Dire {h.s.}

3

Ava Manakova

The moon, It's staring at me again, and its pale glow provides a small source of light for me to observe my wounds. It's hard to see anything really in these dark woods. He followed me in, but I think he gave up and left. Unless he's still lurking silently. If he is, I probably can't hear him past my heart beating so loud like a caged animal. It's the only thing I can hear besides my heavy breathing. I'm terrified. I don't know what will happen to me, or where life will take me next. The worst part is not knowing if he'll find me again or not.

I settled down onto the dirt ground behind a fallen tree. It's the best means of hiding I got for the night, until the sun breaks through.

It's been quiet from what I know, and it's more peaceful now––well compared to what hell I'd just been through, I'll accept any amount of calm when I get it.

My shirt is now rolled up to reveal my side and I nearly fainted at the sight. The area is so sensitive to the touch, and now I know why. It throbs bright red, a distinct bruise forming its way onto my skin.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath, examining the tortured area. It hurts, but not as much as the rest of my body. I'm so tired from running, and sore from putting up a fight against him.

I tug at the hem of my shirt and allow it to roll back down, covering my abused ribcage. My focus trails over to my knee, and I'm not surprised to find it still bleeding. The dark crimson oozes out past the large scrape of teared skin, followed by a stinging pain that doesn't seem to leave me. There's nothing I can do to help it.

The night grows colder by every second that passes, and I can't help but feel anxious while waiting. I have no idea if he is still wandering around looking for me, but it would really help my case if he gave up already. The silence I praised for earlier has now grown to be eerie and I want to escape it more than anything.

My face becomes hot as my eyes swell with tears. How did I allow myself to get in this position? I know it's not my fault but I have nobody else to blame right now. Hell, I can't even allow myself to cry, he may hear me. I suck it back in and only allow the rest of my tears to slide down my cheeks silently.

Now it taunts me, even though it gives me a sense of peace, it still glares at me disappointingly. I'm sorry that I was too dumb to fall for his trick. I should've ran from him the second he pulled over next to me. I should've never even taken that route to begin with.

Who the hell just does this? Why is he doing this to me?

My heart is clenching onto every ounce of pain I feel from what I've endured, and I can't take it anymore. I feel like my lungs are being restricted from working properly and I can't breathe without almost crying. I want to sob, I need to let it out, but I can't. I have to force myself to cancel out any means of sound I make to keep him oblivious to my hiding spot. If he's still lurking around, he's most definitely trying to listen for any of the slightest sound. A crunch of a branch, my breath, a cough––anything that would lead him to me. It reminds me of the infamous saying, "you can run, but you can't hide." and now I'm beginning to believe it.

It's freezing. I've been sitting here for too long, or at least it feels like hours. I'm bored too, and I find myself staring at the ground next to my hip, as if it's something interesting to watch. I spin a twig I found through the dirt, creating a tiny hole. It's dark, but the moon's beaming light illuminates my small space for me to only see what my hand is doing. Hopefully, the rest that covers me is dark enough for my hiding.

I'm starting to wonder where I'll go after this? I can't stay here forever, and he will eventually accept his loss and give up on trying to find me.

––I'm caught off guard by a loud and obnoxious horn, a whistle follows it. I look out in the distance, slightly in shock from hearing something other than my own breath. But when I try to focus on the sound, my eyes widen with realization and what kind of horn it is.