I was in my wolf form when I found Nymeria. She was lying in the middle of the woods, bloody and unconscious. Her clothes were scattered around; the few she had left on her were torn. She was shivering from the cold night air, and it was clear something terrible had happened to her.
I stood on my haunches, looking around for any sign of trouble. I had been taught that you could never be too sure. When I didn't see any sign of danger, I picked her up, attempting to be gentle with her, though my wolf arms are awkward when it comes to carrying anything. I walked like that—in my wolf form, with her in my arms—until I got back to my house.
I had to duck my head to get through my door. My wolf form is a little over seven and a half feet tall, which makes coming inside while I'm shifted difficult, but it needed to be done.
Inside, I laid the young woman on the couch, tucking a blanket over her. I shifted into my human form in my bedroom, finding some clothes to put on. I got dressed, then went to my sister's room, taking some clothes from her closet for Nymeria to wear. Selene would understand.
I felt awkward while I was dressing her. All I could think about was how bad it would look if she woke up while I was trying to dress her. The young woman was freezing, though. She needed clothes, and to be tucked into the blanket on the living room couch. There, I could light a fire to ensure she stayed warm. There was no way she'd have made it all night if I had left her out in the cold.
As far as I could tell, she didn't have any life-threatening injuries, but the way I found her troubled me. I didn't want to go to my room and leave the girl to wake up in a strange house by herself. Instead, I sat down in the chair across the room and leaned back.
My sister Selene had texted me earlier to say that she wasn't going to be home, so I didn't have anything to worry about on that front. I was still scared of what the woman's reaction would be to waking up in a house with me, but I hoped I would be able to calm the woman if she became upset. I waited for what felt like all night, though it was only an hour.
She stirred, groaning. She looked around with caution, attempting to determine where she was. When she noticed she was in a house, she jumped up. She swayed on her feet and fell back onto the couch.
I leaned forward and held a hand in front of me, hoping I was looking friendly and not threatening. "Hey, hey. Careful now. Someone did a number on you. I don't think you're in any condition to get up."
She jumped at the sound of my voice. She hadn't even noticed me sitting across the room.
"My name is Lukos," I said, still holding my hand out. "I found you in the forest. You were unconscious and freezing."
She looked at me as if she didn't understand what I was saying. Her head to one side and her eyebrows furrowed. She understood eventually because she did start speaking, though her speech was slow. It seemed like it was hard for her.
"There were men… in the forest. Bad men…" Tears started running down her face as she tried to recall everything that happened, and I felt my heart aching for this beautiful, tormented girl. "They took my sister… they did… bad things to her. They did the same to my mother… they took my clothes," she gestured at herself when she said this. "But I fought them and tried to run. They caught me and did bad things to me… then… they beat me. I thought… I thought I had died." She cried then, and I wanted nothing more than to cry with her–and to kill whoever did these things to her.
"So, these men…" I said, taking a breath to steady myself. "They… assaulted… your sister and mother, they killed them… and then… they assaulted you and beat you?" I asked.
"Yes they did. They were monsters," she told me.
"Okay… what's your name?" I asked her.
"Nymeria," she answered.
"Okay, Nymeria. Do you know what the men looked like? I could take you to the police," I offered.
"No," she said. She looked scared again. "I saw them… no police. The police officer is one of the bad men."
"One of the men was a police officer?" I asked her.
"Yes," she responded.
"Was he… like… a really tall… beefy-lookin' man?" I asked her suddenly.
"Yes, that's him!" She exclaimed in a panicked voice.
"Ugh! I fucking hate that guy!" I almost yelled, angry.
"He's bad," she agreed.
"So… Nymeria. You don't want me to take you to the police… Do you have anywhere that you'd like to go? Any other family members?" I asked her.
"No," she said sadly. "I have no one."
"No one?" I asked her. My heart was breaking for her at that moment. Nymeria shook her head no while tears fell from her sad brown eyes. She wiped at them, strands of her long black hair falling from behind her ears as she did.
"Well…" I said, thinking. "You could… stay here at my house until you feel safe enough to leave," I offered. "There's an extra bedroom upstairs, and it looks like you wear about the same size clothes as my sister, so I could easily get some for you. It's an option for you… only if you want that, of course."
"Your sister?" She asked. She looked down at herself then, seeming to notice, for the first time, the comfortable, warm clothes that she was wearing. "These are her clothes?" She asked.
