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One
Summer
“There she is. Get her, goddammit!”
Fucking hell.
I hate running.
We don’t do a lot of it inside the Lights.
But there are monsters after me.
“We’re done playing, Maggie!” I hear one of them call out, distantly. It’s hard to tell how close or how far away they are, the way the men’s voices echo off the massive trees. “I know you’re tired,” the leader of them threateningly crows. “You don’t want to do this, Mags. Come back now and we’ll forget all about it—”
No.
No.
I can’t go back. Never, never.
My lungs burn with every breath as I will my heart to keep—pumping. Faster, legs. Go faster!
Panic and fatigue fight for dominance over my entire body. No matter what though, I can’t stop or slow down yet. I can’t let them catch me. I can’t let them take me back there.
I think of what fate might await me there, especially now that I’ve run away past the Lights, and a shiver runs through me. In spite of the hot, hot temperature.
“Ah, shit!” That’s him. Now his voice is almost too faint to hear. I’m winning? Right on! I’m winning!
Eventually, it’s quiet. Only the forest makes a sound. I run, run, run.
Heaving oxygen through a wide-open mouth, I chance a look over my shoulder to check that they’re really not like, right behind me. My dress takes the opportunity to snag on a twig in a low bush. It makes a snap! as it cracks and my heart launches into my throat.
Keep. Going, I force myself. Even as blisters form on the backs of my heels. Oh god. Don’t stop yet. Go go go go go.
Only after I’ve been running for a very long time do I pause, getting on the good side of a humongous tree. It feels like I will never catch my breath. I have no idea if I’ve traveled far enough to be safe, if I’ll ever be safe. Everything is hazy. I’m so thirsty. Time and distance make no sense right now.
The sun is still strong, blistering. I mop a bucket of sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. This would be a lot less unpleasant with a slight breeze. But I needed to wait until the long, hot month to make my escape.
I need all the daylight I can get to get as far as I can get.
Now that I’ve stopped, it’s difficult to start moving again. I look down at my arms scratched all to hell. The hem of my ankle-length brown dress is torn in places, exposing my legs. On one side it’s ripped all the way to the thigh.
“Dammit,” I breathe. I swallow dryly. Water. Need—water.
My ears perk. There’s a distant whooooshh and it for dang sure isn’t any wind. It doesn’t sound quite like the river though. Then again I don’t expect anything to be like it was inside the Lights.
I’m in the Darkness now. I have to remember that.
I traipse more carefully through the woods, my footfalls quiet as I follow the sound that sounds like water. It isn’t a choice. I’m simply being pulled toward it like I’m riding a current.
It’s getting closer to nightfall when the forest suddenly opens up. My eyes bang open at the sight. It is a scene straight from my dreams. My head tilts all the way back to take in the immense house, like a castle for a princess in a fairytale.
I’m staring at it in shock-still surrender when little feet run past me. My heart jumps to my eyeballs, until I see that they’re only playing, barefoot and giggling as they chase after tiny flying flashes of light. Obviously, fairies.
Wait…Fairies?
What the holy shit, I am dreaming. Maybe the heat has gotten to me even more than I realized. Where the heck am I? I almost swoon right into the lush bright green grass…and then my sights land on it. The sound.
