Chapter 31 Nyx #2
Something brushes my face and I startle, but as my eyes fly open, there’s only a small branch.
Leaves flutter impatiently against my cheek as if to tell me to hurry, and I heed its warning.
A clarity I haven’t experienced in years helps me to focus as I try to recall the sights along the road.
My vision is limited from the back of that truck, but what I saw tells me this forest isn’t large enough to make me disappear.
Forcing myself out of indecision, I push off the tree, but freeze as a pair of eyes reflects the dying light of the sun.
Hidden underneath a bush, they watch me, cautious but unafraid.
A fleeting thought crosses my mind, that I might wish to be so brazen as to stare a potential enemy in the eyes without so much as a blink.
It never occurs to me to be afraid as I step closer.
Tawny brown and deep black fur cover the body of this creature as it emerges from its hiding place, its eyes a rich brown without the darkness to hide them. We approach each other cautiously, each of us searching for any indication that the other poses a threat.
But after a lifetime of living with enemies, this looks like a friend.
“Hi,” I whisper, my vocal cords strained with the sound after so long sitting in silence.
The animal tilts its head at me as its furry tail sweeps low behind it.
Its fuzzy ears lie close to its skull, but there’s no aggression on its face, only curiosity.
A noise carries from the camp—the thud of a door or trunk being closed—and it pushes my feet to move.
The creature follows as I take that next step.
We stare at each other until some unspoken understanding passes between us, and as I dash off between the trees, it keeps pace by my side.
Silently, we jog as dusk settles overhead, and a fresh wave of panic hits me when we reach the edge of this forest. It’s getting dark now, but out here in the open we’re nothing but moving targets for a group of monsters with practiced aim.
The animal brushes against my leg, and I’m so unused to a touch that isn’t malicious that I flinch. It nudges my calf again before it trots forward, and I follow. Under the guide of the dimming sky, we jog across this open plain towards another grove of trees that offer protection.
Every step feels like a lucid dream, as if the tufts of grass beneath my feet are mere illusions and this freedom and fresh air are products of a mind that’s finally been shattered. A slate wiped clean. If that’s true, I welcome the peace of the brokenness.
But whether this is a dream or an altered reality matters little when the rev of engines sounds in the distance.
It pierces this place, illusion or not. There’s no time to consider what I’m doing as the animal beside me takes off at a sprint and I follow.
Weak legs and malnutrition mean I don’t move as fast as I should.
Headlights crest the hill, and I duck into the next cluster of trees, knowing they’ll be my grave.
The thought brings me a fleeting moment’s peace. I’ll be here, where the trees grow and the stars shine at night.
Here, where the air is fresh.
Not inside that cage.
I welcome the finality of their weapons and hands even as I continue to run. Wheels kick up dust, then footsteps thunder and voices shout. They speak in the human language I don’t understand because no one has ever bothered to teach me its words.
They catch me as I reach an opening in the center of this grove.
Moonlight shines, stars twinkle, and the breeze blows, and I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as the tiny insects that float with their golden glows fading in and out.
Rough hands grab my arms, but they’re so thin they can’t even squeeze hard enough to make it hurt.
They force me to my knees.
A rock jabs into my shin, but I stare up at the sky, refusing to cry. Refusing to let a single moment of this beauty be marred by the film of my tears.
A beautiful end to a vile existence.
“Do it,” I whisper.
And I wait.
But control of my destiny was stolen long ago, and there’s a dark chuckle as I’m hauled to my feet.
A snarling voice feeds me the language I'm starved for, only to rip away my dreams. Too close to my ear, too close, he says, “You’re not getting out of here that easily.” That kernel of hope, that decaying ember of light inside me that ignited in these moments, withers and dies.
It leaves only darkness.
A boot to my spine drops me onto my stomach. Violent fingers fist my hair and yank, and I don’t fight.
I don’t even flinch as my body is dragged across the underbrush.
A snarl rings through the night, feral and furious, and my temporary companion bursts from the treeline with its fangs bared.
White frothy foam coats its lips as it dives for the monster who holds me, and he bellows as those teeth clamp onto his arm and shake.
The blood that pours down his skin is almost black in the darkness, and he reaches for the knife at his waist as something inside me flares to life.
“No!” I shout, and as he swings the blade, a branch whips across his face.
But it isn’t fast enough, and even though it knocks him aside, his weapon makes contact.
My would-be savior falls to the ground with a strained yelp.
Tears fall in earnest now as I clamber to my feet and run in the other direction, towards the camp.
The cage. I scream and curse them, flinging rocks and hurling insults like the wild thing they once thought me to be.
I ignite their anger in my desperation to pull their attention from the animal to me.
They catch me again in no time, mere seconds, but we’re far enough away that the creature’s whines are silenced. I steal a glance and find it struggling to get off the ground. Willing to fight, to die, even as its life force drips into the dirt beneath it.
“Stay,” I whisper, and push the last bit of energy I have into the command.
Vines reach for the animal and bind its legs, and as its eyes meet mine again, I see how much it wants to come for me.
There’s light left inside them—enough strength that I pray to the fates who have forsaken me to save this pure being.
“Please, stay,” I breathe as my eyelids flutter with the effort, and there isn’t enough energy left to finish what I want to say.
Live for me, because I am already dead.