troykappler - Tumblr blog

[troykappler]

Troy stayed on the sidelines, watching her discover whatever it was she was discovering. She didn't look familar, not like any of the girls in the city. Her brown hair cascading in all directions was in stark contrast to her pale white skin and light clothing. For a moment he wondered if she might be one of those 'wolf girls' but changed his mind, assuming she was just lost and disorientated by the light that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. If it were possible his brows would have furrowed even more then they already were when it appeared to him that she didn't understand a simple 'hello'. Or maybe she didn't hear him. Taking a deep breath, he changed his current expression to a more compassionate one and exhaled a light sigh. "Hi. I'm Troy. Do you need help or something?" Head tilted as he watched her scoot and crawl away from him like he was a monster. This caused him to worry and he looked down at himself, turning his hands over in view to make sure he was still William Troy Kappler. He was. 

When he looked back up, she was whimpering and facing away from him. So he took a few steps toward her, snow crunching under each careful step, and crouched down so as not to appear as a threat to her. The blood dripping down her arm caught his attention, and he studied the wound from afar. In a sick way it was beautiful, the red was vibrant against her skin and he almost didn't want to wipe it away. "You know you're bleeding right? I'm not going to hurt you, I can help." After he spoke he realized she might not speak English, his voice was probably incredibly foreign to her. So he gave up, though not entirely, on speech. It proved to be usless right now. Maybe it was all the shock, she was where the light seemed to be coming from. Perhaps it deafened her, though he didn't notice the same effect on himself. Rising to his feet, he took a few more steps but this time so her face was in view. He crouched down to her level again and offered a sympathetic smile. His hand reached out to her, brushing lightly against the smooth ivory skin of her cheek. Brown hair gently fell aside as his fingers did the sweep. He was tempted to tuck her hair behind her ear, something he always wanted to do but now obviously was not the time. All he could hope for was that she would feel less threatened by his presence. 

He tried to focus their eyes together by lightly pushing her chin upwards, his blues searching her browns for the connection. "Do you understand English?", his words were slow and deliberate. Each syllable was pronounced the way it should be. All like he was talking to a small child, which at this point, was the mentality she appeared to have. His hand dropped away from her chin and to the wound on her arm. He lightly played around it, careful to avoid the blood. "Doesn't look that bad. Just a band aid maybe." The words were more for himself then for her, like a mental to do list that he was checking off. Light wind whipped with the trees and sent a shiver up his spine. If he was cold in boots and a jacket, she undoubtedly must be freezing in the thin white dress she sported. He had to get her back to wherever she came from or at the very least offer her a place to stay and some warm clothes before she died of hypothermia.

"C'mon, let me help you up," he stood as he spoke the words, his knees cracking in the movement. He stuck out a rough hand, offering her some leverage to stand on her legs which seemed to be useless. His own legs were shakey, still, from the fall that stunned him. All he could think about was where she came from. And despite her incredible entrance into his life, no one else had noticed the light that took over the forest for however long it lingered. It seemed like hours to him but he knew that wasn't plausible. Or at least he didn't hear anyone else approching. He gave the girl a light bow of his head, a sign to say that he was waiting and that he wouldn't hurt her. Something he couldn't stress enough. 

The Arrival

It was warm, so very warm where Echo woke up. It was warm and soft, and something was touching her face gently, wiping at her brow and smoothing back the waves of brown hair that felt tangled- more so than usual. It felt like she should frown, should wonder what was going and where she was and what was touching her with such gentleness that her limbs felt like putty. But it was so relaxing that the young girl was tempted to just let herself go and enjoy the feather light touches that smoothed out the small wrinkles that had formed on her forehead from confusion. She had the impression that it was bright where she was. 

Whatever was stroking her forehead began applying tentative pressure to her eyelids, which up until now, Echo hadn’t realized were closed. When the pressure stopped, she opened her eyes slowly, unused to doing something with her body and not just letting herself be limp. Her impression had been right- it was impossibly bright where she was, the brunette hair that waved around providing a stark contrast to the stretching whiteness that made the young lady turn her head away. A quick glance around her showed that the white was almost never ending- there was nothing to be seen that wasn’t simply a blank stretch of space. The feeling was unnerving, eerie, and creepy- a touch of panic set in as her head whipped around, looking for anything to focus on but endless nothing.

The touches resumed at the panicked look on her face, but now they only served to cause a sort of hysteria- there was nothing around to touch her. She wanted to fight, to try and squirm away, but the paralysis that seemed to have gripped her body tight was now in full effect and there was nothing that Echo could do but wait. The girl was locked in fear, floating in a bright light that seemed as if it would never end. And suddenly, she became convinced that it would never end, that her life was over and that she’d just be stuck here for the rest of eternity with nothing smoothing her hair and brow over and over. The thought was highly unsettling and the brunette closed her eyes against it, wanting to wake up somewhere else.

