Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow

13

“Ava! Stop, please! Let me explain,” Caspian called out behind me, sounding frantic. I was shivering in my bathing suit, holding my phone in one hand and my bathing suit cover in the other.

“Leave me alone,” I begged. I needed a moment, just one minute to get my head on straight and pretend my fucking cervix wasn't sore. The bus still hadn’t come but I didn’t care. I was going to walk back. I couldn’t be near Caspian right now and I just wanted to be alone.

He grabbed on to me, flipping me around, forcing me against his chest, pressing my face against him. I felt him shivering as he held me and I wished from the bottom of my heart I could comfort him. I sagged into his hug, trying to see if I could let this go.

Then I realized my face was smashed against the tattoo of my likeness on his chest.

I jerked back, stepping away from him. He stood there with wide, open eyes. He looked lost and scared. It disturbed me to see such a strong, big man have that expression. All I had to do was hug him, do for him what he did for me and tell him it was okay.

But Caspian had secrets and they were beginning to terrify me.

“I’ll explain,” he said. We were standing at the start of the trail back to camp. His bandmates were grumpily sitting back in the gravel parking lot, finishing off the beers and bitching about the cameraman not being there. I didn't want to be around them either. I couldn’t tell what was going on between them and me.

“Please don’t,” I whispered to Caspian. I begged him with my eyes. I didn’t want to know anything. I wanted to find a way back to my peace of mind. Where things were possibly normal and not even more strange and frightening than I ever realized.

Caspian nodded, not looking offended at all that I didn’t want to hear.

“Of course,” he said. “Let’s walk back together. I won’t talk. I promise.” God, he was trying so hard to make it right and I wanted it to be. I shook my head and he looked to be struggling to think.

“I don’t want you out there alone. It’s starting to get dark,” he blurted.

“Then just wait a few freaking minutes to follow after me! I need space!” I snapped because he just wouldn’t let up. I needed to breathe and he was stifling me!

I stomped onto the trail, tugging on the flimsy dress I’d brought. The path was dimmer, the trees strangling the dying day’s light. I looked at my phone. It finally revealed it had spotty service and that it was eight—much later than I thought.

There was a text from my mom and I remembered the freaked out texts I’d sent her last night. Thinking about last night was not what I wanted to do while considering I might be in the forest alone at night again.

Mom: Are you okay?

My texts had finally been sent to her some time today. I shot off a quick text telling her raccoons were evil and I was fine but it didn’t send.

“Ugh,” I groaned, gripping my phone. It was taking much longer than I wanted to get back and every minute became filled with more anxiety as the woods grew darker. The trail didn’t stay in direct sight of the river. Instead, it slid through the trees, making it a less concise path than I’d expected. I kept waiting to come to the original place we’d stopped at with the inner tubes, but it wasn’t coming up. The trail kept snaking around trees, showing me brief flashes of the river.

Then, all of a sudden, I realized I couldn’t tell what was what anymore. That the shapes around me were indecipherable in the darkness and the sounds had slowly changed from the comforting chirp of birds to the haunting hoots of owls. I looked up. The tiny black bodies of bats were chaotically flying near the tops of the trees, the sky still a dim shade of blue that let me make them out.

“It’s okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. I’d be back soon and Caspian was somewhere behind me in case anything happened.

There were too many roots that I’d started tripping over so I relented using the flashlight on my phone. It only lit up a small area in front of me. Enough I wouldn’t catch my toes on knobby roots but didn’t let me see much more than that.

The sound of running water grew stronger and I sighed in relief when finally I made it to the original place we’d stopped. The river’s water appeared black in the night as it sloshed over submerged boulders.

I’d heard that people could get sucked underneath those boulders when the water was rough enough. They called them undercut rocks when water eroded away the bottom, creating a little pocket underneath. Combined with the rough pull of rapids, a person could get dragged under and never come back out, pummelled endlessly into the gap until they suffocated.

Sometimes the bodies never turned back up.

The first time I heard of them I thought it sounded like a horrible death—blinded, suffocated, and trapped in a small, foreign place that offered nothing but brutality.

The sound of branches cracking had me shifting my eyes off the trail.

“Caspian?” I called but there was no response. I started walking again but faster. My shoulders hunched and my head tipped forward as I watched my flashlight illuminate the trail only a few inches in front of me. I watched my shoes take one step in front of the other.

Another snap, closer… louder. The sound rattled up my spine and shivered up my neck, burying in my head—a pinprick of cold fear that couldn’t be removed.

“Caspian?” I called out, stopping and looking behind me. There was no one there. Goosebumps popped out all over my arms as I heard no response.

I took off running like an idiot in the night, flailing over roots and rocks. A moment later I paid the price, stumbling into something big and careening down, my palms smacking into hard-packed dirt and rocks. My splintered finger knocked a root and I screamed out, rolling on my side as I clutched the hand to my chest.

I had to breathe through my mouth and wait for the intense pain to subside. There was something big in the path that my legs were still draped over. My palms and knees burned—they likely got skinned—but other than that I was fine.

I fumbled around for my phone. A noise of movement came from the forest as I searched it out frantically, my heart rate going fast.

Finally, my fingers bumped my phone. I lifted it up, first looking at my splinter. At some point, the band-aid must have slipped off in the river. It looked exactly the same as before. Perfectly healthy, the skin healing, but just under the surface, the old wood sat. Why wouldn’t it come out? It was as if he was clinging to me.

I scrambled up to my feet, brushing myself off before I aimed the flashlight at what I’d tripped over.

