a lost girl

chapter 3: cut

Neither of us moved as he chuckled and said, "Don't even bother trying to run lass."

Before he could get a better grip on me I yanked my arm away from his hook and tried to ignore the searing pain from the gash his hook left. Immediately I knew the cut was bad. I sprinted as fast as I could in the direction of the woods, fueled by the shouts of Hook and Emma behind me.

My breathing became ragged and I could feel the blood streaming down my arm but I kept going. The front of my dirty gray shirt was stained with spots of blood from the cuts I received when my stomach scraped against the window's broken glass.

I knew I couldn't give in to the pain so I tried to ignore my cuts and focused on running. Feet pounding. Heart pumping. Chest heaving. I was almost at the woods. I led them straight into the forest, dodging tree roots and logs. My feet steered me left and I knew where to hide, the toll bridge. I was about a minute away.

I tripped over almost everything in my path and the world felt like it was spinning out of control but somehow I was starting to lose Hook and Emma. Just as I felt I couldn't go on I saw the bridge.

The ugly gray bridge was luckily empty at the moment, making it safe to hide there. My legs miraculously kept going, bringing me around trees and bushes and straight into the water underneath the toll bridge. I stayed close to the edge of the bridge so it could act as a barrier to hide me. When I was about knee length in the river, my foot got stuck on a rock and I fell face first into the water. The river was so cold it burned my skin and turned my clothes into an icy cage.

I stood up and hid in the freezing water near the edge, hidden by the bridge. My head was pounding and I felt like I was going to pass out. I looked down and saw the water around me tainted red with my blood. My hand reached up for the cut on my arm and used the surrounding fabric of my jacket to put pressure on the cut in the hopes of stopping the bleeding.

Hook and Emma bypassed the bridge, yelling and continuing on. I sighed and quickly crawled out of the water before hypothermia set in. I sat on the edge of the water bank in the dirt and propped myself up against the base of the bridge, shivering violently. Now that I was out of immediate danger my adrenaline began to wear off and I felt the full pain of the cuts.

My arm was throbbing and my whole body felt weak. I knew I was losing a lot of blood, and I could feel the effects.

I took off my jacket that was drenched in freezing cold water, knowing that it would only make me colder. I rolled my shirt up to the bottom of my ribcage and took a look at the full carnage the broken glass left behind. It was worse than I thought. There was a few shards still embedded in my skin and about six distinct cuts.

I decided to focus on stopping the bleeding in my arm first since I had already lost so much blood. Most of my arm was covered in blood and the sight of the cut almost made me sick. I grabbed my jacket and used it to wipe the blood off my arm so I could get a better look at the cut. It was about two or three inches long, situated about an inch above my elbow, and it went deep enough to know it was bad.

My head was getting fuzzy and it was hard for me to think straight but I had to focus on stopping the bleeding.

I already used all of the healing potion and I wouldn't be able to get any more since Emma, Hook, and Belle would be keeping an eye out for me.

My shaking hands took off my shoes and socks to free my feet from the cold fabric and I used my socks as a makeshift tourniquet. I wrapped both socks around the cut and tied them as tight as I could. I knew that was the best I could do so I moved on to my stomach.

Between the blood loss and the effects of the freezing water, I was getting tired and dizzy. More than anything I wanted to take a nap but that was out of the question.

I cupped some water in my hands and poured it over my stomach a few times to wash away the blood. I sat and stared at the skin on my stomach, dotted with blood. I had to pull the glass shards out but my hands wouldn't cooperate.

My mind got fuzzy and I couldn't think straight.

My hands shook and my whole body couldn't stop shivering.

I knew I had to do something but all I could focus on was how tired and hungry I was. I hadn't eaten anything all day.

My eyes drooped down and I saw red. I remembered I had to pull out the glass and stop the bleeding from my stomach.

My hands felt like a thousand pounds as I raised them to my skin. I grabbed my shirt and weakly tried to apply pressure.

My hands fell to my side and I laid down, wondering why I was so cold.

I ignored the part of me that wanted to stay awake. I was too tired.

I let my mind wander and I began to daydream about taking a nap.

My hand drew circles on a rock next to me.

I wondered where the red liquid came from that I was using to make the circles.

It was such a pretty color, it almost looked like blood.

There was a pool of the color next to my arm.

I heard shouts and footsteps approaching. I wanted to ask them to be quiet, I was trying to take a nap.

There was a voice shouting at me but I couldn't make sense of the words.

I felt arms wrap around me, picking me up.

I wanted to tell them to put me down but my mouth wouldn't work.

My eyes fluttered open and I noticed black hair and blue eyes.

Someone was putting me in a car and yelling at me.

They were telling me to stay awake.

"I can't," I muttered right before everything went black.