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Doing a Creative Short Fiction course at University. Every week we are given a prompt to write roughly 300 words with. This is my collection.

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Week 5

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by HayleyJade9

by HayleyJade9

                                    
                                              Prompt
Write a third-person passage in which you use the limitations of perspective to heighten tension. Make sure you allow the reader access only to what your focalising character is thinking. Try to use free indirect style to portray this thought.
***
She ran, her arms pumping, her feet crunching through dirt and leaf matter scattered across the ground.  I can't let him catch me, oh shit! She turned left. Then right. Then went straight, then right again. Running in a maze of a pattern amongst the thick brown trunks surrounding her. 
When she finally stopped, her breath puffing out in harsh gasps, she gazed around. Darkness. I haven't been running that long, have I? Her brow furrowed as she looked upwards. The snarled branches twisted together creating a dense ceiling. 
Slowly she sank to the ground, her back against one of the trees. Her aching legs stretched in front of her. 
Taking in her appearance she cursed. I look like I've been through a meat grinder, she grimaced. Her arms fared better than her legs, having started with a hoodie and singlet for protection. Her long black running pants now barely covered the white flesh of her mid thighs, the rest of her legs painted with contrasting gushing stripes of red against her skin, and thin wispy black stripes of material. She shut her eyes. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Her laborious breathing slowed, her heart beating less frantically against her chest. 
Snap. 
She forced her eyes open. What lives in the forests of Australia? Head swivelling in the direction of the noise.
Crunch.
Please don't let it be a dinosaur bird.
Crack.
Her breathing came out harshly. The only other noise in the forest. 
Cruuuuuunch.
Too slow. Her hands trembled. Too slow. Her heart pounded. Not an animal. She felt the splash of water on her cheeks. Too slow. Her mind spun in circles. GET UP! She tried to move. Her hands pushed at the ground beneath her feebly. 
SNAP!
She collapsed. Her eyes closed again. Please let it be a dinosaur bird.