My body stilled. It felt like I’d been dunked in ice water. Adrenaline flooded my system making me shake in anxiety.

The cameraman was in the dirt.

“Hey,” I said to him, my lip trembling. My eyes scanned around but I couldn’t see anything. It was all dark. Goosebumps popped over my flesh and yet again, I sensed eyes on me. I swallowed as I looked back at the cameraman. He hadn’t moved at all. Not now and not when I’d barrelled into him, falling on top of him. He hadn’t flinched, jerked, shifted, and his chest wasn’t expanding for breath.

“Please” I whispered, not able to finish the thought aloud. Please don’t be dead.

We were only twenty feet on the trail past where I'd last seen him walk away. Twenty feet. We'd pumped up our floats and laughed while he was laying right here. It made the muscles in my stomach tense in discomfort by the idea that he was close enough for us to help yet we hadn't because we just didn't know. Had he tried to call out and we were joking around too loud for us to hear?

I bent down, sucking in sharp breaths. I reached out trembling fingers to press into his neck. My hand jerked back in shock as I felt cold flesh. I fell on my butt and kicked out, trying to get distance. My foot connected with the body and it jerked.

My kick caused it to shift. Wide eyes and an open mouth aimed my way—dead and unseeing. My mind careened away from the sight, tried to go somewhere happier. Caspian and me in the tent, his kisses on my neck.

I felt faint and swayed as I scrambled to my feet. My thoughts swirled like I was drunk even though I hadn’t had anything to drink. I hopped over the body and took off back where I’d just come, trying to keep my eyes on the ground so I didn’t hit anything. My heart thumped in my chest as I breathed in and out my mouth. Where was Caspian?

I tried to ignore the fear creeping in and concentrate on not tripping. I tried to imagine the edge of the trail growing closer and closer, Caspian waiting for me, all the bandmates sitting around. I tried to pretend I was safe.

But there was a noise... something was behind me.

Something was running.

A scream bloomed from my mouth, shattering the allusion that all would be okay as the discordant noise shot into the woods. Suddenly I wasn’t just jogging back to the guys, I was running for my life.

My lungs burned, a metallic taste slid over my tongue. My thighs strained, my shins gave sharp shots of pain each time my heel hit the ground. I ached deep between my legs and could feel Caspian's cum still leaking out of me and collecting in my bathing suit.

Nothing about this felt comfortable, nothing felt right, and no matter how hard I pushed, how much I tried to suck in more air. No matter how much that metallic taste coated my tongue. I couldn't get away from whatever was behind me.

I could sense the moment I’d lost the chase, the moment whatever was behind me had the ability to reach out and touch me. The sensation felt like hopelessness and frantic terror melting together into a sickening gooey substance.

I screamed but it cut off, my lungs out of air as someone grabbed me. I inhaled, ready to scream again but a rough, calloused hand slapped over my mouth, muffling the noise. A tremor went through my entire body so violently I felt I might be sick.

Fear was white-hot and blinding, making me dizzy and for a moment I felt as if this couldn’t be real. That reality couldn’t be trusted because this couldn’t happen to me. Not that I knew what was happening. All I knew was I felt limp and dizzy, my mind detaching from my body as I was dragged off the trail. There was one arm around my waist and one hand over my mouth.

There was a dead body on the trail just behind us.

The crunch of brush under our feet, the chittering of those damn raccoons, and the vibrant chorus of a million grasshoppers filtered back into my ears as I shook off detachment and came back to myself, kicking and screaming.

I thrashed as tears slipped from my eyes but there wasn’t much I could do. He just kept pulling me deeper into the woods, holding me against his body as he went. Not once did he talk or make any noise. I watched in a panic as the trail grew further away. I screamed through his palm, crying.

Thick leather swayed around, rubbing against my arms and legs. I tried to stretch my feet so I could touch the ground but I couldn’t reach. This man was a giant, probably taller than even Caspian. I began clawing at his arms that were covered in his leather duster. His grip tightened and I felt sharp points pinprick where his dark fingers dug in.

In the next second, he’d flipped me around and pushed my back against a tree. He pressed his body against mine and the smell of dirt and smoke engulfed me. His hand still covered my mouth and I had to take deep, long breaths through my nose to try and get all the air I needed. I tried to look up at his face but he forced my cheek into the bark, keeping me from looking at him. The rough texture of the tree scraped at my skin.

We didn’t move for what felt like ages. He was tense, quiet. It was as if he was waiting for something to happen, listening out for someone to come. Were more people coming for me?

Then he suddenly pulled back so abruptly that I gasped, my body falling forward. I couldn’t right myself in time and fell to my knees in the brush. My already skinned knees gave a sharp bite of pain. I jerked up, fumbling backwards on my ass, my eyes darting back and forth but I couldn’t see where he was. Was he gone?

Movement caught my eyes, someone darting behind trees.

No, he wasn’t gone. I flipped around on my hands and knees trying to claw my way towards the trail and up onto my feet but then a sharp static noise filled my head. I cried out, clutching my ears.

The noise subsided and I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes widening. I knew that noise. Understanding came over me. Goosebumps popped over my skin and my lip trembled as I heard boots crushing twigs and leaves behind me.

The monster was here. Mothman had found me.

I jerked around and there he stood, wrapped in his leather duster and boots looking like an old western gunslinger. His dark leather hat was tipped down, hiding his face but as I looked at him he raised his head slowly.

Two red glowing eyes burned into my soul and the white noise filled my head, overflowing. Nausea squirmed like I had bugs in my gut and I gagged. My head swam, the world spinning.

Then everything went black.