The Broken
-- Chapter One.
As Leo woke, there was nothing but pain. It coursed through his body, a sharp sting like a thousand serrated knives attacking him inside and out. The pain displaced all else: the world was gone, sound was gone, his body was gone; all that remained was that terrible agony that devoured the soul.
Then it too disappeared. And with its departure, the Universe reasserted itself, roaring back into existence with deafening silence. Like a wounded beast, Leo tried to raise his head, but it got no further than an inch from the ground before dropping again. He tried to call for help, but his voice was coarse and weak from endless screaming. He tried to clutch at himself for some measure of reassurance, but his arms only twitched in pitiful frailty.
Although the fine details in the scene before him were lost in the haze of his barely functioning eyesight, Leo registered, with a kind of cold detachment, that he was not in his bedroom. Nor was he in his house, nor any other building, rather, he lay sprawled outside, surrounded by swaying greenery and proud trees. The sunlight, filtered through the bright canopy of leaves above, felt comfortingly warm against his skin, whilst the broken twigs and tiny flecks of dirt beneath him made him itch. He could hear, but not see, a nearby stream, the water sloshing and splashing, playfully taunting Leo’s dry throat.
Now that the mysterious pain was completely gone, he noted that his mind was strangely clear, although he was all but unable to move. Paralysed like this, Leo could only delve deeper into his own imagination, and hope that someone would arrive, preferably soon, to help.
What in the name of hell had happened to him? Right then he should be in bed, groaning against the incessant beeping of an alarm clock urging him to get up for school, not writhing with pain in some unknown woodland. His memories prior to waking were scrambled and confused. He could remember various different instances and fragments of the previous day, but wasn’t sure what order they were meant to be in. And there were large, black gaps in his memory, patches of time he knew had passed, but hadn’t a clue as to what had happened during them. Presumably alcohol - or some other drug - was involved somewhere. Outside of that conclusion, Leo knew of nothing else that could possibly account for his current situation.
It was a rather curious deduction though: Leo took no illegal drugs, and had had no plans for drinking the previous night. How then could he have come into contact with either of them, unless the consumption had been outside of his consent?
Closing his eyes, he let out a quiet moan. The black of his closed eyelids was inviting. He wasn’t scared exactly, despite the circumstances, but he certainly felt uneasy. Perhaps sleep would help. Maybe, upon waking, he would find himself back in his own bedroom, muttering curses at his now yearned for alarm clock….
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Leo woke to the sound of the stream still warbling its tune. Wanting to delay the inevitable sight of the hopeless situation, he kept his eyes closed, and groaned.
Some small insect - a fly, or an ant, or some other such thing - crawled across his face, tickling him. Leo had flicked it away and scratched his nose before it dawned on him that he was able to move again. His eyes flashing open, revealing a now sharper picture of the world around him, he slid his arms across the dirt in experimentation. Then, carefully, with palms flat against the ground, he pushed himself to his knees, and then to his feet. He swayed as he stood, like a half drunk teenager. He still felt weak, and his arms and legs trembled unpleasantly, but he was mobile.
The stream behind him turned out to be wider and deeper than he had expected from the noise it made. Weeds and other plants grew all around it in uncontrolled disarray, spurting up from the water in mad competition for the resource. Leo stumbled towards it. Falling to his knees amongst some of the softer plants, he plunged his cupped hands into the cold water, drew them out again and took a quick sip of the water as it leaked between his fingers. There were many particles of dirt polluting it, but the coolness of the water more than made up for it. He lowered his mouth to the stream and drunk from it greedily, enjoying how it refreshed his dry throat.
Once he was done, he took a few steps backs, to take better note of his surroundings. It was only then that he realised he was naked. In mild disbelief, he stared down at himself.
What the hell?
Whatever Leo had got up to last night, he was paying for it now. How was he going to get home without his clothes? He’d be arrested before he even got to his house; and even if he did somehow manage to make his way home, how would he explain this to his parents?
Seriously. Damn.
But before he thought about what would happen upon his arriving home, there was the rather pressing problem of just where about he currently was. He turned slowly on the spot, his bare feet sliding across the dirt and weeds. As far as he could see, there were only trees and the river nearby, and no other landmarks. Leo knew of no such river near his home. ‘This sucks, oh so much,’ he muttered to himself. His voice was surprisingly croaky, although given that he hadn’t been able to talk at all earlier perhaps he should have expected that. Presumably his voice was still healing.
