We All Fall Down

|03

      "Sophia!" I scream and turn myself around, crawling after her, the only thought in my mind to save her, and to get away from whatever got her.

      "Aria!" She says and releases another ear piercing scream, this time cut off short.

      Horrible thoughts of the person hurting her fills my head, and I crawl faster, enraged and terrified at the same time.

      I get out of the trunk to see a person standing over her, a knife in their hand. I scream and lunge towards them as they are about to stab her.

      The person, who I now realize is a man with dark eyes, and black hair, is now on top of me, a crazed look in his eyes.

      "Sophia!" I plead, in hopes that she will help me, but when I look over to her I see that she is clutching her leg, which is covered in blood. "Crap," I say under my breath as I realize that she has been stabbed.

      "Pocket full of posies," the man says again, spit flying with each raspy word, and pulls out a rose. I think back to the girl in the tree trunk, and realize that if I didn't get this man off of me that me and Sophia were both going to die.

      I try and pull the man off with all of my strength, which is not a lot since I didn't get any sleep and have only eaten berries since I got here.

     "Looks like you could use some help," a deep voice says and I see a boy with dark skin, and a shaved head, holding a thick tree branch.

     The boy swings back the tree branch and brings it forward against the man's head, knocking him off of me.

      The man groans and lets out a small shriek of surprise before getting back up and stumbling to the dark skinned boy.

      I take this change to get up and check on Sophia, who is clutching her knee, where she was stabbed. Tears are pouring from her eyes, but she rips off the bottom of her white shirt and ties it around her thigh to try and stop the bleeding.

      I help her get up and put my shoulder under her arm to help support her. We start to hobble off away from the killer when I think back to the boy that saved us.

      I turn to him and see that he is lying on the ground, the killer placing a rose on his chest. A tear falls from my eye as I realize that I was the reason that he died, and that now we would die.

      "Pocket full of posies," the killer says and turns to me, pointing his finger at me. He smiles, his face shadowed.

      "HELP!" I scream, praying that someone will help us. I hear a bush move to my left, and then a person jumps out of it, but not who I was hoping for.

      A female with a knife jumps out of the bush and rushes towards the killer holding a knife.

      Sophia screams in pain as I pick her up completely, stumbling at first, but then balancing us, running as fast as I ever ran before.

      "HELP!" I scream again, but again no one comes. "Please," I say quietly and start to slow down, still in sight of the killers.

      When no one comes I fall to my knees, dropping Sophia, who does not make a sound. I look at her and see that her chest is no longer moving.

      "No," I say and shake my head. "Please no," I whisper and put my pointer and middle finger onto Sophia's neck to check her pulse, which is not there.

      Tears pour from my eyes, and I know that I have to leave her body here. "I'm sorry," I whisper and kiss her on the forehead. "I'm sorry."

      I get up, crying, trying to wipe her blood off of my hands, the blood of my only friend that I have ever known.

      I run until I get out of the sight of the killers, or until I can't see them, then I fall to the ground out of both exhaustion and despair.

      Letting the tears pour from my eyes, I put my face into my hands, but bring my face up when I feel a hand on my shoulder.