She nestled herself on top of one of the soft looking cushions that had appeared, or at least Ben hadn’t taken notice of it before.
“Benjamin, let me tell you a story” she said, her unnaturally red and short hair almost flaming in the glow of the strange lamps.
“You know that you’re one of the only ones who calls me that now” he mused to himself, thinking about how strange this whole scenario was “even back home”.
“Oh?” she said with a grin “well...that’s funny”.
He noticed that her hand kept finding its way to her hip, where a handmade leather purse hung. He knew she was trying to hide mischief from the way her eyes sparkled, like she was ready to play a trick on him. He picked up a piece of wood nearby and took out a knife from his pocket, chipping away at the piece as he sat down across from her.
“You can never keep your hands off something that could be turned into a gadget, can you?” she mused with an inhumanly wolfish grin.
“You know me, I’m a mechanic” Ben said casually, wondering what her trickery would be today “now why don’t you tell me about that story and about what you’re hiding in that purse of yours”.
“Hmm?” she said, her eyes giving away that she was not happy that he had caught on to her “oh yes, this is very important Benjamin, keep this private. I want to tell you...a ‘story’”.
He felt compelled to lean in closer as she glanced around her as if someone could hear her whispers.
“Back where you live, what happens if you tell someone a secret?” she asked softly.
“Um, I don’t know” Ben replied “you can ruin a relationship, start gossip?”.
“Well, have you heard of where secrets originated? Do you know why they are so sacred and so dangerous?” she asked with more fervor.
Ben twirled the piece of wood in his hand and debated whether or not he could make something fantastic out of it here. The light was dim, and he was finding it hard to focus on what she was saying. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he looked up at her, startled. Her steel grey eyes bore into him as he remembered that Rylee wasn’t the type to be ignored, even for an instant.
“Benjamin how am I supposed to teach you anything if you don’t pay attention!? You don’t have that much time with me, we have to work with what we get” she said sternly.
“Yeah” said Ben “yeah alright go on Rylee”.
“I’m going to tell you about the Secret Keeper. You see, a long time ago people were honest with each other most of the time. People didn’t need to lie or hide behind their fake identities. In fact, communication and openness was what allowed people to live so well. That was so long ago that today the world would seem boring if we went back to the old ways, but that’s because we were put under a sort of curse. It started with a young girl. This girl was very very quiet, and that’s why she was thought of as unnatural. The reason this girl was quiet was because she had stumbled upon something terrible that made her feel really uncomfortable.Ever since that day, the people involved with the incident told her to keep what she saw a secret, with threats to her life if she did not obey. The girl was unfamiliar with secrets, but she knew that she had to keep her lips sealed and never speak a word of what she saw. She found a way to study magic and keep the secret in a pouch she made especially for the incident, because she couldn’t bear the torment.
The young girl grew over the years, but strange things began happening. People learned of the magical pouch she had and began to ask her what it was for. She explained that the pouch contained a secret, and of course such a new concept sparked curiosity. Soon, people began to birth their own secrets. They all shared them with the girl, and as the girl grew into an adult, she had to create more and more containers for the secrets. If she didn't contain the secrets with her pouches and bottles, she would go insane. She knew that if any secrets got out, it would cause chaos, contempt, vengeance, and breed hatred within the hearts of the people. She became secluded, hiding secrets from the ceiling, deep in the ground, on shelves, and sometimes on herself. Soon, it became so bad, that her home became a secret itself, and had to be hidden.
