Naive

So far I had found a compass, some empty bottles for water, a bunch of candles, a magnifying glass, and an old scarf. They could be useful, but I wished for a bigger supply of everything. There was no telling what I would do when this ran out. The only food I had found here was blackberries. I needed meat and water that was wet.

Some matches were siting by a dirty fireplace. They would be handy for starting a fire. If anything, I could live here. It just needs serious cleaning, Auntie, Uncle, the bakery...no. This could never be home. I had to keep traveling.

A single tear rolled down my face. With building anger, I wiped it away. This was no time to cry. I reached for the matches in frustration.

Suddenly, I froze. The door to the cottage had creaked opened. Okay. I swore it was locked. All I had to do was turn around and ask them who the heck they were. Nervously, I clenched my fist and swung around to face, um, whoever.

All I saw after that was darkness.

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My head hurt when I woke up. This was just like the pond situation. Except when I opened my eyes, I was kneeling about thirty feet away from the cottage. It was beginning to feel really warm. And I was tied to a freaking tree. This was definitely not the afterlife.

My hands felt really sore. I'm pretty sure my knees were bruised. Ouch. I looked back up at the cottage. Someone walked out the door. They wore a black coat with a hood over their head. It covered most of their face. Shoot. I couldn't even see them. They seemed to be looking at the window and shaking their head. Oh, gosh. They already tied me up, and I could already imagine they would be furious with me when they discovered I was conscious. I was so stupid to just take stuff like that. So naive. I knew nothing about this place.

The person looked down at my hammer. I had complete forgot about it. They reached down to pick it up...and failed. No matter how hard they seemed to pull, the hammer never left the ground. What? I could lift it, and I'm not extremely strong.

They quickly walked behind the cottage and disappeared for a few minutes. No doubt they would come back and question me. Something emerged from the side of the cottage. It looked large and brown. Oh, it was only a horse. A couple of ropes and chains were attached to it. Looked like a makeshift harness. Oh my- what was that going to be used for?

My heart started to beat fast. The person followed the horse and picked up some drooping chains. They studied them for a few seconds and looked directly at me.

I had no idea what hit me. Well, who hit me, actually. Either way, I knew they could never be trusted.