"Yeah, um…" I answered. I felt embarrassed and guilty at that moment. "You… uh… you didn't have clothes when I found you… just torn cloth. And you needed to warm up, so I had to get some clothes on you… Um, I know, that's weird. I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to end up with hypothermia," I blurted. All my words had come out one-after-another, with almost no pause between any of them.
"No, no," Nymeria said, smiling slightly. "It's not weird," she said, watching my face intently–as if she was studying me for her class. "I think it's sweet."
"Oh, um…" I stammered, rubbing the back of my neck. "Thanks."
"So it's no trouble?" Nymeria tried asking me then, confused and exhausted.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"To stay here?" She asked.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "No, no. It's no trouble at all. As I said, there's an extra bedroom upstairs, so you'll have plenty of privacy. And I can get you some clothes and whatever else you may need. You can stay here as long as you need. It's no trouble at all."
"You're very kind. Thank you," Nymeria said, her eyes tearing up with a mix of joy and fear. "Will the bad men come back for me?" She asked.
"No, I don't think so," I answered. "As far they know, they left you to die, right?" Nymeria nodded. "They might wonder if you're alive… in a few weeks when they realize there have been no reports of anyone stumbling over your body in the woods. But for now, I don't think you have anything to worry about."
"That's good," she said. She looked relieved for the first time since I found her.
Then, I stood and started to walk toward the kitchen. I asked Nymeria, "Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat."
"Yes, please," she said, holding her stomach. It was like she hadn't even noticed that she was hungry until I asked her. She stood up carefully then, and said, "Can I help? You've been so kind. I want to help."
"You can… keep me company?" I suggested. "I don't really think that you need to be doing much of anything—except resting—right now," I said. My voice had sounded so commanding when I said that, and it reminded me of dad. I hate when I sound like dad.
"Okay…" Nymeria said, pulling up a chair and sitting down as I started cooking for her. "I did have a weird dream though."
"A weird dream?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"What was your dream about?"
"I was… Unconscious."
"Okay, then what?" I asked her.
"Umm, it was weird. There was a big wolf!" she exclaims.
"A big wolf?" I asked. My body tensed up momentarily.
"Yes, the biggest!" Nymeria said, holding her arms outstretched as if showing me how big it was. That made me smile.
"What did the wolf do?" I asked.
"That's why it's weird!" she said. "It stood up! And then it rescued me!" Nymeria exclaimed. Her eyes were wide when she said that, and she had been giggling a bit, obviously amused at the idea of a giant wolf rescuing her from the woods inside her dream.
I looked at her then and smiled. Nymeria, who, despite everything bad that had happened to her, was sitting there in my—a complete stranger to her—kitchen and telling me about a dream she had. I took a deep breath before speaking to her again. I realized I needed to do more than simply offer her a roof over her head. "Nymeria," I said. "When we're done eating—and I know this may be a lot to ask—would you… be willing to dye your hair? My younger sister has a bottle of red hair dye in her bathroom, I think… And maybe we can try cutting your hair a little shorter? Or you could just try putting it into a new hairstyle? The bad men will have a much harder time finding you if they can't even recognize you."
"They won't find me?" She asked.
"They could still find you, but it would be much harder for them," I explained to her.
"I will change my hair." Nymeria nodded, though she sounded a little bit sad about it.
"We don't have to cut it," I said. "And we don't have to dye it, either. It's completely up to you, Nymeria."
"I want to," she offered. "That's the best option," she admitted–more to herself than to me. "It's just hair… It can grow back."
I smiled, then gave Nymeria the food I had just finished cooking. She ate it all eagerly before telling me, "Thank you so much. You have done so much for me."
"I have just done what any decent person would have done for you, Nymeria," I responded to her. I yawned and stretched then, glancing at the clock. It was a little past 3 A.M. "Oh, wow. It's so late," he pointed out.
Nymeria looked at the clock then, and said, "Oh, you're right."
"Would you like me to show you the bedroom that'll be yours?" I asked her. She nodded.
I led her upstairs, showing her where my room is in case she needed me for any reason, showing her where Selene's room is and explaining that she just wasn't home at the moment, showing her where the upstairs bathroom is, and finally, showing her the spare bedroom that she would be using. I took some extra clothes from Selene's room—in case Nymeria wanted to take a shower or just change—promising her that I'd go to town and get her some clothes of her own the next day. Then I left her to get settled in the bedroom. I went back to my room and flopped down onto my bed, sighing deeply. I rubbed my temples and tried to sleep, though my mind was all over the place.
