*thud* *thud* *thud* It's getting darker, the streetlights on the road behind me flicker on, one by one. The path leading into the forest is rocky beneath my feet, obviously not used much. There are rumours that it's haunted. People are right to be scared of it, but not for that reason, as I soon found out.
The trees cast eery shadows over the path, their branches overgrown and brushing me as I run past. My music is on low enough that I can hear my heavy breaths and light footsteps.
The deeper into the forest I venture, the darker it gets, even the moonlight doesn't touch the forest floor. I'm glad I brought my head torch, without it I would be stumbling all over the roots crawling across the path. I feel the creeping tendrils of paranoia coming over me, the creaking of the branches as the wind brushes against them only increases the feeling.
My hair bobs up and down in time with my footfalls, my t-shirt clings to me from the sweat which is slowly gathering and pulling it towards me. I'm turning the corner when the path abruptly comes to a stop, the vegetation overgrown and crowding so there is no way to get past.
Why would Lottie recommend this trail to me if it doesn't lead anywhere?
I switch off the music playing in my ears and slowly turn around to see a silhouette of a tall man walking around the corner. I would of thought he was a fellow runner who also didn't know about the dead-end if it weren't for the fact that, a) he wasn't running, b) he wasn't wearing the proper running equipment and c) he was holding a knife.
I'm not stupid, I know a threat when I see one and at that moment my heart was beating erratically. I knew that he would cause nothing but trouble, so I did the only thing I could think of to avoid him, I pretended to be a tree.
What? I panicked. What would you do if you saw some crazy person walking down the path, which may I remind you, is the only way out of here? Don't worry, five seconds later I realised how stupid the idea was. Sure, if I was 10 ft taller then maybe I could of pulled it off, but I'm not, so unfortunately I couldn't. So I did the next best thing, I cowered behind a tree, hoping that he wasn't searching to fulfil his dreams full of bloodlust. I realised soon enough that, no, he didn't want to kill me, he wanted to kidnap me.
'Here kitty cat, I know you're hiding somewhere. Falling straight into the trap.'
Let me clarify things. I am not a cat. I don't know who this deranged psycho is but what I do know is that somehow, he knew I would be here tonight. Or he followed me from my mansion. Either way I'm not safe and I know I need to find a way to get out of here.
The man is slowly edging his way towards the edge of the forest, closer to me and my tree. I have a very bad feeling about this but I think I can outrun him. I just need him to change direction. Before I do, I pick up a sharp stone which lies at my feet. If this does turn out badly I need to leave some sort of clue as to what happened to me. So with this in mind I carve out - Piper Jackson S.O.S.
Fortunately, he doesn't hear my carving over the wind, so he slowly starts wandering towards the other edge of the path. The bad feeling in my stomach keeps on increasing and I know I'm missing out on something.
My thoughts slowly fade away as a piece of cloth is pressed against my mouth and covering my nose. Chloroform. My knees buckle and my anxieties disappear. What did I miss? There wasn't only one man, there were two and one of them was slowly creeping up behind me as I made my plan to escape. My last though: so that's what I missed.
'Easier than fishing.' He whispered in my ear.
And then I dropped.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I need help. Someone please make me a cover because I am hopeless. Thank you, Just.peachy.xox
