𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝟐𝟔. 𝐀𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞

" February 10 / 1957

I run...I run as fast as I could and as much as my legs could hold me. I had to disappear...disappear from Snowshill. I had to leave the town I loved the most, the town I had created all my happy memories, but also the darker ones.

I run...I run until a man saw me. I didn't stop, not even for a minute. I kept running without taking any breaths. The cold evening air shocked my throat and lungs as I inhaled deeper, faster. My heart was beating frantically, it felt as if it would jump out of my chest, not only because I was tired but also because I was terrified. At my sides, bloody fingers curled into sweaty fists, swinging forward as if it would make me faster. Blood smeared my sweaty face as sweat dripped from my messy wet hair.

"Please God, let me live." I cried aloud, throwing myself forward with even greater abandon. My lungs and heart were pumping but the air didn't seem to be enough as I sprinted forward. As I was running, strong pain was hitting my body as rocks bled my feet. The pain in my head had grew worse, my vision started blurring but I couldn't stop. I felt as if he was behind me, as if he would slit my throat from behind. That thought made me turn behind like a maniac, no one was there, no one was following me yet.

The sky was filled with gray clouds and it was dark, no more darkness please, I couldn't stand it anymore, it was hurting me, it was destroying me. No more darkness please...As I was running I felt my pocket heavy. I quickly put my hand inside and I felt the ice cold metal of the razor. In a desperate movement, I took it out and threw it in the bushes with all the strength I had left.

I was running on the opposite side of my village. I had nothing left, I had lost everything. At some point, a man with his car stopped, he was a farmer from Alderton. It was a village far away from Snowshill, exactly where I wanted to be, far away from him.

I begged him to take me with him to Alderton. The man didn't ask many questions, he saw the blood on my head, my puffy eyes from my unending tears and remained silent. As the car engine sung to the lone country roads, I relished the roaring winds that twirled in my messy hair and whistled in my ears. The wind run its icy fingers through my hair as I grinned through my chapped bloody lips from his slap.

Sleep came like the falling of an axe. I fought it with everything I had. I couldn't be defenseless into the dream world in a stranger's car. I fought to keep my eyes open for as long as I could, but eventually I fell into a restless sleep. I screamed loudly as my eyes shot open. It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare that had actually happened, I saw him coming towards me, putting his hands around my neck, choking me out of air.

I was breathing but the air just couldn't go in, like my lungs were surrounded by metal bands. Next, came the rising panic, the dizzy feeling and the need to get low to the ground. He was chocking me, I felt like suffocating.

My eyesight got blurry, and my desperate arms flailed for something to clutch to, to save myself from that horrible fate. I could feel his cold and slimy fingers just crawling up my spine and squeezing my neck with all the strength they had.

Fear...

A couple of hours later we arrived safely to Alderton. He parked his car, I thanked him and then I was alone again in a completely strange village. Beautiful scenes of nature, fresh air, hospitable people, and quiet life. All these things came to my mind when I thought of a village. That was how Snowshill was.

The town was a maze of narrow winding streets, as complex as the heart. In the dark it seemed as a big maze. The streets were the veins, paved with dark red stones, and the people were the blood. Every building was different, borrowing this and that from another era. I started walking until I found a small hostel. That would be my new home from now on.

The hostel's lobby had the same odour as my home. The floor carpet was a decade too old and with an old fashioned pattern of large flowers interrupted by worn and thread bare patches. The large windows were allowing a lot of light through. There was only one staff member. It was an old woman, who stood shocked when she looked at me as soon as I got in.

The woman tried asking me questions but I skillfully avoided all of them, she almost didn't give me a key but in the end I persuaded her. I grabbed my key, reached the second floor and finally found my room. I didn't check it out at all, I just fell on the bed exhausted, mentally and physically. I would finally sleep on a bed."