you're mine

Chapter 18

                                                            Emily's point of view

Each run becomes slower and slower, the lack of sleep counteracting to it. But it is mainly because I haven't ran this fast, ever. I have been running for nearly half an hour. The distant shouting from Luca is no longer audible; if he is still shouting, that is.

My head turns to look behind. I see around half a mile of forest and no Luca. Before my flight mode kicks in, I take a pause from running but I don't stop. Instead, I walk at a quick pace.

I can't risk him catching up to me.

After ten minutes of walking pass, I hear a noise from behind me. My head swings around but nothing is there. With each passing second, my heart pumps faster, my breath becomes shaky and the fear becomes more and more real. The colour in my skin has disappeared, now showing as blue, the colour of my veins being the only colour left.

My head falls backward and I look up at the brightly lit sky. Trillions of stars light up the forest. I think this is the universe shouting at me, telling me to get the hell out of here whilst I still can.

From the distraction the stars caused, I almost completely forget my situation until I hear the noise again. Not wanting to discover what it is, since my knowledge on what animals roam Maine is little to none, I run off to my right. There is a small gap between trees my body slips between. The trees around completely cover the light from above, making it pitch black around me. I cant see a single thing but I can hear something. Slight rustling move closer and closer to where I hide.

My back is pushed up against a tree and my arm, which covers my mouth, scrapes against rough tree bark.

The noise becomes louder and louder, closer and closer until it stops. I wait for a moment but I don't hear anything. I decide to peer around the wide tree and wild bushes to see if the creator of the noise has gone.

But to my surprise, when I move my head around the knot of bushes, I see a deer only a few feet away. I sigh in relief and remove my hand from my mouth, placing it straight down on the thorny bush that surrounds me.

"Ah!" I yell without thinking.

All of a sudden, the deer gets a fright, yet runs in my direction. The large animal jumps over the thorny bushes, making me dart backwards. As I do, I feel my foot slip off of an edge. The dark patch in the woods made it impossible for me to know I was standing at an edge. I scream, causing an echo through the whole forest.

"Emily!" Luca screams from not too far.

My body tumbles backward and my legs collapse beneath me. I roll down a steep hill. My fragile body becomes battered and bruised with each roll. I collect mud on my light coloured clothes until I reach the bottom. I lay in a thick pile of twigs, leaves and mud with my body completely winded. A high pitched ringing echoes through my ears as i try breathe.

After what feels like a lifetime, but was probably ten minutes, of painful breaths, I finally take a deep breath, relieving a lot of the pain. I gather all my strength and stand up. I feel light headed and dizzy but it doesn't stop me from walking on. I don't run since my breathing isn't so steady yet and it puts me in risk of getting a running stitch.

I tread through the woods, avoiding anything I can trip on. Thankfully, the floor is once again lit from the night sky. I have been in this forest for around an hour now, running like my life depends on it; and it does. I am not sure what Luca will do if he finds me but I hope I don't find out.

My eyes are met with a river, around 150 feet away. My body jolts forward and runs toward it. The good thing about finding a rive is it always leads somewhere. Unexpectedly, when I reach the river, I see someone sitting there, a man.