In The Form of You

Prologue

Warning: verbal harassment, mention of sexual assult but don't worry it won't happen in this prologue

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What would be your last wish before you die?

I always imagined I'd die old and grey, in a warm bed with a pet cat curled up beside me while it snows outside somewhere in a European country, surrounded by family and holding my husband's hand and exchanging our last thank yous and I love yous until I close my eyes with a content smile knowing I'd lived a full life.

I've always dreamt of traveling the world and seeing the snow, meeting the love of my life and settling down and create a beautiful loving family, teaching my children how to be kind and brave, give them a life I could only dream of away from the nightmares and cruelty of the real world.

But life had a different plan for me, instead I'm a lonely 24 year old and under the scorching heat of the sun in a dying but beautiful war-torn African country, I'm running for my life from the illiterate bandits also known as the militia.

War broke out in my country 8 months ago because apparently two separate armies lead by power hungry leaders can't get along forever.

who would've thought huh?

And the one paying the price? The poor law abiding citizen who's left for the dead. It doesn't matter if you're caught in the crossfire, it doesn't matter if your house with all it's memories is bombed, it doesn't matter if everything you possess is stolen, it doesn't matter if you had dreams and goals you wanted to achieve in the next five or ten years because once you're killed there's no one to get justice for you, you'd be lucky if you had someone to bury you instead of rotting under the sun, even luckier if you're not violated before or after your death.

That's why I'm running, I'd rather die than be violated. I've lost everything, I don't want to lose my dignity, I won't give them the satisfaction of taking that away from me.

I feel weak, I've lost weight and muscle mass but survival instinct and the rush of adrenaline keep me going, my legs burn from exhaustion, my lungs burn from running for so long and my lips are cracked from dehydration.

I can see the river up ahead, I don't know how I managed to run that far but somehow I did, I can't find anywhere to hide

I can't let them take me

I won't survive what they would do to me

The sound of footsteps alerted me and I turned around and felt my heart sink to my stomach at the sight of the three bandit fuckers facing me from all directions with my back to the river.

Shit! I'm cornered

The one near my right pointed his rifle at me "nowhere to run now, bitch!"

Chuckles sounds came from the one on my left "gave us quite the chase, but it'll be worth it when we make her our whore and have our way with her" he pointed his rifle and looked at me with hateful eyes "It's what she deserves for looking down on folks like us who had to fend for ourselves in the desert while northerners like her enjoy the riches and comfortable life in the capital"

"I'll never be your whore!" I spat, I might be shaking from shock and adrenaline and perhaps fear too but I'll be damned if I let them see any fear in my eyes. "go to hell you pieces of shi-"

"I'd be careful with what I'm saying if I were you, girl" interrupted the one in the middle, something about his eyes and smug ugly face made him the creepiest of the bunch, his next words made me want to throw up "I don't want to harm that pretty face of yours, it's just you against us three. If you come with me I can provide a roof over your head and keep you safe and you won't have to be shared with the others, you'll just be my pretty whore. I say that's better than the alternative "

The other two looked at him with wide angry eyes but it soon disappeared and they lowered their heads when he glared at them, daring them to protest. He seemed like he was a rank higher than them which explains his arrogance.

Doing my best to control my trembling voice "a-and what's the alternative?" I said, raising my chin and looking at him in the eyes

His creepy eyes lit up with evil amusement, almost as if he was hoping I'd ask that."The alternative is that I'll have my fun with you now and whatever is left of you will go to my brothers and then we'll kill you" at that, the other two looked back at me with disgusting grins showing their decaying and rotten teeth. I really feel like I'm going to be sick

This fucker really thought I'd consider his "offer"?!!

I'd rather die

I glanced back at the river one step behind me, I made up my mind

"so what's your choice, girl?" said the ugly creep with a raised thick eyebrow, his two hounds grinning at me impatiently "don't even think about jumping in the river to escape, you'll drown" he chuckled

I know that, I also know that I can't swim

This is how I'm going to die

I raised my hands, giving them the middle finger even though it's unlikely they'll understand the meaning behind the gesture.

"Go fuck yourselves!" I yelled and inhaled deeply

And I jumped

Splash

The water soon engulfed me, I slowly opened my eyes and I'm already running out of oxygen, survival instinct still kicked in, my arms and legs grabbing and kicking at nothing. Air leaving my lungs through my mouth and nose in big bubbles and they got smaller and smaller.

I felt my consciousness slipping and knew my end was near, memories of my life flashed in my mind, my mom's warm smiles and kisses, my dad picking my younger self up and down while laughing, my crazy night outs with my friends, the first sunrise of the year, all my graduation ceremonies, the warm hug of an ex-boyfriend, my first concert, my dreams that never came true.

As everything thing went dark and my eyes were closing, I had one last lingering thought, one last stubborn wish, a dream I never got to fulfill

What would be your last wish before you die?

Snow

I wanted to see the snow

Then I closed my eyes and my soul was sucked into the abyss.

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Hey girlies!

What did you think about this prologue?

Did it leave you wanting to know what's next? Or was it meh?

What do you think is gonna happen next?

Any theories?

Apologies for any spelling mistakes, English is my second language and it's almost 2am here and damn writing is real work (yeah no shit Sherlock) and I need to sleep like right now 😪

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and if you did don't forget to vote, comment and share 💜

With a whole lotta love, S.