赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“Granger! You pathetic worm! Come out!” Caleb shouted, throwing himself into a small alcove. His voice echoed all around him, bouncing between the cave walls. He held tight to his arm, the arrow just barely grazed him, but he couldn’t be sure if it was poisoned or not this time.

When Caleb first arrived, he was surprised to find that the entrance was a natural cave. He expected to see a hatch or a door leading to this secret lab, but instead, he found three different tunnels.

He chose the left one. It led to a small underground stream surrounded by silver.

He hurried back and tried the right one this time. Not far after the tunnel entrance, he found a large open cave with rock formations and, more importantly, a light system.

That was when Granger ambushed him.

Luckily Caleb was fast, he avoided the first three arrows, but the second set of three was aimed differently. Granger caused a small rockslide to direct where Caleb could run to try to escape.

“Don’t be so scared, Caleb,” Granger called out.

The echo made it almost impossible for Caleb to figure out where Granger was hiding.

“These arrows are completely free of anything poisonous. I promise.”

“I’m sure you can understand that I have difficulty trusting your word!” Caleb shouted back.

He wanted to find Ashleigh, but he also figured that if Granger played cat and mouse with him, he wasn’t doing anything harmful to Ashleigh.

Caleb touched his stomach. The black material of his armor crawled over his arm and formed into a set of three throwing daggers.

“Where is she?!” Caleb called out.

He closed his eyes and waited for Granger to respond.

“She’s just waking up,” Granger called back. “I guess I really wore her out last night.”

Caleb growled. He leaned forward and threw one of the small knives. He heard it hit the cave wall and then a shuffling sound.

“Oh no,” Granger laughed. “Is that upsetting to hear?”

Caleb remained quiet. Reminding himself that Granger was just trying to rile him up._.

“Imagine how I felt,” Granger growled.

His voice was closer, and the echo was getting quieter as Caleb focused on him.

“I still have a connection to her, you know….” Granger continued. “Every time you put your filthy hands on her… I knew.”

“Then you know how much she loves me,” Caleb replied. “And never loved you.”

Granger let out a loud roar. Then, three arrows were set loose. Caleb quickly turned and flung his dagger in the direction they had come from.

“Fuck!” Granger shouted.

Caleb smiled as he pushed himself back into the slight dip in the wall. He heard shuffling again.

“Just tell me where she is, Granger. I’ll even let you go. I don’t care about you at all,” Caleb said. “Take the opportunity I’m offering you before you regret it.”

“I think I will,” Granger’s angry snarl came from right above.

Caleb looked up, and Granger jumped down on top of him.

Caleb wasn’t quick enough; they both fell forward, but Granger managed to get on top of Caleb’s back. He slipped his bow under Caleb’s throat and pulled back on it with all his might, choking him.

Caleb struggled to pull the bow away from his throat, but Granger had a good hold on it. Then, finally, he found the last throwing dagger. Placing the blade between his fingers, he made a fist around it and threw his arm back over his head.

Granger let out an anguished roar and dropped the bow. He scurried off Caleb and ran into the shadows. Hiding once more among the small dips and grooves of the cave wall.

Caleb also moved away from where the light shone brightest. He leaned against the rock wall, carefully scanning the area for movement. Taking soft, measured breaths to be as quiet as possible.

He took a step back and ran into something warm.

Caleb turned, shocked to find himself looking at her.

“Ashleigh?” he whispered.

She turned her head to face him, and his eyes widened in shock.

“Your eyes…” he whispered.

“Where is he?” Ashleigh asked, her voice holding an even tone.

“Ashleigh?” Caleb called to her again.

Ashleigh turned and looked all around. Then, she looked back at him.

“Where is he?” she asked again.

“Ashleigh, don’t you recognize me?” Caleb asked. “It’s Caleb.”

Ashleigh stared at him with no sign of recognition. Finally, she moved past him, he quickly grabbed her arm.

“Ashleigh, wai–”

He could not finish the sentence as Ashleigh grabbed him by the throat, lifting him and pressing him painfully against the wall.

“Where is he?” she demanded again.

Caleb desperately grabbed at her hand; his air completely cut off. Then, there was the sound of small rocks falling. Ashleigh looked back over her shoulder. She dropped Caleb to the ground as she ran further into the cave.

“Ashleigh!” he screamed desperately between gasping breaths.

***

Once more, the man with leather bracelets had his throat crushed.

‘Ashleigh…’

She heard the whisper.

