Asking me in all sorts of ways, but repeatedly nonetheless, who I was or what reason104Please respect copyright.PENANAdI1aScHDdf
could I have to write such things. And after he untied the now even less threatening104Please respect copyright.PENANATssqJmJHs0
beast of burden, he helped me find my place on top of its generous back.104Please respect copyright.PENANAB8KjbRMFKL
He then went around it, patting its massive head as he passed quite comfortably in104Please respect copyright.PENANAJgDmXbcEFz
front of it; and then he too took his place to my left.104Please respect copyright.PENANAlURiTE6xIa
Now, with the both of us sitting side by side and ready to go, he smiled at me104Please respect copyright.PENANA12Go8Ch8HD
through the corner of his mouth before shouting for our advance. But the one he104Please respect copyright.PENANAswUdHC6Pu3
called ´Gorliochi´ merely let out a howl of sorts... “Quit your blubbering.” He then104Please respect copyright.PENANAdCW7C5DyQz
began to pull those reins on the big beast’s neck repeatedly until finally, the beast104Please respect copyright.PENANAncOGdh0ya2
began to move... “There we go. By the way, you pay no heed to these misbehaviours,104Please respect copyright.PENANAqq427IE22b
alright? Ol’ Gorli here likes to act a bit lazy these days.”104Please respect copyright.PENANAsWpmOxskar
“I have never seen such a creature.”104Please respect copyright.PENANAjIYHRwmIQv
“Yeah,” He let out a sad and drawn-out confirmation, “There are not many like him104Please respect copyright.PENANA4X5bdfyauy
around anymore. Frankly, I would be surprised if we ever encounter another one of his104Please respect copyright.PENANAB41AdL46XP
kind.” He looked at me and then threw half a smile through the right corner of his104Please respect copyright.PENANAyxNuCCJY67
mouth; “Now, why don’t you start by telling me what made you write such a thing?104Please respect copyright.PENANApF4sYUGOHt
And more importantly: what is your real connection to that old fool? You know, he104Please respect copyright.PENANAdOJ0STPvH8
and I; we have been friends for the longest time girl, and I even spoke to him just104Please respect copyright.PENANAVHEpnNDcT3
recently.” He threw a quick look my way, obviously trying to fish for any kind of104Please respect copyright.PENANAeAUDYQN22K
reaction; “And he has never mentioned a single word about any plans for an adoption.”104Please respect copyright.PENANAhPpYw6y2OA
“I am not that used to talking...” I warned, “what I mean is: I have not done it with104Please respect copyright.PENANA6vA0Ues0YY
that many people yet so, I might - how you say - run off at the mouth.”104Please respect copyright.PENANAZ8ZQdQnqTP
“Oh? Well then,” he explained through another crooked smile; one that revealed104Please respect copyright.PENANAuhR9AMQNDH
how few teeth he still had left, and also how big his gums were, “You can be at ease104Please respect copyright.PENANAMgS4VDap2Z
since I am not that used to listening myself. “Besides,” he continued, “We still have104Please respect copyright.PENANAftyZcz4IW1
ways to go, and nothing to do for the whole way but talk to each other. You just go104Please respect copyright.PENANAanTf2TC9pH
on for as much as you like without a worry. I am sure no word will feel unwarranted.”104Please respect copyright.PENANAa3HnSg3jqn
“Alright,” I replied nervously, but also thankfully. “I guess it would be better if I just104Please respect copyright.PENANA57gWDSwGQ7
went back to the beginning; to the very first time I opened my eyes...”104Please respect copyright.PENANALk9iDoUb98
“...” He threw me a look of disbelief, but after that initial scepticism, not once did104Please respect copyright.PENANA6G12qizdR1
he dare to interrupt me again. Not until I was done with that longest of replies, and104Please respect copyright.PENANA6rOKvRmzsf
by then, we would already be making ourselves comfortable inside his most peculiar104Please respect copyright.PENANAEAVNnzNxkZ
household...104Please respect copyright.PENANAq7OQj2R7Bz
“...I slowly opened my eyes, like I had done so many times before, but still, they104Please respect copyright.PENANAQV7QIL3whL
could not trespass that pitch-black. It seemed that yet again I was to be frustrated by104Please respect copyright.PENANApw6R2aFP8P
blindness, and darkness was to remain as my only company. How long had it been104Please respect copyright.PENANAZsJPZ2jZSz
since I first regained consciousness? How much time had already been stolen from104Please respect copyright.PENANAJAHTO7rqQ5
me? To seemingly punish me even further; I was to endure it all while strapped to a104Please respect copyright.PENANAyFGim68YkD
bed and surrounded by all sorts of sounds and smells that only increased my curiosity,104Please respect copyright.PENANAEtFo8TEDuj
only fuelled my already immeasurable desire to see - what a sentence. Another kind of104Please respect copyright.PENANAXfD752poj9
darkness then swept over me as the shadows of frustration and anger began curving all104Please respect copyright.PENANAPAXyFcJdUU
around my mind, slowly turning into large black circles of depression.104Please respect copyright.PENANAKhQx1FdVNt
And then my body began telling what I could not: my fists clenched involuntarily104Please respect copyright.PENANAdEP59FtI5d
as my tiny arms trembled, my entire strapped body began to twitch and turn104Please respect copyright.PENANAI7xMdoWrLM
whichever way, and shortly after my teeth too were showing eagerness in joining104Please respect copyright.PENANAS8o3ZP2LEn
that demonstration. I wanted to shout, to scream, to expel all that I was feeling, but104Please respect copyright.PENANARWslOoSpE7
before my mouth could make its first echo, I began noticing that this time it would104Please respect copyright.PENANAex2gWGAXve
be different. The darkness that had always been there in front of me, no matter how104Please respect copyright.PENANA6ua2GFnWhi
much my eyes would widen, began to dissipate and those feelings with it; slowly, they104Please respect copyright.PENANA8uKnGcb93v
all faded until other doings began to take over.104Please respect copyright.PENANAuJ7KQygQGX
I began moving my head as much as those restraints would allow, and as soon as104Please respect copyright.PENANASxJsoJ3UXy
most of that blurriness left me, I found myself laying down in a poorly lit room.104Please respect copyright.PENANAIKbWJxPfDy
All sorts of machinery scattered about, there were also other beds like the one I was104Please respect copyright.PENANAfpOarowgVZ
laying on, most of them empty but a few with others like me. I knew right away they104Please respect copyright.PENANArtH9Vm0Fyq
were like me.104Please respect copyright.PENANALqDJNCaLBj