Wolfsbane

45. I stumble through the forest like a rabid elephant.

I fell out of the doorway onto the ground. My knees smacked into the earth, sinking down into the soft ground.

My hands slammed down into the ground, I could feel the soil beneath them. I hadn't felt soil in what seemed like forever.

Run. I heard a voice, Luca's voice. That was far too easy.

I hopped onto my feet. Sizing up the terrain. Thank goodness that it wasn't rocky. I wasn't wearing any shoes.

Beneath me was grass and dirt, dry grass and dirt. It must have been the afternoon. I could feel heat on my back.

Something was off.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

That had been far too easy. Max had given me the psychic.

And I killed him without a second thought.

I shivered.

Everything felt different. I knew I was back in reality. The sun felt real, the earth felt real. All I had seen were those stupid white walls for too long.

I stared down at my forearm once again. The marks were still there. Anger rose up in my throat.

I had thought that they would disappear. I hoped that everything that occurred would just fade away.

The reality was that it had all happened.

The blood

My broken wrist

The drowning

The cattle prod

The murder.

It wasn't a murder....it couldn't have been a murder. It was my freedom that was on the line, I didn't have the choice. No one was coming to save me.

No one could.

I pulled myself onto my feet. My breath rattled through my chest. This was all too much

I heard rustling in the trees. It was most likely a bird, but I wasn't taking any chances.

My arms moved up instinctively to cover my chest. I was ready to fight.

I stared up at the trees, scanning them for anything or anyone. All I saw were the green leaves, towering above my head.

Nothing looked familiar. I didn't recognize the trees, nor did I recognize the flowers.

Flowers.

There shouldn't have been flowers. It couldn't have been that long. There was no way.

Maybe I was far out of state. That was the only explanation for the flowers. Max had probably taken me to somewhere significantly warmer. I was probably in Florida or something....

Wrong. Luca said, I think I know where you might be.

It would be helpful to tell me, I responded

Waste of time. He shot back, You need to run.

The sounds of feet hitting the ground confirmed that.

Now I regretted not doing that two mile run.

I broke out into a run. A full out sprint. I needed to put as much distance between myself and whoever was following me.

My heart pounded with every footfall. I stumbled through the trees, attempting not to trip over the thick exposed roots.

I was just about to pass another tree when I heard the sound of something being launched in my direction.