Two

Chapter two

Amelia

The man was groaning as he tried his best to lift hso wounded body up from the makeshift bed. I rush towards him and hold his down.

"No, you are not meant to move yet, as you wounds are still deep and will cause a lot of pain and discomfort." I try to explain to him, but he doesn't listen to me as he still struggles against him. His eyes regard me with cautiousness. 

I move closer to him and press him down hard to the bed, making sure that he can't move.

"Stay down, sir. I won't hurt you. I found you and I want to help you, so will you let me?"  I said, seriously.

The man sighed before lying back down on the hard bed. I went to where I had kept the food and picked up the cup of water. I made him sit up to drink it. He drank it like he hadn't had water for days.

I let him rest back down after that. I went over and got the food. I placed it down before I had him sit up, his back resting on the wall. He groaned in pain at any single movent that he made.

I got the food and placed it on my thighs before feeding it to him, slowly. He had problems moving his jaw a little bit, so he chewed really slowly. 

"I'm Amelia by the way." I said, not looking at him, but concentrating on feeding him.

"I was doing something around here when I heard sounds coming from the forest and got curious. I saw you lying on the floor, so I decided to help you." I smiled as I finished.

"Thank you." I heard amd my head snapped up with the speed of lightning. I faced how m, my eyes wide like I had seen an alien or something.

That was the first time he had said a word and his voice sounded like heaven. Ot was deep and hoarse, probably because it was dry. 

"My name is Alaric." He said and I smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you, Alaric." I said and finished up feeding him the food.

I was actually taking a big risk by keeping Alaric in the shack. If my parents or worse, other people of the town found out that I was keeping a man that wasn't my husband or bethroted, they would rule me a prostitute and finally get what they wanted. 

I drop the plate back on the table and turn to Alaric.

"Would you like to go to see a doctor?" I asked and his eyes widened.

"No, no. No doctor!" He shouted as he sat up and I was taken aback. "My apologies, for shouting so loudly, but please no doctors." He said before resting his back on the wall.

"Okay." I frowned. "But can you tell me how you ended up in this state?" I say and he looked away, his eyes becoming darker.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said harshly and I nodded, letting it go, but still finding it suspicious.

"You'll have to remain here for the time being. I'll try to find something to place on this to make it a little bit softer for you." I said, touching the makeshift bed.

"Thank you for all your help." He said as he laid back down. "I'll make sure to pay you back when I recover." 

"Oh, there wouldn't be any need for that. I just helped you because I wanted to, nothing more." I smiled at him.

"Thank you." He said, closing his eye.

"There's no problem. I brought some clothes for you to wear as yours are torn already, I don't know if you can change I to them because of your wounds, but if you cannot, them it's okay." I said, showing him the clothes.

"I can do that, if you would excuse me." He said and I stood up, dripping the clothes beside him as I walked outside to wait there.

I close the door behind me as I wait, swinging on my feet, looking around. Alaric seemed like a nice person. The only problem was the fact that he was hiding who he was and what had happened to him. 

I could be harbouring a criminal for all I knew, but something told me that he wasn't. I could honestly have been really wrong, but I didn't care at that moment.

I heard a knock on the door, indicating that he was done wearing the clothes. I opened the door and went back inside, and he was already lying in the bed, the clothes he had removed placed in a corner. 

I picked up the clothes and put them where I would see them if I was leaving. Even through the clothes I had brought for him were my father's clothes, they still fit him perfectly because Alaric had a very good physique. He was muscular with broad shoulder, so those filled up the clothes.

"So, what will happen is… I'll bring you food twice everyday, because I don't want my parents or anyone else to get suspicious, I hope that's not too little?" I asked.

"No, no. It's not. You're already doing enough for me as it is." 

"That's fine then, I'll make sure that the portions I bring are more, so that it would be filling." I smiled at him. "Also, I won't be staying for too long if I come, because my parents are very strict about me leaving the house, and nobody can ever find out that I keep you here, or that would be the end of it for me." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Why is that?" 

"Well, for one like I said, my parents are strict about me leaving the house, I even had to sneak out of the house to come here and also to hlgat you all the stuff that I gave you. But if it was the towns people, that would be even worse. They already don't like me, that would be me giving them another reason to dislike me." 

"Why don't they like you?" 

"They kind of see me as an out ast because I don't mingle with them, also because I don't wear the normal clothes that ladies are supposed to." I said, touching the skirt of my dress.

"I don't really like wearing corsets or long skirts. They make me uncomfortable and it's tiring dragging them with me every where I go, so I'd rather choose this." I gestured to my dress.

"I made them myself, because apparently no seamstress was willing to make such atrocities." I said and Alaric laughed. 

I stared at him with a smile on my face, mesmerized by the sound of his laughter and the way he looked. 

My parents had never let me close to any man before. I hadn't even been allowed to court anyone, even at my age. So, being close to one, especially one this handsome, made me feel certain ways.

"You have a very good sense of humour. Can you tell me more about yourself? I really need a distraction right now."

"Well, there isn't really much to tell." I smile. "I'm just an ordinary girl. My days are not as interesting as they seem to be because I'm mostly always in my home. I only get breaks when I manage to sneak out, and even if I do, I don't have any friends to play or go around with or anything else to do." I sighed.

"I haven't even seen the town properly. I only get to go to the main outline own on rare occasions and that's only under supervision or with my parents." I looked down at my hands. "But I'm fine with it though, because I'm the queen of indoor activities." I said with a sudden bright smile and Alaric smiled too.

"Well…" I stood up. "I need to get going now before a search party is sent to look for me. I'll be back with food in the evening." I said and walk towards the door after picking up the plates and his torn clothes.

"Try to get some rest, and don't move around a lot, so you won't mess up your wounds or make any one bigger. I'll also have to bring something to keep some water for you, so you can drink if you're thirsty." I said and smiled at him for the last time before finally closing the door behind me.

I sighed as I started the journey back to the house. I really hoped my parents weren't back from where they had went to as I had spent a lot of time with Alaric, because that would be bad for me.