Safe

Six

          Night came very quickly and with her heart in her mouth, Nike curled up in her chair to sleep. Tj came in as he always did to check on her and she remained as still as she could counting the minutes between the time he left her and when she could no longer hear him.
After everything was quiet and she was sure he was asleep, she rose and shrugged on her jeans and shirt then crept into the room to find the key.
She hesitated at the doorway, watching him sleep in the soft glow of the lantern. It was bright enough that she could see which also meant it was bright enough for him to see her and that made her scared. She'd seen him move at the slightest noises and knew he wasn't a deep sleeper. Either way, she had made up her mind.
His trousers hung over a plastic chair a few feet away from the bed and she crept towards it as silently as she could, hoping it was silent enough. It didn't take long for her to find the key and draw it out inch by inch. Stealing from her siblings had made her deft at sneaking.
Key in hand, she left the room and picked up her sandals on her way out. The door unlocked silently thankfully but her first shock came when she stepped outside and was instantly swallowed by the darkness. It was so still and dark that she could hear her own heart in her ears, thumping faster than she ever thought possible yet pushing her to take step after step.
Sneaking across the gravel yard wasn't as easy as leaving the house had been. The stones dug into her soles and she bit her lip as she strained to see where she was going. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she found her way onto the path she'd seen earlier that day then slipped on her shoes and took off running. It was a straight, wide road, worn fine by car tyres so it was easy to run on.
After what seemed like hours but couldn't really have been longer than twenty minutes, she stopped, realizing that she'd gotten nowhere and that everything still looked the same. Everything she could see at least.
As out of breath as she was, she knew she couldn't stop so she continued jogging down the road as fast as she could go.
A glow up ahead stopped her mid run and she watched in horror as the light brightened accompanied by the hum of a car engine. There was only one person that could come down that road, she knew so she quickly dashed into the thicket on her left praying she wouldn't run into any reptiles in the bush. She crouched down and held her breath as the car approached only letting it out when it passed by without incident. When she could no longer see the tail lights, she started running again, faster then because she knew they'd get to the house and find out she was gone.
She stumbled a few times in the dark but scrambled up quickly and kept running. It didn't take long for the lights to return this time accompanied by shouts and flash lights been shown off the path.
Swallowing her shriek of horror, she dashed off the open path into the bush and ran inwards while trying to keep the road in sight.
They were still a little way off and she took that time to get ahead only she'd hadn't realized that running in the bush wasn't as silent as running on a clear path and her barreling through the bush had given away her location. The shouting increased and so did her heart.
Footsteps were following her now and tears ran down her face as she tried to stay upright.
The forest was so dense that every ten seconds, she'd trip over something. A root, rocks and even mud.
She fell for the billionth time since she'd entered the bush and just lay there frozen, watching as the flashes of light and the shouting got louder. Something touched her foot and she held back a scream and shot up getting away from there as fast as she could.
"She's here!" A voice shouted as a light fell on her. Refusing to stop, she stumbled to the right ignoring the weeds and branches tearing at her arms as she shielded her face with them and dashed back into the open road.
Panting and crying, she ran, trying so hard not to fall as the shouts and lights followed her.
She screamed as two people appeared in front of her and whirled around running back the way she'd come only to meet another group. She looked around wildly for where to go next and to her horror, realized there was nowhere else to run.
Crying louder than before, she stumbled back, tripped and fell.
"You bitch! You think you can escape?" A voice shouted to her right and she turned, not expecting to be met by a powerful kick that connected with her temple knocking her head back. Another kick to her side and she doubled over, arms above her head for some reason she didn't remember.
She couldn't see anything and her head pounded resisting as she screamed while being hit over and over.
"E don do Ija!"
The blows stopped and she was yanked up to her feet. Unable to stand, she collapsed to the floor and grunted when a hand grabbed her braids and started dragging her along the path.
Stones and dirt cut into her face and arms and she cried out wishing who ever it was would stop. They did, when they got back to the car and she was roughly shoved inside.
Cramped between two men on the way back, she struggled to keep her eyes open, aware that she was bleeding from her head but the pain blinded her and before long, she was out.