Lying in bed, the nineteen-year-old Kristi thought about a lot of things. Late at night her mind worked the best. She contemplated why life was the way it was, she constantly tried to understand the things of the world working around her. She was the type of girl who was open to new experiences as long as she had the power to back out. Finally, after an hour or so of thinking, she fell asleep. Her eyes drifted shut and the beautiful powers of her dreams overtook her.
There was a man, walking down a path in the middle of a forest. Kristi watched him, tentatively stepping backwards. He looked up, hearing the crunching of the leaves underneath her feet. Her body shivered as he got closer and closer, her temptation to run was almost unbearable. She twisted her upper body, commanding her feet to turn with her. Suddenly, she felt her face hit the sticks and leaves that, just a moment ago, had been underneath her. Her legs didn't want to move, her body was unable to run. Steadily the man stepped closer to her; he was now close enough that she could hear his footsteps, though they sounded muffled, as if he was walking on carpet. Kristi shook her head, trying to make her ears work again. She looked up, and suddenly he was only feet from her. He gracefully bent down, grabbed her upper arm, and pulled her to her feet. Kristi looked at him in awe; he spent no effort picking her up. Her jaw dropped slightly and she started stammering the words "Thank you."
Kristi started to turn to walk away, planning on following the path that the man had followed to find her, but the man held more tightly to her arm. She looked at him, and watched his determination to have her grow behind his dark eyes. Sheer panic took over her body. Her fists threw out uncontrollable blows, her feet kicked and flailed, and when she believed that his grip on her had been severed, she started to run. Her feet hit the gravel path hard as she pounded away from him, losing herself in the dark trees.
"I will find you," a deep voice growled. Kristi ran even harder. The man was somehow still against her ear, at least that's how it sounded. She closed her eyes and put all her effort into running. After a few minutes of full-out, hard core sprinting, she felt herself winding down. No, she thought, I can't stop. I can't let this happen... not tonight. Her legs wouldn't obey her mind, and she slowed her pace. Her breaths were coming in short, ragged gasps. With the last bit of determination in her, she took a deep breath and held it in. Kristi pushed her body to its limits, her muscles burning with the desire to stop and rest, but her mind telling her to keep going. She maneuvered between short and spiny trees, darted around the thicker trunks, and felt lashes from low-hanging branches as they cut the soft skin of her face.
She took another deep breath in, held it deep inside her chest, not letting herself exert energy for anything but moving her legs. She could hear her shoes crunching the small sticks and leaves on the forest floor, she could hear the crunches slow, she felt her mind lose the will to keep running. Knowing that she couldn't keep going, she looked for a good spot to hide. After seeing many options, and disregarding them as too obvious or too uncomfortable, she saw a platform high in the trees. She remembered the saying that "people never look up" so she began to climb the tree. Her legs slipped and her hands scraped against the bark, but she pushed herself higher and higher. Her hand gripped the edge of the planks that made the shooting platform, and she pulled herself up. Once she got her knees onto the wood, she curled into a small ball, breaths coming in pants and her heart racing.
Kristi leaned her head over the edge of the uneven boards, and watched below her. She heard him at first, the steady determination of his steps frightening her all the more. She turned slowly; following the sound of his boots, looking to what she thought was the east. Again, she heard a deep voice just beside her left ear, "You are the hunted, not the hunter my sweet one." Kristi turned her head sharply to her left, her body pulsing with fatigue. She knew, somehow, that he knew where she was. She still couldn't see the shadows of his body rising over the hills, but he had to be near her. She pushed her throat closed, preventing breath from escaping her chest, and she listened. She could still hear his steps, but they sounded farther away now than they had before. She let her breath out, slowly and quietly, and decided to try to get some sleep.
As soon as she lay her head down, she lost consciousness. She slept fitfully, she didn't have enough room to move, and she had to stay curled into a ball because the platform was too small for her to take the chance of stretching out. Daylight rose over the horizon and the warmth of the sun's rays caressed her chilled skin. The slight change in her temperature woke Kristi instantly. She looked around, still filled with fear from what happened the night before. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, and so she stood and stretched. Pushing her arms high above her head, she felt her shoulders and elbows pop, releasing the tension from her uncomfortable night. She tilted to her left, pulling the muscles of her side loose again, and she saw movement in the distance. One slight glimmer reflecting the sun's light onto her face. Kristi ducked down; stealthily she crawled to the edge of the boards again. She watched the trees near where the shining light had come from. She saw nothing.