Ashleigh turned. She looked around for where it could have come from. Again, the woman with the dessert tray came for her, only Ashleigh wasn’t looking this time. The woman used the tray to hit her repeatedly.

Ashleigh pushed her away. The man dressed to till the field and the one with the wooden toy viciously attacked her while smiling their kindest smiles.

“Stop!” Ashleigh shouted. But even more of the Whiteridge wolves jumped her. “Get off me!”

“Their smiles are not real,” the Valkyrie said, “their appearance is also a lie.”

“Help me!” Ashleigh shouted, now being overwhelmed by the wolves.

‘Ashleigh…!’ his voice was getting louder.

“I am helping you,” the Valkyrie said.

Suddenly the wolves stopped moving. They froze mid-attack. Ashleigh pushed her way out of the pile. Taking heavy breaths, she stared at the Valkyrie.

“What do you mean?” she demanded.

“I saved you from the poison, and now, I am quelling your rage.”

‘Ashleigh… please!’

It was Caleb’s voice she was hearing.

“What is that?” Ashleigh asked with a panic. “What’s happening?!”

“The source of your rage, your lack of confidence. It is here. I will remove it.”

‘Ashleigh… come back! Come back to me!’ his voice was getting louder.

“No… No!” Ashleigh shouted.

It all fell away. The trees of Summer, the attacking wolves of Whiteridge. Replaced by a large open cavern. Ashleigh watched herself hitting Caleb, striking him multiple times, and throwing him against the cave wall.

“No!” she screamed.

She watched herself stalk towards another person, a man. He turned, and she saw now that it was Granger. His eyes were swollen and bleeding. He clutched his hands against his stomach and tried to crawl away from her.

Caleb jumped on her back, pulling her down to the ground. He tried to hold her there, tried to call her back.

She threw her body against him, breaking his hold on her. She stood and kicked his ribs. He let out a pained groan.

“Stop! Stop!” Ashleigh shouted through her tears. And to her surprise, her body froze.

She looked at the Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie stared back at her.

“Why.”

“You said you were quelling my rage. Caleb is not my rage!” Ashleigh shouted angrily.

“He is a cause of rage.”

“No! No! I love him!”

“That one,” the Valkyrie nodded to Granger, who continued trying to crawl away. “Is the reason you doubt yourself. The cause of weakened confidence.”

Ashleigh swallowed. She looked back at Granger, taking deep breaths through her nose. She remembered the way he had treated her, the way she had frozen up whenever he pushed her too far.

Ashleigh took a shaky breath.

“Yes,” she said. “I was stronger than him, faster, a better fighter. But I felt small with him. So weak. Like I owed him something I didn’t want to give him. So I let him take pieces of me.”

“Does this weakness cause your rage?”

“Some of it,” Ashleigh answered honestly. “I’m also afraid I might be like him.”

“How.”

“He… likes to hurt people… to kill people,” Ashleigh said, swallowing down the nerves. “I think… I might too.”

“There is pleasure in all accomplishments. There is joy in a job well done.”

“What?”

“You are a wolf,” the Valkyrie said. “We live for the hunt. The kill is our reward. Do you believe that Alpha Geri did not celebrate the fall of Loki?”

The Valkyrie seemed to sigh.

“That one reeks of rotted blood and death. He does not hunt. He scavenges. His soul is rotted from the inside. You are not like him.”

Ashleigh saw herself moving again. She walked to Granger, picking him up and tossing him back toward Caleb.

“What are you doing?” Ashleigh asked.

“Quelling your rage.”

“No, I told you, Caleb isn’t part of this….”

“He is a source of rage as well.”

“No, no, he is everything good in my life!” Ashleigh shouted.

The Valkyrie raised her arm, and before them, an image appeared. It was Ashleigh covered in blood, body parts scattered around her. She staggered and fell against a tree. She hugged it, barely able to hold her own weight.

She lifted her head, watching a short distance away as two men fought. Caleb used his strong legs to slam his knee into the man’s gut and threw him into a tree. Before shifting into his wolf and running back into the forest.

The scene paused, then it changed, focusing on Ashleigh’s face just before she lost consciousness. The look of shock, horror, and anger. Covered in the blood of the men and women she had killed in unnecessary defense of him.

The Valkyrie waved her arm once more, and the image disappeared.

Ashleigh wiped the tears that fell.

“I was angry,” Ashleigh whispered. “How do I trust myself not to lose control… when I can’t even see the lies of the people closest to me.”

Her body moved again. She reached down and took a dagger from the belt at Granger’s waist. She knelt down and held it to his throat.

“Quell your rage,” the Valkyrie said.