The Trust We Shared

Memory 1: Escape

          The pounding of a dozen leather boots along the dry dirt road sounded heavy. I was trying to hide how loud my breathing was, gasping for air. I had no other choice but to run from that torture, I'd rather take my chances out in the wilderness than in that horrid place. As soon as the path was clear I bolted for the line of trees just feet away. A gun goes off and a sharp pain in my calf gives me an indication that I had been hit. I kept running though, ignoring the festering pain throughout my entire right leg. It wasn't until I stumbled into a river that I stopped running. I landed face first in the frigid water, inhaling a gallon of the liquid through my nose. I flip myself over and start going along with the current, using my hands to help me gain speed. My body was slowly growing numb with the icy water. It wasn't until I heard the distant roar of falling water that I realized I'd gotten myself into even more trouble.

          When I woke up I found myself halfway submerged in water, my baggy grey clothing drenched. I pulled out the rest of my body, wincing at the pain I felt with each movement. I had obviously taken a beating during my trip down the waterfall. Once I was out of the water I quickly stripped myself of the soaked clothing, laying it out on the sun-baked sand of the small shore I awakened on. I scanned myself for any major injuries, but only found bruises and the minor scratch the bullet had left. Thankfully it wasn't wide enough to need stitching. I slowly lifted myself up, putting as little weight as I could on my injured leg, and limped off into the woods, looking for any berry bushes I could scavenge from, and found myself a blackberry bush after an hour of scavenging around. I collected all the ripe berries I could find and made my way back to the small sandy shore I had washed up on.