The air was humid and the sun was burning through the canopy of the forest. The brush snagged at my pants and the low branches tugged at my white shirt. My shoes were caked in mud and scratches filled in where Travis and the others got to. My steps were shaky and sloppy, but I kept running.

Why? Because, well, there's a murderer behind me who killed my mother and wanted me to join her the same brutal way she left the world.

My anxiety was getting the best of me. My hands were shaking and my head was foggy and I couldn't register much. My thoughts screamed over and over that this was useless and I was going to die out here. I couldn't stop imagining my mother screaming and the blood, oh god the blood. I will have a brutal and agonizing death and the thoughts wouldn't leave no matter how much I tried. They were paralyzing but somehow my body kept going up and up the mountian.

It probably would've been a better idea to run into the city where someone else could've saw, but I wasn't thinking straight.

Who would in this kind of situation?

I could hear the panting and lumbering steps behind me of my father, the knife flashing in my vision from the reflection of sunlight on the blade whenever I looked back. My black shaggy hair stuck to my face and neck, getting in the way of my faltering vision. Trees kept appearing in front of me and I could barley avoid them. I jumped over the fallen trees and ducked past branches when I could.

Dad wasn't having any better luck, tripping up and falling a couple times during my wild zig zag pattern, getting his face stuck in the branches, and even losing his knife somewhere before finding it again and catching up to me. I guess P.E gave me an advantage then just lounging around all day on the couch like he did. Though I had endurance, he had longer legs. I was almost caught multiple times, sustaining minor injuries when I'd just get in his knife's reach.

"Get back here so I can shove this in your stupid silent ass throat!" Dad wheezed behind me, getting tired of running after me and screaming insults the whole way.

I gulped and put a dirty and cut hand to my throat, his screaming not helping my now overactive imagination.

I cut around a jagged rock and kept going on the incline, up the mountain with no idea where I was going. I didn't get far though, since I suddenly hit my head on a solid overhang and I fell backwards. Silently groaning, holding a hand to my pulsing temple, I looked up, now realizing it was a cave overhang on the side if the walls I ran into. Noting that my dad was not far behind judging by his thumping footsteps and hard breathing, I scrambled to my feet and kept running with heavy and uncomfortable breaths, trying my best to ignore the oncoming headache.

I ran into the darkness following the natural pathway, feeling the wall with a shaky hand. I tried to keep my footsteps and breath quiet since it echoed quite eerily, but I wasn't able to with my numb legs and burning lungs, so I tossed away the idea of hiding in this state and kept going.

"Where are you brat?!" My breath hitched and my feet were filled with new energy. In a short minute, I came into a big cavern with sunlight cascading down into....

...a hole? I took a quick glance down. It was huge! Not to mention deep!

...are those flowers at the bottom? Huh.

I circled around it, trying to find a place to hide, sweat pouring down my face and my hands getting clammy no matter how much I told myself to calm down and think. I looked around and found three crevasses in the cavern wall that was covered in shadow, but only one was large enough to fit me and hide me from the imminent danger coming down into the cave.

I crouched and crawled quickly into the small space, squishing myself as far as it would let me, pressing my back against the hard walls. I curled up and put my hands over my mouth and nose, trying desperately to hide any noise that would come from me.

At that exact moment, dad entered the cavern. Only his heavy breathing filled the rooms air, his gaze crazily scanning the space. He gave a deep chuckle making me shiver and tense up my grasp on my face, holding back a gasp that almost came out.

"Hide and seek, huh, mute monster?" He cackled, flicking the blade so it would make an eerie twang in the echoing room.
"Well, let's see...where ever could you be...?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, listening to his footsteps, my heart jumping at every sound he made. He was going around, looking slowly around, as if trying to tease me. It was working. I could barley hold my breath in which was shaky, me trying to keep quiet.

.....it went silent.

.......

"FOUND YOU!"

I gasped as he grabbed my arm, jerking me out of my hiding spot. I silently screamed, nothing coming out of my throat but squeaks and a shaky yelp as he threw me dangerously close the the holes's edge. I tried to gain my bearings, but he was already on top of me. He kept my arms locked with his knees, and he was so much heavier than my slim and fragile form.

"Now....let's see...you naughty boy. You saw something I didn't want you to see..." He almost sang as I struggled underneath him but abruptly stopped when he brought his bloody knife to my neck. I gave desperate heaves of air, scared out of my wits. I stared at his face, which mirrored my dirty and cut up face except for the black bruising on my right eye.

"...what shall I do to punish you? Hmm...." He gave a wicked smile as he glanced at the hole's deep chasm, turning back to me.

"I have an idea..."

Then, without warning, he stabbed his knife into my right eye.