Set Me Free

Chapter 1

Thursday, 23rd March 2097.

Stealth.

Stealth that I had never acknowledged. Stealth that has never been required to be utilised, all channelled into this moment of utmost urgency: the strive to escape.

My footsteps quickened under my feet, fueled by the disgruntled buzz of noises echoing behind me as I blindly ran. Direction was senseless once deemed that survival was at the forefront of my mind which only grew to become troublesome. Once my vision waveringly focused on trees that flew past, my panic only increased upon realisation that each and every one were identical. The scenery never faltered, every path only lead to two more.

Endless minutes were running thin as my fate stalked closer. Each scratch made against my skin from branches and twigs were unregistered as my determination and anticipation that I will make it out began to dim. Bruises on my feet only deepened in colour and quantity; my long contained stealth was proving to be wasted.

Lost in the furrows of my fading consciousness, my gasp choked in my throat after abruptly tripping over an unregistered branch. The fall sent a sharp pain along the right sides of my body but I paid no heed to it as I lowered my head in dismay, awaiting the end of this wild cat and mouse chase. My ears perked up to try and calculate how much longer I could endure my bittersweet freedom for, however in search for my abductors I spotted a relatively low tree that struck out from the rest.

I stumbled to my shaky feet and acted impulsively towards the tree as a last attempt at my flight. In my previously simple life, climbing a tree had never crossed my mind however worrying about the logistics of how it worked and my typical overthinking was completely insane given my shortage of time. I desperately reached out and clutched at any branch my hands were able to claw at. With that I mustered what little strength I had left to lift myself off the ground. This became a cycle until my body was satisfied by the altitude I had achieved by giving out in energy.

The waiting game replaced the cat and mouse as I rested impossibly still at the top of my temporal safe space. Eventually, the sound of rustling and dry leaves crunching under multiple heavy-laden boots resonated on the forest floor below in which my body tensed in response. I inwardly scolded myself repetitively feeling betrayed by my loud and quick breaths that I failed to suppress. I could only pray that distance would work in my favour to conceal my fear from villainous ears.

"I swear I saw her go this way, you've gotta believe me," words were finally distinguished but I only clung onto the branch tighter.

"Well she's obviously not here, you moron." A deeper voice made itself known.

"Let's just go back, eh? She's harmless anyways," another man asserted, equally displeased. As typical as this conversation sounded it did nothing to ease my dread until they physically retreated back up the path they ruthlessly hunted me down.

"We should have known better than to follow a man that can't even find his own shoes if it smacked him in the face-" a haul of laddish laughter dissolved into the trees until non-existent which helped to ease the very prominent tension in my neck and shoulders.

Once left alone to my thoughts, I found accidental comfort in my branch shifting my stance carefully to rest my back on the bark. The opportunity arose to bring my right hand to eye-level revealing a thick ring that once belonged to my mother situated on my own ring finger with my thumb unconsciously fiddling with the ring's lustrous surface. The sob in my throat took the silence surrounding me as a cue to let loose as I recollected the most recent chain of events: agony, bloodshed, lifelessness. How is it possible that my entire life could crumble around me in a matter of seconds?