The darkness loomed ahead of me like an unwanted company. The night sky was dotted
with tiny stars that guided me through the streets.
Looking skyward, I wondered if it was actually true that our gone loved ones always looked down at us, taking care of us and protecting us, or were those phrases just told to those who were grieving for the sole feeling of comfort.
I bit down on my lip and stared at the shadow that trailed us, I had noticed him from the second we left the park, the dark figure that crawled after us, slowly advancing as I walked through the streets of New York.
His movements were ones that belonged to a normal person, who was just coincidentally walking the same way as we were, but I knew that he wasn't because I knew who he was.
Jaxon's actions had a purpose behind them. The way he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was following us just proved to me that he wanted me to see him, to know that this was not going to be a peaceful night and to show me that he has won this battle.
The second I knew it was him, I wanted to stop and claw the eyes that found us and trailed our movements out then cut the hands that murdered my family off.
And then the weight of the little girl, who was sleeping on my shoulder, awakened me from my thoughts and pulled me into the light again. So, I acted like I didn't see him and walked silently, calmly. I walked like I was confident and had no fear of anything.
But, if I wanted to describe what I felt when I saw him as a human and not as an unbeatable superhero, my insides were a mess.
The pounding of my heart was almost painful from how fast it was beating. Nausea washed over me like a high wave ready to knock me off my feet. The taste of metal that clouded my taste buds, due to the blood that surfaced from biting down on my tongue so hard, made me want to hurl out the contents that didn't exist in my body. Sweat drenched down my skin as I held Zoella closer to me.
Fear was starting to overpower all my senses and I didn't even see his face yet, but I pushed my legs to walk like there was nothing wrong.
I gripped the strap of the bag that I carried tightly, reminding myself what was inside it. It's fine.
My eyes searched for a place to hide away in, my mind already forming a plan to get out of this. When I saw an alley across the street, I didn't hesitate and made my way to it.
I tried to keep the thoughts and questions, the fear and anxiety, at bay.
I can do this. I trained for this. I practiced to face him and to not fear him or anyone else.
His shadow trailed us, just like I wanted, to the alley. It was a narrow alley that opened to the back of different streets.
The casual pace I have kept up for a while was abandoned and turned to a hurried pace. I needed to hide.
Ignoring my coward and fearful heart, I started taking different routes that led me deeper and further from the city, but I wasn't succeeding in losing him, I still felt him right on my heels.
I refused to turn around and glimpse how far he was because I knew that would only water the fear that I was leading my little sister to a death trap with me.
So I walked faster. The deeper I walked into the alleys, the darkest it got. Good.
The darker it got, the better. It could never get totally dim because of the lamp posts that lined the alley, so I wasn't that bothered about being in total darkness with a murderer. If he was a murderer, then I was an uncontrollable psychopath on the loose.
I couldn't run that fast because of Zoe's body that weighted me down and due to that, a horrible idea started taking place in my head. I have taken a lot of risks in my life, but this was going to be one hell of a big risk.
Reluctantly, I moved the hand that rested on Zoella's back up and down it. She started moving, stirring up.
With a shaky breath, I whispered, "Zoe, we are playing a game right now, I-It's called running from the beast. There is a person who is called the beast who follows us to try and catch us and in order to win, we can't let him catch us at all. After winning, we get huge chocolates and candies. Can you play along?" I have created that game in my head ages ago for when this time comes, and here it was. I waited for an answer but I received nothing from her.
"Zoe."
She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes, moving her head to look around. First mistake.
I clenched my jaw and nudged her, "If you look around, we lose too. So, are you going to play?" my voice quivered.
"Morning, Zee," a voice echoed through the place, making me want to block my and Zoella's ears from his cold, monstrous voice. Second mistake. His voice wasn't distant, meaning he was close.
My heart pace increased as I clenched her clothes in my hand. This was going drastically wrong.
"Zoella, don't look," I said when her head snapped to his voice. She looked back at me, her chest rising and falling against mine. Without having to look at her, I knew she was scared. Third mistake.
