Instant

~~<>~~

hut you down;

onica

~~<>~~

runn

running from. Driven by fear and adrenaline, my feet tore at the lu

antly on my skull. But it wasn't unusual. At the mom

bang

hat pierced my temples. It sounded much like a gunsho

in my head. Sixty seconds, paired with a harsh bang at t

legs kept working, kept driving me, and my hand went up to cradle my stinging face. Drops of blood inked slowly

fading away at the edges, inky black fo

nd me, catching on small branches and twigs, but I kept running, beca

n't hear the footsteps, though in my head they we

that sliced through my being. My heart was hammering

gasping for air. My lungs were collap

, went the dru

new that getting caught would be the end - it would either be the

seemed mo

beneath my feet. It was autumn, but the absence o

eaked up from the forest floor, piling higher

me, pushing pushing pushing, until my body

ts and a t-shirt, were suddenly piled

me, their footsteps finally mixi

chest. I felt their presence behi

one of them slipped off my heal and was left behind in the snow. The now-ba

ant to do

ing? I wondered vag

overpowering, and I pumped my arms faster, m

oting down from the sky throug

ra

er me,

d and cracking, a

my mouth and I choked on

bout the voice that it sent a spi

prominent as ever. My skull wa

im on my heels. It was only one person, but

as frozen as the air around m

jerked

hich slapped down on my mouth. I struggled to draw in

I was f

<

her scream caug

I dropped my head into my hands, pushing

, for the past two weeks, and

ttered shakily. That

ill caught in my chest,

eant. Except that when I woke up,