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My feet sound loud, even to me, and suddenly, I hear a laugh.

It’s almost a cackle.

Instantly, I stop moving and come to a perfect standstill. She’s close. I can feel her. Why Nicole is after me, I have no idea. She could be a serial killer. Maybe she’s just crazy. Maybe I really did drink too much and I’m just hallucinating. None of these thoughts are reassuring to me, though, as I stand perfectly still in the forest.

Which way do I go?

I have my shit, but I’m in the middle of the fucking forest. I left my tent behind because fuck trying to put that bitch back together, so even if I do manage to lose Nicole, I’m going to have to find shelter and then somehow figure out which direction I move in to get back to society.

I can’t believe how much I’ve messed up this “adventure.”

All because I just had to fucking say hi.

“Well, hi,” a sickly sweet voice sounds, and this time, it’s right behind me.

She found me.

I stopped running and she found me.

Perfect.

“Didn’t your mother teach you any manners? It’s rude to ignore a greeting.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize murderers were capable of feeling scorned by something as minute as not receiving a ‘hey, nice to see ya.’”

“Murderer?”

I take a chance and turn. If she’s going to kill me, she’s going to kill me. At this point, it doesn’t matter what I do. I already ran. I already proved I’m not interested in dying tonight. What more does she want from me? All I want right now is to feel whole. Complete. I don’t want to feel this aching loneliness that’s been eating me up and I certainly don’t want to feel like I’m about to fucking die in the woods.

There are so many things I wish I could have done.

Is this what people mean when they said their life flashed before their very eyes?

When I finish turning around, I see that it is, in fact, Nicole. She looks menacing in the darkness. Scary. I shouldn’t be intimidated by her. After all, she’s just a person.

And then I remember.

She’s just a person.

I can escape from her.

If I’m very clever, and I’m very brave, I can escape from her.

What’s to stop me?

She doesn’t have a visible weapon and even though she’s a little bit bigger than me, there’s only one of her.

“Yeah,” I say, pretending I’m not shaking in my boots. “I heard the scuffle.”

“Scuffle? What are you talking about?”

“You and your friend.”

“You heard a scuffle? Are you sure there wasn’t just a bear?”

She’s not holding a gun, but I know she has a weapon of some sort. I can see the outline of something in her pocket. I don’t know what it is, but I know that I happen to be basically completely unarmed. I don’t know if I can fight her.

“Was there?”


Tags: Sophie Stern The Fablestone Clan Fantasy