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Twisted Bonds

When told that a curse exists, listen to warning. If you don't then it's your own undoing.

The pain in my chest is searing, running is become a chore more than a fun activity. The cross country training has barely helped with the flat out sprinting I'm currently being forced to take part in, and the energy flooding my body is shooting through me like a syringe of pure adrenalin. Still the pain burns my lungs. Memories of the past half hour flood me and thoughts of pure insanity flicker though my mind faster than my feet hitting the ground, but knowing that this hasn't been made up in my head keeps me anchored to the world passing by me.

Sarah fell behind my step a while ago, too far for me to hear the cry of my name. Briefly I wonder what happened to the poor girl, without her glasses she can't see a foot in front of her even in the best of times, let alone in the darkness that overlays everything at this moment. What makes the matter worse is that unlike all the other people I've met throughout my life I've grown to like the girl. I wouldn't care about most others in this situation, let them fall behind. But not Sarah.

I worry about her, although at this stage my life matters more. If I make it out of the black then I'll return for her, but I won't be much help to her if it happens to be my cold and cramped body that gets found in these trees at a later date. Nobody cared much for these woods, everyone knew of the deaths that occurred. Each as gruesome as the last, although never a lead as to what led each person to the depths of hell. It got known as a curse, whilst the smarter threw themselves into a frenzy suggesting that animals or even a murderer bent on killing anyone who ventures too far into the depths of the Redwood.

I never believed in the spirits of the damned, let alone the dark magic surrounding them that was believed to be a curse. Although that changed what feels like years ago, a bystander would tell me seven minutes have barely passed. I lost my friend a mere three minutes ago and already the darkness is meeting the sole of my boots, who would have thought that a walk as short as this would have led to the tears that burn my eyes, the white hot burning through my lungs and the threat on my life that leaves me broken. Even if I make it through the night I won't be the same.

Then it hits me. From behind I feel a crushing sensation that leaves me winded, breathing has become even more strenuous then before. My heart beats faster still and I forget the pain in my chest due the sound of ripping that emerges from my back. I feel the gashes open on either side of my spine and I can't do anything to stop the blood from dripping onto the leaves beside me, its pooling beside my hands quickly leaving the ground wet. The red gushes down my arms, filling the night with the smell of copper and the sounds of a spine being turned to dust within the body of a young girl. And through all the pain, with the screaming agony of having my back sliced open, I still can't rise above the crouch pressure is forcing me into. Almost as if I have a building collapsing over my already wrecked body.

Feet. The step in front of me, their owner is familiar on so many ways and yet so different from my memory. They have forced my shaking lifeform into a destroyed kneel and the gore looks days old, not minutes. Sarah looks at me with eyes so black that you would expect to see the shimmer of stars buried deep within, but no light at all emerges from her presence. She smiles at my mangled body as if finding the sight amusing, at this stage it doesn't surprise me and I know that even if loss of blood doesn't take my life, then this creature of darkness standing in front of me will end it for me before I even have the opportunity to beg.

A ripple of pain floods me, sharper than the throbbing my body has suffered over the last few moments. It starts of in my chest and spreads through every inch and crevice across my body, the stabbing continues strongest in my chest like something clawing from the inside desperate to escape. The rest of my body feels as if merely lying in molten rock while somehow something even worse buries itself within my heart. I look into the eyes of the small girl I'd grown so fond of, into the smile that grows darker with the black that surrounds us.

I fall, no longer on my hands and knees. The pure weight and pain caused by the shadows brings me even further down into the broken twigs and leaves, leaving with me seeing everything in a pale light. Even Sarah is shown with a white tinge as she walks forward, raising her foot above my head and brining it down across my cheek.