At the entry of the quarry, the boy flinched at the sound of the cries. "I... I have to help them." He spoke with a sorrowful tone. Before I could say anything, he let go of my hand and rushed back inside. I shouted out, "Boy!" with the last of my strength, while leaning against the rock wall of the entrance to stand upright. However, this made no difference to him. He continued running back inside the wretched place.

In the end, everyone has their own journey; and I knew going back inside wasn't a part of mine. I had neither the strength nor power to do anything but escape. And now, without the support of the boy, I had to move on my own.

After staggering for two minutes into the dense forest outside the quarry, I finally came out of the shade of the high trees. For the first time in 20 years, I had seen the sun, felt the warmth of the light. I squinted my eyes as the searing pain caused by the light blinded me. It took another three minutes to adjust my eyes to the brightness.

"Ahukh!" I coughed up blood once again. With blood dripping now dripping down from my face, I was unable to maintain my strength. My weak knees bent and I fell to the ground. As I lifted my head up, I caught the sight of a rabbit.

I reached my right hand out in front of me, and pulled my body forward with my fingers in the dirt. Slowly and steadily, I began to move closer to the white furred creature. The closer I got to it, the more clearly I could see it. It had a brown horn on its head, with red beady eyes. A bag of meat chewing on grass.

After covering the distance with my trembling hands, I grabbed a sharp rock and threw it at the rabbit. But my efforts were meaningless. As the rock hit the rabbit, it hopped away further in the forest. With that, I closed my eyes.

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As my eyes opened, I saw hay above my head. Upon blinking a couple times, I saw walls around me, and felt the bed my body rested on. "Where... am I?" As the thought occurred to me, a young lady entered the hut through the door situated in the direction of my legs.

Putting a hand on my chest, I lifted up the upper part of my body with a groan. The woman rushed to my left and spoke in a soft, soothing voice, "Uh! Don't get up just yet!" Her golden hair fluttered as a look of concern gleamed on her pale white face. I could feel the sensation of the bandages tightening around my lean body. The blue-eyed woman continued, "I applied a herb to your wounds, they should heal in a day. You should rest for now."

"What do you want from me?" It could be possible that she was trying to heal my body so she could make the most of it as a sacrifice. I had heard tales of witches when I was young. I wasn't on guard against this woman because I had no strength in my body to do so. The main reason I asked this question was because I wanted to know the plain truth.

The woman put a hand over her mouth and let out a little chuckle. "I only brought you here because I wanted to treat your wounds. I want absolutely nothing in return. After all, isn't it normal to help others?" With this, she proceeded to move to the other side of the hut, into a location which seemed like a kitchen. With her back faced to me, she was constantly moving from side to side, tossing various things into a pan of sorts. She turned back to look at me and spoke, "Oh, and would you like to have dinner here? It's been a while since I've entertained a guest."

I ended up eating cooked steak in the wooden hut with the strange lady. And as the sun settled in the horizon, I decided it was best if I stayed for a while longer. She seemed... rather naive. I almost felt as if I could trust her. I rested back in the bed, as the young lady rested on a couch. At the end of the day, I could feel more blood flowing through my body. I had lived in such comfort after so long. Tears rolled down my eyes as the calm day ended. Yet, like always, I felt expressionless.