Hades Hellraisers | 18+

𝗢𝗻𝗲

𝗔𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

My feet struck the ground so hard I didn't know how they kept going.

Run, that was the only thing on my mind as I climbed the fence of the graveyard, my hands shaking as I hoisted myself up, the chainlink rattling under my fingertips. Run, Aspen, run, don't stop. I threw one leg over the top of the fence, ignoring the spike that dug into the space between my thigh and jean shorts. My lungs hurt, and sweat had started to force my shirt to stick to my chest. I gave myself one glance, just a single glance over my shoulder to see Jackson closing the distance, his long legs carrying him faster than I was prepared for. Fear seized my chest, my body forcing itself to keep moving. I didn't know how long I could run, I just knew I had to. I had to get away.

"Aspen!" Jackson's voice was so loud as he approached the silent graveyard and I winced when my foot landed on one of the flat headstones, sending an apology to the dead for the disrespect. "Aspen! Get over here now! You can't run forever!"

I could, and I would. Anything to get away from him.

The bitterly cold air of the New Mexican summer hit my exposed skin, it was one of the rare nights where the temperatures dropped below thirty degrees, even rarer during the summer, and of course, it was the night I ran from my fate. The icy grass crunched under my feet as I ran through the graveyard, puffs of air illuminated in the moonlight, and my lungs ached. My Converse had a nasty green stain on the toes from the grass, but I kept running, crashing through the gate of the graveyard. Why did I have to live so far away from the city proper? Where was someone to help me?

"Aspen!" I whirled around to see Jackson closing the distance behind me, how long was I running through the graveyard? My name was called from my left and I spun again, seeing my father approaching from his white Porsche, and then my name was called from my right, Jackson's father approaching from the SUV he and his wife shared. "Stop running, you're making this worse for yourself!"

I was surrounded, I should just give in, freedom was never truly free anyway.

Run Aspen, the little voice in the back of my head spoke, run.

I've spent twenty years locked up under my parent's control, I never stepped out of line, never questioned their authority. I didn't fight when I made mistakes, I took punishments with grace, and stayed out of the public eye, all in hopes that one day I would be able to leave, but I had no money, no license, and no say. I was a prop for my father, marrying me off to the first person who seemed interested because I wasn't my brother, I wasn't the senator's second in command, I was a girl who just wanted to travel, to live her life, to have fun. I made one mistake as a child, ruined my name, ruined my father he said, although I've never seen it, my brother was never judged on it. But that gave them a reason to control me, forever it seemed.

Run Aspen, run!

Movement from my right made me startle, stepping towards the road to create space. "Easy now," Jackson held his hand out in front of him, approaching me as if I were a spooked dog. "Come on Aspen, let's go home."

Home. That was the word that made me start running again, I couldn't go back home, not again.

Colorful curse words were shouted behind me as I ran through people's yards, flood lights turning on as I crossed in front of them. I ran up to a wooden security fence, my fingers curling around the top when I jumped, lifting myself off the ground. My arms were shaking, but I wouldn't let them get me, not now, not ever. They would never again be able to control my life. I landed hard on the opposite side of the fence, falling to my knees before I pushed off the wet grass, running as fast as my legs could take me, one more fence and I'd be to the main road, one more road until I was free at last. I stepped onto a patio table, using it to lift myself over the back fence as soon as Jackson jumped over the first. "Aspen stop this! You're being ridiculous."