by Burke, Brynn
Did I hurt someone? What if I killed someone? Oh god I am a murderer.
My heart is racing a mile a minute. I hear some kind of twig or branch snap in the distance and panic bolts straight through my core. I hurriedly get my body to a standing position and immediately began to lose balance, so I reach out for the nearest tree hoping it would give me a hint of stability. I must not have been paying attention because I see the tree in my peripheral but my arm misses it by a long shot. I tumble right back down in the same spot I initially woke up in.
Not only was I suffering from a migraine, queasiness and amnesia but now my freaking vision must be on the fritz. There’s no logical explanation for what is happening to me. One minute I’m leaving Jay-Cee’s house and the next I’m here, in the middle of nowhere, with trees surrounding me. I want to wallow in self-pity, to scream and shout at the confusion that I am feeling but honestly, what’s that going to help? I need to find a way out of this situation and crying my eyes out sure as hell isn’t going to help any matters.
As my vision continues to blur, I start hearing more movement within the trees. It sounds a lot closer than it was before. Deep inside somewhere I have the distinct feeling that I am being watched. It sends nothing but fear down my spine and I force my already weak body to start crawling, attempting to move as fast as I can. I then start screaming out for help. For some reason I can’t remember if noise attracts animals or scares them away, but I know if the noise is coming from people within the vicinity they’d be able to hear my pleas for help. If it is an animal, I pray they’d leave me alone and run off scared from the loud noises I’m making.
“Run, you must run. If they get you….” A deep male voice says but doesn’t finish his sentence. It sounds like it is coming from right next to me but when I turn my head to look in all directions, I see no one in sight.
“Hello, hello, I need help! Please.” I scream out into the dark night, trying to plea with the voice I just heard.
The voice doesn’t respond even after I beg and beg for help. I continue to crawl forward, to where? I don’t have a clue. I have no idea how long I crawl for, but I finally have to stop and catch my breath. Completely winded is an understatement. It feels as if someone is sitting on my chest and I just can’t catch my breath no matter how hard I try. To put the cherry on top, my vision keeps getting worse with every second that passes and rubbing my eyes does nothing to alleviate it. At one point I can see black spots floating around. Now it is completely dark with little dots of white. In this condition I know I’m not going to make it very far, so I turn from my stomach to my back, laying in a prone position, staying as still as possible. I have no fucking clue what is out here, but the fear running down my spine hasn’t ceased. I never ignore that type of feeling. Most of the time it means foe not friend and to get as far away as possible or bad things will come. For the first time in my life, I am truly afraid.
Out of nowhere, my body starts to quiver, shaking uncontrollably. I start screaming out but not for help this time. No, this one is from pure agony. It feels like I’m getting electrocuted or struck down by lightening. My body feels completely paralyzed but I can feel an intense, razor-sharp pain coursing through me. My arm jerks and I can both feel and hear my bone as it breaks. The rest of my body follows along with my arm. Bones popping out of place and breaking simultaneously, the noise is downright sickening. I want to scream but the pain is so extreme that the only sound coming from me are grunts with panted breaths.
My body continues this process, convulsing for what feels like hours when all of a sudden it stops as fast as it came. I take in deep breath in through my nose, out through my mouth. My body is weak, almost to the point where I’m on the verge of blacking out. I have no idea how I stayed coherent through all of that. At the time I wished I would have passed the hell out. Even death would have been better than to suffer the way I just did.
I hear howling and growling within the distance. It sounds close, too close for my liking if you ask me I can feel my body burning up, sweating profusely and I know it’s from fear. Fear of the unknown. As much as I try my body is just too exhausted to move. My mind is screaming at me.
I know I need to do something, get up! I’m not a weak woman and I need to fight the pain and push through it.
It’s no use though, whatever will power I had upon awakening is fast fading. Once again, my body starts to quiver, and I know what’s going to happen next. I give one final scream in anguish before the first bone starts to snap and I feel myself falling into a peaceful black oblivion.
