Man in the Woods: Rozdział I [ENG]

It was always hard. Pretending that each time he had hit him, everything was perfectly okay. But to survive, he had to do it. When everything was over, and the man stopped yelling, scratching and punching him to his heart’s content, and he slumped to the floor, crying hysterically, it was Tao’s job to crawl to him and start to comfort him and plead for his mercy and forgiveness. No matter how hard it was for him, be it for his mental or physical scars and bruises, it was his chance to live on through the next day.

It all started pretty normal, like a usual relationship. They met in a bar, and something from the very beginning sparkled between them. Tao’s friends were reluctant, they didn’t like him. But for him, the other man was pure perfection. Tall and a little muscular, with long, black hair tied in a neat ponytail, with his clothes always elegant and smart.

After a few months of heated romance, the man offered Tao to come and live with him. The young man was bewitched with the fashionable, big villa hidden in the woods, away from prying eyes. Till now everything seemed to him like a one big dream, perfect and filled with sweetness and joy he couldn’t even dream of before.

And that was how, ironically, his hell began.

At first it started as a simple jealousy; the man didn’t like the idea of Tao talking to other men and even women, even if the latter wasn’t interested in them. He insisted to keep him company at all times, and to this point Tao didn’t realize completely, what was happening. He was even content, that his man loved him so much he wanted to accompany him everywhere. Then came the isolation. He didn’t want Tao to meet other people, including his childhood friends, whom he cherished more than his life. But he endured it, with his teeth clamped tight, because it was love. The one and only man that he could love in his life. But he couldn’t deny the tears that were trickling down his cheeks every lonely night he had spent in the enormous mansion. When the man send away his house keepers, it became pretty apparent for Tao, that something really bad was happening, but the only thing he did was nod his head and listen to the man’s explanation about cutting the expenses, because he started to feel the fear coming upon him.

When they were left completely alone, the bickering and fights started. They were always starting for no apparent reasons, and they always ended up in bed, with less or more forced sex. At the time when the man was coming home, Tao always searched for a place he could hide to, and wait for the nightmare to begin, still with a hope in his heart that everything at some point would turn back to normal.

The last stage was the physical abuse. With a single cheek slap, that he received after getting the dinner done a little later than normal, all hell broke loose. At first the man apologized to him, panic visible on his features. But when the second and third time happened, he lost all of his inhibitions. The continuous slapping, punching and verbal abuse became his everyday life, and when he threatened to leave, the man started to lock him up in his room.

This time was like all of the other times. After his show of rage he slumped to the floor, crying and screaming that he’s doing it because he loves Tao, and he wants him to love him.

So Tao crawled to him, and with a learned face expression, he started to comfort him, his own pain from the bruises and wounds almost making him pass out. At this point he should have felt pure hate and the urge to kill the man, but he was by now far beyond this point. Now the only thing left in him was emptiness, emptiness and indifference. He simply couldn’t find a way out of this situation, and so he only focused on living to the next day.

When the man finally fell asleep on the floor, Tao was allowed to get up and clean himself up. It was also his routine; it was not allowed for him to show any signs of discomfort or pain after he had received his punishment. With tears in his eyes, hissing from pain, he cleaned his wounds a little while he was showering, to treat them in the next minute with the antibiotic. He then wrapped them up tightly in bandages, so that they were less visible under his clothes, and swallowed a good portion of pain killers. It was a lovely, hot summer day outside, but Tao wore  long-sleeved black shirt and some old jeans. There was no point in wearing nice clothes in his situation, and this way it was easier for him to hide the wounds. He long lost his memories of the times when he found pleasure in going to the shops and picking up new, bright and fashionable clothes.

He sauntered around the room, picking up the pieces of broken glass, not caring if it cut his hands. He had too many other bruises to just care about some new ones from a simple glass shred. Throwing everything into the kitchen bin, and boiling the water for some fresh, hot tea to ease his mind, he noticed a bunch of house keys lying on the kitchen top.