And suddenly, the light had ended, the sensation of floating had ended, the feather soft brushes to her hair were gone. All that was left was cold, hard reality and echo became aware that instead of floating, she was lying on the rocky ground somewhere. The girl opened her eyes and saw stars, bright things of light that kept winking in and out of existence. In the next second she realized that it wasn’t stars she was seeing, but the residual effects of the light on her eyes. In essence, she was blind, trying to see through the haze of bright white. She could vaguely make out trees and leaves behind the spots, and Echo stood up, head tilted up to the sky. The only things she was able to focus on were up there, which made them invaluable. 

Standing proved to be a bit of a challenge though, with her legs practically turned into rubber and head swimming- from what, she didn’t know. The blind spots that still twinkled like stars only made it harder for the girl to stand and she resorted to staying on her hands knees rather than fall again. There was a pain in her arm that gave the brunette something to focus on and slowly her head started coming back into reality. This wasn’t her house… This was outside somewhere, somewhere it was cold and very unlike the climate she’d thought her home had at this time of year. Dressed in a light dress for the heat, Echo involuntarily shivered in the crisp night air that chased away the last of the cobwebs.

The panic, which had never really been far away, now began to set in once more and she looked around, trying to figure out what had just happened. Nothing looked familiar or safe- it was all dark and… white. There was white on the ground all around her, which made Echo scream once she realized it. She didn’t want to go back there- it had been terrifying, realizing there was nothing but white to look forward to. The sound of her voice receded and the brunette simply stayed where she was, trying to figure out if it was safe to move or even what she wanted to do. It was hard, but she held herself still.

A new sound reached her ears, one that sounded like a person speaking, and the girl looked up from her crouched position, hoping to see her father or mother standing there. She’d take anyone at this point- the young lady just wanted to go home. But no, it was someone she’d never seen before. A boy from the look of it, who looked at her with an incredulous expression. He spoke again, but Echo couldn’t understand what he was saying, a fact that scared her even more. She whimpered and turned away from the unfamiliar person, trying to crawl away in case he was a threat. Blood dripped down her arm, a result of whatever had dropped her there, but it didn’t matter. Echo was in a strange place and she didn’t want to stay to see who this person was. It didn’t matter that he was beautiful.

[troykappler]

The Arrival

It was a particular chilly night. Not the kind you would expect for a Canadian winter. I thin spread of snow cloaked the ground, even in the woods. Troy listened to the faint sound of his footsteps and the snow that gave way to his heavy boots. He was thankful to have this wooded area behind his house, it gave him a place to hide. With his parents already fast asleep, he snuck his way down the length of his backyard and straight into the dark and dense forest. Before he could even reach the tree line, he was already fumbling for a cigarette, fingers frozen to the bone and barely able to function. Into the trees he went, the spark of his lighter creating a small glow in the piercing darkness. Steady legs carried him further into the area, body pretty much on autopilot as he was guided to his usual spot. 

In a very small clearing, a log lay on its side covered in snow. He brushed away a small patch and sat down on the cold wood. His lungs filled with smoke as he took a deep inhale and then he promptly exhaled. The smoke mixed with the cold air he couldn't tell which was which. Smoking was frowned upon in his household and if he were to be caught, well, it wouldn't be fun. But he liked the little nerve calming sticks of cancer and would continue to smoke, even if he had to hide away in the cold woods to do so. 

Thankfully, it was quiet. Another thing Troy cherished while being out here on his own. So many times he wished for the noise just to stop during the day, when he got out here at this time of night, every thing was silent. Well, aside from the occasional noise caused by an animal and sometimes further in the distance Mr Johnson's son, Bobby, could be heard partying a little too loud. But that was very rare as Bobby had the unfortunate problem of having a pastor for a father. He zipped his jacket up further as he dangled the cigarette loosely between his lips. Taking another puff, he rose to his feet to shuffle. At first the cold didn't bother him but being out in it for a prolonged period started to freeze his bones. Moving around gave him a little bit of a distraction. And as he shuffled his feet, kicking twigs and glancing about randomly, he finished the cigarette, tossing the butt in a soup can he kept there just for him.

Taking one more look around, he decided that one was enough and he would head back to the house. Besides he had school in the morning. But then, without warning, Troy was on his ass in the snow, blind as a bat and fumbling to lift himself. "What the fuck," he cursed loudly. It hit him so suddenly he didn't know what happened and for a second (a very brief second) he assumed he tripped. But when he blinked his eyes, he realized what he saw was a very bright and blinding light. White as the snow and covering the entire forest. By the time he managed to get to his feet on shakey legs, the light had dimmed but it remained, even muted, and cloaked the entire woods as far as he could see. Covering his eyes to shield out some of the piercing brightness, he stood perplexed and off balance. "Man, what the fuck," he muttered to himself. As composure and sense came pouring back in he realized he had to check it out. And without warning his legs carried him quick, through the thickest of the brush and in the direction where most of the light seemed to be pooled. As he got closer, it got brighter and it made it increasingly harder to look let alone walk any farther. 

"Hello?" he shouted as he raced to the scene. But when he reached the clearing that wasn't there before, he stopped too fast and almost went flying over himself into the white light. It hovered for awhile before finally dimming to reveal a sight Troy was not prepared to deal with. His breath caught in his throat before it picked back up and his heart raced almost as fast as his legs carried him there. "Hello?". He spoke the words softer and with more confusion as he stared and the sight just a few feet in front of him.