Shackled Exemption

CHAPTER 1

Panting...

That was what could be heard in the dead silence of this deadly night as two feeble legs tried to carry the weight of a fragile body. The heavy red bridal dress she was forced to wear weighed more than what her frail body could take.

These were not clothes. These were shroud to her funeral.

She kept pushing herself despite the weakness and dizziness that started to cloud her mind and eyes. She needed to escape before they catch up and drag her back to the same hell she was trying to ditch.

"She went that way. Hurry! We cannot let her cross the border. If she did then God forbid, what is waiting for us." Their voices sent a chill of fresh fear down her spine. She knew what her incarceration will bring. So, she pushed herself to the last of her vehemence.

The night was silent but the terror it bore, was not.

Her feeble frame leaned against the thick trunk of the tree after running for so long. She tried to catch her breath and give her bleeding feet rest. She knew she could not afford it but it was too much for her debilitated state.

She could still hear those beastly hounds barking in the distance and it won't take long for them to find her trail again. A second of the delay was a step back to that purgatory.

She would rather cut her own throat open right now than let them have her.

No more.

"There she is." They were close. They were catching up. Tears blurred her vision. She stumbled and sharp things beneath her bare feet tore through her tender flesh but she didn't stop.

I can bear with it but not with what is back there.

This sole thought kept her shriveling hankering and strength intact. The blind hope she was running for finally showed its glimpse when the outline of city lights came in view.

I need to get there. I need to cross the line.

Darkness blinded her but she didn't stop. The world spun but she kept moving. Voices echoed everywhere but she paid no heed to them. All she need to do was get there.

And get there before they get to her.

A dark shadow blocked her way and loomed over her tiny frame like the angel of death. Her breath hitched, eyes stung and throat began to close. She realized how treacherous fate has ditched and dumped her in the mouth of death once again. Her head spun and she fell back.

No. Please. No. I don't want to go back.

Every little memory of her nightmares began flashing before her eyes.

"Don't do this. Leave them. Please! leave my daughters alone."

The pain was back. Back to claim her once again. They were back. Back to take what was never theirs.

"We told you there was no way out. It was a mistake for you to come back and bring your family to the doom that will be worse than any death."

Screams echoed the air.

Screams of pain, hurt, sorrow, and torture.

The torture that was worse than any death. There was fire everywhere, burning everything. There was blood in the air; its smell choking and gagging.

"Run and don't look back. Don't think of us. You cannot let them have you."

"Mama! Papa!"

"Run! You have to run. Don't let them win. You can never let them win. You will have to live for us. For Mama. For Papa. For me."

Her voice was strangled in her mouth. Her lungs hurt because of the pressure they felt.