The Hunted

I spot them ahead, by the bend in the lake road, and suddenly, it’s hard to breathe. I can’t run. They’re waiting for me.

One of the bigger ones, Darryl, spots me as I stop dead, rooted to the spot. He pushes off the fence, and prowls into the middle of the road. Right into my path. The path they all know I take home everyday. Even from this distance, I can see that glint in his eye. My heart feels like it's trying to leap out of my chest.

Can I go back?

No, no, I can’t. I tried that last time, and they caught me. It was worse that day, because I tried to run. They told me so.

I have to go forward.

I force myself to take one step forward, then another, and another. My boots, already heavy with the snow, feel like deadweights, attached to too-stiff, and too-slow limbs. One step, then another, and another.

Maybe today they’ll just taunt me. Maybe today they’ll let me pass.

“Don’t show them you’re scared sweetie,” mom said absently this morning, as she rushed out the door “just ignore them.”

“Tell them how you feel,” Dad had offered, not even bothering to look up from his newspaper as he followed her, “maybe if you explain how they make you feel, they’ll stop.”

My sister just rolled her eyes at me.

"You'll be fine sweetie," mom called over her shoulder, and then they're both gone again. As always.

They’ll never stop.

They all watch me now, silently. Six pairs of narrowed, glinting eyes, set above six pairs of cruel mouths, twisted into delighted smiles. The smiles widen as I approach.

I wish I was a bird, and I could fly away. I wish I could push off this frozen ground, and soar above them, out of their reach.

Maybe today won’t hurt?

I’m ten feet from them now. Like Darryl, the other five have pushed off the fence, and are standing spread out across the road. Deliberately blocking me. They all wear smiles of equal delight and anticipation. Jack is flexing his right hand. He sees me notice, and curls it into a fist. Grinning at me, he slowly brings his fist up, and mimes hitting himself in the jaw. He never breaks eye contact. Sniggers ripple through the group.

Today will hurt.

“Come on, Misty,” Bianca calls, “you’re going to be late! C-c-c-can’t be late now, can you? S-s-s-weetie.” Her imitation draws further howls of laughter from the pack.

They’re a pack of wolves. Wild, vicious, flea bitten wolves. I wish someone would put a bullet in each one of them.

Seven feet now.

I slow to barely moving, and then I’m at five feet. I stop.

I wait.

They wait.

I feel my eyes begin to prick. I rub them desperately, but I’m too slow.

“Aw, look guys,” Biance purrs, “Little Misty is crying!”

I hate them. I hate this. I hate myself for being so weak, for crying.

Darryl steps closer, and I shrink back. At over six feet, he towers above me. “You took so long today, we thought you weren’t coming.”

“She’s probably taking extra classes, trying to stay at school as long as possible,” this comes from Danica, and she slides up to stand beside him.

“No,” Jack drawls, “Misty wouldn’t do that, would she?”

“You wouldn’t be trying to avoid us now, right Misty?” Darryl steps even closer. The tip of his heavy boot crushes down hard on my little toes, and a small cry escapes my lips.

The sound frenzies them. They surge forward, Darryl grabbing the collar of my jacket. “You made us wait,” he hisses, “do you know how fucking cold is it? How fucking dare you make us wait.” He shoves me hard, and I slam into the fence behind me.

The air whooshes out of my lungs at the impact, and I collapse. The snow is icy cold against my legs and back. “P-p-please leave me al-l-l-lone,” I choke, as I feel fresh tears fill my eyes.

The pack looms above me, six pairs of cruel, grinning mouths, and six pairs of gleaming eyes. They delight in my pain, in my weakness, in my stutter.

I’m weak. I’m helpless.

I can’t even speak properly. Maybe I deserve this.

Without warning, Jack and Darryl lunge for me. They hoist me up over the fence, and dump me hard down the other side. The sick crunch of my fall is met by sniggers.

