Dark as the Night

Prologue

She was running for her life. Her lungs burned as she desperately tried to fill them, but they seemed to want to reject the cold night air.

She tried to listen to her surroundings, to the crunch of chasing feet on dry leaves, to the rustle of brittle branches clawing at burning skin, to the gasps and huffs of panicked breathing. The rushing of blood through her ears blocked it all out. She might as well be deaf.

She tried to see the world around her, but everything was engulfed in the darkness of a cloudless, moonless night. She couldn't see threats coming at her, nor even the trees reaching out to catch her. Multiple times she ran into a small trunk or stumbled on a large root.

All she could do was feel. Feel, and run. He was coming, he was coming, he was coming, and it hurt, god it hurt everywhere. Her head, her face, her shoulder, her chest, her lungs her lungs her lungs...

Suddenly the air wouldn't come. She kept sucking in huge gasping breaths, over and over but it never went in. Her vision blurred and her head was dizzy and her body hurt and the ground was suddenly right in front of her.

Her thoughts, already so fragile, shattered. Trees. Night. Run. Coming. Ground. Cold. Leaves crunching under her, back and neck and chest and shoulder aching. Lungs failing. Mind failing. Legs failed.

"RID!" A voice. "...RID!!" "...rry. So sorry." Panting, gasping, sobbing. Pain pain more pain in her back side chest as a weight pressed down on her, pushing the little air she'd gotten back out of her. A dirty glove shoved in her mouth, keeping her from screaming, breathing, crying. More, more pain, more agony as something sharp struck her in the back of the neck.

Betrayed. She trusted him and he betrayed her. "So... done. ...following you. He's... you. Have to... run... take... away..." She couldn't hear, couldn't understand. What was he saying? Why was he doing this? Why had he hurt her??

The pain in her neck grew unbearably worse as he cut into her, so much worse than any of the other hurts in her body. Wet warmth flowed down to her throat, soaking her clothes and burning her, freezing her. The voice was raw and angry. "...find you..." it growled. "...back."

The roaring in her ears took over and she couldn't hear him anymore. The gloved hand was yanked from her mouth and the weight on her back lifted. She felt the shuffling of leaves being kicked over her body, sticking to the wetness on her neck. She tried to move, to turn to the voice and beg, but her body wouldn't oblige. Her voice wouldn't come out.

Then her ears worked again and she heard him say one final word, "Die." Then he turned from her and was gone.

She tried to drag herself after him with one arm while holding her neck with the other hand, finally getting her body halfway into an almost crawl, but just as her eyes began to finally release tears, her arms failed her and her consciousness gave out, leaving the night black as death.

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A/N: What do you think happened to our heroine? Who was she running from, and who attacked her?  Let me know your theories in the comments.  😊