No One Wants to Die

She could feel her chest collapsing on her, yet she didn't stop running. The consequences were well known if she did stop. They would find her and take her back. Back to the abuse. Back to the pills. Back to a world of crime.

She wasn't going back. They'd have to take her back in a body bag if they tried.

Her silver hair glistened in the moonlight as it bounced all around her. She whipped her head around, trying to get a better look behind her. She could hear their shouts in the distance.

"Roxana!"

"Roxana, baby!"

"Where are you, baby doll?"

And in a foul, hissing sound that echoed into the emptiness that was the desert, "Roxana! When I find you, you better pray to God I don't kill you."

I don't believe in God-she quickly thought to herself. As she turned back around, her foot caught a rock, and she crashed into the ground below. Her bare knees skidded, burning. Tiny pebbles dug into the palms of her hands. She was back on her feet in no time. A new source of energy fueled her veins as she picked up the speed.

There was nothing out here except for dry shrub, cacti, and very few boulders spread out. The dirt bared imprints of tire tracks. Her footprints were the only human ones to be found. She hadn't seen another animal in years but she knew the other prints in the dirt belonged to something other than man and his machinery.

All she could hear now was the silence of the desert followed by the muffled sound of their shouts. The headlights from their vehicles didn't reach this far; the moonlight was the only source of light. Energy slid through her grasp. Her sprint melted into a brisk walk once she could no longer hear them. She just needed to catch her breath. Either there was enough distance between her and them or they'd given up; but, she was no foolish enough to believe the latter.

Once her breathing evened out, she was back into a full sprint. Her legs went numb. She prepared for them to give out below her any moment now. She shut her eyelids briefly, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. A howl bounced off the mountains in the distance. Her eyes darted around, looking for the source but saw nothing. It felt like she had been running for hours now, yet she knew it wasn't possible. She slipped out of Battery City just after midnight when they had all left or gone to sleep. She hadn't anticipated an alarm to be secured to the back door or the code to change. She only had seconds before the alarm went off, alerting all to her betrayal.

Here she was, in the moonlight, barely in any clothes, knees scraped up, and tear stained cheeks. There was no plan past get out. Plan B and Plan C did not exist. Her eyes never saw a map before. She didn't know until now what lied past the borders of Battery City. Were there other cities? Would they be similar or different than the one she came to know? Did they have friends in these other cities? So far, all she could see was the wasteland and the mountains. Perhaps a utopia lied just on other side of those mountains. There would be trees and a lake with a waterfall. People would smile because they wanted to and they wouldn't be crooked smiles.

She could only hope for a brighter future.