Chapter 5

Running — that was something I hated. But as I ran at the moment, it was because I had no other choice but to do so. It was a matter of life and death for me, although I would mostly say it was out of an impulse to find a way out of where I was.

The woods were thick, and there were thorns on the ground that were causing blisters to the sole of my feet that I could feel as I had no covering to my feet. I don’t know how long I have been running for, but I knew I had to get away, far away from where I was coming from. I didn’t even know where I was heading to, but I just had to keep up with the pace.

There was no single soul out here, so going through the place was causing an emotional trauma for me. I was scared, and for the little girl that I was, I had begun whimpering. I only had to hope I was safe from harm because right now, I was more than prone to danger. Anything could be out there for all I know. The fear of rogues was what got me bothered the most.

My heart ached, and I could swear tears were threatening to seep out of my eyes. I knew I would have to let those tears out soon enough, but my resilience made me forge ahead on my path. For an eight-year-old, it was kind of odd how strong I could be at heart in the situation I was finding myself in. Kids of my age, most especially the human kids, would have cried out for their mothers in this type of situation. They wouldn’t even last a whole day as I have done.

Dusk was beginning to set, so my vision was getting blurry. I couldn’t see where I was going through anymore and when I tripped on my face, I wasn’t surprised. But I wish I hadn’t because the next thing I felt was weariness on my arm. I think I might have broken a bone.

Putting my hand to the part of my arm I could feel the pain on, I felt something like a liquid flow on it, and I was instantly sure it was blood. Blood! Soon as I realized that it could be blood, it immediately got me scared. It could give my identity away. Some wild animals could attack me because of that. Those bloody rogues could easily sniff out my scent too. The thought of that instantly got me crying. All the tears I have been holding in for a while back now, I let them out freely.

Sitting and crying my heart out meant I had given up and accepted my fate already. There was nothing I could do but sit there and moan because I had no place to go. Even if I did, I don’t think I would make it to the place as I didn’t know where I was. I was in the middle of nowhere.

“Dad… Mom…” I say those two words with so much pain in my heart. I wish their deaths hadn’t happened; if not, I wouldn’t be on the run now.

It’s been a whole long day since that had occurred, but I couldn’t get their faces out of my head. But as my mind was being rampaged with the thoughts of their death, I realized I might be making a mistake sitting down here. If I continued with the act, it would mean all my hard work for the whole day would be going down the drain. Mom and Dad would not want to see me this way.

My goal all day was to find my way out of the woods before nightfall, and that was why I have been on the run since the day broke, only resting when I felt the need to some times. Apart from being weak from the injury I had sustained a while back, I was weak from being on the run all day. And, damn, I was more than hungry too.

The last decent meal I had was the one I had for lunch yesterday before the deadly attack that put me on this run. And after, the rest I have had weren’t much to call food. I had grabbed nuts and any other thing I found edible here and there while trying to stay alive. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was already suffering from food poisoning, though.

I was more than famished, and coupled with the fact that there would be wild animals here with me at any moment, it was a good thing that I had resigned to my fate. Or was it?

A sound got to my hearing, and I listened attentively to know what it was. The sound had come so suddenly that I had termed it as passing wind. But when the sound had come again, I had discovered that it was that of a car. And if that was the sound of a car, then that meant I was almost out of the woods and was most likely close to the human territory.

My dashed hope got renewed because of that, and like a click, I recollected I had someplace to go in the human territory. I had a family somewhere out of this woods, and if I could get out of here before nightfall, that would mean I would be free.

I stood up, mustering every of my last strength to do so. Since my hopes have been rekindled, my vigor was renewed too so that I could walk again. But I ensured I walked fast so as not to be caught up with the fall of the night. It wasn’t until I heard the sound of something moving in the woods did I push to run again. I wasn’t going to get attacked when I was at the point of grasping my freedom out of here, hell no.

I eventually made it out of the woods, but that time, it was already pitch black. Even at that, I could still make out the sound of car movements from far away. I had to wait a while before the first car passed by while I stood by the side of the road. I called out to the owner and waved my hands too, but my efforts to get the owner's attention were in vain as the car didn’t stop and continued its journey at top speed.

The same happened to the next two cars that passed by, and that was when I knew I had to find another means of alerting someone of my presence. The reason being that I could feel my consciousness slowly fading away. And I wasn’t ready to die here… I wasn’t going to.

I took a forced drastic step to the middle of the road when I heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. I didn’t care anymore because I thought that was the most appropriate way to grab someone’s attention. If I was going to die, then so be it. At least I tried my best to make it out alive.

The car was inching closer in top speed toward me, with the headlights glaring at me. I just stood there with my hand raised and waved wearily, hoping the owner of the car caught the memo in time before I got crushed by his vehicle.

The car made a screeching noise, and I think the owner of the vehicle finally caught my presence because few feet away from me, the car stopped, and that was when the whole energy I had in me eventually burned out.

And as I fell to the ground, having exhausted the remnant of my energy, my eyes drifted open.

I had been dreaming. And the dream I just had wasn’t new to me. I have experienced it before, not once or twice. But the last time I had it has been more than three years now that I thought I would never have it again. So the reason I was having it now wasn’t understandable to me.

I quickly sat upright to regulate my breath, and that was when I heard Anya’s voice at the back of my mind. She was whimpering seriously. It sounded like she was scared or maybe concerned about something that resorted to her having to cry. I had to look into the back of my mind, and that was when I found out why she was that way. I was the reason for her pain.

‘Anya, are you okay?’ I asked her when I didn’t have anything to say to console her. And as expected, she didn’t give me a reply.

I wouldn’t blame her, though. She was just starting to experience part of my memories firsthand since she became a part of me. Although she had access to my memories already, she had chosen not to go through them due to the pain of being hurt after the first memory she had gone through was the one I had of the extinction of my pack. But this particular memory, the dream I just had, couldn’t be prevented.

Something pushed me to look around, and as I did, I was confused for a moment. I couldn’t tell which environment I was in as there was no familiarity with it. For a moment, I thought I had been captured, but the fact that there was no feeling of danger made me relax a little.

It took me a while to process that I was in the residence of my mate. And once I had discovered that, I was at unease. Maybe because I realized I had been comfortable sleeping in here, or it is because I finally realized my old nightmare regenerated because I was in here.

All the same, I just know this place is indeed not going to go well with my system.