Story of a Girl

I'm running. Running from God knows what to God knows where. I don't know where I am considering that its pitch black out. The only thing I hear is my heavy breathing, the pounding of my feet against the ground and whooshing of wind in my ears. I decide to stop running, to try to get a look at my surroundings. I put my hands on my knees and catch my breath. I could really use some water right now. I straighten up and peer into the night but I can't even see my own hand. My mind is screaming at me to keep running. My mind isn’t the only thing screaming at me.

"Sapphire! Run!" 

I jump at the sound of my older brother's, Toby's, voice. I frantically look around for him but again, see nothing.

"Toby? Where are you?" I call out.

My only answer is silence.

"Toby!" 

I start running toward where I thought his voice came from. I'm running blindly, but I must find my brother. I need to know what's going on. I keep running when I hear his voice again, but this time, it’s closer.

"No! Leave me! Go!" 

"I'm not leaving you! Where are you?" I breathlessly asked.

I'm so close to crying but I won’t let myself result to that. The only thing I need to do is find Toby. Out of nowhere, I run smack into what could only be another human. I screamed at the top of my lungs and jump back. The person covers my mouth with his hand and meets my frantic eyes. The eyes could only belong to Toby. We have the same ocean blue eyes. His eyes aren’t the same friendly, welcoming eyes I knew so well. This time, they looked troubled. Like there was a small whirl pool constantly spinning in them. One of his eyes were black and swollen, like he got in a fight. He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him and whispered to me so low, I barely heard him.

"Sapphire, they're here. They know I’m here. You have to run and never look back. Don’t stop until it's save. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t even make eye contact with anyone."

"What? Who's here? Toby, what's going on? Where are we?" I ask nervously.

He turned around and looked me dead in the eyes. He put his hands on my shoulders and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by someone with a much deeper, much more menacing voice.

"Toby, you got what we asked for?" he demanded

Toby's eyes widened in fear and mine did the same. He slowly turned around, careful to keep me out of view of the man standing only a few feet away from us.

"I need more time" Toby answered.

I could tell he was nervous. He had a tight grip on my hand and he and his voice were both shaking. What was going on? What did he want from my brother?

"I thought I told you that today was the deadline. I need that money." he boomed.

Who was this guy? And why did Toby owe him money? I felt Toby cower against me in fear. I squeezed his hand.

"Toby what's going on? Who is that?" I whispered.

"Did you bring someone else with you?" the man demanded. 

I gasped and shut my mouth tight. The man was even closer now. I could tell. I held Toby's hand tighter to let him know I was okay.

"N-no. Just me." Toby stuttered. 

Real convincing. I thought to myself. But then again, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. I shouldn’t have said anything.

"Then move aside." 

He was right in front of Toby's face now. I could sense him standing there. I still did not know his name but his voice sounded eerily familiar. Toby sucked in his breath and gave my hand a squeeze. I knew Toby wasn’t going to rat me out and expose me to whoever this was. He took a small step to the left, pulling me with him. I quietly stepped with him, careful not to make any noise at all. 

"See? It's just me." Toby told him.

"I don’t believe that."

The man came and stood in front of Toby, once again. I could hear his heavy breathing just inches away from me. I held my breath and buried my face in Toby's back. I felt the man reach out and shove Toby away from me. Toby fell to the ground with a loud thud and lay still. I covered my mouth and bit back a scream. I slowly took a few small steps backwards but the man kept pace with me. I took bigger steps backwards.

One foot behind the other. I thought to myself. Apparently I'm not very good at listening because I tripped over my own foot and fell backwards. I scrambled backwards on my hands and feet, taking deep breaths. Suddenly, I was yanked upwards by my shirt and lifted off the ground. I tried to kick my attacker but only made contact with the air. My attacker laughed evilly. 

"You think you can hurt me, child? Pathetic."

"Let me go!" I said between my teeth.

I heard Toby slowly get up from the ground and limp over to us.

"Let my sister go!" 

He started punching the man with all the strength he had left. The man chuckled and shook his head. 

"Alright. I'll let her go."

He dropped me to the ground like I was nothing. I landed on my side with a sickening crunch. My scream echoed into the night. I rolled onto my back, clutching my arm to my chest.

"Sapphire!" Toby gasped. 

He came and knelt beside me and helped me sit up. I gritted my teeth and slowly got up, hot tears silently going down my cheeks. I heard Toby suck in his breath and let it out angrily.

"That’s it!” he yelled, "I'm tired of you! You can hurt me but you can’t hurt my sister!" 

He charged at the man as fast as he could, fist in the air. I heard the cock of what I thought was a gun followed by a loud boom. I screamed and ran towards Toby to see if it was him that fired, or was fired at. I saw him doubled over, hands on his stomach. He slowly turned around and faced me. His tan skin was now pale white and lifeless. I looked at his hands that were on his stomach. Dark liquid was seeping through his fingers and I knew he didn’t fire that gun.

"No..." I whispered.

"Sapphire..." Toby whispered back. 

He reached out for me then fell to his knees in front of me. He took one last, breath, closed his eyes, and then fell back. I screamed once more, drowning out the laugh of the man that had just killed my brother.     

     

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I shot up in bed, sweat beading down my forehead. The blanket was tangled around my legs. I was gasping for breath, hand over my heart.

"It was just a dream." I whispered into the night.

I looked around my room. I was alone. No creepy man and no Toby. I took a deep breath and laid back down, willing myself to go back to sleep but I was wide awake now. No way was I going back to sleep.

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okay guys a picture of Toby is on the side so be sure to check it out!! (: