Page 8 of Stolen By The Beast

Finally, I broke the silence between us. “Are you injured?”

I didn’t smell her blood, but I knew injuries weren’t always external.

The female wrinkled the circular part of her face right above her mouth. It had nostril slits, like my own, but rounder and more delicate in appearance.

“Who… are you?”

“Someone trying to help you. You were wandering the woods, and then—”

She stared at me expectantly when I didn’t continue, and I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t screaming like every other human who’d encountered me.

“I was walking alone in the forest?”

Now the top part of her face wrinkled, her mouth puckering up into a funny expression. If I was going to keep her, I would ask her about the dozens of meanings behind each one, but I didn’t plan on her staying that long.

One night only.

“Yes. You don’t remember?”

Another flurry of expressions raced across her face before her lips turned downward, and I wished she would curl them up how I liked.

“N-no! I don’t remember!”

“It’s okay.” I attempted to soothe her. “You hit your head—does that hurt?”

She reached up to touch the back of her scalp before her mouth twisted. “Ouch. It does when I touch it.”

“Maybe that’s why you don’t recall anything.”

And why she doesn’t fear me.

“Maybe.”

She shrugged, clearly not concerned about her lack of memory, and I envied her ability to simply forget. If only I could will the darkness inside of me away…

“I bet you’re tired. Get some rest, and when you wake up, I’ll take you back to your kind.”

“My kind?”

“Humans.”

“But… But what if I want to stay with you?”

I stared down at the timid creature who was no bigger than a sapling sprouting its first leaves. “You can’t stay with me.”

“Why not?”

Do all humans ask as many questions as this one does?

“Because you’re not supposed to be with me.”

“Says who?”

“Saysme.”

“You don’t want me to stay?”

“No.”