1. Hunted
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Content warning: brief mentions of bullying and abuse

The lights came on halfway as the credits started to roll. I sighed quietly as I slowly returned to myself.

I liked movies. I liked sitting at the front, so the screen filled my entire field of view. Between that and how loud they made them, it let me stop being me for a while. I could almost stop existing, and for a couple hours I simply experienced whatever tale the director wished to tell.

There were no thoughts, no feelings, no memories. The thing that was 'me' vanished, and for a while there was only the story playing out around me.

Today that story was Snow White and the Huntsman. I enjoyed it. I knew most other guys my age would have preferred to be in theatre-one next door watching the Avengers. For that matter most of them had probably already seen it, it'd been playing for a month now. I hadn't seen it, I wasn't interested in superheroes or the comics they were based on.

As the credits finally came to an end I got to my feet and stretched, then picked up my half-full bucket of popcorn. I made my way to the exit before the theatre staff had a chance to chase me out.

I wished I could afford to come to the theatre more often, but it was a rare treat. Today's matinee showing and a bucket of popcorn cost me most of the twenty dollars I'd received last week for my sixteenth birthday.

Emerging from the dimly-lit theatre into a blindingly-bright mid-June Saturday afternoon left my eyes temporarily dazzled. And I wasn't entirely aware of my own self yet, my mind was still with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth as they defeated Charlize Theron.

So I wasn't paying enough attention to my surroundings as I stumbled directly into someone walking south along Main Street.

I escaped the collision nearly unscathed, but my popcorn didn't fare so well. Neither did the unseen stranger, who wound up on the sidewalk and covered in what was meant to be my dinner tonight.

I was still blinking to get my eyes adjusted as I mumbled my apologies. The voice that responded sent a chill through me, and the adrenaline quickly brought my vision and my self back into full awareness.

"Nathan Trent you little shit you're fucking dead!"

It was Chuck, and standing next to him was his buddy Doug. The pair of them had made school a living hell for me the past eight years. From grade two till now, two weeks away from finishing grade ten, they'd treated me to weekly beatings, and near-constant verbal abuse.

I didn't wait around for Chuck to get to his feet, I turned and ran. I had maybe four seconds before he was up and running, and my only hope was it'd be enough of a head start to get clear.

Whenever those two chased me I always imagined myself as a small black cat being hunted by a pair of wolves. I was small and weak, I couldn't fight them and I couldn't outrun them. On flat open ground they'd run me down and tear me apart. I tried to use my small size to my advantage instead. I was more nimble, and I liked to think I was smarter.

There was a crowd of tourists not far up the street so that's where I ran first. I was able to twist and slip myself between them, barely slowing my flight as I passed easily through the throng of people. That would buy me another few seconds as the predators would have to go around or force their way through.

Too late I recognized my mistake, the far side of the crowd revealed a nearly empty street ahead of me.

Main Street was not a good place to be chased. Without stopping I turned down the next side-street, but that offered no sanctuary either. It was short, and opened to a large parking lot. On the far side were the backs of more buildings. There were no fences, nothing to slow my pursuers, and nowhere to hide that wouldn't easily be revealed.

My last hope was the shop I found myself standing beside. It was open, and I prayed there'd be somewhere inside I could hide. Or failing that, maybe a back door I could slip through before I was spotted.

"The little shit went down here!" Doug shouted from just around the corner. "C'mon!"

Without another thought I dashed into the store, but once again I was dismayed at the lack of places to hide. In the back of my mind I was aware of the strong smell of incense in the air, but I ignored that for now. I was in fight-or-flight mode, I didn't have time to wonder why the place smelled of frankincense.

"Hello there hon, what can I do for you today?" asked a middle-aged woman behind the counter. She had blue eyes, greying blonde hair, and was dressed all in black. I ignored her as my eyes quickly swept over the store.

The interior was small and wide open. There were wall displays and a couple tables in the middle but no aisles, nowhere to hide. My only remaining hope was the grey door at the back with the 'Employees Only' sign on it.

As I ran for that back door I heard the woman call "You can't go back there!"

Once again I ignored her as I grabbed the doorknob. I felt a sting in my hand from a spark of static electricity but I ignored that too, and frantically twisted the knob. It turned and the door swung inward. I spun around to look for sign of my pursuers as I backed into the stock room.

The old blonde lady was staring at me with a look of surprise, but my focus was on the predators. Chuck and Doug were outside the shop window and they were moving straight for the front door.

I stumbled backwards and pushed the door closed before me. I stood there motionless as my heart pounded and I listened for any clue that they were still coming after me. My ears strained to pick up voices or approaching footsteps, but I heard neither.

I'm not sure how long I stood there staring at the back of the door, but as my adrenaline began to fade, I started to realize something wasn't quite right. I wasn't standing in a dark cramped store room, and there wasn't any smell of incense here.

The next thing I noticed was the door seemed different on this side. I was positive it had been one of those cheap hollow pressboard doors, and on the store side it was painted grey. On this side it looked like solid wood, with panels and everything. And it was painted white.

The doorframe was also white. And around that was a pretty blue and white floral wallpaper.

