“Get away from me!” I cried in terror, hoping over loose tree roots as fast as humanly possible.
“Ohhh Diane.” Sang a sinister voice. I wasn’t entirely sure what was chasing me but I knew that it was something with not many good intentions. My heart paced faster than my footsteps, I tried to catch my breath but it was difficult when I was too afraid to do anything but hold it. The faster I sprinted the more the world seemed to spin, as if I were a bat dangling from the earth and if I made one wrong move I would fall into the black abyss we called a galaxy.
“Stop running from me, I won’t hurt you.” The disembodied voice called. The forest was dark but I could tell there was some type of light behind me. Was it from whatever torturous creature was following me? I took a sharp pivot to my right in hopes of granting myself more time to find a place to hide.
“Stop running from me!” With every word leaving its mouth my body quivered more. I had to keep going, what would happen if I stopped? If I took as little as a second to turn around and examine what was chasing me? I had to run. I had to hide. But no matter how fast I moved it didn’t feel nearly fast enough. I whipped my head around, looking for some type of shelter, something, anything! I spotted a cave a few meters away.
“I can make it,” I whispered to myself, but then a stream of worries lit in my brain. I quickly pushed them aside as I didn’t have time to deal with them.
“Diane, you can’t run from me!” I could tell whatever was chasing me was catching up, this was my last chance to get away. I mustered up my last remaining spark of energy and threw myself into the mouth of the cave. But now what? The cave was shallow, I was easy enough to find. I pressed my back tightly against the cold rocks creating the walls of the cave. With one deep breath I held my mouth shut, I couldn’t make a sound. One sound and I was a goner. I was afraid if I blinked too loudly it would find me.
“Where did you go, bunny?” A sob escaped my throat as I saw the creature approach. It looked around for me, behind large boulders and thick trees. I had never prayed before but in that moment it was the only thing I could do. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to make it out of that forest alive.
“Oh bunny.” I jumped as I heard a crow fly from a rickety tree branch. The creature turned in my direction. Could it hear my heartbeat? Because that’s all I could hear.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
With each step it took closer to me I shut my eyes more and more, tears stained with fear fell from my face. Had it seen me? Had it heard me? I clenched every muscle in my body and wanted for the inevitable.
“Found you bunny.” A large hand grabbed my ankle and started pulling me from the cave.
“No!” I screamed and sobbed, trying desperately to grab onto anything I could but the ground was all loose mud.
“No, no, no! Let me go!”
“Calm down bunny.” With one swift kick I managed to free my ankle and run past the creature but he was right on my tail. I didn’t get very far until I tripped over a fallen tree branch and landed face first into the ground.
“Serves you right.” I could hear the creature smile. I screamed as loud as I could with the hope anyone, anyone at all would hear and come to my rescue. The creature roughly grabbed my shoulders, standing me upright.
“Bunny, enough of this foolishness.” I knew the creature would be scary once I faced it. But nothing could have prepared me for seeing its face.
“Let go of me Daniel!” I spat, trying to break free from his grip.
“Shut up!” Daniel screamed and slapped me across the face. The sharp rings hugging his fingers always cut up my cheeks, that’s why he wore them.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Making me come all the way out here after you?” I could’t form words, they weren’t stuck in my throat but deeply buried.
“Answer me bitch!” He screamed, spitting flying from his mouth. I couldn’t look him in the face, that would make everything much too real.
“I…”
“You were what?”
“I was trying to leave.”
“Leave? You want to leave me? Huh? Answer me!” With another strike to the face I wasn’t sure what consequence would be worse, answering or staying silent. I just wanted to break down and cry, I wanted to run away but I knew I couldn’t free myself from his grip. Once he caught me I was a goner, I knew that.
“Y-yes.”
“After all I’ve done for you? I gave away my life for you Diane! I moved to a different city, I work while you stay at home on your lazy ass all day. I break my back for you on a daily basis and this is how you repay me?”
“I-”
“Answer me!”
“Stop yelling at me.” I whispered. I couldn’t think, I just needed to get away from Daniel. For years, no matter what other people told me I stayed with him; ‘I love him’, I would say. But the moment he tried stabbing me I knew I had to leave. But part of me always wondered if I might have survived if I stayed.
“I’m sorry, you’re right.” Daniel let go of me and took a step back, as if thinking about his next move.
“Daniel-” My sentence got cut short as his fist embedded itself in my stomach. I fell to the ground as all of the air left my lungs. Only one thought on my mind; should I just give up?
“Get up.” He demanded but I didn’t know if I could. I tried crawling onto my knees first but I was taking too long for him so he pushed me back down and it wasn’t until then I noticed my knees were cut up and bleeding. What was going through his head at that moment? Was it fear? Rage? Confidence? Worry? A rush of power? What caused him to treat me that way? Maybe his brain was just wired wrong. In the past, anytime after he hit me he would buy my flowers and take me out on the most wonderful dates. Daniel would tell me how much he loved me and that he would never hurt me again. And for a short time I believed him.
“How do you like it?” Daniel crawled on top of me, sitting all of his weight on my chest.
“Feeling suffocated by your partner? The person you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with. This is how you make me feel every damn day!” I tried gasping for air as I could feel my lungs slowly deflate underneath him. I clenched my eyes shut as he leaned in closer to my face.
“Open your eyes.” I couldn’t move. I was frozen.
“Open your goddamn eyes Diane!” My eyes shot open.
“Good, bunny.” Daniel smiled at me and for a second I had a shred of hope. Hope that he would let me go free. But instead he spat in my face and grabbed a hold of my diamond earrings. I wore them everyday, he bought them for me as our one year anniversary. He got so mad when I didn’t wear them. Daniel said it was how he claimed me, so everyone knew I was his. He branded me with those earrings. And with one abrupt movement he ripped them from my ears, tearing the flesh with them. I cried out in pain, my wails of terror echoing through the dark sky. With another strike to the face I went silent. I watched the stars above me, knowing it would be the last time I ever got to see them. My mother often told me those who pray under the stars also die under the stars yet they are the ones who become the brightest of stars. I could feel my skin starting to turn blue as Daniel put more and more weight on my chest. Did he feel no shame? Guilt? Remorse? Was I no more than a usable slab of meat to him? I had no one else in that life, everyone I loved had died. What was the point of going on?
A bright shooting star lit up the sky and I made my very last wish.
I wish to be free.