Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
A migraine quickly settles in as tonight’s shit storm quickly catches up with my body. I’m fucking exhausted. I’ve been running for what feels like a lifetime, but in reality, it’s only been a few months. Five, maybe six? I can’t tell anymore. It’s been one thing after another since the second I got to Ravenwood Heights. One disaster just blurring into another like a constant stream of bad luck.
How could my parents want me to fight for this? I get that it was something to fight for eighteen years ago, but not anymore. There’s too much corruption, too much pain and betrayal that runs far too deep. I can’t trust a single person. Going back there would be a suicide mission.
I should disappear, let them think I’m dead and just slink away into the world to live a miserable, lonely life. Sure, I’ll probably hate it, constantly looking over my shoulder and watching my back, but I’ll be alive and sometimes, that’s all a girl can ask for.
I look back ahead of me but see nothing in the darkness. As my foot catches on a fallen branch, I go sprawling to the ground, dropping down into a shallow ditch and cutting up my knees more than they already are.
I hit the ground with a loud thump, winding myself in the process, narrowly avoiding smacking my head right into the base of a massive tree trunk.
“Owwwww, fuck,” I growl under my breath, clenching my jaw to keep myself from screaming out in pain.
I roll back onto my ass, cringing and grunting as the rocks and fallen twigs dig into my sides. This is so far from how I had planned my night to go.
How the fuck did I end up sitting in a shallow ditch? Hell, knowing my luck, it’s most likely a pre-dug shallow grave the boys had planned on dumping me once they got a hold of my dead body. It’s out in the middle of the thick, dark woods, right where I’ll never be found. Perfect.
I wonder how many other shallow graves I’ve run past.
I guess they owe me now. I just saved them all the time and effort of getting me here. I might as well just stay and let the devastation catch up to me. It’s not like my life is going to get any better from here.
I bring my knees up, ignoring the pain that shoots through both my ass and my feet with the movement. This is more exercise than I’ve done since … well, ever, and I’m going to be paying for it later.
I squint into the darkness, trying to get a good look at my bloodied knees and get to work, picking out shit from the dirty ground and trying to wipe away anything that doesn't belong.
My heart continues pounding and I take a short moment to try and catch my breath. I can still see the faint halo from the flames in the distance which means that I’m not nearly far enough away. I need to get gone and I need to do it now. Hell, I should get used to it. Running is about to become my life.
My hands come back covered in blood, but I can’t think about it. I need to grin and bear it. I can worry about all my injuries later. For now, I need a fucking game plan.
It’s only been ten minutes since the cabin went up in flames, but that ten minutes has changed it all. Surely the boys will turn around soon enough to come and check me off their hit list, and when that happens, I need to be as far away from here as possible.
They’ll come for me just as they went for every other target. They don’t miss. They don’t make mistakes, so why the hell am I still breathing?
How am I going to get myself out of here? I don’t even know how long these woods go on for, let alone what I’ll find when I reach the other end. Am I up for days of walking through the thick trees and sleeping in shallow graves or do I need to just push myself for another ten minutes to find civilization?
Fuck that. I have to stay away from roads or anywhere that they could find me. I need to stay hidden until I’m sure they’re not looking for me. Who am I kidding? They’ll never stop searching. We’ve been through too much together. They won’t let this be the end.
As for now, I need to keep moving.
I tip my head up, looking at the cloudy, dark sky above. The smoke from the explosion is thick in the air, masking the stars that beg to be seen. My breath comes in shallow gasps, and as I sit here with my head up to the sky, I slowly feel my heart calming to a normal pace. The exhaustion of the day hits me like a wrecking ball and I know that I won’t be able to last much longer.