∆ First piece of Writing after a while (I've had exams and I've been trying to prepare for those) Apologies if it's not up to my usual standard!
∆ Sanha x Araminta (I gave MC a name, feel free to input your own!)
∆ I saw the prompt on Instagram originally, but it came from here!
Araminta lived in a house upon a mountain. Araminta walked with a slightly menacing stride. Araminta always made sure her face was fixed with a rather terrifying glare every time she went out, even to fetch the mail. Araminta was someone people avoided as much as they could. Araminta was someone who could make another shiver with fear by simply breathing in their direction.
Araminta was the villain.
Or so she was thought to be. The truth?
Araminta was a sweet woman with a heart of gold. She regularly took care of animals that ventured up the mountain to her home. Dogs, cats, goats, the odd horse, they were all welcomed with open arms by Araminta. But where Araminta succeeded with animals, she failed spectacularly with humans.
You see, Araminta was a lonely woman. But she preferred it that way. Since a child, she struggled with social anxiety, the thoughts of ' God, why did I do it that way' nagging at her mind every moment she was awake.
It didn't matter how long ago it'd happened, the thoughts drifted in and out as she fell asleep at night, and as she awoke in the morning's golden glow.
Which was part of the reason why, when one particularly uninteresting day, as the sun reached the edge of the sky, far above the mountain, Araminta thought of hiding from the source of the knock on her door. But her curiosity was stronger, as was her desire to interact with another person. So she fixed her face with her usual menacing glare and yanked the door open. Within a second of opening the heavy door, she gasped, reaching an arm out to wrap around the forearm of the person standing opposite her.
'...Didn't know where to go...' The man mumbled, tilting his head up slightly to look at the woman. He hissed sharply, before mumbling again, '...Can you help me..?'
The man closed his eyes tightly, face screwed up into a grimace. One arm was wrapped around his mid-section, as one would if they had a horrid stomach ache.
Araminta lead him to the couch she had been resting on moments prior. Helping him lay down, Araminta gave him a visual once-over.
Blood, both fresh and dried stained his arms and shirt which was torn in places. Small cuts and the early signs of bruises littered the tanned skin of his cheeks. The tinges of red surrounding his left eye told Araminta that he had likely been punched in the eye and that he would have one hell of a black eye the next day. With a soft sigh, Araminta pulled his stained shirt away from his chest, peeking at the wounds underneath. She quickly prepared a cotton swab with disinfectant, lifting the material and swiping it gently over the fresh wounds. She flinched at the hisses that escaped the young man, his jaw clenched tightly and hands in fists by his sides.
'Sorry~' She mumbled, glancing at the bloodied swab for a split second before setting it to the side and preparing another one, repeating her previous actions. She then ripped open a dressing and taped it over a laceration.
Her eyes flicked back and forth from her hands to the man's face to gage his reactions. 'So, Sanha,' she began softly, moving away to place the used materials into a rubbish bag. 'What in the good heavens happened for you to be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey?'
Sanha chuckled between short breaths, grimacing at the pain that followed the sudden change in breathing. 'Just a little fight.'
'You're one of the best fighters in the village.' Araminta responded almost immediately. Despite her secluded living situation, she knew of Sanha's reputation.
Before he could respond, Araminta had begun to clean the wounds on his arms, dressing the ones that needed to be dressed. Sanha could only lay still, eyes shut tightly as if it would lower the level of pain spreading across his body. After what seemed like ages for Sanha, she stepped back, wiping her hands off with a wet wipe. Setting some painkillers down beside him, she set about cleaning up, putting the kit back into its place and tying the bag off and setting it aside. 'Okay. You can rest here for a bit. Do you plan to go back down the mountain this evening, or will you stay here?'
Sanha groaned softly, exhaling his answer. 'Can I stay tonight? I'd rather not aggravate my injuries again.'
Araminta nodded. 'I'll call the village and let them know you're here.' She picked up the bag and left the room, putting it by the back door and fetching a glass of water for Sanha. She set it down beside him, heading for the landline on a side table nearby. She sat down, punching in the number of the village's office.
'Hello, Mayor Lin's office. This is Mindy speaking, how may I help you?' The call was answered quickly, with a secretary confidently reciting the few lines. Araminta cleared her throat.
'Hello, this is Araminta speaking,' she paused as Mindy greeted her and asked how she was. 'Good, good. Listen, I'm calling to let you know that Sanha is in my house. He was very injured, but I've treated him. I'll send him back tomorrow.' Having passed the message on, Araminta said her good-byes and hung up, sinking back into the chair. She silently watched Sanha rest, not daring to disturb the quiet that had descended upon the room. For a moment, she thought he'd drifted off when..
'Araminta?' Came Sanha's deep voice. 'Are you still there?'
'Yeah,' She answered, shifting in her chair, leather creaking under her weight.
'Thank you. I was a little worried about annoying you, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it home.'
'You're not annoying me. How come you were fighting up here? And why, if I may ask.'
'We didn't want to fight in the village. We'd get in trouble, I guess?' Sanha mumbled. 'And it wasn't anything much. This guy was just being disrespectful. I had enough.'
'Hm.' Came Araminta's reply. Silence settled over them again, and soon both fell asleep where they were.
Sanha awoke the next morning, to the almost blinding sunlight reflecting off the snow and into the living room. Araminta was in the kitchen, fixing something for Sanha to eat when he woke up. She walked back in, smiling faintly as she noticed he was awake.
Setting a plate down, she moved to sit down again. 'I've already eaten,' She spoke, almost sensing his concerns before he raised them. 'Eat up; I'm going to take you down to the village soon. It would help if you got your wounds properly treated.' Sanha nodded, doing as she said.
It wasn't long before Sanha was hobbling down the worn path bordered by lights, leaning heavily on Araminta's shoulder. She gently held his hand in one of hers, staring at the ground ahead, scanning for any dangers. The trip passed quickly, with no events and eventually, the voices of those living in the village filtered up the mountain. A few people were standing by the entrance to the path, chatting idly between them.
'Sanha!' One called, and Araminta recognised him as Junha, Sanha's older brother and an nurse in the hospital. She shifted Sanha's weight onto Junha's shoulder and smiled faintly, waving to him before turning to begin her trek back up the mountain. Sanha looked back, starting to say something, then deciding against it. As the two moved in separate directions, both knew that it would likely be a while before they met again, though it wasn't for lack of trying - well, on Sanha's part anyway. He knew that as soon as he was released from the ward, he'd trek up the mountain if only to tell Araminta that he was okay; to show how quickly he had healed.
With that in mind, he sped up his hobbled pace, wanting to get to the ward quicker, so that he could leave quicker. He knew that it wouldn't happen like that, but he didn't much care.
He had found that the villain wasn't so bad, and he wanted to know more. And, perhaps, one day, the rest of the village would know too.
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