20 Chapter 20: The chase
My lungs were burning but I force myself to continue, my feet started to to hurt like hell still I continued to run. I didn’t even know where I was heading to, because of having spent almost all the time inside the house I didn’t knew where I was. So I promised myself that I would go out more often if I get away of this.
The sun had already disappeared behind the horizon and there were no lights outside even inside the houses. They all seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.
‘Where I am ?’. I wondered, I couldn’t recognize anything the road and the houses all seemed different and there weren’t any car on sight. ‘How come there are no car outside early all the street was packed up with parked cars, and I clearly remember there were a restaurant that should be in view now’. I stopped running and scanned the area, there was no sign in view that indicated there were other living beings around here except me.
‘Where should I go now’. I get my phone from my jeans pocket. ‘I should call dad he certainly will know what to do or I can use the GPS to help me find the way back home’.
It’s seemed like everything was against me because I didn’t get reception from where I was so I couldn’t call my father and I couldn’t use the GPS either.
‘Oh no, what should I do now’. I was so desperate that I started weeping. I still had Nicole journal in my left hand I had totally forgot that I had it. ‘Maybe there is something written there that could help me’.
So I opened it using the light from the telephone flash light and started flipping through pages and pages of scribbles in an unknown language.
‘That can be, why me?’. I asked to no one.
One sound coming from behind me startled me but I didn’t stand to figure out what caused it but started running again as fast as I could.
“You can’t possibly escape from me, don’t waste your energy”. Said a voice that I recognized as Nicole’s, just behind me what give goosebumps but when I looked behind me searching for her, she wasn’t there or anywhere in sight, anyhow I kept running.
Soon the houses left place to a camp of grass and the asphalted road to an uneven ground what hindered my advance but I still forced myself to continue.
At the end of the camp I could perceive shadows of trees.
‘Trees, trees. Think quick’. Even if I didn’t knew the city on sight I Stella knew that there weren’t much areas with so much trees so I guessed it was one the city’s park, maybe there I could find someone.
“Sybil why don’t you surrender now you already know that you can’t possibly escape from me”. Nicole said.
As I looked around to located her, I saw her following not running like me but in the pitch dark of the night that then had fallen upon the city she seemed to be flying right toward me and it wouldn’t take her a long moment before she could reach me. I force myself to run faster.
‘If I could reach the trees...just reach the trees’. I thought as I forced myself to continue, my feet were burning so much I didn’t knew how I was doing for continuing at this pace. I was unable to fill my lungs correctly and was starting to feel a little dizzy.
“I had to reach the trees...just one more step...just one more”. I said as I felt myself getting slower because of tiredness, I had never run so fast and such a long distance in all my life so my body wasn’t fitted to bear so much physical exertion. “I will practice more on next PE class”.
“Stop now or you will regret it, I don’t want to hurt you so don’t force me in doing so”. Nicole said, this time I was able to feel her presence not so far from where I was.
“I don’t want to, leave me alone”. I responded
“You wanted it so don’t say that I didn’t warn you”. She said as I reach the first tree.
The ground there were even more uneven with roots protruding in all directions without any order rendering my task even more excruciating but I force my body to continue.
I took out my phone from phone, I intended to use it as bait to lure her away. I open the music player and randomly selected a song after then I threw it in the opposite direction to were I was heading. I ran faster at the same time avoiding to make to make too much noises.
The trick seemed to have worked because I saw her taking the opposite direction to where I was heading.
I was so exhausted therefore unable to keep running so I stopped and put the journal into my backpack and resumed as quiet as I could mastered. As far as I went through the thickness of the trees with not even a beam of light I couldn’t even see my own hand, but I kept going no even knowing if I was going somewhere or just turning around with no clear goal.
After walking for what seemed like three hours I finally came out the total obscurity created by the trees and came to a rive side.
‘Oh no, this wasn’t a good day for me. Why a river now?’. I thought.
“I don’t even know how to swim”. I said to no one and felt frustrated. I didn’t knew what hour it was, going back into those trees wasn’t an option, given I didn’t knew how to swim I wasn’t going to get in the water either so the only remaining option for me was to walk the riverside until I could find someone or who knows what.
Each steps I made seem to me like the last one because of the pain I felt summed to the fact of the state of extreme exertion I was in, my stomach started grumbling I never felt that degree of hunger before and my tongue was like sandpaper.
After two or three kilometers I decided to take a little rest maybe after so long maybe Nicole had give up. I found a place to seat opened my backpack and got through the things I had in maybe Celia has like always put one of those bottles of juice.
“Bingo!”. I said happily when I found it in the usual place.
‘Thank you Celia’. I thought as I started drinking it, except that I only had my notebook pens and a bottle of spray that I didn’t remember of putting it into my backpack this afternoon before getting out.
“Told you you couldn’t escape from me, did you enjoyed your running into the woods”. Nicole said appearing right in front of me.
“No...no...”. I thought her appearing there was just an illusion.
“It’s time to seal the deal, we can do it easy no one has to suffer or instead if you try again to use trick or run again who will suffer and that is a promise”. She said as she as she presented me the crystal vial.
I closed my backpack and secured it onto my shoulders but I kept the bottle of spray into my right hand.
“My answer is no, I won’t make any deal with you”. I said.
“Remember you are the one who made the choice”. Nicole aside after what she raised her right hand and I feel myself being raised from the ground and was thrown hard to the ground. I felt waves of pain rippling all over me I couldn’t precise where hurt more, but I didn’t surrender to pain summoning all the strength I could I managed to stand on my feet again.
“Are you ready to accept my offer now”. She ask coming closer to me.
‘A little bit more, a bit more’. I thought and when she was ten centimeters away from me I raised my hand and spread the bottle content directly into her eyes.
“Ow, you fool what do you think you are, I was to soft with you...”. She started to say, but I didn’t stayed there to hear her out instead started walking as fast as I could away from her after ten paces I tripped and fell to the ground and hear a crack sound. As I tried to stand up again I couldn’t use my right foot because of the pain.
‘No, no, no I can’t twist my ankle just now. No please, no’. I thought myself. Looking back I saw Nicole still trying to soothe her eyes with her hand. I had no escape but I wasn’t going to let her get me, I ramped till the river and I let myself forward my the water stream and tried with all my might to keep my head above the water.
After a while I started to feel numb, the pain started to decrease until the point I couldn’t feel my body, I feel dizzy and was unable to think anymore or keep my head above the water. But before I blacked out I heard a voice.
“Hold on to me princess”. I smile or intended to and I didn’t know if my muscles responded to my brain order but I was happy to see him before the end
