“They’ll understand because they haven’t been poisoned,” he said through clenched teeth, straining to get the upper hand. Growling, he slammed me back again, and my head hit the wall for a second time with a loud thud. My vision blurred, and I saw black dots float in front of my face.
Dad used it to his full advantage; he punched me in the stomach hard enough that I doubled over and felt like I was going to throw up all over the floor. He pushed his whole body weight against me, forcing me to stand up straight. I was pinned against the wall. My abdomen in agony, and I could barely see properly from hitting my head so hard. But I didn’t need sight to feel the pinch of the knife against my skin and then the hot, blistering pain as he shoved it into my gut.
I was frozen, suspended in time as he stepped back, retracting the knife. It hurt so badly, but the shock kept me from crumbling to the floor and shouting.
“Likeliness is she went out of that door,” Donald said. “Let’s go.”
Neither of them looked back at me as I slowly slid down the wall. I tried to breathe evenly, but I couldn’t do it.
I was cold, shivering and already felt dead.
Scarlett
I COULDN’T STOP running. The stich in my side slowed me down, but I wasn’t going to stop until I found a town. I promised Noah I would keep running, and that was exactly what I was going to do. But I also wanted to go back for him. I was scared about what they’d do after he turned his back on their sick cult.
My feet hit the ground, crunching the crisp leaves beneath them as I went. Sunrise was just around the corner; between the trees I could see a glow of orange starting to appear. I had to have been running for two or three hours at least. I hadn’t stopped at all, just slowed down to grab a bottle of water from the bag.
I was hungry, thirsty, and tired, but I wasn’t going to stop. They could be anywhere in the woods. I was terrified that I’d run into one of them. As far as I knew, I’d been running straight but without being able to see I could have easily veered off to the left or right. I just wanted to find someone who could help and get back to my parents.
I wanted to be safely in my mum’s arms. Before I was taken, I was so angry with them for lying to me. Now I understood what they were protecting me from. I just hoped I got the chance to tell them how much they all meant to me – even Jeremy.
Noah was nowhere to be seen. I half expected him to pop up and tell me to run faster. They loved him, so I wanted to believe that they would never hurt him, but I wasn’t so sure. They’d done something to Seamus and Bridget at the house, and they were completely innocent. That wasn’t supposed to happen. If we’d have known they would do something like that we’d never have gone there.
Tears leaked from my eyes, rolling down my face. I felt awful for them, they were nice, decent people who took us in, and they didn’t deserve anything bad. When was it going to end? Who else was going to be hurt over me?
Continuing to run became increasingly difficult. I could feel the fear and heartache slowly start to pull me under, digging its ugly claws into my skin. If I’d just handled my parents telling me the truth better, I probably wouldn’t be here now. If I hadn’t fallen in love with Noah, then it never would have happened.
Then I lost my footing on damp, slippery leaves and crashed to the ground. I threw my arms out and pain shot through my wrist. “Ahh,” I cried out, instantly stopping myself by slapping my good hand over my mouth.
Sitting on the damp floor of the forest, holding my screaming wrist I had never felt so alone.
Get up, keep moving.
I took a few deep breaths and battled the urge to cry. I’d done something to my wrist and while I was at it stretched the cut on my forearm, too. Everything seemed hopeless. I forced myself up, crying silently as I hobbled forwards again, trying to work up to a jog. My muscles, bones, screamed at me to give in, and I almost listened.
But from somewhere I found the strength to keep going.
Every step sent sharp pains the full length of my legs. I didn’t know how much I had left inside before I gave in to the need to curl up and for it all to be over with, one way or another. But then I heard something. I froze, gripping a dead tree for stability.
Road traffic. I had never been so happy to hear cars before, but I wasn’t so stupid to go straight out onto the road in case one of Eternal Light was on it. A shimmer of hope was all I needed to keep going.
I stumbled forwards, barely having the energy to move anymore. I saw houses first, on the other side of a road and burst into tears. The area was built up and to the right of the housing estate were shops. There must be a police station nearby. Please. Sobbing, I ran faster, stopping briefly to make sure there were no cars coming.
I ran along the street, probably going no faster than a walk, desperately trying to see through tear filled eyes. People stopped and looked, a few pointed and at the end of the road two police officers did a double take and then ran towards me. They knew who I was.
Oh, thank God.