Tao looked at them suspiciously, sensing some kind of trap from the other man, but after checking up on the other, and finding that he was still soundly asleep, he thought that maybe, just maybe, someone from above (he didn’t know who, he long ago lost his faith in God) gave him the chance to escape and once more try to live a happy life somewhere else.

He bit his lip, trying very hard not to think of the consequences he would have to face if his plan of running away didn’t work out. With a cup of tea held tightly in both of his hands, he sat across the keys, eyeing them hungrily. It was his chance, now or never, he told to himself.  

Looking warily around himself, he reached for the keys slowly, and when they were finally in his grip, he felt a rush of adrenaline in his veins. Not thinking any more about things like clothes or food, he rushed to the door, and with shaking hands opened them.

His heart was beating like crazy, making him almost deaf from the blood pressure in his head. Finally. Finally, it was his chance to be free and live a life he always dreamt about.

When the hinges creaked quietly at the movement, in that moment, his life once more turned into nightmare.

From behind, he heard a confused, but full of rage voice.

“Tao? Where are you going? The keys… you have stolen them from me!” the man roared, launching himself at him, and the boy didn’t wait any longer. He sprinted through the open door, right into the thick forest before him, wanting to hide himself in its thicket. He ran as fast as he could, despite his burning and aching wounds, and tears prickling in his eyes from the stinging pain and the fear that was in his heart. It was so long since he was out in the nature, and when he was allowed to do that, with his body not used to the enormous physical effort and a cloudy mind, he had to react quickly and avoid trees and big, fallen branches.

He still could hear frantic breathing behind his back, which caused him to strain his muscles to run even faster, and the tears started to roll down his cheeks freely now, and out of his tired lungs arose a hysterical, full of pain scream, holding only one message – “Help!”.

Suddenly, he felt how his legs gave out on the sudden decrease, forming a little valley. He rolled painfully to the bottom, trying to immediately stand up, not caring about the leaves and little branches sticking to his clothes and hair. Panicked, he once more stumbled to the ground, hysteric taking over his body more and more by every second.

Something ruffled in the bushes on his right and he looked there quickly, and thought that he saw something that resembled a string of blonde hair, and the fear told him to stand the fuck up and run even faster if it was possible. No matter who, or what was there, if it was there in first place, he wanted to just run and run, to safety.

After some time, he didn’t know how long it was because he long lost count of time, he stopped. Exhaling drastically fresh air into his tired lungs, he listened. His senses seemed to sharpen, as he was looking for everything that could seem out of the normal forest sounds. His eyes were scanning everything around him, searching for something, anything out of ordinary. He stood like this for God knows how long, slowly regaining his breath. Suddenly, his ears picked up a whooshing sound. A car. He looked to his right, and a few hundred meters away, through the trees, he spotted a road. Not thinking about it any longer, he slowly went in it’s direction.

He didn’t really know how one of the cars passing by stopped, and an elderly couple, seeing his miserable state, took him in, driving him instantly to hospital. For so long he didn’t have any contact with civilization, that it was weird for him; walking so freely around, not minding the other businesses, not caring if someone is following you. Tao envied them. He wanted to be free like them too, and his mind was telling him, that he was free like them now. But something at the very end of his mind was whispering to him, that it’s not all over. There always is a chance he returns, and that he will try to take him back to the hated mansion.

For now though, he decided to relax, and let the doctors take care of him. Because of his severe wounds, and as it later turned out, his two broken ribs, the doctors had to call the police, so that he could make a statement.

He told them shortly his story, almost pleading them to leave him alone, because it was too painful for him in that moment, when they wanted more details. They only left when he promised them, that in one month time he would go to the police station and tell them everything.

One month time. He unlearned to look so far in the future. He only knew the present day, and sometimes, maybe the day after.

The doctors wanted him to stay for a few days to recover, so he agreed on this. He anyways didn’t have any other place to go. Everyone left him, because of his stupid infatuation.

The only one who came to Tao’s mind when the nurse was writing him out of the hospital three days later, was Baekhyun. He was the last person he talked to before he was imprisoned in the man’s mansion, and at the same time the only person, which at that time wanted to have any kind of contacts with him.

