"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said planting my feet on the ground. "You freak."
He stormed over to me and threw me over his shoulder. I pounded his back with my fists as hard as I could as he made his way back to the room. I clenched onto the walls of the bathroom before he yanked me away from it. He tried to steady my squirming body as I wiggled and tried to kick anything that would help me to escape this crazy man.
When my feet hit the ground, I tried to run away from him. His hand grabbed a huge chunk of my hair that made me hit the ground. He dragged me out the room, but paused at the top of the stairs. He leaned down until we were face to face and his eyes were locked on mine.
"You have two options," He said. "Come with me willingly or have this day continue to be rough like it started."
He yanked my head back to face him for emphasis and I winched in pain. I tried to pry his fingers off my head, but he squeezed tighter. The pain was becoming too overwhelming to bear. I sighed in defeat.
"Good girl," He smiled straightening up and offering a hand.
Ignoring it, I stood up on my own. I took my time to walk down the stairs and I paused when I got to the bottom. He passed me and grabbed my wrist on his way to the front door. It wasn't forced though. It was a gentle touch where he was not breaking my wrist. I was tiny compared to his athletic body. He could snap me in two without him trying.
The weather was gorgeous. The wind was blowing where it kissed my skin and let my hair fly. It felt good against my aching scalp from the bird's attack and from Durst's rough hands. I shielded my eyes from the sun as it peeked through the trees from time to time. Not once as we were walking I asked him where we were going. I thought back to what I told Nia and I needed to stick to that plan if I wanted to make it out alive.
I could see the tiny beads of sweat that glistened upon Durst's neck as we walked. We walked so far into the forest that I couldn't see the house behind us anymore. I could only see trees and trees and more trees. It would have been a beautiful place to camp out in or have a picnic, but not to get lost in. Everything looked the same to me and I didn't know how he was navigating his way through all of this. I would have had to turn back around and make a stop or two.
My patience was wearing thin. I started to open my mouth to ask if we were lost but we reached a fence that looked to stretch around his property. Durst paused turning to me before we stepped outside the fence.
He held up a black scarf for me to see then proceeded to tie it around my eyes. I stepped back before he could touch me.
"We could do this the easy way or the hard way, Celia" He taunted while waving the scarf.
I growled as I turned around crossing my arms over my chest. He placed the scarf softly over my eyes then tied it tightly. I couldn't see nothing and the light didn't poke through the scarf at all. He placed his hand gently on my lower back as we began to walk again. He kept his hand there for the entire trek that we've been on. Not once have I tripped on a branch or anything in the way.
Soon his hand started to lift off of my lower back. I thought it was still there but the slight pressure was gone. I stopped in my tracks.
"Go," He said pushing me a little.
I hesitated before lifting my feet off the ground to move again. Panic began to erupt out of me as I continued to walk. I started to pant not from exhaustion but from uncertainty and fear of what was happening. My hands itched to tear the scarf away from my eyes and run away from it all, but there was a small feeling inside of me that made me resist from doing that.
I sighed out loud. The weather was still kind to me. The sun was tolerable and didn't light my skin on fire. The sun also had clouds to hide behind sometimes which provided shade and a cool breeze.
We started to climb a small incline. It wasn't a big climb to make, but my legs were beginning to ache and pain hit my feet every time I stepped. I fell to my knees once we reached the top and planted my face onto the cool dirt that was on the ground.
Durst pulled my arm and helped me up to my feet. Against my will I rested against him when I was on my feet again. He placed his hand on my lower back again and nudged me forward.
Again we began to continue our journey. I tried to hold myself up while walking but it was like he tied two weights to my ankles and I was dragging them as I walked. He grabbed a piece of my shirt which stopped me in my tracks.
"Can you swim?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Don't take the scarf off," He said before shoving me off of whatever we were on. A cliff perhaps.
I screamed the whole way down until my body entered the water. Kicking my legs instantly to stay afloat, I kicked my way to the surface. I gasped for air like a fish out of water and looked around forgetting I had this stupid scarf on. I coughed letting out some water while I begin to think. My hands kept itching to yank the scarf off, but I continued to fight with myself to leave it on.
I've been in the same place for so long that the shirt I had on became glued to my skin. Sighing, I decided to swim in a direction which I hoped was towards land. I didn't receive a warning or a heads up if I was going the wrong way, so I continued until my hands felt land.
I crawled as far away from the water as I could get before I collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion. It's been a long time since I swam. The last time that I can remember me being in the water is when I was learning how to swim. Nine years ago! I shook my head surprised I didn't drown myself.
I heard footsteps near me. I sat up quickly kneeling down preparing to run. I couldn't make the footsteps to be human or animal. I didn't want to stay to find out, so I ran. Hopefully in the opposite direction that the noise was coming from. It was difficult to run without my sight and so far I didn't run into anything yet. When I thought that I was far away from the noise, I slowed my pace and came to a halt.
Panting, I kneeled to the ground and rested. My whole body ached from all the work I put it into. It was hurting so bad that it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Once I controlled my breathing again, I stood up.
"Durst?" I called out.
I didn't know if I could take the scarf off yet, nor did I know if I was supposed to find my way back. I hoped that the latter was out of the question because I would have gotten lost.
"Durst!" I called a little bit louder.
I didn't like this queasy feeling at the bottom of my stomach at all. The feeling of uncertainty because I didn't know what lie around here in these woods and the feeling of abandonment. No one likes to be left alone.
Opening my mouth to call him again, a hand pressed against my mouth tightly. Instantly, I elbowed whoever it was behind me and tried to bite their hand. They pressed harder making it difficult for me to get a bite out of their skin.
"Struggle anymore and I'll make it to where you don't struggle at all," Durst hissed fiercely into my ear.
Against my liking, I relaxed immediately. He removed his hand and the scarf, but he grabbed my wrist when I turned around to make sure I didn't run again.
"Where were you and why did you leave me by myself?" I said angrily. "Are you crazy? How was I supposed to know it was you?"
"You could have taken the scarf off," He said.
I smacked my lips. "Does, 'Don't take the scarf off,' ring a bell to you?"
"You allowed that to become a liability. Anytime you were by yourself, you had the option to take it off."
He scoffed. "I actually thought you were going to pass this test."
"What test?"
"The goal of this test was for you to learn how to rely on yourself and not on others." He began to explain.
"I can take care of-"
"How could you have taken care of yourself when you had one of your senses taken away from you, Celia?"
He continued when I didn't give him an answer. "What makes you think you can take care of yourself with all of your senses when you allowed the scarf to stop you from taking care of yourself? You relied on fear to escape from "danger" and you relied on me to protect you. I didn't stop you from taking that scarf off, you did. Do you understand?"
I shrugged. "A little."
He released his grip a little on my wrist. "This is all part of the game and with each test you take, hopefully you'll learn the purpose of them all."
"But-"
"I said enough already," He stopped me. "The test is over."