Written in the Stars of Heaven

Let me tell you something. Dodging trees made speedy progress a difficult task to accomplish. Usually, I was quite fast, always winning in the occasional track meet I decided to show up to, when I was forced to join the team. My councilor thought team sports would help improve my “I hate everyone” attitude. He was wrong. But that’s not the point. I was fast. I could have gone far if I stuck with the activity. These damn trees though, were a problem. I couldn’t run hard, in fear of slamming into one of them, and my ankles were beginning to hurt with all of the changing directions.

Tripping over a large root, I calmed myself and took a deep breath. It would do me no good to get frustrated. Concentrate on running. Feel the wind in my free hair, blowing in dark brown waves of silk behind me. Feel the chilled air nipping almost painfully into my soft, creamy skin. Hear the soft thudding of my feet on the forest floor, the branches snapping under my weight. See the beauty of the vast green jungle, the moss growing on tree trunks, the vines hanging down from above, the leaves still healthily attached despite the winter season. Let the peace wash over me… soothe me…

It was freeing to feel the burn in my legs, the pressure in my chest as I fought to breathe. I was a reckless princess, the world at my fingertips. I could do what I wanted, be who I wanted. I was a wild goddess, and everything was mine. I could feel it resonating deep within me as I raced across the woods, the trees no longer a hindrance to my progress. I was made for this moment. It was designed for me.

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Hours of the icy chill on my skin, and hunger constantly reminding me of its presence , running lost some of its luster. Where it had seemed as a declaration of freedom before, it was now a chore. I’d gone from ruler of the world to a slave of exhaustion. But I couldn’t give in. Felix was probably dead, but there were others.

I did a double take at that thought. Felix. Dead. I’d killed a man. Not that he really deserved life, but I-- I’d ended it. I was the one who took that from him. It wasn’t planned out, but what did I think was going to happen if I stabbed him in the neck with a huge piece of glass?

I faltered at the realization, tripping over my own foot and crashing into the ground. I didn’t even feel the impact- I was numb on the inside and outside. Someone was dead, because I had taken his life. He’d never think, or eat, or laugh. He was trapped in a world of darkness, and I was the one who put him there. It didn’t matter to me that he had taken many at his own hands, and it was only fair. It wasn’t important to me that this world was probably a better place without him. All that mattered was that I had stolen someone’s life.

I was suddenly very weak. I let the arms that had caught me collapse, and I rested my cheek on the rough dirt of the floor, the frost so cold against me that it was burning. But I didn’t care. Why did I deserve to live, after I’d killed someone? I didn’t, I decided. I would lay there, and let whoever wanted me, have me. Whether that be the elements, the wild animals that were sure to be around somewhere, or the Herllow Hunters that were after me. I was open game. I deserved to be murdered. I was a murderer.

I shivered, the temperature having very little to do with it. After everything, this was how it was ending. I was giving up, after putting up such a fight. I’d made it so far, only to give in now. And then it occurred to me that it didn’t have to be this way. Yes, I’d taken Felix’s life, and I was sure to rot in Hell for that, but I wasn’t unprovoked. He attacked me. He imprisoned me. He was killing me. In the end, that’s what would have happened. After they’d tortured the visions out of me, what worth was I? I would have none. I’d be the annoying girl who they’d broken. They would kill me. It didn’t make what I had done to Felix alright, but it made it a little more understandable. I wasn’t such a huge monster… I wasn’t innocent, not anymore. I was… I didn’t know. But I did know that I couldn’t give up so easily. Not after everything I’d done to earn this freedom. I would deal with the guilt later, when I was safe.

I groaned as I pushed myself up, the pain shooting through my entire body enough to do me in right there. Not that I would let it. But it hurt, just the same.

It took all the will I had to order my feet to move on. They each weighed more than the world, doing everything in their power to pull me down again. The human body wasn’t designed to undergo so much stress and exertion. It was, in fact, a miracle I was still breathing. Or maybe not. Being the stubborn person I was, nothing could shake me. I decided to live, and there was not a power to exist that could take me down.

The next biggest problem I had to figure out, was the slight dilemma in not knowing where I was going. Not knowing if there was even a town for the next 100 miles. I could be walking away from all civilization, and there was nothing I could do about it. I’d chosen my course, and it was too late to change it now. I was stuck moving in the direction I was headed, and I wasn’t sure I cared for it. Too bad I wasn’t able to trick a map out of Felix. But that may have been just a little suspicious… Then again, maybe he’d get too cocky and not think a thing about it. His confidence in himself had been his downfall. If he’d taken just a bit more caution with me, I’d probably be tied up in the back of his van and on my way to the diabolical Reaper King. Thank God for the egotistical maniacs of the world.

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Several more hours passed, and I was pretty sure I was going to die. I had stopped running, and even jogging, long ago, and walking was harder to do than play soccer with one leg. My stomach was practically eating itself, and my muscles ached with an intensity greater than the heat of the sun, which was unfortunately missing from the sky. I would have given anything for just a shred of warmth. My skin had taken on a ghostly blue, paler than it ever was before, and my teeth chattered together, the only sound other than my heavy breathing and the crunching of the ground under my feet. In all honestly, I didn’t think I could go on much further.

Just as the thought formed, I heard a twig snap not too far from the little clearing I was standing in. Something, or someone was there. And I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. In the state I was in, I would trade captivity for some food and warmth. Hell, I’d probably willingly give them my visions. Yeah, that’s how bad I was.

