The Outsider

The CampfireThe openingFree

I don't remember being a child. I don't remember anyone.

All I remember is the castle. A huge, ancient castle, with endless dark halls and high ceilings full of cobwebs, and rooms full of old, crumbling books. And trees around it. Huge, twisted trees, so tall and so thick that no light ever came through.

I never saw the sun. I never saw the sky. I never saw another person.

Nobody ever came. Nobody ever spoke to me. I don't know who fed me, or how I lived. I don't remember. All I know is that I was alone, in the dark, for a very long time.

I learned everything I know from the old books.

I knew about the world outside from the books. About sunlight. About people. About laughter and friendship and parties. I used to imagine it. I used to dream of it.

I never saw myself. There were no mirrors in the castle. I knew from the books what people looked like, and I imagined I must look like the young people in the pictures.

I wanted so badly to see the light.