Escape from the Witch Hunters
Chapter 7

Ryia opened her eyes. The sun was just about to rise, sending a pink hue through the trees and onto the forest floor.

But she wasn't outside. She was in a house. A very familiar house. Gillian's house.

She let out a squeak. How had she gotten back here? The last she knew, she was crumpled down in the woods with a coyote howling in the distance.

She looked at the edge of her bed to see Gillian in a crumpled heap lying against her, well his, bed.

"Oh no!" she pulled her covers back and carefully got out of bed, trying not to disturb Gillian.

She grabbed her crutch and made her way to the front door. A loud creeeaaak sounded as the hinges opened the door.

She held her breath as Gillian shifted.

He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the escaping figure of Ryia. "Where are you going?" he stood up quickly.

She looked nervously at him. "Since it's morning I'll be on my way, I'm terribly sorry for the way I inconvenienced you. If you will just point me in the right direct-"

"Ryia you aren't going anywhere." he walked over to the door and grabbed onto her arm and dragged her back inside. "Ryia look, I'm sorry for what I said last night. I wasn't thinking straight and I just let things get out of hand," he looked down guiltily, staring at the floor.

He paused for a couple minutes and Ryia wondered if he was going to continue. His hair was sticking up all over the place, making him look all the more harmless.

"I don't think you're capable of sorcery, and even if you were, I'd still hide you if the authorities came for you, and I actually found that I kind of maybe like having you here," he scratched his neck awkwardly, "and so maybe if you would reconsider turning yourself in..." he back at her with his sea blue eyes.

Ryia's breath got caught in her throat. "If you're sure I'm not being a burden or anything."

"Oh, you are a bother, but kind it's kind of nice to have a bother once in awhile." he answered quickly.

Ryia sighed. "Alright."

Gillian smiled before going outside to wash up.

How come he always has to ruin the sweet moments by saying something rude? she shook off the disappointed feeling and went over to the cupboard to get some flour, coming out empty.

"Gillian did you get more flour?" she called out the window.

She heard a muffled groan and something along the lines of, "I totally forgot about it."

"You forgot to get it?" she walked out the front door and stood there with her hands on her hips. (As best she could with a crutch under one arm.)

"No," his mouth twitched, "I just kind of tossed it on the front steps, and the sack may or may not have spilled."

He walked to the front steps where a bundle was sitting and started opening it up.

Thankfully there was no flour on any of the items in the bundle.

"Oh yeah." Gillian muttered.

He pulled a silk piece of scarlet material out of the bundle. Ryia gasped.

"I thought you might want this." Gillian mumbled. "Since I burned your other dress and all. And you said you could sew."

Ryia bit her lip, trying to keep her smile from getting too big. "Thank you so much, Gillian. It will be wonderful to feel like an actually lady again."

"I also got you this." he pulled out a cream colored fabric that was more workable than the silk. "So you don't have to work in the scarlet one."

Ryia let her crutch fall to the ground and she threw her arms around Gillian. "Thank you so much, Gillian. No one has ever gotten me that nice of material before."

To say his face was as pink as a sunset would have been an understatement.

Gillian stood there awkwardly. "You don't know that." His arms made their way through hers and he gently patted her back.

This is what you do if someone hugs you, right? he thought back to when his mother would hug him. Albeit he was shorter then, and would wrap his arms around her waist.

He hadn't hugged anyone since his Chloe and even then, the hugs were so brief that he didn't take the time to notice the structure of the hug. He wrinkled his nose. Here he was, hugging Ryia, and thinking about Chloe. He mentally shook the thoughts out of his head.

He didn't know how long they were in that position. It was probably just a few seconds, but felt like eternity.

When he let her go, his arms felt cold and empty.

Ryia realized what an awkward situation she had put them in and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll should go fix some breakfast for us." she turned to go back inside.

Gillian grabbed her arm and she spun around. There eyes locked for a moment.

Ryia's heart beat faster.

He leaned in close to her ear and her eyes got wide.

"You're welcome." he murmured before he let her go.

Ryia nodded, quickly picked up the supplies and went back inside.

Gillian watched her walk up the steps and into the house before he turned back to his wood cutting.

Ryia fixed breakfast almost automatically, doing this and that, without actually thinking about her actions.

Her mind was still far away on the thoughts of a handsome young man with the name of Gillian.

Does his heart beat faster whenever his hand touches mine? Does his breathing stop whenever his eyes reach mine?

She hated to think that it was just her silly emotions playing with her heartstrings.

“Come on.” Gillian sat up after stuffing the last of the maple rolls in his mouth. “I’m going to show you something.”

Ryia raised her eyebrows. “I can’t walk very fast with my crutch, just a fair warning.”

“I’ll just have to carry you then.” Gillian had a smirk on his face and Ryia couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, so she didn’t reply.