Just wanting to get whatever was to come over with, I stopped moving and looked around me, trying to find the source of the noise. It could be the king’s son, the prince. But somehow, after what Felix had said about him, I doubted that he was novice enough to make such a simple mistake by stepping on a stick wrong. But hey, I’d thought Felix was a mastermind himself, until a little while before I escaped. Maybe everyone here, save my genius self, was moronic. Wouldn’t that be nice? But I wasn’t counting on it.

“Who’s there!” I hollered. “Get your ass out here and finish me off.”

Only a minute passed before I caught a movement in my peripheral vision, and I turned to face it, the limp silk of my dress catching on my legs.

“Finally grew a pair, I see,” I said to the tall man who’d stepped out into the open. In addition to his impressive height, he was muscular. I could easily see that, despite the burliness of his long trench coat. His face was very angular and unattractive, two weeks worth of beard growing on the lower half. And his eyes… They were maroon like Felix’s, but there was something different about them. They were… crueler. Colder. I had a feeling my good fortune was about to take a turn for the worse.

“Oh, my anatomy has never been in question, kid. And you’re about to get a first had example of that,” he replied, his thin lips twisted into a vicious smirk.

“I-I thought you were taking me to the king…” I stammered, blood running cold. The terrifying note in his gruff voice made me begin to shake. He wasn’t going to play around. Not like Felix had. I wasn’t going to like what was to come. And if I thought fighting against Felix’s size was bad, I was wrong. This was Goliath I was about to face.
“I plan to. But he never specified the condition in which you are to arrive. And I don’t think he’s going to be too concerned with the parts I intend to… experience. He wants what’s in your mind. My desires are a tad more physical.”

I didn’t give him a chance to finish before I took off running. The pain was nothing in comparison to my fear. I could run a thousand more miles if it meant this man’s grubby paws remained off of me.

Sadly though, it didn’t take his long stride to catch up with me. Before I’d even managed to get out of the clearing we were in, he threw himself on top of me, sending us both to the cold ground, him on top of my back, my face in the dirt.

“You shouldn’t have ran, honey. You just made me want that cute little body even more,” he whispered in my ear, his hot breath on the sensitive skin there making me cringe.

When he sat up, forcefully turning me around, I threw my head against his, the crack of bone on bone filling the air, the only sound around. I quickly realized that it was a bad idea. The people on tv make it look so pain-free for the one who does it, but let me assure you, it’s not. Just because you make the decision, it doesn’t mean you’re impervious to the consequences. Too bad I didn’t think of that before a nauseating headache erupted within my skull.

Thankfully though, it hurt the creepy dude enough, he rolled off of me, clutching the spot I’d hit him. It gave me the perfect opportunity to push myself up and run, stumbling only a little from my newest injury.

I’d managed to make it a few yards into the trees before I heard the heavy footfalls of my pursuer, and he was gaining fast.

“I gotta give it to you, girl. You’re a fighter,” he called, voice much closer than I liked. “That’s going to make my job that much more fun!”

I fought at the bile rising in my throat. Just the thought of this man’s grubby hands on my body made me sick.

Seconds later, I felt just that. He grabbed for me, pulling at the back of my white sundress, surprisingly not ripping the fabric, because it was forceful. The hold caused my to stumble, and gave him enough time to firmly wrap his arms around my torso, pressing my back to him. The war was lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I fought him. I fought like hell. But he was too strong. Even when I lifted my feet off the ground and wildly kicked, I was not match for him. I was simply too small. To escape his hold. It was over for me.

Heaving me around like a rag doll, the guy carried me back to the clearing he’d found me in, saying there was more room there. Sick. And I fought him the whole way there, even managing to connect pretty painfully with his shin once. At least I hadn’t given up completely, I thought as he threw me to the ground, quickly sitting on my legs and pinning my arms down with his massive hands. I never gave in. I only hoped that knowledge would comfort me once this monster was finished with me.

“You’re so hot. Those eyes… The freckles…” he murmured, smelly breath on the flesh of my face.

I hated him. I was beginning to hate myself for being unable to protect myself. I has been stupid to think I could survive in this world. I’d been much better off with Felix. But I’d killed him.

And strangely enough, that gave me courage. My self-hate was vanishing as quickly as it had set in, and I suddenly knew that no matter what happened, I could survive. I was strong. I was a warrior.

When the man’s lips descended, roughly pressing to mine, I opened my mouth and bit forcefully on the red skin. A pained bellow rang through the green, foggy forest as his head shot away from me, still on top of me.

“You bitch!”

I grinned deviously, egging him on. I couldn’t move in the position I was trapped in, so it had to be him.

“Hey, did you think I was going to lay here and just let you have your way with me.” I refused to let my disgust at those words show. I was not going to let him see any weakness.

He didn’t reply, only moved my arms above my head, holding both wrists with his left hand. Before he could place the other grimy hand anywhere on my body, I used his offset balance against him, and used all my might to throw my weight to my right. To say he was shocked that I’d try to get away again would be an understatement. I think he would have believed that the moon was made out of peanut butter before that. Or is it cheese? Whatever, I’d never paid attention to those stories as a kid.

My movements allowed me to jerk my hands free and shove the man away. When my feet were also out from under him, I bolted up and dashed for the tree line yet again, clever plans to hide from him forming in my mind. But before I could get very far, I noticed a dark blur zoom passed me, heading for the clearing I was leaving. I know it was very stupid for me to do, but I slowed my pace to look behind and see what it had been. The scene I was met with stunned me into completely stopping. I hadn’t expected that, to say the least.