With a heavy heart, still limping a little because of his torn tendon, he walked slowly in the direction of his friend’s (he was hoping he was a friend) house.

The day was beautiful, it was the middle of summer, and for the first time since he escaped, he let himself stop for a moment and savor the warm sun on his cheeks, the warm breeze that was cooling a little his skin, and a few birds chirping somewhere near in the trees. If before he preferred the quiet home in secluded area, because of his experiences, he grew to love the city. He felt a little more secure in the sea of people, where it would be really hard for his past lover to snatch him away and lock him up once more.

Yes, for the first time in a long, long time, he could say that it was a beautiful day, no matter what would be the outcome of his meeting with Baekhyun.

He approached the big, dark and brown doors he knew so well a few years ago, and with a deep breath, he knocked. For a while nothing was happening, and Tao even thought that nobody was home, when he heard the said man’s voice, screaming to “Just wait a little longer”. When he opened the door, he was in a bright pink apron stained with flour and some other ingredients; it looked like he was doing some bakery, maybe cookies. His wide eyes scanned Tao’s miserable, battered and skinny stature with big, dark circles under his, once lively, now just empty, eyes.

The boy only managed to smile a littlest of smiles and wave shyly his hand a little, saying a simple “Hi Baekhyun Hyung, how are you”. The next thing that happened, he was definitely not expecting to happen.

With a loud cry mixed with shriek, the man launched himself onto, still weak, Tao, and the two of them landed on the floor, Baekhyun still crying his “Oh my God’s” and “Good to see you again” and “What have that bastard done to you”. He was holding him tightly, whining into his arm, and the only thing that Tao was able to do at that moment, was awkwardly pat him on his back, saying his “Sorry you were worried” and “Everything’s okay now”.

When they finally got inside the house, the first thing that the older decided, was that Tao deserved a delicious meal and some sweets to brighten his mood up. When they entered the kitchen, the stove was on, and some really deliciously looking cookies were inside, just as the boy thought earlier.

In the next second of Baekhyun’s unstoppable blabber, it was decided that because he didn’t have anywhere else to go, he was going to stay with Baekhyun, for as long as he wanted.

Sitting at the table, eating his freshly baked, still warm cookies, and drinking his orange juice, Tao’s mind once more shut off, and the only thing that crossed his mind was, that finally, maybe he was going to live a life he always dreamt about.

For the next few days his life once more seemed peaceful. Baekhyun didn’t leave him alone for even one moment, so that he wouldn’t feel lonely, but Tao had mixed feelings about this. It too much resembled him of a certain man. But nonetheless, he agreed to this; Baekhyun from the very beginning hadn’t asked him any questions, and he was really thankful for that. He was tired of constantly explaining to people that it was too much for him right now to talk about the whole situation.

In the next days he met his old pack of friends, and got to know, that some new ones joined them, when he was absent.

Kai and his lovely boyfriend Kyungsoo greeted him like an old friend, although they have seen him for the first time, but they assured him they had heard so much about him, they liked him from the very beginning. Tao only smiled shyly at this, and Kyungsoo immediately stated, that he was the cutest thing ever.

Next to Sehun, who was a bit younger than all of them, and when the situation with Tao happened, was too young to do anything at all, there was also Chen – the always smiling happily man, who was the mood maker of the whole group. Tao missed him a lot during his lonely, sad days in the mansion – his happy cheers and thoughtful mind, that granted him a really big popularity amongst women and men.

But then, some time later, his life once more turned into a nightmare.

He was sitting in his room, that Baekhyun let him use, when the said one walked in, with a very worried expression on his face. Once more, he was in his apron that was now constantly stained with flour, because he always was baking cookies for Tao – he said that he was really happy, when the latter was smiling while eating them.

He looked him in the eyes, but in the next second he averted his gaze, not really knowing what to do.

“ Taozi, the police is here… They want to talk to you.” he said, biting his lower lip in extreme worry.

