The Safe Place

Every inch of his body was hurt. Herin had to catch his breath every five minutes just to stay concious. He could still hear the echoes of the hunter chasing behind him, their tauntings still fresh in his mind. In front of him, all he could see with his bleeding eyes was the darkness of the forest. With his blood pouring from his chest, the shadow wouldn’t be able to help him. They could smell his blood.

Herin had nowhere to hide and no place to run.

This is it, his ghoulish brain supplied helpfully. I am going to die here.

At least, he made it past eighteen. It was six years years longer than his father had expected him. His mother would be disappointed, but-

He slumped againts a tree.

“Mom,” he said out loud, then a few seconds later he chuckled to himself. His stupid brain had officially lost it. His mother was dead. She couldn’t answer his plea. Nobody could. “I want to live.”

Just as he was starting to lose the senses of his body, something bright catched his eyes. Without meaning to, his hand reached out. Then, he let himself fall.

***

When Herin opened his eyes again, he couldn’t see the green of the trees. He couldn’t smell them either. It spurned him awake. Taking in his surrounding, Herin crouched in defensive position. There was a male human within his proximity, armless and defenseless.

“Whoa, calm down, buddy,” the human said, his hands up as if he was warding off a wild animal. Herin bared his teeth. If he didn’t get out of here soon, he would be more dangerous than a wild animal.

“Where am I?”

He realized, in his panic state, that he was half-naked and almost fully-bandaged. It meant two things at once. First, this man had saved him. Second, this man had saved him despite knowing what he was.

The man watched him drawing the conclusion. When Herin didn’t attempt to move, he sighed and confirmed his guess, “You’re in a safe place.”

The human didn’t smell like a liar. Herin sat down. Without his adrenaline, he didn’t have the energy to stand up.

Safe place. His mother had talked about it. The humans called it Lessiah but among his kinds, they had called it a safe place. Creatures like him only gave name to things that mattered. This place, however secure and valuable it was, didn’t.

Once, Herin had asked if his mother ever had the pleasure to come here. To humanly creatures who was constantly hunted and hiding, a safe place sounded like paradise. She had gripped his hands tightly, and warned him to come only when nothing else worked. Herin had taken in the naked apprehension in her eyes and nodded mutely.

“Your wound opened again,” the man said. “Leili will be pissed off.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Herin said stiffly. “As soon as I repay you, I won’t bother you again, and then we can pretend I am never here.”

The man stared at him. “Just stay here.”

He left Herin alone with his thoughts. The human either memorized Ghoul’s strict code of honour or trusted Herin, a complete stranger, to do as he said. It irked him off. This wouldn’t be the first time he got help from humans but they usually wasn’t aware that he wasn’t one of them.

The man came back with a medical kit and a female human. Herin unconciously stiffened and forced himself to relax before they noticed his nervousness. Judging from their stares, they didn’t miss it at all.

Great, the last thing he needed was to be in the mercy of smart observant humans.

“You said you’re willing to repay us?” the man asked, as the female human slowly approached his bed.

“Yes,” Herin said, even though it killed him to admit it. Ghoul never left debts unpaid. It was instilled in their very nature.

The female human smiled. Herin immediately didn’t like him. His gut feeling was proven true when she opened her mouth, “Stay with us.”

He hung his mouth open. “What?”

“Stay with us until your wound’s healed.”

“I am...” Herin hesitated. “Are you sure?”

The humans could literally ask him to do anything and he would gladly obey. The man nodded, his face casual as if he didn’t just make a deal with a literal monster. “The name’s Kami. She’s Leili. What’s yours?”

Ghoul didn’t usually give out their names. Herin gave it easily. The humans seemed pleased. Just a little, he could see why his mother didn't want to be here.

***

The people in the safe place liked him immediately. The feelings weren’t mutual but they didn’t seem to care. They liked him even if he did his best to be distant. For some reasons, they trusted him with their kids, their savety, their lives.

Herin couldn’t comprehend it.

“You make this face when we act kind toward you,” said the granny next door. Despite his effort, Herin knew her name. Kind of hard not to when she always brought cookies and feed him delicious food everytime she visited. “Like we’re the weird one.”

“You are weird.”

“Sweetheart, I am the human in this room.”

It was the first time any of them admitted that they knew what he was. Herin tried to be scared but with the smell of baked muffins filling in the room and granny smiling down warmly at him, he found himself couldn’t. Somewhere between being saved three weeks ago and interacting with the rest of the villagers, he had lost his edge.

It wasn’t just that, either. He’d learned that Leili wasn’t a morning person and Kami liked to stay up all night. Robert who lived two houses away liked to gossip and showered Herin with hugs. Gerald didn’t like crowds but he didn’t want to be alone either. Rippey was six-months and expecting a boy. The Findlier family who owned the biggest farm in the village was very generous and had once given Herin two baskets of apple.

Herin could recount in details every habits of all the people in Lessiah. None of them ever treated him like he was a monster to be feared.

“Don’t think too hard about it,” the granny said, as if reading his mind.

“I don’t get it,” he admitted. “I am just an outsider.”

Both figuratively and literally. Herin wasn’t even a human. Granny shook her head. She looked sad. Herin didn’t want her to be sad. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t be, sweetheart.”

“You guys aren’t letting me leave, are you?”

Kami walked in, snorting. Herin didn’t notice his presence at all. Three weeks ago, he would have a breakdown over this fact.

“You finally notice?” said Kami, grabbing one of the cake granny brought in. “Sorry, kid, but Leili had a strict code on her own. She couldn’t let a kid like you wander alone.”

Herin smiled bitterly. “Even if that kid is a Ghoul?”

“Between you and me, I think Ghoul is better than human.” His eyes darkened then. Not for the first time, Herin wondered what he'd seen in the past. “Besides, you want to live, don’t you? I heard you.” He sat down in front of Herin, staring at him with intensity. “I won’t let you die alone.”

Herin should have seen this three weeks ago. This was what his mother was scared of. Attachment. This was exactly what happened when you started giving names to things that didn’t suppose to matter.