He looked up at the sky, where the sun burnt. He may well be naked, lost and alone, but at least it wasn’t cold. Slapping at his skin to knock off the worst of the dirt, Leo considered which direction to go. The smart thing to do, if TV had taught him anything, was to follow the river downstream. Sooner or later he’d come to a settlement, and from there he could … well, he could figure out what to do then once he got there.
Moving at a fast pace, eager to return home, he followed the river, careful to avoid the dense clumps of weeds. The thorns some of the plants supported looked rather vicious, and Leo had no intention of getting any closer to them than was needed. But regardless of how careful he was, there was no avoiding the fact that walking barefoot in woodland wasn’t an altogether smart idea. Small, hard bits of dirt, broken twigs, jagged stones, and various other such nuisances plagued every few footsteps. Leo had to stop walking to check and clean his feet twice after only fifteen minutes of walking.
It was just after the second stop, as Leo stood examining the rather lengthy thorn he had just yanked from the sole of his foot, that he heard voices. They wafted from a small distance away, the casual voices of strolling friends. It wasn’t quite possible to make out what was being said, but the tone seemed friendly enough. Unsure of what to do, Leo hesitated. How would these people react to a naked eighteen year old boy stumbling through woodland? Would they be able to help him? The voices were getting nearer.
He made up his mind. Cursing quietly, Leo crouched behind a particularly luscious bush. It was large enough to completely obscure sight of him, and if he were lucky he may even be able to catch a glimpse of the walkers through the small gaps that existed between some of the branches.
Footsteps could be heard now, clumsy footfalls that crunched twigs and foliage with ease. ‘Look,’ one of the voices was saying, ‘don’t misunderstand, I do respect your opinion, but there is no way Barbara is hotter than Janine; no possible way.’
‘You say that,’ said another voice, ‘but you really can rely on me as a reliable source: Barbara, minus her clothes, is like looking upon beauty itself. Nothing can top it.’
The first man scoffed. ‘Yeah, like you’ve seen Barbara naked.’
Leo peered through the bush, but couldn’t see either of the men. He could tell, though, that they were now just on the other side of it, no more than four or five feet away.
‘I assure you my friend, I totally have seen her in the nude, and it was hot.’
For a second, Leo was able to see, through a small gap in the leaves, the two men. It was only a glimpse, but it was long enough for Leo to make out the khaki uniforms they wore. They were soldiers! If they worked for the Government, then maybe, hopefully, they’d help him. That was, after all, their job.
Unless they simply arrested him, but Leo had been musing on that topic whilst he had walked, worried of what would happen if he was found by a policeman. He had come to the conclusion that he would be okay, as long as he explained his situation to them. After all, it wasn’t his fault.
He stood up. The two soldiers, who were now past Leo, continued their discussion, oblivious to him standing behind them. Shifting around the bush so that it would preserve his modesty for a little while longer, Leo called out to them. ‘Hello?’
The soldiers stopped walking as though they had just come into contact with an invisible wall. One of them still had a foot frozen in midair, waiting to be placed on the leafy ground. Leo nervously wetted his lips, wondering if he had made the wrong decision. As the soldiers spun around, whipping up their guns as they did so, he realised that yes, he had.
‘Hands in the air!’ one of them shouted.
Leo obliged. But even as he raised his hands, he surprised himself by not being all that afraid. He was nervous, most definitely, but he was not anywhere near to as terrified as he thought he would - and indeed, should - be.
‘Hi,’ said Leo again.
The soldiers peered at Leo from under their khaki helmets. Both seemed rather unsure of what to do, and neither said anything for a moment. Leo took the opportunity to add, ‘Look, I woke up near here and have no idea how to get home. Please, I need your help.’ He eyed the gun barrels as he spoke, not liking the fact that they had yet to be lowered. The cynical part of his mind - that is to say, the majority of it - flashed a warning in his mind’s eye: a newspaper heading that read, ‘BIRTHDAY SUIT TEEN BOY SHOT DEAD BY INCOMPETENT SOLDIERS’.
After a painful period of silence, one of them eventually said, ‘I suppose we’d best take this boy back to base.’ He left his partner’s side, who had only nodded mutely in agreement, and edged towards Leo, gun still trained on him. The unsure gaze remained in the soldier’s eyes. ‘Leave your hands where I can-’ he began, as Leo made to lower them. Then: ‘Cor, you’re naked.’
Leo looked down at his body, then back up at the solider. ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘Yes I am.’
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Opinions, anyone? All are welcome, the critical kind in particular. ^_^
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- and it should hopefully be posted up in a day or two.