She kept watching for a few minutes, her mind replaying the fear from the night before. The chase, the hiding, and the waiting were replaying in her mind. The sheer panic returned, gripping her tightly as she saw a dark figure emerge from the trees. She tried to scoot backwards, but her foot caught on the side of the tree, and she yelped. The figure turned toward her and began to run. Kristi knew she couldn't get out of the tree and run fast enough to get away. She had no hope but to jump. She looked straight down, gulped, stood, and stepped off of the boards letting herself fall to the ground. In a catlike manner, she landed on all fours, crouching and bringing the impact all throughout her body. She shook the shock away and picked herself up. Again, her body pumping with adrenaline, she took off. She sprinted through branches, hurdled over bushes, and twisted and turned. She kept running, full out, but looked behind to spot the man that was chasing her. She couldn't see him, but that didn't tell her that he wasn't right behind her. There were a lot of trees of all shapes and sizes, and she'd lost track of him when she jumped to the ground. She turned to face in front of her again, and as soon as she saw him, she slammed directly into him. The force of the collision knocked them both to the ground. Kristi went into a panic attack. She scrambled to get to her feet. She lost her balance again, and saw a looming shadow overtake the space between her body and the sun.
Kristi slowly arose from deep within her subconscious. Her eyelids felt like lead weights. No matter how hard she tried to force them open, they wouldn't move. She tried to lift her arm and the same feeling was there too. God no, I'm paralyzed. The last thing she could remember was falling to the ground and seeing that man. Where am I now? she wondered. Kristi remembered something from TV about people being in a coma, and that it was possible that they could still think, hear, and be relatively conscious. Am I in a coma? Am I completely paralyzed? Oh God, am I drugged? She felt a tear cross the threshold of her eye, and felt it fall down her cheek. She heard rustling, it seemed light-years away, but as soon as she heard it, she felt a cold hand on her forehead.
"Are you awake now, sweet one?" It was that man again. His hand moved to her throat, pushing lightly, she tried to shriek but her lips wouldn't utter a sound. "Ah, you are awake. You'll be okay, just lay still my pet." Kristi wanted to scream, wanted to run. She tried her hardest to move. Finally, she broke through the barrier that was holding her perfectly still, the barrier that made her such easy prey. She fought to move her lips, fought to speak, but her throat was drier than a desert.
"No," Kristi said hoarsely. She felt weight near her hips as the man sat next to her, and she felt that she was lying on a couch. She felt a cold rush to her lips and then felt water spill down her neck, over her shoulders, and onto the cushions beneath her body.
"Open your mouth sweet one." The man's voice was so relaxing, yet terrifying. She felt his thumb push her chin down, parting her lips. Again the cold rush came, this time the water spilled between her lips and onto her parched tongue. She still had so little control over her muscles that she began to choke on the liquid. I'm going to die because I couldn't swallow Kristi screamed inside her mind. She felt a gentle hand press against her throat, pushing down toward her chest and making her swallow. "We've given you medicine to relax you so try to rest, we'll see you soon." Kristi, exhausted as she was, didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to relax. She wanted to escape, and run, screaming for help. She felt a cool cloth being placed upon her forehead, and she fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Kristi woke again, this time she opened her eyes a little more easily. It was dark in the room she was in, and she couldn't see anything around her. "Hello?" she called in a hoarse whisper. Her throat was drier now than it had been before. She was cold, hungry, thirsty, and scared. She wanted to go home, but she couldn't remember where home was. She didn't remember anything but the forest and the chase. That man was here, he was doing this to her. Her clothes had been changed also. Now, instead of her typical jeans and T-shirt, she was modeling a velvet-like black night gown. She heard shuffling footsteps from a distance so she pushed herself up onto her elbows and tried to push herself into a sitting position. She didn't have the strength to hold her body up, so she slumped back against the seat cushions. She heard a door open, and saw a flash of light to her left. Then there was a blinding flash, she couldn't see anything. It was almost as if someone pulled the whole sun into a bedroom and turned it on. She scrunched her eyes shut, and heard a rough voice say "Give me your hand." Unwillingly, she felt her hand being lifted from her side, and she was pulled straight up onto her feet. She felt wobbly, and opened her eyes just long enough to see a dark blur. Her arms reached out and she fell onto the dark blur, whose arms also reached out to pick her up and cradle her, carrying her gently out of the bright room. She felt like a small child, but she didn't care anymore. She curled up against the warmth of the body that was holding her, her nose pushing into its chest. He spoke again, but Kristi had no idea what he said, she was too busy trying to keep warm.
She felt her body being laid down on a bed; she rolled onto her side and curled her knees to her chest. "Hayden will be in for you soon" the rough voice told her. She felt a warm, silky blanket being pushed over her frozen body. Within a few minutes she heard the shuffling footsteps walking away from the bed, and she heard a door open, and then quietly close. She opened her eyes again. The only source of light in this room was a burning candle. She looked around in front of her, saw a very old rocking chair. She slowly rolled onto her back, and looked at the crystal chandelier in the room. Kristi felt like she'd been thrown in an antique collector's dream. Everything looked so ancient to her. Ancient though it may be, it's beautiful, Kristi thought. As she lay on her back, watching the flame of the candle reflect in the crystal, someone came into the room. She sat up slowly and painstakingly.
