Love Again, Die Again (first 3 chapters)

Love Again,

 Die Again

by

Sheri Webber

(1)

            Fear stung my calves as I pumped my legs as fast as they would go. I’d gone my five miles already, but desperately pushed harder to put as much length as possible between me and the shadowy silhouette gaining on me. Not yet close enough to hear his foot falls, I knew it was a man, and he was moving fast. I rounded a corner too quickly and slipped on a patch of wet, spring grass. The sounds caught up with me as I righted my balance, narrowly escaping a face to face encounter with the sidewalk. I pushed my body harder, willing my body towards the fountain ahead. Beyond that fountain was the famous arch of Washington Square Park.

            Curses slipped out with a sharp exhale as he came near enough for me to hear that he was breathing as hard as me. His feet slammed the concrete louder than mine, the pounding mimicking the sporadic flutter of my heart as it tried to beat its way out of my chest.

            Why had I waited so late to go on a run? Okay, I knew the answer that question. Finals, graduation, job applications, interviews, all of it added up to me never having enough hours in the day. But why, in the name of common sense, did I leave my damn cell phone back in my apartment?

            Fine, I thought, pushing down the rawness in my lungs as I punished them for my own foolishness, I knew the answer to that as well. I’d always hated carrying extra weight when jogging. I never carried water, either. So stupid.

            Other questions crowded my mind, the way pain crowded my muscles and joints. Finally, I reached the fountain and stumbled over the lip, splashing my way through the leaf-strewn water. There wasn’t time to skirt around it. My breathing, already labored, hitched as I heard two huge feet splash down behind me.

            I’d read about muggings in the park before, I wasn’t ignorant. At least, before that night, I’d considered myself smart, possibly street-wise, with a healthy sense of the world around me. So how did I end up running for my life in a deserted city park?

            “Hey!” a gruff voice called.

My heart sped faster, surpassing my flying feet. Blood ran through my veins in a desperate race to escape my pursuer. If I could just get past the arch and into the lights of the street on the other side, I would be safe.

            But I made yet another stupid mistake. Not my first of the evening, obviously.

            I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of the terrifying voice, and lost my footing. Tumbling over the far edge of the fountain, I bashed my shin against the low stone wall, and was instantly pulled to my knees.

            “Ahh! Damn it, no, no—get off me!”

            I cursed as much as I kicked, tepid fountain water in my eyes, mixing with tears of sheer panic. I couldn’t tell which way was up. He yanked back my pony tail, dark wet hair hanging in my eyes. The disorientation of landing hard on my back combined with the pain rocketing through various parts of my anatomy robbed me of hope.

            Greedy hands slapped and pushed at my arms and legs, ripped at my clothes. A fist connected with my jaw once when I tried to sit up. The stars in the inky New York sky swirled like frantic insects.

My mind jumped forward, probably in an automatic effort to ignore the trauma of the present, preparing for what might come next. Would he really attempt to rape me out in the open? In the middle of the freaking park?