World of Make-Believe: Khirsten's Story

It's Kidnap

She looked over her shoulder, panting. She quickly darted behind a building, into an alleyway.

Just for a moment. She thought, gasping air into her burning lungs, trying to give the fire in her legs time to recede. They were coming, looming, striding towards her. Like crocodiles slithering over the ground. She swallowed a yelp and took off again, quickly scrambling up a fire escape and leaping over a moderately sized brick wall into the next street, taking off in the opposite direction.

Don't look back. She hissed to herself, tears welling as she forced her legs to thud painfully, step by step, across the pavement as fast as possible.

"Khirsten..." She heard one hiss somewhere in the distance. Far enough behind to know they couldn't catch her yet, close enough to know they'd be on her soon. she took a sharp left, forcing her legs.

Faster, faster faster! She pleaded, knowing she wouldn't make it. in the distance the moon reflected off the ocean. All she had to do was get there. She could hear the water calling to her, trying to save her. She just had to get there. She felt the air leaving her lungs in bursts of flame.

"C'mon." Another voice lured, "You know us. You can trust us."

They were closer, they were closing in. Her brain registered this in a panic and with one last rush of adrenaline she vaulted a low lying wall, crashed across someone's yard, burst through their gate and stepped onto the sand. She felt rejuvenated, hopeful.

I'm going to make it! She turned on a sneaker, only to find herself face against a wall.

"What?!" she looked around, trying to ease herself through a sudden maze of buildings and walls.

Between the complexity of her new obstacle course and the difficulty of walking through the sand, she knew she was losing ground. She knew they were right behind her breathing down her neck. The internal knowing of this urged her onward, past the physical pain, past the ache in her heart and terror that wanted to paralyze her body. After ten minutes she felt her body slowing despite the monsters behind calling out to her. After twenty minutes she was nearly crawling along the sand, and after twhity she had lost all hope. She couldn't hear the monsters anymore, she couldn't move another inch. She was lost, forsaken. No one could find her here.

I'm alone! She wailed, tears coursing down her face through the dirt and muck.

She was still for a few minutes, and then a voice growled behind her, "We've found you."

No! She scrambled up, pressing herself against a wall. With the pressure of her body the wall spun, allowing her to fall through. She let out a sharp cry as she met with sand. Gathering her senses quickly she stood, observing before she took off in a sprint as she heard the thing behind her burst through the wall. In the distance was the ocean. She could reach it. She could save herself, she could find her refuge. she took off in a straight line, dead run. She was close, so close. She could almost feel the caress of the water. And that's when she saw him, the other one of the pair chasing her. He was slouching behind a dune, waiting for her to come to waters edge.

She veered sharply to her left, straight towards the cliffs. Khirsten yelped as the lurking creature sprang in response to her change of course, chasing her down faster than the other monster who had been chasing her this whole time. She could feel her lungs burning again, her legs screamed in protest and her poor feet... But she didn't want to think about that. As soon as she got to the base of the cliffs she'd turn and head straight for the water. She'd dive straight in and-

"Gotcha." The faster of the two was right beside her now, forcing her further left.

She weaved and bobbed between dunes and through the sharp grass that littered the sand, escaping his clutches for what seemed the billionth time. Suddenly the texture beneath her feet changed, she almost let loose a wail of despair. They had corralled her up the cliff side. There was no way she could jump, the height was enough to break a limb if she didn't break waters surface just right. She glanced behind her for just a flash. enough to know they were hot on her tail, which meant she couldn't stop. So she continued up, up, up. She finally stopped as she reached the top, backing away from the monsters who were now lumbering slowly after her, she could see their white pasty grins shining brightly off their dark, bulky, black shadowed figures.