Escape

Running

Chapter 1. Running

The sun was at at its highest point in the sky that afternoon and beaming down on her skin ferociously. Her once beautiful long, blond hair was now a greasy, sweaty mess of tangles. The delicate features of her charming face were red and swollen, and her right eye was now completely swollen shut. The skin on her face which was once a creamy peach complexion, now three different shades of purple from bruising old and new. It had been three days since she had a bite to eat and the fatigue was taking over . Taking a breath of steaming hot air, she could feel her legs begin to cramp up. It seemed that running for the last hour was taking its toll on the petiete girls, fragile state. Her body would never be able to recover from the torture it had recieved over the last twelve months. Yet, surprisingly she willed herself to keep going.

She swallowed hard to try and gather enough moisture in her mouth, just to do such a minor task now seemed impossible to accomplish. If only she could make it over the bridge to the gas station, she would be able to drink some water from the foucet in the restroom, and get out of the sun for a while.

Looking down from the bridge to the flowing water beneath a thought flikered through her mind, if only she had the guts to jump. It was useless she thought. The water wasnt shallow enough to kill her on impact anyway. Sweat trikled down her spine, and her skin felt hot and dry, even though she was drenched in sweat. Almost there she thought, and willed her body to continue.

At the age of fifteen Evangeline was a survivor. She had been in and out of foster care since the age of three. For the last year she had been forced to live with a new set of so called foster parents, named Vlad and Olga Lotsgho. The two of them were the absolute worst thing to ever happen to Evangeline. Vlad was a hulking, balding, vile slob. The man was a dispicable creature with beedy little brown eyes and terribly bad hygene. His wife wasn't far different than him, with ratted grey hair and menacing eyes, she even had a pompous belly to match that of her husbands. Whenever the pair deemed Evangeline a burden they would relish and take dark joy in beating and torturing the poor girl. It was truely a demented situation.

Today was different though, today Vlad decided to take the torture up a level since his wife was away. So he preceded to beat Evangeline mercilously, hoping she would succumb to the pain. Only after would he be able to ravage her body. However he had not expected Evangeline to anticipate his next move. This gave her the advantage because as soon as she learned that Olga was leaving for the day she snuck into the kitchen and plucked a soiled steak knife from the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. She had clevorly tucked it into her jeans waistline, and it now rested snugly ontop of her tail bone.

So when at last Vlad snaked his grimy hand out and roughly squeezed her left breast, Evangeline took charge. She struck out with the knife and took a swipe at his putrid face. The slice left a gaping cut that stretched from just below the middle of his left eye, straight through the middle of his meaty cheek and down to the top of his neck. Vlad yelped back like a scolded dog and scurried backwards across the floor. Evangeline wasted no time and she sprung to her feet crazed with fear and darted out the front door as fast as she could.

Evangeline was almost to the other side of the bridge when she heard the rumbling thunder of the familiar diesel muffler. Terror shot through her viens when she saw the old black truck heading straight for her." Stop! Please! Somebody please help me!" She shouted at multiple random cars passing by. None of the drivers seemed to notice her feeble attempts for attention. She knew she couldn't out run Vlad any longer. Silently she vowed to herself that she never go back to that place. Never willingly with him.

Almost unconsciously, like she was in a trance, Evangeline gripped the metal railing of the bridges right wall and pulled herself to stand atop it. She glanced into the water below, funny thing, it looked allot shallower now and she could see the peaks of boulders poking through the shiny surface. She heard the truck come to a stop, breaks screeching behind her. A door slammed and a familiar stench assulted her nostrils. Then she gagged. " Get down from there you stupid little wench!" Vlad spat out. Just then all fear left Evangeline and something like the calm before the storm replaced it. She closed her eyes and a single tear slid down her flushed cheek. Then she simply stepped off the ledge. This is it! She thought. I'm going to die!