OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST - LONG LISTED
Safety was never an option.
She has nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere safe to reside. No matter how far she runs or how quiet she hides, they always find her. She will never be free of her hunters. Theresa k...
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"She's a scrawny one, this one. I don't understand how she's lasted this long."
"For something with basically no muscle, it's a surprise she could run so fast. This just goes to show it's not natural."
"And it shouldn't exist."
Theresa opens her eyes, letting them burn in the light. Her hands are bound so tightly in rope that she can feel it bite it into her skin. A frown paints her forehead. Where is she? Why is there so much pain shooting across her body?
"Do you reckon it's actually a girl?"
"Do they have genders?"
Someone laughs. "Maybe we just caught a pretty one."
The pretty one grits her teeth, feeling her body against the ground, eyes tracing bars the tower over her head. A cage. One that has already started to rot.
"Still scrawny, though."
When she blinks, her memory comes back to her in a sudden wave. The salt eyes of that human boy and the way his crossbow fell. The girl in the window and her smashed vase. How she so badly screwed over her own life this time. The chance of surviving this time is so much slimmer. Mother Nature is going to find some other pawn to meet her demands. Wait, did the goddess call her a fawn or pawn? Why is it blurry now?
She blinks again, pushing away the pain that swirls in her chest. It's a kind of betrayal she hasn't felt yet, even though no one has truly betrayed her but herself. She's going to die this time. She's going to die.
Theresa sits up suddenly, lips parting as pain courses through her body. Two Hunters sit by a door, staring at her like the idiots they probably are. She bares her teeth; not to threaten, but because she can't catch her breath. They take it as a threat, though, suddenly drawing their swords and making the most weak cries of attack. Her eyes dart between them, then around the room. She's going to die.
One Hunter gulps loudly, the sound bouncing off the walls. "I'm going to go fetch Master Hayes."
"W-Wait, no, I'll go—"
"I don't want to be alone with that creature," the first one hisses, pointing at her like she isn't even there.
She rolls her eyes. They have caged and bound her so tightly, she's losing feeling in her hands. But they're still frightened of her, so much so that they're now fighting each other. Their bickers fade into the background as her eyes drop to the ground. They're afraid of her because she is nothing more than a monster. Do they know about her curse? Did she kill someone last night? The thoughts sink like flaming stones down her throat. Bile rises to the roof of her mouth, but she swallows it, adding to the pain.
"Master Hayes has to be fetched now that it's awake. He needs to know!"
