My story for Rani's competition. ~On the Run~ ~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~ Run. Run. Run. The mantra pounds over and over in the girl's head as thorny branches whip past her, grasping and snatching at her clothes, her skin, her hair. She nimbly leaps over tree roots. It seems effortless. "You can't run forever," her pursuer snarls. His voice reverberates around the forest. It's silent otherwise, save for the girl's raggedy breaths and pounding heart. "But I can. Eventually, I'll catch you, Cypress ." He spits out her name like venom in his mouth. Cypress rips a stake-like branch from one of the oaks she passes. Sacrificing a few extra seconds in a desperate attempt to slow him, she stabs it into the ground, sharp side up. She grins in satisfaction as curses are howled after her. The smile grows wider, a bud blossoming in the spring, its petals basking in the feather-soft rays of sun, as she sees the chipped aluminum sign. Only a mile until she reaches Sylvidia. The celebrating village is Cypress' safe haven. She can easily melt into the throngs of citizens busy with festivities, eluding her fearsome attacker. But the moment the small ray of hope falls upon Cypress is the moment everything goes wrong. The petite teenager screeches as her foot hooks around the metal pole holding up the sign and brings her toppling down onto the muddy ground. "Ew," she groans. It had rained the previous night, and the forest floor is still soaked. Ironically, the sodden soil is what saves Cypress' life. She slides a few meters off the trail and comes to a stop at the base of a towering redwood. The sprawling roots have formed a hollow, the opening just barely big enough for her. Slick with rancid mud, Cypress forces herself into the cramped space a heartbeat before the man slams against the tree. He had located her in an instant, which is why she never tried to venture off the trail. She breathes a sigh of relief. Safe. For now. The man shoves an arm in and gropes blindly around for his target. Terrified, she shrinks against the back. His arm comes an inch away from her. Cypress presses harder against the curtain of roots behind her. The knobby back digs into her back, like a sharp blade of fear. Suddenly, the roots give way and she collapses backward into another minuscule space. The hole she just created widens, combining the two areas, as she thrashes wildly about, convinced the man just grabbed ahold of her ankle. But it's just her grimy pack, caught around her feet. The auburn-haired girl looks ruefully at her ruined bag. Oh well. She shrugs the thought aside. At least she still has it. Interrupting her inventory of the pack's contents, Cypress tilts her head like a curious puppy as she hears a strange sound. It's a faint trickle, almost like… Water. It'll be good enough to last her a little while, until she can find food. Her hunter snickers maliciously. The haunting sound contorts into shadows of her past. Anger. Despair. And agonizing, heart-wrenching, soul-twisting pain. "You can't stay in there forever," he threatens. "Eventually, you'll run out of food. You'll crawl out here, weakened with fatigue, drawn by the tantalizing smell of my gourmet food I'll cook right out here." "Never," Cypress retorts defiantly. "I'll never go out there." But the tremble in her voice is hardly inconspicuous, seeming to hang in the air like a suffocating fog. The man continues as if he hadn't heard her. "And that's where I'll be, waiting to kill you." ~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~ A very less than climatic ending ._.