The Neighbor

5.

I wake up to the sound of whistling.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to wake up."

I was frozen in fear and confusion, I was so close to escaping. Now I'm back here, terrified of what might happen to me and if I'll ever go back home.

"Now I specifically remember telling you to not try anything or you'll regret it, right? Yet you attempted to escape knowing that if you failed you would have to be punished."

"I know I'm not in a position to ask right now but can I speak?" Sh*t, I screwed up, I might die if I can't find a way to not be on his bad side.

"You're right, you're not in any position to speak, but I'll let you this one time."

Omg I can't believe that worked, "Well I just want to say I'm s-sorry for trying to escape, I shouldn't have and I know that. You told me my actions would have consequences and I didn't listen so I'm just asking you to spare me a little. P-please don't hurt me, don't k-kill me."

"Wow, you sounded quite sincere, which makes it some much harder to figure out how severe your punishment will be. I won't kill you... yet, only cause I'm having fun and you're a really nice guy. Although, sweet talking and begging isn't going to get you out of this so nice try."

He sits in front of me and stares at me contemplating what to do with me. "I've got it! We're going to the woods and we're going to do some archery. I'll explain the rules later so come on it'll be fun."

What do I even say to that? This guy wants to bring me out into the woods to do some archery. Nobody's going to be able to hear me scream if I tried to call for help, on the other hand I'll be free and I might have another chance to escape. "S-sure sounds good."

"Great glad you agree, the alternative would have been to cut off some fingers or to pull your fingernails out but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that. Not saying that's completely off the table but archery is definitely way better and less messy."

He unbind's my legs and leads me upstairs, "So I hope you know this by now but if you try to run I'll catch you and consider option number two for your punishment."

Well I definitely didn't want option number two so I complied and got in the car. While waiting in the car I saw him grab a bow and a couple of arrows, but he also grabbed his rifle. What was he planning on doing with it?

We drove a couple hours out until we hit an empty road surrounded by forestry.

"You ready to go have some fun?"

We went through the forest for a couple of miles and then we stopped near a tree stump. I sat down.

"So I had an amazing plan in mind today, I'm not amazing at archery and so I want to use you as target practice. Don't worry I won't aim for anything vital... hopefully."

I felt like I couldn't breathe after he said that, I didn't know what to do. If I ran he might use his bow or his rifle to kill me, if I dodge them will he get angry at me and do something worse.

"Although, I want to make this more fun. Every time I miss a shot is the amount of seconds you get a head start when I untie you. I have 15 arrows."

Wait, this might be my chance to escape I consider my self a fast runner since I did track.

"Are you ready?"

At this point I was pretty confident, "Yes."

He shot the first arrow which missed me by a long shot. Second arrow was closer but definitely nowhere near hitting me. This went on for the first 10 arrows, but then the 11th arrow hit the stump near my leg. Is he aiming for my legs now, that's sabotage isn't it? "Excuse me, but um I don't think it's fair for you to hurt my legs. Not saying I make the rules but if I'm suppose to be able to get a head start how do I do that without my legs?"

"Hmm, you have a fair point... but the thing is, I don't care."

My eyes widened as he raised his bow and aimed for my leg. He shot except this time he didn't miss, the arrow went into my knee, possibly cracking a bone. It all happened so fast, my body didn't register the pain till a couple seconds after. "Ahhhh... fuck." It hurts, it hurts so much.

"Oh quit being such a baby, I'm sure you're fine. Also, you broke rule number one again so you kinda deserved it. We've got three more arrows and I can't promise that I'll miss this time."

He fired another arrow landing it in my thigh, it didn't hurt as bad but it might be due to the adrenaline. He fired the second arrow, it hit me on the shoulder. At this point I was crying, the pain kept coming and I just wanted it to stop.

"Last one kid, you can choose the spot for it. If you don't choose a spot then maybe I'll aim for something a little softer down there."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup but if you don't hurry I might accidentally let go."

He laughed as if this was amusing him, to see me in pain was entertainment for him. I still wanted to be able to run after this so I shouldn't say my leg but I don't want him to hit me at all, maybe he would miss if I said my other shoulder.

"3 seconds Rider, 1.. 2.."

"MY OTHER SHOULDER!" I screamed out so he could stop counting.

"Good choice."

He aimed and shot. It felt like time slowed down in that moment as I saw the arrow brush past my arm leaving a scratch. He missed.

"Well kid, looks like you get a 12 second head start."

He walked up to me and untied the rope around my hands.

"Make it worth my wild and maybe I'll let you go."

Was he being serious or was he just messing with me? Maybe he's just saying that because he knows my leg is busted, either way, this could be my chance.

"1 one thousand... 2 one thousand..."

He started to count, I got up and ran as fast as I could toward the direction of the car. The pain from the arrow shot up throughout my body, but that didn't stop me.

"6 ONE THOUSAND... 7 ONE THOUSAND..." he yelled so I could hear him count, I could see the road and the car. "11 ONE THOUSAND... 12 ONE THOUSAND, IM COMING FOR YOU RIDER!"

I look back, I can't see him, I make it to the car and get in the driver side. I look around for the keys, I open the glove compartment and see them. The problem is there's 10 keys on it, I try every single key, once I'm down to the last one I look over to the forest to see Nick running full speed towards me. He has his rifle in his hand, I turn the car on and right before he gets to the door I floor it. He missed and stumbled forward. The realization hit me, I did it, I made it. I smiled in disbelief, but that changed when a tire popped and I steered out of control. I looked through the rearview mirror and saw that Nick had his rifle aimed at the car, he shot the tire. He then proceeded to shoot two more tires and at that point the car crashed into a tree.

I looked up and saw the airbags deployed, I looked in the side view mirror and saw Nick walking towards me. I tugged on the seatbelt but it was jammed, I looked through the car and found a pocket knife so I cut the seatbelt off. I fell out of the car, dropping the knife, and ran back into the forest.

"NOW THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT, MAKE ME CHASE YOU."

I could hear him talking to me but I just kept running and never looked back. Once I ran out of breath and energy I took a second to look at my surroundings, I saw bushes, holes, large rocks. I could hide here. It's starting to get dark so I doubt he could see me if I hide under the rock. I scooted underneath covering myself with some of the leaves and bushes surrounding me. I was exhausted mentally and physically, I was loosing blood so I took that jacket I had and tied it around my leg. After that I couldn't help but let my eyes close and let my body rest.
•••
I literally just realized something that none of you bothered to point out. I didn't even explain how the arrows were taken out of his body, they kinda just magically disappeared. This is how you can tell I'm not an experienced writer who checks their work.