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“What the fuck!” I could hear Cedric’s deep and angrier voice over it all. It followed the dresser chair falling away and my bedroom door crashing into the wall.
I bolted, heading for the trees, not caring about the tracker and grateful for my long legs as they took me across the dusty field. There was too much land and nowhere to hide. I kept glancing back, expecting to see Cedric’s weak legs gaining on me. Relieved that he wasn’t, I pushed myself harder. My chest strained a little more each time my feet hit the ground. My pounding heart begged both my lungs and my legs to give up. Both refused.
Cedric still wasn’t on my trail, but my legs were slowing, and my whole body was weakening. My hammering heart halted and finally encouraged my legs to do the same.
Shadows welcomed me inside the grove of trees. I forced myself to continue. Nesting birds above squawked, giving clues of where to find me to the monster hunting me.
The skinny pines around me wouldn’t offer me much space to hide. I moved deeper into the darkness, terrified by the noise I created as my dirty socks snapped a fallen twig in half. I gasped, making more noise than anything as panic caught up to my still body. I looked around for Cedric...nothing.
A thicker tree trunk offered protection, and I sank down into the grass, coarse strands poking into my legs. Another tear rolled from my eyes. I had nowhere to go. I was miles from my home state, miles from the police. Miles from anywhere.
Leaves sagged from tree branches, creating shadows in my peripheral that creeped me out.
It’s just the trees, I told myself and shifted a little to the left. A tall shadow moved from one tree to another, and a rustling of leaves followed.
It’s just the wind, I mouthed to myself.
But there was no wind, and that made my comforting lie harder to believe.
I shimmied a little more to the left, and the silence around me filled with the sound of boots moving past the tree. My chest rose and fell. My hands cupped my mouth, keeping in terrified squeaks.
The figure was far too tall to be Cedric, cloaked in darkness and blending into the night. A hood hid his face, falling low over his eyes, and a cigarette with an odd smell created smoke around him.
My shadow—who looked nothing like a playful distraction out here while I shook with terror.
A dead leaf crunched beneath me as I edged around the tree a little more, trying to get a better look at him. He didn’t hear or care. He continued, his feet flattening the dying grass as he moved on.
Part of me wanted to beg him for help, but I’d already done that once, and his ignorance towards my pain still hurt.
That I Heart Remington bear flashed in my mind.
The familiar scent that was in the air beneath the tangy cigarette…it smelled like…me after being with him.
The memory washed through my mind, me in his lap, in the expensive trailer. I kissed his neck, where the scent was strongest.
Remi.
Remi, who led me into all this.
I blinked back to reality, and he was gone.
My face scrunched as I put weight on my hand to stand on wobbling legs, and I twisted around the tree to look for Remi.
Then I saw him—Cedric—the frail body of a weak man, who I could surely beat in any race if not for the shotgun in his hand.
The night air tickled my fingertips as they rose into the air in surrender.
Twenty feet stood between us, trees all around. The gun lowered, pointing its barrel at the ground. It gave me a second, and I moved without thinking, zig-zagging through the shadows and the vicious branches of trees that tried to slow me down.
I moved too quickly through the darkness, back into the nutty scent, and heard the words, “Such a naughty girl.”
Everything became white noise, blending into a single hum. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears, my worries screaming in my head, convincing me I’d never make it as the trees rustled behind me.
I glanced back, praying not to see the barrel of the shotgun.
All I saw were trees and darkness.
The earth beneath my foot disappeared, and my head turned too late to see the ledge. My thigh scratched on rocks, and I tumbled. My fingers reached for a sprouting of grass, trying to grab on to anything. It didn’t save me. It ripped from its roots, and I dropped, hitting one of the sharp, extended angles of the cliff on my way down. It scratched my back, my arms, and my legs, causing immeasurable pain. I screamed out when a jagged edge hit my newly protruding ribs, gifted by Cedric’s foods of choice.
