A MAZE OF GREED

"Thank God, it's a full moon night!" Ruth exclaimed as she bent down while passing under the horizontally protruding branches of the trees.

The surroundings disappeared in the dark, only the full moonlight making the things visible. Ruth walked the uneven path relying on that dim light while balancing the heavy parcel in her hands.

With the passing time, the confidence she had gained after crossing the woods to reach the caravan of merchants, started crumbling down. The fear started gripping her mind by hearing the hooting of owls and indistinct voices of the wild animals that roamed freely in the woods.

Her lips chanted a silent prayer while she ventured deeper into the woods. Her steps halted in tracks when the sound of the howling of a wolf fell on her ears.

"Oh no! Please God, show some mercy on your child!" Words left in a barely audible whisper from her mouth.

She strained her ears to guess where the wolf could be but to no avail. Not wasting more time, she again took a couple of steps when she heard the rustling of leaves followed by the breaking of twigs.

Her neck snapped in that direction so fast that she could have broken it. But there was nothing. Her breaths became laboured as her heart thudded loudly in her chest.

'Maybe it was a bad idea to come here alone.' She thought but it was of no use now.

She again tried to walk further when she thought that a shadow ran from her left side. Her breath hitched, the beads of sweat rolled down the length of her back.

"No, it must be my delusion. Only some more minutes, Ruth. Keep going." She mumbled under her breath, her wide eyes looking around cautiously.

She resumed walking but the feeling that someone was following her started spreading through her core. She turned around to see but was greeted only by the darkness and the shapes of trees.

Her pace slowed down again after walking some more when her ears caught some sound. The sound was distant and she couldn't conclude what it was but she was sure that it was not her mind playing tricks with her.

She indeed had heard something or someone.

Her heart started beating rapidly in fear and she again picked up her pace.

But after some time, she felt an overwhelming fear coursed through her body when she heard a more distinct sound. Ruth contemplated if she should call and ask if someone was there or she might attract the attention of the wolves.

She frantically searched for another presence in her periphery. An ear-piercing scream left her mouth when she felt a weight on her shoulder. She staggered back to lose her balance and was about to fell when strong hands held her by an elbow.

She watched a dark figure with wide eyes, unable to get out of the shock.

"Ruth?"

That familiar voice brought the life back to her body and suddenly she felt weak to stand on her feet. Her body went limp and the man couldn't handle her so he let her body settle on the ground gently.

Her loud breaths made her chest heaved up and down, her mouth open to gasp the air that left out of her lungs when she screamed.

"Ruth! Ruth! Are you okay? Breath... take deep breaths." He again said with urgency in his voice.

"Wh-who?" The words barely left her mouth.

"It's me, Rees. Look at me." He patted her cheek gently to brought her back to her senses.

"R-Rees. Rees!"

"yes, Ruth. Are you okay?" He asked in a fret.

After calming down her agitated nerves, Ruth became more aware of her surroundings.

Tears gathered in her hazel eyes and Rees's heart pained at seeing her helpless state. She looked like that innocent lamb that was about to go for butchering.

"There... there!" Rees rubbed her back from up to down.

Ruth clutched his hand tightly in hers as tears rolled down her hazel eyes. "Thank God, you came! I-I was so scared and..."

"Shhhh... it's fine. You are safe now." Rees shushed her while his hands rubbed her back gently to calm her and let her feel secured.

They both didn't move from their position for quite some time. He had many questions on his mind and wanted to confront her why she was in the woods at this odd time. But he controlled himself as his outburst would have scared her more.

After a few minutes, Ruth calmed down and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"Are you well to go?" Rees asked while subtly checking for any visible injury on her body. He knew that she had none or else he would have sensed it before but he wanted to be sure.

"y-yes."

Rees helped Ruth to stand back again on her feet. But she again crouched down to pick up a parcel that was wrapped in the green cloth.

Suddenly, Rees pulled his hand that was holding her by her elbow as if her touch had burned him. His face mirrored nervousness but he maintained his composure to not let her know that.

Now that Ruth was back to normal, Rees couldn't contain his anger anymore.

"Would you care to explain what the hell you are doing in the woods in the night?"

His harsh tone startled her. The Rees she knew always used a polite and gentle tone that was far from what she heard now.

"I- I was here to collect this." She showed the parcel in her hand.

"Was that more important than your life? You know what is going on here these days and still... how can you be so careless, Ruth?"

Hurt crossed her eyes as she couldn't bear the tone that Rees was using.

"I- I am sorry. It's not mine. This parcel belongs to my neighbours, Mr and Mrs Payne." She recited everything to him and, to her surprise, he listened to everything patiently.

"But that doesn't justify your actions, Ruth. Who knows what would have happened if I couldn't make it on time?"

He took the parcel from her hand and urged her to walk beside him.

"But what are you doing here? How did you know that I am here?" She gave him a questioning look.

Rees looked troubled for a moment but he stared straight into the distance with a straight face.

"Thea informed me." Came his short reply.

"Oohh."

"Don't ooh, young lady. I didn't know that the mature and intelligent Ruth can be this stupid to willingly walk in danger."

"Hey, Don't call me stupid! I told you why I came here. I just wanted to help my old neighbours." Ruth whined.

Rees abruptly stopped as soon as he noticed that Ruth stopped a few steps behind him.

"What happened?" He turned to face her.

She peered at him with undeciphered expressions. "Were you worried about me?"

Her sudden unexpected question caught him off guard. He didn't know how to answer it as if he confessed the truth then Ruth might not have liked it or misunderstood him, because they were not close friends yet.

They met only this Sunday morning and even though he asked her to be his friend, he was not sure how sincere she was when she accepted his request.

"I... well..." He stammered.

A smile broke on her face, her eyes twinkling in happiness. "I got my answer. You don't need to hide it. Thank you so much for thinking about my safety, Rees. I didn't know you could be such a great friend!" She said sincerely.

That made Rees sigh in relief. Maybe he shouldn't have hesitated that much before accepting the truth. He gave her a charming smile and gestured her to keep walking. All his anger evaporated with her kind words.

After walking in comfortable silence for some distance, Ruth realised something. "Do you know that there are wolves in these woods? I was not aware of it till now." She said as if she just had invented a miracle of science.

Rees's body visibly tensed after hearing it. He thought that she might have forgotten about it but she was too smart for her own good.

"What are you talking about? There are no wolves in Vincardine." He said dismissively.

"No...No. I also thought the same before. But I heard howling of the wolves just before you came. Didn't you hear it?" She looked at him puzzled.

Rees didn't look at her face as he was sure no matter how good he was hiding his thoughts, she was not Thea to believe every word he said. Ruth would pick up the lie sooner if not now.

He maintained a straight face and moved the small shrub to the side to make their path clear. "I don't know what you are talking about. Be careful and walk fast."

Ruth felt his behaviour strange but then she didn't point it out because she had seen him behaving strangely before outside the 'baker's delight.'

She silently followed his commands.