Puff. Puff.
I run and run, puffing and screaming. I lose my footing and fall onto the hard, boiling ground and lose my red spotty shoe. I pick it up and run more. I hear the engine behind me. It’s a motorbike- no, red Ute. Or is the other way around? I have no idea but adrenalin propels me forward. I run and look at the white dividing line on the road. I scream and my tears fall as a temporary trail back to the place I’m running away from.
“No! STOP! HELP!!! Fire? Help!! NO!” I shout, my legs moving faster than they ever had before.
‘If you look back to the start, you’ll never find your way to the end.’ A voice tells me in my head.
‘WHAT IF THERE IS NO END??? HELP!’ I think.
‘Don’t look back!’
Too late. Fear takes over and I look behind me. Two vehicles- a motorbike, which I was too paralyzed to see a colour for, and a red, bulky Ute- are right behind me, less than 80 metres away. I look forward but fall over. I push myself up and sprint.
‘Silly girl! You can’t outrun a car going 106 kilometres per hour. Just die.’ A voice tells me.
‘This is no time for doubt, you paranoid, dead grandmother! I just saw you die. Of your own will. Why?’ A million thoughts rush through my mind.
‘RUN!’ is the loudest, but I strain to hear those quiet voices. They’re most important. Diamonds in the rough. But I can’t hear them. Only the loud ones, bouncing around my head, echoing. They beat me like a drum.
I run on, acknowledging that in the next 24 hours, I’m probably going to die.
I bolt towards the empty highway.
‘How?’ I think. ‘This is one of the busiest roads locally. How is it empty and silent?’
I run past the pub but don’t even think to go into it. They’re right behind me now. The motorcycle- red now- is going into the lane next to me.
“Come here, little one. Come here.” The motorcyclist hisses. I can’t tell which one it is.
“NO! LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU JERK!” I run faster, and it’s behind me once again. Downhill time. I run and barely need to move my feet to outrun them now.
I run into the deep woods as a shortcut. I’m near town now. I see the brightness of the traffic lights.
‘A few more hundred metres… some more….. Come on… YES!!!!!!! YOU’RE IN TOWN! Nearly there… Turn right… yes……’ I think. I’m in town, heading towards the university my mother will be at. I take a few more turns and run more. All the streets are silent and empty. I can see it now. Only 500 metres or so away. I puff and feel like I’ll collapse.
‘This would probably not be a noble death.’ I think.
‘Thanks for your support.’ I retort silently.
‘Multiple personalities? What next?’ Another person inside my head says.
I’m in the driveway at the university now. I run past the worlds’ flags towards the main block. I hear the buzz of the engines behind me. I bolt into the whole town.
My mother is a student at university, but I didn’t have time to check what building she was in. My friends, family and the whole town was packed into the open lunch area, and a temporary playground was many kids’ refuge and shelter. My friends were right at the front of the playground, and were looking to the distance. I ran towards them. There was a barrier- red- that popped up. I was too paralyzed with fear and out of myself to recognize it and climb it. I tried, but I couldn’t.
“HELP! HELP! NO! NO!” I screamed. My friends grabbed hold of me and pulled me over. The people who had been chasing me were walking towards me, but the whole town formed a barrier around me and protected me.
“HELP! HELP! NO! NO!” I screamed. My friends grabbed hold of me and pulled me over. The people who had been chasing me were walking towards me, but the whole town formed a barrier around me and protected me.
“NO. STOP IT.” They all yelled in unison. The attackers walked away, slowly. Right into a trap. The police grabbed them and handcuffed them.
“This crime is punished by public death. Unless your victim wishes otherwise.” The police man who was speaking winked at me.
Their helmets and masks fell off.
“DAD?” I shouted. Because that’s who had been driving the Ute. I had no sympathy. I was so terrified with fear that I didn’t care about anybody else. That scared me even more. I hadn’t checked to see if my grandmother, who both died before I was born, was alive when she was run over by her husband who was not her husband earlier this morning. She didn’t move, like she wanted to die because she was sick of it. By ‘it’ I mean all those flaws about this fake husband adding up over the years, making her life unbearable.
“I don’t ever want to see you again. I don’t care about what happens to you as long as it has nothing to do with me.” I say. My voice sounded magnified, like I was speaking into a microphone.
Two gunshots went off.
“Thank you, to all of you, for saving me. Now I must go.”
“AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I scream, waking up from my dream.
