Trapped ( Zarobljena prevedeno na engleski jezik )

7. Death

When she realized that her brother was gone forever, Evangelia, still blinded by pain, began to crawl toward the very edge of the cliff. Her hands were already touching the spot where the stone ended. I'm coming for you. I will soon join everyone, a calming thought crossed the girl's mind.

Just as she stepped toward the abyss, she felt strong hands grabbing her around the waist.

- Third time - someone growled close to her ear.

The girl turned and met eyes as black as the night, reflecting a savage glint. It's him! My killer from the dream, she thought with a shiver. She realized that the dream had actually been a premonition.

- I've forgiven you twice, but I won't a third time. I see you're stubbornly seeking death, even though it's not being offered to you - the executioner growled.

Evangelia took a closer look at his face for the first time. It was so near that she could notice every detail. Her killer was actually a young man, no older than she was. How can so much evil exist in such a young being?

- You should thank me for providing your brother with a painless death. No blood and no wounds. I could have slit his throat right away, but you are ungrateful! - he shouted as he dragged her toward the bushes. The girl struggled fiercely, but his hands were strong and rough.

- Thank you for killing my family! Is that what I should thank you for?! Bastard! Human wreck! May you roast in hell for eternity! - the girl cursed and hurled all the worst insults she could never have imagined saying at the hard face of that bastard.

The young man threw her into a nearby bush. Evangelia quickly rose from the ground and kicked him fiercely in the groin. The Turk's face contorted in pain, he groaned and fell to his knees, holding himself up.

- People like you shouldn't have offspring - Evangelia said in a voice that was no longer her own.

The young man slowly got up and looked at the girl in front of him. He couldn't help but admire her courage with a part of his being. Some long-ago human part of him would have respected her, but he had long ceased to be a man and had become a cruel beast.

- I wanted to take you back with me to the column, even though I said I wouldn't spare you. Still, I wanted to give you a chance to not be this stupid and wild anymore. I see the fierceness in you that we need. What a shame... you toyed with my patience. With this! - he pointed to the spot where she had kicked him. - Worse for you, you gave me an idea - he stepped closer to her.

Evangelia began to tremble uncontrollably. After a long time, she felt a primal fear: - I will only be grateful to you if you kill me right away. I won't defend myself. I promise! - the girl raised her hands, sensing that something much worse than death awaited her.

The boy with the wolf-like eyes laughed with a predatory grin: - Slowly, that will come in due time.

Then he jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. Evangelia felt so weak and powerless, like never before. She couldn't save anything, no matter how hard she fought. They were always stronger. He was tearing at her already tattered dress. The girl was choking on her tears.

- I see you know how to pray, well, you remembered too late, you should have thought before you did that - said the Turk venomously as he tied her mouth shut with a strip of cloth.

Evangelia gasped when she felt the fabric from her dress. There was no escape for her. She would leave this world tainted. The young man's eyes roamed over her exposed body. The girl felt a chill to her bones, disgusted by his gaze.

- What a damage. Such beauty... if only you had been smarter, the sultan's harem would have smiled upon you, I'm sure of it. The sultan won't take you now, but I can.

Evangelia shut her eyes. Tears streamed down her face. She felt a sharp pain and then emptiness. The lower part of her body was already dead. She could never return to the thoughts of what followed because she didn't have the strength. The girl rose above herself, her mind far away from her body.

Leave your body, don't think, focus on something else. After this, nothing will matter anymore. After this, it's the end. Her thoughts drifted while her body suffered.

She stared at the top of the cliff, which had the shape of a pyramid's peak. So perfectly shaped, as if it had been carved by human hands. She thought she had truly lost everything. She didn't remember that she still had her honor, and now she was losing that too. She recalled the old man with watery eyes and his words that life finds a way to prove that it can always get worse.

The beast finally straightened up and looked at the girl who was trembling. He removed the strip from her lips.

- Kill me! Please! I beg you! - she looked at him with tearful eyes that shone like molten gold.

- Alright, even though I don't want to, I will fulfill your wish. Sometimes I can be merciful too. It won't hurt you. I promise - said the young man gently.

Evangelia felt a light touch on her neck, as if someone was gently running a finger over it. She felt warm blood on her chest. Her life was flowing out in a pulsating stream. The outlines of her killer were becoming increasingly blurred. He did not move, continuously staring at the girl whose life was fading away.

Evangelia's brain was giving the last hints of life, thoughts and images raging within it. She looked back over her entire existence. Images lined up one after another: her mother reading the Bible, her grandmother and her violin, her father's laughter, Bogdan and Matej chasing each other in the field, Milos offering her a chamomile. Images and a pile of memories.

Life is beautiful when you have someone to die for, the girl shaped her last thought.

And then she rose above her body. Not just in thought like before. She saw herself with bloody breasts and pale as a rag. She saw her killer still crouching beside her. She saw him gently take her into his arms, walk to the edge of the cliff, and let her body go. She saw her body disappear into the abyss.

She saw everything.

The killer looked toward the abyss, then turned and, with his clothes stained with her blood, ran in the direction of the column that was already far away.

Then she heard.

- Evangelia! - it was the gentle voice of her mother. The girl recognized that tone. Her mother was crying. - It shouldn't have been like this, it shouldn't have happened this way... - she said.

- Mother, I'm coming to you. Where are you, mother!? - Evangelia's soul spoke.

- It shouldn't have been like this... - her mother sobbed.

- What are you talking about!? Mother, where are you?

The girl's soul persistently searched for some hint that she was in the famous paradise, or at its entrance. She could hear her mother; she must be close.

Does everyone wander like this, like I do?

- It shouldn't have been like this... - her mother's voice faded away.

- What shouldn't have been!? Motherrr! - Evangelia called out.

Still, her soul remained in the place where she had taken her last breath. For some reason, she wasn't leaving. Then the sky and the landscape around her began to spin. A thick and impenetrable darkness swallowed her.