Castaway ➳ cth [EDITING/HIATUS]

Chapter 21

-Recap-

"Dunno. Something about him being a criminal or some type of thing. I don't remember, sorry."

Never have I described myself as a naïve girl, nor a girl whose opinion was adapted from other's statements and believes what they believe in.

Luke could've been lying when he told Michael, due to the fact that both were drunk during their hang out according to Michael's rambling earlier.

Nevertheless I sat there, my palms turning drenched in sweat, eyeing Michael as he kept his eyes trained on the ceiling. "Why does Luke think Calum is a criminal? I've never seen him harming a fly", I stated, my voice trying to convince Michael but in reality, I was intending to convince myself that the accusation was untrue.

"That's not my business. Ask Luke or something, I'm kinda tired now." He rolled to his side, facing the wall and closing his eyes shut. Within seconds a snore was hearable and totally overwhelmed, I rose to feet and marched downstairs to grab my coat.

The coldness of the outside unfortunately overpowered my coat's ability to warm me, but at that point I shrugged it off. A slight moment I thought my mother's car was standing parked in the driveway but the fact that she was out with Daryl for work popped into my mind.

The sun was setting down in the horizon, tinting the sky in an orange, dark violet color. Normally, I wouldn't dare to go outside that late but the urge to see Calum was immense. I haven't seen him for days, and the worries were plaguing me all night long. Luckily, the weather was quite windy but not rainy nor biting cold, otherwise I'll just wait until my mother arrived so I had the ability to visit him by car.

Asking for his phone number didn't cross my mind while I spent time with him. How unintelligent of me.

I snapped my head around to see any danger that could approach me, for example a car or a cyclist. But this time, I barely have noticed the black shadow standing fifty feet away from me, under a non-working street lamp on the corner of the street.

Keep walking, I hushed to myself, my pace increasing with every step taken. Don't drive attention towards yourself.

At one point I missed the street lights and nearly got rolled over by a truck driver, however I wouldn't slow down my tempo until I approached Calum's house that was a twenty minute walk.

Ten minutes of jogging have passed, sweat was rolling down my temple due to the coat that slowly made my body temperature hotter, and I finally dared to turn around.

My heart almost stopped beating. The figure was moving quicker towards me, the distance between us decreased dangerously rapidly and I picked up the pace and started dashing down the alley.

The thoughts in my head were circling. The person could be a stalker, a kidnapper, a robber or in the worst case scenario, a murderer.

Murderer. I ran like my life depended on it. Probably it literally did.

The hooded figure chose a different path and for a brief moment I believed he wasn't motivated enough and took off, but part of my brain told me I should keep running until I reached a next supermarket or somewhere public with witnesses.

At that moment, I jogged slightly, catching for deep breaths. My lungs felt like they were about to fall off and I had the sensation that my cause of death might be a heatstroke, so I shrugged off my coat and continued my way.

I ruffled my hair so the cold could hit my forehead covered in pearls of sweat, and stopped in tracks as soon as I heard a series of steps behind me.

Turning around, I was facing the person who followed me across the neighborhood, this time barely ten feet away. Unknowing of what he will do to me, I collected myself and ran once more.

Out of my common sense, I dropped the coat instantly, believing I will be faster without something weighty in my hands. Not catching one glimpse behind me, I drew near the street Calum lived on and entered a coniferous forest that extended several miles.

Only two blocks.

My feet carried me further into the forest, the thick trees were luckily big enough to camouflage me in a proper way and the shirt I have on was black. I was never so thankful for a simple, black tee.

Through the branches, I could see Calum's property and stepping out of the forest, I made the mistake of not being aware of my environment.

A benevolent force dragged me towards the ground, still unaware of my situation, I flailed around with my arms in hope of the force to let me go.

I realized that the hooded person just tackled me and was pinning me underneath them, the heavy breathing getting sloppier. The amount of strength gave me the idea that I'm victimized by a male individual, making the situation more frightening than it already was.

That's it, I thought as I closed my eyes. He's now gonna pull out a gun and shoot me right in the head. Or he's about to do something that brought chills all over my body, I didn't want to think about that.

The grunts he emitted as he intended to fight off my flailing were so oddly familiar to me, but my mind wasn't paying much attention to the familiarity. My knee found its way to his lower abdomen and I rammed it with strength but no success. Although it affected the person slightly, the force wouldn't let me free, but as I found courage in my voice, I scream from the top of my lungs: "Calum!"

A punch in the throat was enough for my voice to die down, I coughed hardly and kept struggling under the weight.

The sudden head-butt evoked an excruciating pain, I wasn't prepared to hit him in the forehead with my own one. I must've grabbed him by the shoulder and smashed my head against his, he and I groaned in pain, but I was the one who came faster to senses.

I pushed him off of me, and panted as I attempted to stand up, but the moment I rose to feet, I got knocked off once again. He was ahold of my ankle and must've dragged me down once again.

"Quite a fighter", the man whispered as he wrapped his arms around me from behind vigorously, trying to lift me up.

I kicked behind me, once again unsuccessful.

He kept dragging me away from Calum's street, until a yell that yet sounded distant exclaimed my name.