Being Anna Marie

Being Anna Marie Part 33

The rain pelted against my skin molding my clothes to my figure. The down pour caused my limbs to feel heavier, my shoeless feet to sink further into the damp sunken puddles of soggy earth. It forced my escape to become that much more arduous a feat, an impossibility I couldn’t seem to avoid attempting. To give up would have been easy, effortless, but to allow them to obtain my defeat without exertion was something I could not live with. Tears blended within the torrent as I gazed into the endless darkness wondering frantically where to turn next. The clap of lightning and thunder above me sounded as if a voicing of disapproval of hell upon earth as I darted clueless towards the front gates. I found myself forlornly praying to whoever would listen that I would not be captured before I reached them, and too scared to gaze at what lied shadowing my every movement beyond my shoulder.

Thoughts of what became of my older sister remained trapped within the furthest indentations of my mind, shoved ruthlessly within compartments of my brain for the moment too traumatic for me to deal with at present. Her words were like a mantra within my distraught mentality, advisement played on a loop forcing my feet to continue moving.

“Help,” I screamed into silence, my words all but trapped within the breeze, buried within nature’s wrath never to be heard by humanity’s ears. My arms waved wildly out around me. My efforts seemed pointless and yet hysterical to attract someone to my aid.

“Somebody, anybody help!”

The street lights remained extinguished, power lines doused within the storm’s crescendo. Trees stretched towards storm clouds while managing to block my view of rescue, their dense foliage aiding ebony’s evil secrets that night forever kept hidden. Never had wealth seemed so muted within darkness’s clutch, mansions remained no longer illuminated and yet its population still lingered safely confined behind their gated fences and ivory towers.

Droplets trickled down my spine, fear intermingling within its path as blindly I raced towards the black bars that enclosed me in nightmares while deterring me from freedom. My feet slid out from beneath me managing to drop me to my knees as my flight altered from mud to the cemented pathway. My panicked sight twisted back towards my lavish prison, tangled curls swinging out around me as I attempted to calm my pounding heart. Frantically I searched the empty entrance, the thunder causing me to start suddenly just as the vision of headlights trickled along the pavement. Desperate to escape while wondering if sanity was quickly leaving my grasp I pushed myself further towards the gates.

I felt the waft of air from the huge collapse of a redwood directly in front of my feet before I actually saw it fall while managing to dive disastrously away from my only chance at a getaway. With hopeless eyes I watched the car continue down the street just as my little sister materialized mere feet from where I crouched.

“Aww Anna, you should really be more careful,” she taunted to my dismay. “You just never know what misfortune lies just waiting for you around the corner.”