Psycho Love: Falling in Evil

Ch. 12 - Beacon Of Despair

Chapter 12 - Beacon of Despair -

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When Raven regained consciousness she immediately went to the bathroom for a drink of water. The reflection in the mirror changed her plans. What she saw could only be recognized as a Raven of the past, before Jackson and Davy, back from the days of foster homes and orphanages. She touched her swollen cheek and squirmed at the reacting sting. She couldn't even see out of her eye on that side. One glance down told her  eighty percent of her body was bruised.

"Not again." she told her reflection.

"I refuse to be in this situation again." she affirmed while searching the room for some clothes.

Hunter's pants were too big too keep up, and none of his belts had enough notches to fit her. Without any other options, Raven slid on a pair of his boxers and a simple black t-shirt. She gritted her teeth against her body's painful rebuttal and hastened to the window. After sliding the glass barrier upwards she sat on the sill and stared down.

"I refuse to be a punching bag again." she whispered before jumping.

The landing was rough, but she managed to land in one solid piece. She could hear Hunter inside, and recognized the sound of the front door closing. Knowing there wasn't much time, Raven forced herself to her feet and sprinted into the woods.

She ran for close to an hour. There wasn't any definitive destination in mind, only to keep moving up the hill. She figured if she could reach the top, she could climb a tree. Her hope was that, from those heights, she'd see town lights and have a direction to move towards.

"Raven!" she heard Hunter yell.

Fear engulfed her, she couldn't believe he was already so close.

"Raven please, I'm sorry. Just come home now and we'll forget you tried to escape," he bellowed before saying to himself, "for the second fucking time."

He was closer than Raven initially thought, and she moved to stand with her back against a tree. A quick glance around the edge told her he was only fifteen feet down the hill, and heading her way. Despair set in as Raven looked around for anything she could use. She noticed a faint glowing light at the crest of the hill. Assuming Hunter couldn't see it yet because he was further down, she picked up a rock and tossed it downwards and to the left. The distraction worked and Raven made a dash right, heading straight for what she assumed to be a camp fire.

A quick peek inside the camp circle told Raven the campers were most likely not part of Hunter's group. There was an even mixture of men and women, and none were dressed in all black like the gang she tried to escape. They had guns though, and that gave Raven hope. She burst out of the shadows and into the light.

"Help! Please! Please, get the guns. My name's Raven Vogel and I was kidnapped by murderers. There right behind me! Please, grab the guns."

Raven was in a panic and hard to understand, but after one glance at her appearance no one questioned the authenticity of her story. Quickly the women huddled around Raven to comfort her, and most of the accompanying men grabbed a firearm and formed a circle around them.

Then, they waited for the psychopaths to show themselves. Raven refused to allow herself to cry, she felt like it but knew it wasn't the right time. She wanted to see Hunter dead first.

The three friends watched from the darkest shadows while Hunter formulated a plan. He signaled for the others to walk away with him so the three could regroup and agree on a course of action.

"I say we leave as many alive as possible." Hunter began the discussions.

"Are you kidding right now? Not funny." Shadow mocked.