Remember To Forget

4

Laura

Running wasn't the hard part.

It was the fear of stopping or falling flat on your face and not being able to rise. Laura knew she had to run, faster. It was her only chance to escape.

The fire. It was getting closer and frightening with it's fast breaths.

She paused behind a tree and peeped to witness it all burn. She could feel the heat, like it was enveloping her flesh. It's smoke embraced her lungs. She needed to keep going. She was told never to stop.

She heard her name, from the fire.

Oh no! The fire was calling out to her, it wanted her soul. Her thoughts caused her to flee but she heard that name again, she knew the voice.

She paused, her ears opened for the fire to speak to her again and it did.

"Mother." She whispered, she tried to reassure herself of the voice she reasoned. She was to never stop.

She had stopped.

"Maggie, run. Run Maggie!" She pulled her back from the tree's rear. She became lot's wife. She disobeyed the one rule that would save her life.

She looked back.

She saw through the fire. She watched the men molest a woman, the woman who called out to her.

The gun shot didn't move her when she saw her mother lie lifeless in her own blood. It was the brown huge eyes that stared at her. Dead.

Laura felt nothing. Nothing at all.

She was numb.

Laura moved closer, she wanted to see her face. She knew who the deceased woman was, but she wasn't sure how she knew her.

It killed her, her lack of comprehension.

She stepped on something. She looked down, slowly with fear like she knew what to expect. It was a hand. It was burnt by the fire but she knew the hand. Around one of it's fingers, was a ring with black, bold strikes of initials embedded on it. M.M

Why in heaven's name did she recognize a dead person's hand! The voice in her head seemed to be as chaotic as the fire.

Laura heard footsteps. She brought her eyes above. The murderers, they were running towards her. Speaking a language she failed to understand but could recognize.

She couldn't move. Her legs were rooted to the soil. She screamed in her mind.

"Run! You know how to do this. You raise one foot and place the other foot before it then drag it behind and place the other one before it! Run. Please!" Her legs weren't listening to my brain. She felt paralyzed.

The men were closer now, five in number. Four ran while the fifth man walked with slurry charisma.

He made fear creep into her bones. She thought it seemed like he was smiling at her paralytic motion. She could see their faces, so familiar yet not vivid.

The strangest thing happened.

They passed through her. Literally through her bones, her body, her skin, they didn't see or feel her.

Neither could she.

She could only see them.

So if they weren't chasing her, then who?

Then her feets moved. She pulled her weight with full force from the ground and turned around.

She saw a splitting image of herself.

The men were chasing her. She stood aside with all utterness of confusion as she watched herself being pursued.

The fire went on and on. She looked around her surrounding. What else?

She felt trapped. Like in a cage of her own mind. She was suffocating in her own wimp.

"Mommy, aren't you coming back home?" She whipped her head around. Behind her, was a little girl with a pink barbie doll. She was so pretty and innocent. The little girl reminded her of  a naive, pampered princess.

"Hello dear." Laura didn't know how but she recognized who the little girl was.

"Dad, why are you not saving mommy?" She immediately noticed the tall, well-built man standing beside the little princess. He was holding her palm so tight. She almost thought he was holding it to compose himself.

He was breathtaking and almost mysterious. His deep, black eyes pierced through her soul. In a bizarre way, she felt drawn to the stranger. She also felt safe and aware of his strength and vulnerability.

"Save me Nath." How did she know his name, she could see through his camouflage of indifference. His eyes held a certain emotion that preceded pain.

Then they turned their backs and stalked away.

She couldn't move. She couldn't chase them, to save her from hell.

"You're strong Laury, more than you know." She heard the intriguing man say to her as they both disappeared.

"See you soon, mommy."

Like a nail jacked from an old, strong wood. Her feet moved in haste.

She was running again. Just like in the beginning. She felt every nerve in her body pushing for her to accelerate into the frigid breeze.

She was like a broken record, repeating the same action over and over again.

It seemed real but there was a feeling of a reminisced dream or nightmare that stuck to her brain.

If it was a dream, why could she feel every action like it was a smack to her face.

No matter how much her mind wondered, there was one command stuck to her head; never to stop.

She wanted to. With all her heart she wanted to save them all.

Laura couldn't.

You see...

Running wasn't the hard part.