time.

My brother Junior would have had a field day coming up with creative insults to remind me forever about this moment.

My eyes glaze over remembering them.

A specific memory pops up.

Though, It seemed to be a lifetime ago in another alternate timeline.

************************

Geez, my scalp has been itching like crazy.

It been what 3 days? I don't think I can hold out for another day.

I have a pretty good suspicion when this all started and who gave it to me but I really don't have any hard evidence per say.

I am not in elementary school any more, its sooo embarrassing this is even happening to me.

What will the others say if they found out?

I trudge myself over to Meredith, my step mom.

Deep breath you can do this.

" Ummm, Meredith?"

" Yes, hon"

" Can you check my head, I'm itchy and its driving me craazy"

Her face turns to me, away from a cute babbling baby Joseph. The eyebrows on her face were high up on her forehead and eyes wide with surprise.

" take a seat on the chair don't go anywhere I will take a look, k"

She hurriedly left to drop off Joseph in his nursery. Coming back with a small rat tail comb.

I wring my hand nervously as she walks over to the chair. She carefully combed through my tresses and starts to section off my hair.

I felt her hands tenderly grab my ear folding it.

" Hmmmm"

Oh, no. That doesn't sound good.

She let go of my ear then went over each section of hair on my head until she got to the other ear.

By then I was biting my lip and ready to cover my face in embarrassment.

"Hon"

"Yyyess"

" You have lice"

I clap my hands over my eyes as tears well up. I knew it that dirty bitch!

Junior popped up in the kitchen, crazily swinging around his new school lanyard and dropped his small backpack on the floor in a  messy heap.

" what's going on?" I could hear his happy smile from where I was sitting covering my face.

" perfect timing, I need to check your head"

" What?? Whhhyyy?"

" Your sister has lice and you could have them too. So come and take a seat. I need to check."

I can hear him take a seat dejected across from me.

I look up from my tears to see him looking at me with fury in his eyes.

" you've got fleas?!"

"No, not fleas. LICE" I answer angrily back with shame crossing my face.

" same difference, flea bag"

He pouted through the whole process but Meredith didn't see any on him. So he was safe.

Everybody had to get checked that day including my dad.

He came home to a hectic frantic  house. Everything had to be put in bags to be quarantined or washed.

In the end I was the only one who had lice. Meredith had reassured me it wasn't that bad of an infestation. She had only found maybe a couple and they had been caught in time before it got really bad.

I spent two days absent from school along with my siblings quarantining with prescription shampoos.

I was so embarrassed, I made sure to never share a hair comb with anyone after that.

The only thing that did annoy me to no end was that for weeks Junior would only refer to me as the fleabag whenever he would talk to or about me.

******************

Once in a while he would still   occasionally call me fleabag again when he was mad.

He never did forget or get over that incident.

I chortled and laughed at the memory.

Junior was always so funny.

I hope they are ok.

Tears stream gently from my face dripping down onto my chest.

I sniff loudly to keep my snot from dripping from my nose.

I need to be strong and survive no matter what, I want to see them again in this life.

The slight pulling of my skin lets me know that the disgusting stuff is finally dry.

Thank godddd.

As I move back toward what used to be the sack, the square blanket with bulky grey fur was laid out on the floor haphazardly.

I am not comfortable being naked, the vulnerability is jarring so I tried to make a kind of dress from the blanket.

It turned out to be fruitless no matter what way I tried. The material wasn't as malleable or thin as cotton so I just folded it front of my chest like a towel.

The fur is so soft on my skin. It tempted me to just curl up and sleep again. 

The fireplace was still smoldering a small deep red glint. The light and warmth pulled me to it. I sauntered over eager to find some comfort. I pulled my legs up against my face watching the embers play inside the logs hypnotically.

The small sound of a latch mechanism being turned made me tense. I could hear him cross the room, stop at the bucket, and softly patter away.

My ears strained trying to track his movements without moving my head.

My mouth grew dry and my throat become a parched desert. I haven't had a drink of cool water since I had been woken up.

This fact made me realize how am I suppose to communicate with the thing keeping me hostage for my needs?

We don't even speak the same language.

Our biological needs could be vastly different. Does he even know that humans need fresh water like we need air?

While deep in my thoughts, he had given himself a front row seat to study me. He unabashedly stared.

I only noticed him after letting out a deep sad sigh and focusing my eyes to the corner he had seated himself at.

I was not expecting him there.

A prickly sensation spread starting from my arms to my legs. My eyes grew bug eyed from being caught off guard.

"Kkhumm" coughing loudly to break the silence. With my already wide eyes I bore into his alien eyes pleading for some understanding. He blinks slowly tilting his head slightly.

Alright my target audience is paying attention.

