The Forest

Chapter 43

    With the strength of William's hands around my throat the world started to become hazy and I could feel a faint drift pass through my body. I could see things, almost as if I was dreaming. Inside my mind I could see a vision of my mother and Sammy, arms wrapped around each other in a reunited embrace. The sky that was usually darkened and cloudy was the brightest I had ever seen it in my life. I could feel a spring of happiness rip through me and then I shook my head. That was not my reality. I did not care that my mind wanted to manifest a happy ending - I didn't want lies. My mother is in an insane asylum, my brother has been taken away from me, and I - I have lost my mind. There is no happy ending to this, only a patching of bruising scars. 

    In that moment I snapped. I pryed William's hands from around my throat, and pulled Suzanne away from his grasp. I had to catch my breath as the air rushed back into my lungs. 

    "You want me dead?" William asks, moving back towards a box implanted into the wall. "Well, you're going to have to find me first" he pronounces and shuts down the lights in the entire house. 

    My instant reaction was to find light and that light was nowhere near here. I grabbed hold of Suzanne's hand and raced up the staircase. I could feel his hand grab at my legs in an attempt to bring me back downstairs but I slipped away. I could hear his heavy breathing as he edged closer towards us. The thing I failed to remember is that he's an expert at murder, I am not. 

    With Suzanne behind me we make our way outside. Despite my efforts to open the door and shut it in time to keep William in I dropped the knife on the floor. I knew it made no sense to run after it, but I also knew I would pay for that mistake later on. 

    Suzanne pushed me down onto the ground as we hid in the large weeds that surrounded the house. Almost like insects we crawl towards the back wall of the house, pressing our backs against the wall and listening for William nearby. I jumped at the sound of thunder, thinking William had found us but to our surprise it started to rain. It was not a light rain either, it was a heavy rain that pounded against our heads and resembled the tears of a broken spirit. Lightning started to strike on the ground near the lake and with its light, I could see a faint figure standing in the darkness in the trees. 

    "You stay here" I say to Suzanne

    "No" she responds, grabbing my arm

    "I have to do this" I replied to her sternly, "Sammy is my responsibility" 

    "I want to help you. Matthew, I care about you too much to leave you alone like this" she says to me, almost in a whisper. 

    "I care about you too.." I say gently, "Which is why you're going to stay here" 

    With a small protest she let me free after I squeezed her hand for security. 

    I walked over to his dark stature and braced myself for the encounter. I tried counting down from five to calm my nerves 

5...

    His eyes were darting at me like those of a falcon. The rain fell against my face and rolled off of my cheeks violently. 

4...

    The knife I had dropped on the floor had made another appearance in his hand, with the reflection of the moonlight in it's blade. 

3...

    I could see flashes of blood, hatred and torture in my mind. I could also hear the voices of those I had heard in the forest taken under William's demise. 

2... 

    My heart was racing and I could feel my blood pumping through my veins like the speed of a bullet

1...

    William raised the knife over my head and charged toward me. We both went down and rolled through the weeds. He was on top of me and he pushed all his weight onto my legs. He tried to push the knife into my throat, but with the little strength in my hand I pushed his arm away into the opposite direction. This made him stab into the ground and the knife remained still in the dirt. William tried to pull it back into his possession, but he struggled. 

    I reached my hand around the area surrounding me and got a hold of a rock. With William distracted I picked up the rock and bashed it against his head. He was strong, there was no doubt in that, but with the weight of the rock it sent William crashing down. As he fell over I picked myself up off the ground. He stumbled to get back on his feet, blood gushing from his head. 

    "You know Kimberly deserved to die.." he said, wiping off his forehead with blood dripping onto his fingers. "They all did..." he repeated, almost to himself over and over again. 

    "No they didn't - You are not God and he did not give you the power to determine who lives or dies" I tell him, yelling over the rain. 

    His eyes narrowed toward the knife in the weeds, with this realization we both targeted towards it. I speed faster than him, and with all my support yanked the knife from the ground. He was angry, but he was far from defeated. Thoughts were scrambling in my head all at once. He was going to get this knife away from me again, he was too powerful for me to fight his restraint. With that, I had an idea. William started to race his body into mine, but before he reached me I threw the knife into the lake and watched it sink it the water. 

    "Why did you do that?!" he screamed at me, grabbing me by my shirt and tossing me into the ground. 

    To my amazement he raced toward the knife in the water. I did not know how deep the water was, and I had no knowledge of how well he could swim. However, he seemed desperate to retrieve the knife. He plunged his body into the water and swam like a lunatic. I knew he was insane, but it was almost as if I was watching him lose his mind. 

    I could not remember the last time I swam. The image in my brain is vague, but I believe it was because my father taught me how to swim and I pushed all remainders of my father out of my brain. This however may be of an advantage to me to keep as a memory. 

    I ran towards the lake and jumped into the water. I could feel the temperature in my body completely drop and chills sprang into my arms and legs. I grabbed hold of Williams shoulder, and in response he punched me in the face. I fell back and I could feel pain and a throbbing in my jaw that I had never felt before. Blood started to fill my mouth, and I spit it into the lake but he was  not done with me. I tried to fight him away, but he wrapped both his arms around my head in a choke hold. His strength was overpowering, but with extreme force I pulled at the back of his head. In a panic to get me off he loosened his grip around my neck and I forced his head under water. 

    He struggled, but I held on and held on...it seemed as though hours had gone by but suddenly his body stopped moving. The water around him laid still and the rain become softer. I let go, and shuffled out of the water away from him. I laid in the weeds and watched his limp body drift through the lake's dreary water. It was done.