Maybe it wasn’t love after all.
“If you’re going to be a good girl and do this the easy way, I’ll even leave a nice little check for you as a parting gift. How does that sound?”
“Like the gates of hell are opening up to let you in.”
For a small second, the sound of my words and the hatred in them make Joey stumble back.
But that second is all I need to snatch my wrist out of his hold and run, leaving everything behind.
I run as fast as my feet covered only in a thin pair of socks can carry me. I run without a single worry about my shoes, coat, or bag.
I run down each step to the sound of curses and threats behind me, chasing me into the dead of night and the relentless storm that has no plans of stopping, and so I use it to protect me, to hide me from the death that’s chasing me.
My clothes soak through within seconds, and the wind is howling against my frozen bones, but I run as a legion of water and thunder surrounded me, whispering once again of those ominous threats or warnings as one.
Every familiar street of my hometown is now a blur before my eyes. Maybe from the storm or maybe from the tears streaking down my face.
But does that matter?
No. None of it matters, and so I let them be. I let them bleed the dark stain off me.
The world around me turns silent, and I can’t hear Joey behind me anymore but still I don’t dare to look over my shoulder.
I don’t even notice as I run past Main Street and onto the street leading toward the outskirts of Iris Lake where my house is. The darkness ever thicker here.
The howling sound of the wind stops me short. Its song is filled with pain and agony and more whispers.
But I can only understand their meaning when it’s too late. When I hear the rumble of a car and see a flash of lights behind me.
Why is the sky crying?
I strain to hear those whispers again.What are you trying to tell me?
But I keep running.
Watch out…
It all happens in a blink of an eye but one that lasts a lifetime.
A screech of metal against the wet asphalt. The stench of brakes and blood in the air. The force of it against my skin and bones as it tears right through me. I can hear every crunch of every bone as it sends me flying against the trees.
The sounds…I think they’re coming from me…they fill the stormy night.
“Shit.” The low curse pierces through the darkness. It doesn’t sound like the storm. It’s something—someone—else.
But before I can see past the blood, the whispers stop. The lights catch up to me. The world becomes a muddy, bloody mess. Tumbling, spinning, screeching mess full of screams and fear so potent it hung in the damp air.
My body feels weightless, suspended between space or even worlds yet I’m still running because I need to save him. I need to protect my baby. With unknown strength, I make my tremblingfingers reach over the metal surrounding my weaning body until I can graze my belly with just the tips of my nails.
“P-please don’t take him. You c-can’t have h-him…”
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.I hear footsteps over the branches and glass drawing nearer.
“Y-you can’t—” The words cut off on a gurgle of blood.
The last thing I remember are the thin arms of those trees cradling my weightless body until an eerie sense of calm washes over me.
I think I’m still alive—or maybe not. But I am alone.
