Dense, Dark Clouds

Snowflakes pricked Eva's unprotected skin like fine needles. She groaned weakly and tried to pull herself up from the ground. All her muscles ached, her hands and knees were scratched and bloody and her backside burned like fire.

She **** her swollen eyes open with some effort. She was lying on the sloping, rocky ground of the clearing. The morbid wooden scaffolding loomed above her as if nothing had happened. The disgusting animal carcasses and bone fragments dangled in the stirring breeze. Tiny ice crystals falling from the thick, dark clouds swirled and covered the landscape in shiny silver powdered sugar.

Eva shivered in the icy cold. She was naked. Her clothes lay scattered messily around her. Vague, blurred images in her head showed her what had happened without her really being able to remember it. What was this place? And why had she fled here of all places in the world?

And then there was this man - this being that did ... that had ... Her mind refused to find words for what had happened to her.

She gritted her teeth and straightened up, although her body protested painfully against it. "First things first," she told herself and gathered up her clothes, donning them piece by piece. The clothes were dirty and torn, but she felt much better once she looked more or less decent again.

The next thing she needed was somewhere dry and warm to rest and recover. Where should she go? As if it had been waiting for this question, her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. How much time had passed since then? She had no idea how long she had been lying here ****. Even a blinking glance at the sky didn't help her. The dense blanket of clouds diffused and shielded the sunlight, so there was no indication of how far the day had progressed.

Eva slumped her shoulders and snorted in despair. As it stood, she had no option but to return to the village if she didn't want to starve or freeze to ****. It was almost as if nature itself had conspired to prevent her from escaping the valley. No matter where she turned, resistance and obstacles appeared. The people didn't have to do anything to hold her back. The village was a prison without walls, which locked her in more effectively than a dungeon with iron doors.

Hanging her head, she made her way back. Stoically putting foot in front of foot, she pondered what she should do when she got back. How she should explain why she had fled. How much of her true fears and intentions should she reveal?

She heard the banging of axes. A warning cry. Then crunching and crashing, followed by the dull thud of a felled tree. From a distance, she spotted women and girls gathering branches and brushwood, tying them into large rolls and carrying them on their backs into the village. Some of them looked in Eva's direction, but no one spoke to her, for which she was grateful.

When she reached the edge of the forest and saw the crouching stone houses in front of her, she stopped. Now she had to make a decision. Did she really want to go back there?

Low in the west, the clouds took on a pale white edge. Soon it would be dark. Unprotected, battered and without food, a night in the open would be ****. Eva realized the decision had long been made. Nature was cruel and unforgiving. Humans could show compassion.

She would have to talk to Julius. She would ask him to reconsider his judgment or at least grant her a reprieve. If she could at least get to know this Franz, son of Vinzenz, whom she had been given as a spouse, before they were married, it would be easier to accept. Perhaps he was a nice enough fellow whom she could put up with despite the disgusting circumstances.

The decision seemed to lift a heavy weight from her shoulders. She quickened her steps and headed for the village elder's house.