Immediately to the left of the door was a large white fridge. To my right was an open doorway, through which I could see a dining room. Not like an office break-room or lunch-room, but an actual bona-fide dining room.

There was a large fancy-looking wood table and six fancy wood chairs. There was a side-table on which sat a pretty china tea service and a crystal decanter and wine glasses. The walls in there were painted a warm reddish-brown colour, and on the wall beyond the dining table was a large window. It had pretty curtains which were drawn so I couldn't see through the window.

I slowly turned around, and just stared.

I was standing in a bright spacious country kitchen. Beyond the fridge there was a large white kitchen counter, then a big fancy-looking gas range against the wall. The counter wrapped around to an island, with a large double-sink. On the other side of the island sat a sturdy-looking kitchen table, with four chairs around it. To the side against the wall was a wicker love-seat. And on the wall opposite the fridge and the door I'd come through was a back door and a few large windows, that overlooked a huge backyard.

The yard sloped down away from the kitchen. About twenty meters back from the house was a big duck pond, at least ten or fifteen meters across. And another twenty meters beyond that I could see trees. Not just two or three, but an entire forest.

I slowly moved to the windows and stared. The forest seemed to completely encircle the house and yard. There were a pair of white chairs in the yard, mid-way between the back of the house and the duck pond.

None of this made any sense to me. I was sure I'd been in a little shop in an alley off Main Street. I knew the only thing behind the shop was a parking lot, and on the other side of that was another row of buildings.

I turned and walked back to the door beside the fridge, the one I'd passed through a few minutes ago. I tentatively reached out and took hold of the knob, and opened the door.

Instead of a little shop and an angry shopkeeper, I found myself staring at a pantry. There were boxes of crackers, bags of rice, packages of pasta, cans of soup and gravy. A large bag of flour sat on a lower shelf, alongside packages of salt and sugar. An upper shelf was full of little jars of countless herbs and spices.

I stared for a few seconds, then closed the door again. I took a few steps back, then finally moved to the kitchen table. I pulled out a chair and sat down, facing the pantry. The view outside was nicer, but I was more interested in the door that brought me here. Wherever here was.

I could have tried exploring the rest of the house but I already felt bad for trespassing. I didn't want to make it any worse than it was.

I didn't bother looking at my phone either. Even if there was signal here I wasn't going to call anyone. I wouldn't know what to say. I sure wasn't going to call my folks, they'd find some way to turn it around and make it my fault, and one way or another my dad would find an excuse to kick the crap out of me.

That's why I enjoyed the theatre so much. Why I enjoyed not being me. At school I had to watch out for people like Chuck and Doug. At home my dad took that role. And nobody seemed to care. Teachers never did anything to help at school. They didn't care if I got beaten on a weekly basis. And at home my mom never said anything either, never tried to stop my dad from kicking my ass whenever he saw fit.

I don't know how long I sat waiting but suddenly the door to the pantry opened and I was jarred out of my reverie.

I looked up and my eyes widened. There was a young blonde woman there standing in the doorway, but beyond her I could see the interior of the shop. And beyond that, through the shop's front windows I could see the side-street I'd run down. I knew that Main Street was literally fifty meters to the left of that spot I could see through the door.

Yet when I looked to the left here where I was sitting, I was looking out a side window at thick forest.

I looked back at the young woman in time to see her close the pantry door behind her.

At first I thought she was the shopkeeper who'd yelled at me. She was the same height, about five-foot-eight, and wearing the same black dress. But that woman was middle-aged, like in her forties probably, and her hair was kind of greying. This one was younger, she couldn't have been older than twenty. And her hair was a bright platinum blonde.

She stood there a few more moments, just looking me over. Finally she asked, "You doing ok there hon?"

"Yes ma'am," I nodded. "Sorry for trespassing. I was trying to find somewhere to hide from a couple guys who wanted to beat me, and I guess I got lost? I wound up here."

The young woman nodded, "I know hon, I saw. I sent those two boys on their way, hopefully they won't trouble you again."

"If only," I sighed. "Thank you though. Um, if you could show me how to get back to town I'd appreciate that? I don't want to be a bother."

The blonde moved to sit down at the table across from me, and gave me an apologetic look.

"In time, hon. First, you and I need to have a little chat."

I frowned slightly as I watched her. I automatically tried to fit her into my internal predator-prey fantasy, so I'd know where I stood with her.

My first thought was where I was the small house-cat while Chuck and Doug were wolves, this woman was more like the powerful lioness who could easily dispatch us all. I immediately decided that didn't quite fit.

With some surprise I realized she was more like the kindly human who took pity on a small cat and chased off the wolves. Except that didn't exactly make sense in my mental context. We were all supposed to be represented by animals in my fantasy, so why was she still a human in there?

I realized she was already talking again and I'd missed some of it due to my daydreaming. I did that far too often, it was another reason teachers didn't like me.

"...went through a door that was for Employees Only. Do you understand what that means?"

I shook my head "No ma'am. I'm sorry though."

She gave me a friendly smile and replied, "It means hon, you must be an employee. There's no other way you'd get through that door."

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