Ryia stood up, set her dish in the dish barrel, and got her crutch.

Gillian went out the door and hopped down the steps where he waited for her at the bottom of the front steps.

“I’m sorry.” she hurried out the front door and started down the stairs but the bottom of the crutch caught on the wooden step, sending her cascading down the steps, straight into Gillian’s arms.

Gillian looked equally shocked for a moment before an amused expression overtook his face. “I seem to be catching you quite a lot lately."

Ryia nodded.

He could get used to the feel of her in his arms. How is she doing this to me? it was as if time stopped.

He helped her on her feet and handed her crutch to her.

“Thank you.” she looked down shyly.

Gillian simply started walking again, leading her to his favorite place.

Ryia hurried as fast as she could, until she was a bit ahead of him.

“Gillian,” Ryia hesitantly looked back at him, “do you have family?”

Gillian’s playful look left him at once and his face clouded over.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me, I didn't know that it would cause you pain-"

"It's alright, Ryia." he forced a smile.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "I did have family. I had a mother and a father, but I never had any siblings."

Ryia nodded encouragingly.

"My father was a physician, like you already know. And my mother, she stayed home bringing me up, and keeping the house."

"What did she look like?" Ryia asked curiously.

Gillian smiled sadly. "She had light brown hair, like you, and she had greenish blue eyes. She was a little taller than you, and she was very pretty. In fact, my father often wondered why she chose him when there were so many other men to choose from."

"What was your father like?" Ryia walked quickly, trying to keep up with Gillian's long strides.

He didn't answer for a minute, and Ryia thought that maybe she had pushed him too far.

"People used to say that I looked just like him. The dark hair, blue eyes, being fairly tall." he paused. "I can't say I'm proud of him. I was before my mother," he closed his eyes for a minute - it was almost as if it physically pained him to talk of his mother, "before she passed on. I was devastated, but father was in even worse shape. He took a liking to drinking, and when he drank, he would beat me."

Gillian looked down at the ground.

"I can't say that I was sad when he died. In fact, you could almost say the I was relieved."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, content to just walk by each other's side.

After they had been walking for some time, a small stream came into view. As she got closer, she could see the swift movement of the clear water against the smooth stones.

"So this is where you always go." she marveled.

Gillian nodded, even though she wasn't looking. "I come here when I'm upset."

Ryia looked up at him sadly, almost as if she felt his pain.

Then she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry, Gillian. I can't say I know what it feels like to be in so much pain. But I wish I could somehow make you happy again." she mumbled against his chest.

Gillian smiled. She would have to stop making her way into his arms. "Look," he pulled away from her slightly so she could see his face, "I am smiling."

"I said 'happy', Gillian. Not make you smile." she shook her head.

Gillian fluffed her hair. "It doesn't matter if I'm happy or not." he sat down by the stream and patted a patch of grass near himself, indicating where Ryia should sit.

"I wish I could tell you a bit more about myself." Ryia looked into the fresh water, then she laughed bitterly. "But even I don't know much about myself."

"Then tell me what you do know." Gillian looked at her.

Ryia looked at him for a minute before she started talking. "I'm Evelyn Moore. I have light brown hair, one blue eye, and one green eye, I'm not very tall, I imposed on you around a week ago, or more, I forget, and..." she furrowed her eyebrows., "I think I had a horse. But it isn't very clear."

His eyebrows rose. "You had a horse?"

"I think I did." she sighed. "It was when I was in the woods. I thought I remembered riding through the woods on a horse when I heard a coyote's howl. I was running away from something, only I can't think of what I was running from. This is so frustrating!" she let out a frustrated growl.

"Interesting." he mused. "Do you like dogs?"

"I think I do. But I don't really remember ever having one." she sighed.

"Do you like to knit?" he asked.

She scrunched her nose a little bit. "Not really. At least I don't think I do. Maybe I used to love it."

"But you like sewing?" he grinned. "That is probably just as bad as knitting."

She laughed. "Hardly. At least with sewing, you can make all sorts of things. With knitting, you're much more limited. At least I am."

"How do you know you can't make more?" he looked at her.

Her brown waves falling on her shoulders and framing her delicate face.

"I don't actually know." she frowned then looked back at him, their eyes meeting. "I guess I...I don't know. I remember stupid details and facts, but never anything that is of any use."

"Remembering you had a horse wasn't a stupid detail or fact." he commented. He brushed a lock of hair behind her shoulder.

She shifted uneasily and looked up at the sun's position. "We should probably be going back. The garden needs watering, the chickens need feeding, the barn could stand a good cleaning, the gate needs fixing, and I want to make my dresses."

She smiled just thinking about the dresses she would make.

"Who cares about the chickens." Gillian mumbled.

She rolled her eyes at him and stood up. "I do. We need food you know."

Gillian mumbled something else incoherent but got up as well.

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