With a blank expression Tao rose up from his bed, and walked without a word out of the room. He looked really calm on the outside, but in reality his mind was seriously freaking out. He hasn’t done anything bad… has he? Maybe the bastard did something, and told them it was Tao who did it. He gritted his teeth, but nonetheless he went downstairs just in time to be met with a policeman’s curious stare.

He smiled to him calmly, and asked Baekhyun, who was just behind Tao, if they could sit in his living room. The man shook his head eagerly, telling them he was going to end baking the cookies and that he will make some tea for them.

Tao really wanted to thank him and say no, but he wasn’t given a chance to do so. Before he even could comprehend what was happening, his friend disappeared in the kitchen, a slight blush on his face.

The black haired boy directed his eyes to the policeman, who right now had a weird smile on his lips while sitting down on a couch. Tao silently did the same on the armchair that was standing in front of the couch.

“So…” started the man, taking some papers out of his suitcase.

“Huang Zitao, am I right?” he asked politely, and the young man shook his head.

“Yes, but I prefer to be called Tao” he said with a quiet voice. He hated his name right now; the man he despised so much was always using it, when he was still normal.

“Okay. My name is Park Chanyeol” offered the man, smiling to him brightly in hope the man would smile to him too, but he was mistaken sadly.

“Well, you can not remember me, because you were pretty shaken up then, when we first met, but I was one of the police officers that were in the hospital to ask you some questions” he continued, and Tao only shook his head in understanding, because he really didn’t remember someone like him at all.

“We were really going to wait the month we promised you to come to us and tell us everything…” he said apologetically, lowering his head, and the man felt, how his heart rate increased, despite his willingness not to. Something really bad happened, he could feel it, but he let the policeman continue.

“You see, a few days ago, someone called to us that in some secluded villa up the hill a few miles from the town, someone had tried to commit suicide” cold sweat started to appear on his body, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably, so he let them fall on his sides, so that they weren’t standing out so much.

“And?” he asked with a shaky voice, when the man made a pause, watching him carefully.

“The man that tried to killed himself lived through it. He shot his own head, but he missed a few centimeters.” he said, eyeing him carefully and a bit worriedly at the same time. When nothing came to him in response, he said “He was almost unconscious when we found him, but when he saw us, he was saying only one thing – Huang Zitao. It’s your name, right?” he asked once again, determined to find out the truth, and the boy shook his head, panic visible on his features.

“Listen, I don’t really know what happened there and between you two, but right now I’m not going to investigate you on it” he said in a calming voice, but that didn’t do much for the other man.

“Could you please just say to me what for you came to me?” he asked, a blank expression once more on his face. Chanyeol looked at him for a little longer, and sighed, defeated.

“We looked further into yours and his document, and soon it became apparent, that two weeks before the accident he enrolled his all belongings to you in his will.” Tao opened his eyes in shock, not really knowing what to say.

“Calm down, we assumed you didn’t know, that’s why I’m here” he said “But because something like this happened, we have to ask you to return to the mansion he enrolled to you, and stay there until the investigation is over.”

Tao felt, how his whole body was declining the whole idea. He shook his head furiously, feeling the tears prickling from his eyes. In that moment Baekhyun went inside, with his hands full of cookies and tea. Seeing his friend like this he quickly put it away and ran to the black haired boy, hugging him tightly.

“What have you done to him?” he asked, furious at the other man, and officer Park shook his head, out of words and his eyes full of worry.

“I won’t ever return there! I don’t want this house, I don’t want anything that belongs to him” he shouted, still in Baekhyun’s arms, with his eyes full of tears and a hiccup forming in his throat from the crying.

“Believe me, I know it” said the man sadly “I really don’t want you to go there once again, but the law says that you must.”

And then, Tao heard nothing. He lost himself in his own world of sadness and despair, in that moment really wishing for someone to kill him. He had enough, and here they wanted him to return to that hell.

Like through the mist, he felt like someone was lightly lying him on something really soft and warm. He closed his eyes completely, wishing for the darkness to engulf him completely. Then, he heard a voice, that with great difficulty came to him through his misery.

“I will always be with you, Taozi… Remember, you can depend on your Hyung…”