"Will you potect me from the beast?"
It was then when I felt the whole world stop. When my heart beat slowed down and the distant sound of the cars and the city went silent. I looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes, but along with the fear, there was the spark of challenge.
"Always."
She smiled slightly and started squirming in my grip, trying to get out.
Unwillingly, I let her go. The warmth of her body, that was the only thing that stood as reassurance to me, gone. She reached out for my hand, squeezing it.
I lifted my head up and so we ran from the beast.
~
*Flashback*
I stood in front of the cemetery for the thousandth time ever since they left me. Every and each one of those times was spent in the same spot that I occupied right now, staring at the gate that led to the world of death blankly and waiting for some kind of force to push me to walk inside. Every and each one of those times I went back home without knowing where my family rested.
The thought that I was never going to see them again made my knees shake whenever I took one step forward. I couldn't believe that this was it, that my family was gone now and the only way I could technically be close to them was through touching or talking to a stone that rested on a bed of soil.
The black almost starless night was the perfect representation of how I felt, empty. How did Mum think I could take care of Zoella or look after her when I couldn't even walk a step without feeling that I was going to break down all over the place?
I breathed in the smell of Wiltshire; the different scents of flowers and nature. The scents that will be just a mere memory soon.
My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a hand really hard as my eyes started itching, begging me to let go of all the tears that were trapped inside. I threw my head back, a heavy sob erupting from my chest. These moments were ones where I wanted to be engulfed by a pair of arms and pressed against a warm chest, but as I stood there alone, the only thing that hugged me was the air that surrounded me. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat.
A figure of someone standing beside one of the trees caught the corner of my eye. I sniffled and snapped my head to the direction of the tree. I was right.
There stood the guy who I had seen everywhere ever since Adam's body was carried out of the house. The guy who I thought was just a hallucination because of how fast he appeared and disappeared.
He stood there watching me, blending in with the dark night due to the black clothes he wore. A beanie rested on top of his head, hiding his hair. He stood so still, his eyes not leaving my figure for one second.
Who are you?
My breathing started quickening as his eyes bore into mine. It was dark but I could feel his intense gaze on me. And like every time, he smirked a small smirk and turned around, walking further and further away from me.
"Hey!" I shouted, finally building up the courage and the energy to do something. "Who are you?" my voice echoed in the silent streets, yet he completed walking and didn't stop.
This is it.
I broke into a run and followed him, completely weaponless and open to any kind of danger. His pace didn't change, he walked as if he was in his own world.
"Stop!" he didn't. Instead, he led us into the narrow streets of Wiltshire. "I said stop."
He stopped abruptly, making me halt hesitantly, surprised he listened to me. There was a good amount of distance between us that I didn't try to shorten. His back was facing me as he stood there like a statue.
The air blew my hair back, sending shivers down my body. My pounding heart moved in rhythm with my fast breathing.
We were standing in a street that was flocked by the back of the houses left and right, he couldn't do anything to me.
"Who are you?" I asked again.
He turned his head to one side, "Why do you want to know, Josephine?"
My heart dropped, he knew my name. "How do you know my name?" I asked, trying to master strength in my voice and to push all kind of weakness and shakiness from it.
"Your name is just one tiny piece of what I actually know about you." he turned around and looked at me. Up close, his features were clearer. Bushy eyebrows and green eyes that were surrounded by redness, his irises looked like they were swimming in a sea of blood. Was he high? "You would be surprised with what I know about you actually. I know everything about you since the day you were born up to this day, things you don't even know about yourself and even more things about your stupid ass family." his voice was rough, laced with venom and darkness.
At the mention of my family, I instantly growled, "Don't speak of my family like that."
"Or what?" he asked challengingly and I just stared at him uselessly. "You have no idea how happy I am these people are gone, I don't even know why you are grieving, you should be partying." my tongue felt like it was tied and I couldn't form a single word.
He smirked, "Goodbye, Josephine." and with that, he turned around and continued walking away from me as I stood in place like I was paralyzed. "My name is Jaxon by the way."
