You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.” ((How do you respond?)) Example: I sit down on the cushion, worn out from todays journey. "Hi, my name is John." The Old Lady asks "John who?" I look at this women who I never meet and she exspects me to be open like a book. My life has never been that easy to tell people just like that. But I am willing to give this Old Lady a chance, after al, I f I dont open up now, I may never will. "John Lockwood." The Old Lady nods "Nice to meet you John, care for some water?" I look at that water and there were alarms going off in my head. Was it poisioned, or had some king of spell on it. These questions I ask my self has what kept me alive all these years. Other wise I would have been dead long ago. I take the canteen that the Old Lady had in her hand, screwed the lid off, and smelled for the hint of posion. Didn't smell like it, so I took a gamble and drank out of the canteen. The water was so refreshing and I think I tasted a hint of honey in the water. Huh, interseting. "You can never be too careful." I tell her. SHe nods her head "Agreed." She examines me for a bit and I examine her. My Pa told me I had an intuition on who was lieing to me, but so far, this Old Lady was, for the most part, kind and truthful. I say that for if she had put poision in my drink, that would of been trickery and lieing to me. I relax a little, and then when I was comfortable, she asks "John, what is your story, what have you been through?" I look at her, and wonder, should I. But then I remember what I told myself when she asked me about my story, I have to open up sometime, but do I have to open up to a total stranger. Why not. Its a gamble, but I have faith in this Old Lady. "Well, where do I even begin?" I sigh and look down at the table in front of me and examine the wood. It was stained and sanded down. It looked very expensive, even to be in a tent, but I will not judge. That is just not what I do. I sigh and try to remeber those far and close memories. "My Pa and Ma told me they found me on the side of the street. WIth nothen but a blanket, they took me in and clothed me, feed me, and kept me warm." I take another sip from the canteen."I owe them everything, even though it was rough, they provided me with a home and most importantly... a family." "I was around 1 year old when they took me in." I laugh alittle "They called me a fighter, now I see why." I sigh a little, and look at that Old Lady. "I found a little while later when I was 8 years old that Pa, Ma, and me, we were peasants. I guess thats why them kids at school bullied me." I take another sip out of the canteen and focus on a cornor of the table to get my mind into focus. "I had been looking for a merchant to sell me some scrolls to furhter my studies in History when I was 13." "I had found one, and was trying to bargan for a deal for the scrolls he had, but then the shop acrossed the street got robbed and the Kingsman said that a high price was put on that peasants head. That merchant yelled for the Kings man, stating that he had the theive. I was 13, and never knew what it was like in jail, till then." "I was put in jail for 1 year for a crime I never commited." I sigh and look at that lady again. "Life can be cruel sometimes." I sat there for a little while, only concentrating on my breathing, in order to stop my mind from wondering on what I could of done to get out of that situation. "What happened after that?" the Old Lady asked me. I stop focusing and just looked at her. "Death, lots and lots of carnage" See, the king thougth that we peasants where insects he could squash, so he ordered his men to get peasants and hang them for false charges." I sigh, and look down at my old leather rustic boots. "My Pa was convicted of murder, so the king sent his soliders out to hunt my Pa down." I feel myself getting chocked up, but I hold myself together, just like Pa told me, never show your enemy any weakness. "I was out harvesting when the came, I was 16 and didnt know what was going on." My get fogged up as I tell the Old Lady. "My Ma tried stopping them, so they took her as well and took her to the hangen tree." I clear my eyes and focus on my breathing again. "They hanged my Ma and Pa without any remorse." I take a sip out of that canteen and look at that Old Lady once more. "5 years." "5 years, and I have still been searchen for a place to call... home." I push back my chair, get up, pack the canteen in my pack. Since leaving home, I had that pck everywhere I went. I walk over to where the tent entrance is. As I pull back the flap of the tent, I look across my shoulder at that Old Lady once more time, and I felt I should tell her something, something I had learned threw my 5 years of traveling. "Trust those you must but never trust the tongue of a rich man, for it is full of lies." I look ahead at that town in front of me. So small, so peacful, but yet, this was not the plcae for me, no matter how much I wanted it to be. tis was not my home I have been searching for. "I thank you for the water Lady, but I must be off." and with that I went back out into the world like a creature in the night. I had called nature a temperary home for a long time. And as I ran into the forest I look back at that Old Lady and there she was standing there with the Tent flap open. I smiled at her and I silently thanked her, for showing me who I was and who I had to become. And with that, like a creature, I went into the forest, and didn't look back.
