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We land with a thud.
Pain courses up my side.
Fuck.
Large hands shove my shoulder until I’m on my back, then wrap around my throat and squeeze.
Andrew moves above me, his knees on either side of my body, his weight overwhelming as he sits on me.
My vision blurs. His sneering face looms above me.
“I told you I’d catch you,” he taunts.
The smell of alcohol on his breath churns my stomach.
My hands shove at his chest but do nothing to move him. Balling them, I punch wildly.
I don’t want to die in the forest.
My vision becomes worse. Tears build, and I can barely see.
“Lulu!”
Did someone call my name?No. No one knows I’m out here.
This is it. This is how it ends for me.
I turn my eyes away, not wanting his face to be the last thing I see. My tears spill out, dropping onto the cold forest floor.
Movement behind Andrew makes my heart jump with hope. Someone had screamed my name.
Someone has come for me!
My gaze flicks back to Andrew. He’s oblivious to the fact that someone is here. Am I so far gone that I’m hallucinating? One last hope of living?
The figure moves quickly. Their hands are steady and confident when gripping the back of my stepfather.
Andrew is ripped off me, his hands pulling my neck up with him. My body flops back down roughly while coughs consume me. My lungs scream for air.
My chest expands over and over. Breaths shuddering in and out.
Andrew curses, making threats, but it holds little weight when he’s being thrown into a tree like a rag doll.
Shoving himself off the bark, Andrew uses his weight to move my savior. They stumble backward together.
My coughing stops while the two fight.
Andrew goes down onto the forest floor quickly. He’s drunk, and the other man is both stronger and quicker.
The two men grapple next to me. My mystery man pins my stepfather’s body beneath him. A hand on the back of Andrew’s head shoves him into the ground.
Eat dirt.
The unknown man’s head snaps to me so fast I wonder if I spoke aloud. Even this close, I struggle to recognize him. But I must know him since he knew my name.
Green and black paint covers his face, along with the shadows of the forest. His head tilts, our eyes locking. His lips spread in a menacing smile, and his whiteteeth peek through. He looks like a predator about to get his prey.
Then he opens his mouth, and my whole world stops for the third time tonight.
