A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 53 - The Race Through the Dark

His roar of pain scalded down Madison's back like a whip crack. Daniel menaced one step towards her, and Madison turned and fled like a rabbit confronted by a hungry wolf. Behind her Daniel's footsteps pursued in unhurried, but ominous heavy thuds and his tempo portended Madison's inevitable capture. Madison's hands, numb with fright, fumbled the doorknob as Daniel thundered into the kitchen like a storm.

"Madison!"

Madison squeaked terror through a tight throat as Daniel stomped closer. Somehow the door swung open before her, and Madison sprang into the night with just enough wit to pull Daniel's keys from the dead bolt lock and slam the door shut behind her.  There she braced the door shut with all her strength while she trembled the key into the lock and the deadbolt clicked home just as Daniel's face, marred by an ugly sneer, glared hungrily though glass.

"Madison!"

Madison shrieked blind fear, turned, and bolted for the path to the lake. This was not the way this was supposed to happen. Sure, Cassidy had warned her of the dangers of this course of action, but she never in a million years pictured this. It was supposed to be like the Rom-Coms she watched with her friends; a cathartic moment of kisses and caresses and love, not an eruption of rage and terror. Daniel was supposed to cry gently on her shoulder while she whispered platitudes to him, not mutate into an enormous emotional beast. Whomever she had just locked in the house had consumed her quiet, sweet Daniel and her only thought now was not of tender moments, but escape. Madison's bare feet pounded on the dirt path as she fled towards the perceived safety of the dark woods, and she glanced back just in time to see the back door explode open. Someone that bore Daniel's face stepped into the moonlight, stripped to the waist, and, impossibly, seemed even larger than before.

"There was another key, Madison!"

With another shriek, Madison flew into the woods with desperate speed. Lake fog curled around her as Madison tore down the path towards where she could only guess. She had no plan other than to run as fast and as far as possible. Daniel, obscured from her sight by the thick mist, pursued her. His pace never hurried, but his muffled footfalls gained inexorably through the night. With every stride Madison imagined his angry breath on the back of her neck as it hissed closer and closer. Another terrified shriek burst from Madison's throat as she realized she could not outrun him. In scant moments, that man that had been Daniel would catch her defenseless and alone in the woods.

Madison gulped fear as her mind tilted and whirled and grasped for a solution. Her only hope was to hide, hide until whoever that was calmed down or she could escape, hide until her dear, sweet Daniel came back from wherever he had gone to hold her and warm her and keep her safe. The path forgotten, she dodged around trees and frantically searched for a place to hide. Madison's greatest dark fantasy, her Little Red Riding Hood dream, was now terrifyingly real and Madison had never imagined it to be this vivid and visceral. The Faceless man now had a face, and that face was the contorted countenance of the man who only moments ago had been her sweet, quiet Daniel. Moonlight stabbed through the gaps in the trees and threatened to reveal her. Behind her Daniel crashed into the undergrowth and a vengeful cacophony of snapped twigs and branches pressed every closer. Every bush and brush that snagged her clothes made her flinch as if Daniel had grabbed her from behind.

Finally, just as it seemed that at any moment, Daniel would seize her from behind and do God knew what, Madison dodged behind a huge oak tree and froze. The forest went deathly quiet, so much so that it seemed Madison's ragged breaths echoed in the dark. Madison pressed against the rough bark of the tree as if to force herself into the cracks and disappear from view. After only a few tense second, Daniel's footsteps raced closer and then the immense black shadow of Daniel crashed past and continued downhill toward the lake. Madison held her breath to let the sound of Daniel's pursuit move farther away. When she could no longer hear him, Madison sprang from cover and ran back towards the house. As she ran for what she hoped was safety, it was all she could do to not collapse and sob in fear. Where had her sweet, quiet Daniel gone? Who was that monster in his place?