“Since you made us wait so long on the road,” Jack smiles, “we’ve decided this road is now ours. You can’t walk on it.”

Bianca swaggers up beside her boyfriend, and grins down at me. How can she do this?

“You want to get home? Cross the lake.” Danica crows.

I feel as though my heart stops.

“Y-y-you c-c-ca-”

“Can’t be serious? Oh you bet we are,” Bianca’s laugh is gleeful. She loves this.

How can people be like this? How can she?

“P-p-please,” I implore them. Brays of laughter, and a jostling of elbows as the six line up along the fence. Eager for front row seats.

“Get going,” Danica snarls. She hurls a freezing cold ball of ice at me. It hurts. “You’ve made us wait long enough, move!”

I scramble away from the ice ball, towards the lake. The cold expanse of frozen, dark water stretches out in front of me. It’s eerily silent, not a single sound travelling across the ice-sheet. Snow falls softly now, silent and biting and blindingly white. It’s so cold my tears freeze on my eyelashes. They stick together as I blink rapidly.

It’s so silent. Even the wolves behind me are quiet now, waiting, watching.

I place my foot gingerly on the ice. Slowly, I press down. No cracks. Biting my lip, I step out, both feet on the ice. No cracks.

“Move it,” Darryl yells, and an iceball hits me square in the lower back. The pain is intense, and I fall forwards. My face smashes into the ice, and I feel blood gush from my nose. My forehead-

Crack!

I think my heart is going to stop.I lie frozen, unable to move. The ice cracked. The ice cracked.

I could die.

I need to move.

Another iceball hits me, and I drag myself forwards. One crawl, then another, then another.

Maybe if I spread my weight out the ice won’t crack. Maybe I'll be ok.

I'll be ok.

I spread-eagle across the ice, fingers digging into the ice. My fingernails fill with broken ice chips, and I feel my skin slice open. A small pool of red grows around my left hand, and then freezes on the ice. A third, much larger ice ball thuds down next to my head. The crack it makes on impact is like a rifle shot.

Suddenly, the ice beneath me gives. I scream, a long, wordless howl of anguish, and then I'm plunging into the watery, frozen depths.

Cold. Cold. It is so cold. I can’t breathe, the air forced out of my lungs. I can’t scream. I can't even whimper. A million tiny ice picks stab into my skin. Everything is cold. Everything is blurry.

Desperately, I grab for a hold in the ice. For something. Anything. My fingers, bloody and clumsy, slide uselessly against the frozen, jagged ice. I can’t grab anything. There's nothing to grab on to. I feel myself slipping.

No, no this cannot be. It cannot end like this.

I draw in a breath, as deep as my frozen lungs allow me. “Help m-m-me,” I scream desperately. Surely they’ll come, surely they won’t let me go under…

But I can’t see them above the ice sheet. I can’t hold myself up. The cold drags me down, my wet clothes a weighted blanket of bricks pulling me under.

They couldn't get to me, if I went under the ice.

Maybe this isn't so bad, then. Maybe this is how I end the daily torment. The pain. Maybe this is good thing. They wouldn't be able to hurt me, if I went under. The thought brings more peace, and more comfort than I've ever known.

I stop my desperate clutching at the ice. Slowly, I give in to the drag of the frozen lake. I let her draw me down.

My shoulders, my neck, and my jaw sink below the water line. It is so cold I gasp. Now my nose. My cheeks, and then my eyes. My vision darkens.

I’m not cold anymore. No, now it feels like the water is hugging me. Embracing me. I like being hugged. I wish more people had hugged me. The water already feels more like home than anywhere else. I think I’ll stay here.

As I let myself sink down, I’m vaguely aware of Bianca’s face, now peering down at me. I find myself smiling. I spent so many years hating her, but now I simply feel a blissful nothingness. Peace. There’s no pain, no suffering. There never will be, anymore.

For once, my sister did something good for me.

Darkness embraces me.