Deep In The Woods| ✅

Chapter 4: The Beautiful Cliff!

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☆Trust your Intuition.

It never lies! ☆

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I looked around drinking in the beautiful scenery around me. I could feel my soul resonate with the vibes of nature.  A smile braced my face as we trekked up the mountain. 

"I'm glad you're liking it, Cass", Jason smiled at me.

A sick feeling rose in the pit of my stomach again. I've been feeling that way since early this morning. But, I smiled and nodded. No matter how much I tried shaking it off, it still remained. 

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆ Flashback ☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

I looked at the time. 5:00 a.m.

I was ready in my trekking clothes and had to pack things that I require into a backpack.

I grabbed a fresh pair of clothes considering that there were a lot of springs in the woods. I grabbed some undergarments, wet face wipes, my phone, earphones, a good number of granola bars, cup noodles, and... Oh yes, a water bottle. For a one day trek, I was packing like I was planning to become a caveman for days! What? I wanna feel ready for an adventure for at least once in a lifetime! 

So, I grabbed some airtight plastic bags and put each of the items in them. God knows if I slip and fall into a spring or something. I zipped up my bag. 

But, I had second thoughts. A gut feeling. So I walked up to my nightstand, grabbed my diary with a pen and placed them in an airtight bag. Then, I stepped into the kitchen. Mom was still asleep. She told me to wake her up before I leave. I stared at the knife stand. 

.

.

.

After much thought, I grabbed an apple and a pretty big kitchen knife, wrapped them in a cloth, and placed it inside the bag. 

I rang up Linda.

"Linda, Please take care of Mom. I'm going on a trek with Jason."

"Cass, is everything all right? You sound anxious."

"Everything's fine... I'm giving a chance for a normal life, you know, a normal boyfriend, no fear of my mom getting beaten by a stepdad... It's some kind of nervousness. If you stay with my Mom,  I'll have an assurance that she's safe. Mom will go for work at around nine. Please keep ringing her up while she's at work."

"Sure, I will. You just take care, alright? And please... relax. Everything's gonna be alright. Jason's a great kid from what you told me. "

But, I couldn't shake that gut feeling. Maybe she was right. I was overreacting. This is my first time on a date.

"Sure Linda. Thank You." I smiled.

I woke up Mom. 

She met Jason. She was charmed by his good looks and talk. This is what I wanted...  She looked happy. She waved goodbye while we drove to the mountain. We drove halfway and trekked up from where the roads discontinued. He held my hand every chance that he got. 

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When we reached the top of the mountain, I looked around. It was a cliff that plunged down to a great depth. A cliff stood opposite to ours from which a waterfall cascaded down to the depths forming a spring at the bottom. I could see it running down from the edge of it cascading into another waterfall to my right deeper into the woods. I couldn't figure out how many times it cascaded further that way. It was beautiful.

"Cassandra, I'm so sorry." Jason looked at me with guilt in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"I looked at him warily.

"This is what he means," a very familiar voice spoke from behind me. I turned around and stared in disbelief.

"How tiring! I've been waiting in that cave for a while now," Brian spoke mockingly as he stood before me smirking. I looked behind him to find some bundle of huge boulders standing a good distance away from us. 

A few more men appeared from behind it.

"How? You were arrested," I tried to keep my voice from shaking as my breath came out in short gasps. 

"Darling, I have connections," he said to my horror.

Mom. That's the only thing that came to my mind. Linda will take care of her. An assurance. This was what my intuition was trying to tell me and I didn't listen. But why...?

"Why?" I looked at Jason searching for some hint on his face.

"I got stuck up on a lot of debts. They offered a lot of money and I couldn't say no. I'm sorry Cassandra."

"All that was an act?"

Realization dawned upon me, "You're a very good actor." 

My heart twisted in a painful way and felt my eyes burn with tears. I almost fell for him.

"Now, that's enough talk," Brian said advancing towards me. One of his henchmen walked up to me and I punched his face. 

"Don't hurt her. She's mine," Brain said with a smirk.

I didn't let anyone get to me. I kept fighting back and tried running down the slope. Key word tried.

After a lot of struggle, I found myself being held by my arms by Brian's henchmen, all of them sweaty, tired, and furious. Brian with a scowl on his face. I felt a prick on my arm. One of his henchmen injected some drug into me. 

I started feeling dizzy. They let go of me and I stumbled forward. Brian held me by my neck.

"Such waste of beauty. Oh! I wanted to do so much with you," his eyes raked my body.

"But, we're running out of time... The police have begun searching for me again." He scowled again.

It got difficult to keep my eyes open. My vision was very blurry.

"I'll throw you to the fall, darling. You won't survive that. Even if you do, you'll get eaten by the wolves." These were the last words that I heard...

I felt myself lose footing as he threw me off the cliff. 

I felt the air and droplets of water gushing past me.

I gave in to the darkness and lost all consciousness of my surroundings. Sleep welcomed me into its comforting arms. Whatever drug that was, I felt grateful for its ability to make death so painless.

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Hiya Readers! (Namaste)

A short chapter. I know. Just 1059 words. But, It was worth it. I didn't want to dump all my strategy into one chapter... Love You all... Take Care. And, Merry Christmas! 

A  question...

If you had a choice between Men and Books, Which one would you choose?

~Jahnavi  ❤