I jumped out of the bed and grabbed the new pants and shirt from the floor, I removed my ripped clothes and quickly wore the new one, I put on the shoes and took a look at my reflection in the mirror, I stared at myself for a moment as I mumbled “Shit, I’m totally white, if I jumped into the snow without clothes, no way in hell anybody can see me.” I smirked at my reflection and sneaked out of my room.

I walked slowly in the corridor making sure that nobody noticed me and headed to where I can hear voices coming from; I put my ear at the door and eavesdropped on them.

“He is cursed; he is going to curse us all” Shouted my mother.

“As I said, I already sent somebody to tell the chief, keep your voice down, we don’t want that cursed creature to hear us, we need to follow the ritual and kill him at the altar so we can keep the curse away from us.” My father said soothing my terrified mother.

“I know that, why are they taking so long?” My mother retorted.

“They are collecting some demons so he can’t escape and as you know …”

I didn’t continue to hear what my father was saying and went back quickly to my room; I took the sheet from my bed and a small dagger, I hang the dagger on my waist and put the bedsheet over my head to cover my hair and upper half of my face, I took an old scarf and put it around my neck and over the bedsheet, I made sure to cover the remaining part of my face with the scarf and fixed the bedsheet over my shoulders as if wearing a cape.

I peeked through the window to make sure that nobody can see me before opening it slowly and as quietly as possible, I sneaked half of my head out and peeked at both sides, when I made sure that I can sneak out without being noticed, I jumped from the window and walked toward the forest.

I chose the roads with the least demons; I especially avoided the direction of the chief’s house, since I’m guessing most of the demons will be there to arrange for capturing me and preparing the altar.

I walked at a normal pace at first to avoid drawing attention to myself until I reached the outskirt of the village then I ran like the wind to the river.

The river is only about two kilometers away from the village, I came with my supposed mother a few times before, but even though I have seen the view, now that I regained my memories, it feels like I’m seeing it for the first time.

The way some trees have leaves with multiple colors, or how the fungus is hanging on the trees’ trunks, I really want to stop and touch everything, taste these strange fruits, feel this green and white moss, smell this wonderful air without panting from running, but I reluctantly kept running because I know that I can do everything I always wished for when I’m safe.

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At the first sign of the river, I started to collect broken branches from the ground, I collected an armful of sticks and put them near a big tree and hid behind it, I removed the bedsheet and used my dagger to cut from it three tall and thin lines, first, I rubbed each one of them in between my palms to make it cylindrical which will make it stronger, then I entwined them together and created a rope.

I tied the remaining of the bedsheet around my waist, and then used the rope to tie the pile of sticks together; I passed the scarf between the sticks and the rope before tying it around my waist. I secured the pile of sticks in my arms next to my chest and ran to the river as fast as I could while laughing like crazy from happiness.

I jumped into the river and drifted with the current, I made sure to keep my grip on the wood tight since I hardly know how to swim, if I had known that my wish would come true I would have learned a lot of things, alas, I had no idea that I could be this lucky.

The water depth most of the time was around a meter but sometimes it was a little deeper or a little shallower, nevertheless, I managed to keep floating over the water with the help of the wood in between my arms.   

I could see some bright red fishes jumping from the water from time to time trying to catch some flying bugs near the riverbank and between some tall water plants. I stretched my hand toward the fishes with a longing look.

The fishes’ scales were shining under the sunlight and few drops of water splashed whenever the fishes jumped or fell back to the water and created small rainbows from time to time which drew the best picture of nature.

I drifted for about an hour while making sure to watch every scenery around me, until my arms and neck were hurting like a bitch, if you are wondering why my neck is hurting, the answer is really simple, it’s because I kept moving my head all around me to make sure that I didn’t miss anything.

When I couldn’t hang on much longer I flapped my legs and swam toward the riverbank, though I stayed in the water until I reached some rocky shore and I grabbed the rocks and climbed on them.

I made sure to keep the pile of sticks with me as I sat on the rocks; I untied the rope and threw the sticks into the water again. I couldn't leave them tied together otherwise they may get stuck near the place where I got out of the river and gave my position away.

I removed my clothes and the bedsheet and squeezed out the water as much as I could with my hands then put my clothes back on.

I looked at the trees around me until I found some strange big purple mushroom with a strong smell coming from it -I bet it is poisonous - I made sure to keep my feet on rocks and hid behind a tree near the mushroom. I cut a piece from the bedsheet and divided it into two squares, I collected some thick leaves from a nearby tree and arranged them above the cloth before putting my foot over them and tied them under my shoes to camouflage my footsteps.

I grabbed the dangerous-looking mushroom with a tree leaf and rubbed it over what remained of the bedsheet and laid it over my shoulder while making sure to keep the side with the mushroom remnants away from my skin.

Since my footsteps and smell were taken care of, I walked away from the river and ventured into the forest while making sure to keep away from any voices.