*End of flashback*
Our feet pounded heavily across the ground causing dirty drain water to slap up our legs. Dumps were everywhere and the smells got only worse as we ran. I could hear Zoella breathing coming in short gasps, this shouldn't be what a four-year-old should be doing.
I bit down on my lip and pushed harder, knowing that Zoe is going to struggle with running by my pace due to her tiny legs, but I couldn't think of anything except for running away from him. I could still hear his steps and from them, I figured that he wasn't running after us, he was still walking, which gave me an uneasy feeling, but his steps were so distant.
There were three paths ahead of us, one that led left, one right and one that was just straight forward. The backpack bounced continuously on my back as we took the left path. We completed running faster and then I stopped when I saw a huge dumpster, taking Zoe by her hand, I crouched down beside it and placed Zoella on my lap, hugging her close to me as we both breathed heavily.
"Shh," I said to her. She looked at me and I looked away, not able to look her in the eye and see how scared she was. I listened closely to our surroundings but I only heard running water, no footsteps.
"Zoe, stand up," I whispered and she obliged, her hands not leaving me. I got the bag off my back and zipped it open, searching for what I wanted.
"Josephine," a shout of my name sliced the air. Zoe's hand closed tighter around my arm as I moved my hand faster and finally found the bottle I was looking for. I opened another zip and got out a piece of cloth, dumping a bit of the content of the bottle on the cloth.
This is wrong. This is so wrong.
I looked at her and with a shaky hand I raised the cloth to her face, "Baby, can you put your nose to the cloth and breathe?" she looked at the cloth then back at me, "Don't be scared, I got you. It's just a part of the game."
"Come out you freaking coward," another shout but this time it was closer.
"Zoe, please," I begged her and moved the cloth closer to her. Hesitantly, she inched closer to it until her nose touched it then she inhaled. She grimaced and pushed the cloth away from her but it wasn't a second later when her eyes rolled back and she fell on me.
I held her tightly, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I kissed her cheek and reached out for the bag again, getting out my bow and an arrow this time. The bag was empty, so I placed Zoella on it and moved closer to the edge of the dumpster to try and catch where he was.
He was standing at the mouth of the three paths, moving his head back and forth between them. I got back in place, looking in the other direction, and was relieved when I found that it led to what looked like a deserted street.
There was only one way I could get out of this. I reached out for my phone and hoped that there would be signal here.
"Josephine, didn't you learn that I always find you at the end? C'mon, you are a smart kid, you should know that there is no escape from me," his voice got louder by each word and at the end, he sounded like the kind of monster you find in horror movies.
I ignored him and started pressing different buttons on my phone. I pressed it to my ear and thanked the heavens when it rang.
"Come out and let us have a lovely chat, this doesn't have to go wrong."
He didn't pick up until the last ring and in came the loud sound of songs and chatter and noise.
"Hello? Who is this?" finally someone spoke, but it wasn't him. I banged the back of my head against the wall. "Who are you?" the girl asked again. "Hellooo? Who the hell are you? Am his girlfriend."
"Don't let me do this my way, Josephine." I closed my eyes and tried to block his voice off.
I was about to end the call when I finally heard his voice in the background, "What the hell do you think you are doing?! Give me my phone, have you lost your mind?!" I let out a breath of relief and looked at Zoella. I'm going to get you out of here, Monkey.
"Did you get some girl pregnant or what?" I heard her say and along with that, I heard a gun being loaded. I swallowed.
"Josephine," he said threateningly.
"Hello?" the muffled voice that I was waiting for finally filled my ears.
"You told me to call you and ask for help when I'm ten seconds away from death," I said.
"Help me." and two gunshots fired.
~
AN// I was so excited to write this chapter because I had it planned ages ago XD
It's Friday and I have finally started my summer vacation, I'm so happy! ....I'm already bored though :) I will be updating soon, I don't know when but I will hopefully do it in less than a week.
What are your thoughts on this chapter? What do you think will happen next?
Anyway, Ramadan Mubarak! And I hope everyone is having a great day!