Ok.....how exactly do I go telling this alien that Im thirsty?

Making myself sit upright, I cup my hands in front of me while slowly putting up my hands to my lips in a, hopefully, universal gesture of sipping and drinking some water.

He looks at me blankly for a second or two.

Crap, is it not the same?

His lips turn up in a smirk before he gets up and gestures to the entrance.

Yes, water.

Carefully I get up and make sure that the sack is snuggly wrapped around me.

He stands in front of the entrance waiting for me.

The hall looked darker than what I remembered.

The air is also cooler in the hall than in the warm domed room.

Walking into the hall felt like walking into a dark cold mist.

I didn't dare to move further in without my eyes adjusting to the new even dimmer lighting first for a few minutes.

He waited silently beside me. My skin prickled in unconscious awareness of his intense gaze scanning across my body.

I squinted in front of me as the ground and walls slowly appeared from the darkness.

Slowly I turn to him expecting for him to start leading, instead his hand was out stretched toward me in a friendly manner.

Whattt?? I was definitely not expecting that. I look around and realize that even though my eyes had somewhat adjusted it is still difficult to see more than a couple of inches in front of me.

Shit, again I have to make the choice of either taking his help or blindly following him into the darkness hoping that I didn't trip over some hidden rock or fall behind and somehow get lost, especially with my shitty luck its bound to happen. I hate this feeling of stupid helplessness.

He shakes his hand in front of me starting to grow impatient.

Fine, its better to be safe than sorry....I guess.

Slowly with some hesitation I gently rest my hand into the large plane of his hand.

He gently curled his hand around mine. His palm felt a lot like the squishy paw beans of a cat... warm and softish.

We slowly traverse the whinding hall way together hand in hand, every once in a while a dimly illuminated light would cut into the darkness.

It felt like we were miles deep into the earth making our way to the surface.

A new cooler breeze played across my cheeks signaling the closeness of the lair entrance. It grew darker around us before we stepped out into the bright moonlight. That walk felt like it would have gone on forever.

The landscape around me looked eerily calm and too silent. As though the earth had forgotten to give life.

A rustle from a bush then the soft scamper of a frighten jack rabbit broke the illusion of the seeming lifelessness around me.

A soft tug pulled my attention back to him. He guided us away from the entrance onto the rocky side of his home.

Even though I could see clearly without trouble under the moonlight I didn't have the courage to tear my hand away from his. It felt wrong somehow to let go.

His hand loosened his grip more as we walked but I kept my hand firmly around his.

The ground was mostly sandy but once in a while a sharp rock or spiny twig would make me wince and slow me down from the pain, his grasp really helped to steady me.

Urggh, its such a pain in the ass walking around barefoot. If only he hadn't taken all my stuff.

He noticed that we were not really covering much ground at my pace.

In a blink of an eye he swooped down to carry me princess style out of nowhere. I pushed hard against his chest instinctively. He tensed, looked down at me and abruptly clicked.

Ok, ok, I'll stop. I can tell it was a no in his strange language or something similiar.

Another huge inconvenience of being a human being in nature. Why couldn't we have the thick hides of other animals? it would make existing so much easier having built in protection.

He carries me easily within his arms, the body heat emitting from him made the chilly night air more tolerable. His pace was much faster and soon we were in a clearing with a lone well protruding up from a artificially smoothed ground.

I guess it was alright that he carried me god knows it probably would have taken all night to get here with me walking.

We stride to the well and he puts me down right in front of it gesturing to a small faucet.

He reaches into the well for a second. His hand comes back wrapped around a metal water bottle. It was pretty beat up but looked like it was at least intact.

He handed it me to figure out and I fumbled around trying to open it.

The cap was on pretty tight but I loosened it enough to open it myself without his help.

Filling the water bottle gave me such excitement. The water smelt and looked clean, much better than any stinking stagnant pond we had been forced to use.

Water is such a precious commodity now that in my previous life I had taken it for granted. Having this in mind I had carefully opened and closed the faucet.

Smacking my lips together I take a deep gulp of water.

Then.....

Almost immediately I could feel my bladder filling as soon as my body absorbed the new water.

Its annoying that everything is just a consistent incoming flow of stuff to keep me alive. Come on body at least retain something!

I should already be immune to humiliation at this point but really I'm not. God why you do this to me?

Ok, deep breath. " Hey!"

He is already looking at me anyways but his eyes widen a little in surprise. I have to let him know about this other wise he will think I am running away from him and come after me. It would be unpleasant having an audience while doing my business....

Yeah now for my performance, I will call on all my experience with animals to charade what I am about to do.

Please God give me strength to be extra shameless.

I widen my eyes as much as possible, tilt my head down, whine, and do what I can best call the pee pee dance.

To make