Part one
It felt like I had been running forever. In a way I had been. Always running, always on my feet. Just to try and stay alive. I was starting to take the harder paths just to get there faster. Wherever there is, it was brute force just trying to get to the end.
If I could get there it would all be ok. I wasn’t even the one running anymore my legs were. Taking another flying leap after flying leap across the grass and gravel. My legs were pushing me forward without me even thinking about it anymore.
I could feel the wind pulling at my face, pulling tears that I was trying to keep in. I didn’t want to cry over it, it wasn’t worth the effort. All I could hear in my ears was the wind, drowning out anything else that could be going on around me.
I wasn’t going to stop until I was forced to stop. The adrenaline in my system powering me like fire in a rocket, jet fuel being burned slowly and hot causing me to propel forward against my will.
It was like I was flying across the ground propelled by something deeper than any thought could be. I never trained to be like this, my limbs and heart and lungs burning with the effort of keeping me going.
The fuel inside me was something made of fear and hope mixing into this forward force and no breaks. The fear of what I was leaving behind. Jumping into the new and unknown. Fear of what would happen to me if I was ever caught for this.
There is also a hope that wherever I end up will be better then where I came from. By now my feet were starting to go numb with the restless thumping from the ground. My legs were burning and getting tired.
Still, I could not stop, my body was not my own at this moment. Every breath made my chest feel frigid, yet my lungs were burning from the unnatural use. My body was starting to break down, the chemicals pushing me into the ground.
The open grass I was running in grew into forest trees popping up all around me getting denser as I went on. I started dodging the big trees using another to push off and from my face from being smashed.
There were leaves and branches hitting me in the arms, chest and face. Sticks on the ground stabbing my feet with every step. I couldn’t feel any of it anymore. There were scraps on my arms, legs and face.
This was where I first thought I was slowing down, having to dodge things that could stop my path. I no longer had the wind in my ears my brain trying to play tricks on me to keep exhaustion from me.
Finally, I stopped, the moon was high in the sky illuminating my environment. It was water, a large body of water reflecting the light. It was beautiful like nothing I had ever seen before. I had no idea how far this was from home; I had no idea how far I ran.
Maybe I died and this was my new personal paradise. The water was so clear I could see the moon and stars were reflecting off the calm water not even a ripple in the water. It looked like a mirror until I touched it sending off a light ripple.
I took another few deep breaths, nothing was a sweet then this quiet. A moment to rest without fear, without expectation, without threat of any kind. I could just breath and rest and be at peace. I never thought I would see this moment in my life.
Sound started bleeding into the scene, the light rustling of leaves. Small noises that the crickets make unable to pinpoint where it is coming from. As the jet fuel ran out so did what was holding me up.
First my legs failed causing me to crash to my knees in the soft sand. I felt my arms getting weaker by the second as I take fist fulls of sand just trying to feel it. My skin was on fire, and this was the cool I needed to heal.
I didn’t even feel tired enough to sleep until I laid my head down on my not powerless arms. Before I could notice my eyes were closed my brain finding peace in the soft sounds of nature around me.
Exhaustion took the place of adrenaline as it drained out of my body. There was no way I could fight what was coming next. Most of me didn’t want to. I had no idea what was going to happen the next day, week, month.
Whatever was going to happen could not be worse than what already has happened. That was a feeling of security all on its own. It was the morning time, that was the first thing I noticed when my mind first started waking up.
I was starting to come to consciousness feeling a bit more rested then when I left. I didn’t even open my eyes and could tell things were different. The light that I could see wasn’t as bright as it was if I was outside looking at the sun but not how dark it would be inside a building.
It was some secret third thing that was somehow, coloured? I opened my eyes to see a type of cloth all around me. It looked like it was hard and rough. It had a lime green top over it with a gray all around the bottom.
The whole place the covered with green light like you were sitting under a tree. There were little black mesh parts on either side to my left and right with zippers around them. In front of my is a much bigger version of that.
Probably what is used to get in and out of this thing. I had no idea how long I was out for. I was in a sleeping bag with the corner to my right being filled with a backpack and a small carrying case.
Diagonally from me was a small pile of clothes. Other then that it was empty. Without thinking my body did a check for what could have happened while I was out of it. I was able to feel every part of me from my head to my toes.
My limbs were still heavy and hurting from the over and exaggerated use. Every breath felt like I was pushing on a bruise. Me was moving the earth spin much faster than it should. What I didn’t feel was the normal burning or running feeling that I normally would.
It felt like something was wrong and needed to be fixed even though I knew this was a good thing. It wasn’t tried but exhaustion still holding me down. What I could really use right now would be some water. Maybe something to eat.
It had been a while since both happened even before I left. I was going to try and sit up before someone started unzipping the door. I started panicking hoping I wasn’t caught. There was no possible way he was here.
He couldn’t have found me. I made sure he couldn’t follow me. The man who came through the door was not the monster I ran away from but someone now. He was holding two small oranges and a water bottle.
“I heard you wake up a little and figured you could use a few things. You have been out for a couple days now. I didn’t know how I would be able to give you water safely while you were sleeping. If you were out any longer, I would have taken you to the hospital.”
My eyes looked him up and down judging how much danger I was in. He had mostly short hair. Was quite taller than me and with decently big arms. There was no way I was getting past him. Not in the state that I am currently in.
“I’m not going to hurt you I promise. It’s really hard to get out of here before a prescheduled time which for me is in like five more days. I don’t want to be trying to get somewhere sooner if you can handle being here for a week.” He sat down near the pile of clothes across from me and started pealing the oranges that he was carrying.
“I saw you sleeping on the beach on my morning walk a couple days ago. Figured you would be a lot more comfortable out of the sand and protected from the elements. I’m glad I did because it rained like an hour later.”
He chuckled a little before putting slices he pealed off the sleeping bag near the middle. I did my best to sit up, but it was with great difficulty. Every flex of my muscle was a soft pain. All at once made me wince.
Even after several days my body wasn’t able to recover from that what must have been hours of extreme use. He helped me sit up the rest of the way and lean on something that was on the other side of plastic material.
He gives me the water bottle and moved the oranges up to somewhere I could reach them before going to go sit back on the other side of the room. He took another orange from his bag and started eating that with me.
