The Tavern (standard:fantasy, 2151 words)
Author: Zato	Added: Apr 26 2001	Views/Reads: 3163/2081	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A man runs from the brotherhood, a deadly organization composed of the undead. To escape he must flee to his past, The Tavern.

The Tavern 

It was small, the niche that I hid in. The concert felt bare on my skin,
making bruises and cuts on my elbows and knees. It felt unsafe, hiding 
in that corner, as if I was exposed to the world and there was nothing 
standing between the danger that hid outside, and myself. It was fear, 
I realized, that led me to run, to hide from all that I knew. But in 
the end I realize I was testing my limits, of how far I could go. 

Crawling out of the crate I had crawled into, I quickly dashed off again
down the warehouse, my feet giving the loud footsteps that echoed off 
the walls. I did not even stop to think of who might hear, or how far 
they were, I just ran. It didn’t matter anymore that someone might be 
hurt, it didn’t matter anymore that some people might feel oppressed. 
All I cared about was getting away, staying alive. I had realized, on 
the moment of my near death, that I wanted to live. I wanted to live, 
to taste the warm air of spring once again, to make the mistakes of 
tomorrow and feel the warmth of love once again, fake or real. And so I 
ran, afraid and alone, into the darkness. 

Reaching to the door I soon found myself out in the darkness of night. A
cobblestone path I saw then, appearing just beyond my view past the 
gates of the warehouses, and again I was on my feet. My legs seemed to 
carry themselves, as if driven by some motive of their own, independent 
of my mind. I did not think of the danger that was probably stalking me 
from behind, or of the love that I lost in the darkness, or of the 
danger that would await me elsewhere. I actually did not think at all, 
just acted, just responded to the events that fell before me. 

The road was long, longer than I realized for I did not know where I was
going. I realized then that I didn’t have a plan, didn’t have a course 
that I wanted to follow, to attain to. I could go to the watch guards 
at the edge of town, I supposed. Or I could just run to the next town. 
I had to be realistic; I had to find a place to stay in town where no 
one could find me, a place where danger was not an option because I was 
around friends. I had to run away from my destiny and my family. I had 
to run away from the life that I always thought belonged to me, I had 
to go back to my past to hide from my future. 

It did not take a while, but the road continued on after my destination,
the inn. It was the place of my birth, or rather of the events of my 
childhood, where I had hung around in as an orphan child. Even before I 
opened the door memories of happy times flooded my head. Friends I had 
gained here, friends I had lost here all within the confines of my 
world, something I alone could control a god almost. And a single sign 
hung on the doorway to this building, The Tavern. 

But it was locked, and I could not get in. A sudden whisper in the
distance, the sound of footsteps filled the confines of my inert 
hearing. Quickly I struggled with the doorknob, pushing just a little 
harder against the wooden frame. Slowly I worked at the lock, trying to 
figure out it’s secret, its clue. Again the sound came from behind, 
this time closer, creeping almost, maybe to get me by surprise. The 
door started to give way, the lock starting to weaken to my pressure, 
and the sound coming ever closer. A little more pressure on the door, 
and it gave way, myself crashing to the floor as I threw the door 
closed, my foot braced against it’s surface. 

A new sound came from inside the door, behind the bar that stood on the
back of this four-sided room, a staircase and footsteps. I could not 
move, could not think of a way out but it could not be the men after 
me, it could not be the death of my life. And so I laid down on the 
floor, praying, almost willing myself to become invisible so as to not 
disturb the residence of this tavern. Now a light filled the opening 
from behind the bar into this room, making me squint so as to blind me. 
It was a single candle and I could not see, the light of it’s flame 
making the room fully visible now to reveal a room with many tables, a 
bar, and a single doorway out. 

Looking up I found myself looking at a part of my past, a part that I
left behind to save them from my sadness. “Jalin!” It was my dear 
childhood friend Abby, the daughter of the tavern owner. “Jalin what’s 
wrong?” Abby said curiously, real concern in her eyes. “I have not seen 
you for a long time.” 



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