Prolouge

She sat with her envelopes. They were grey and creased now. Scarred, from fingerprints and careless handling. Just like her.

The stone wall she sat on whistled with the freezing wind, it's rocks under her thin dress were jagged and icy. Behind her stood an army of trees, jostling for space with the force of the wind, protesting and roaring. She had sat in a trance, not hearing or feeling, head raised defiantly into the cutting cold but her defeat weighed down her shoulders like a coat. She clutched her envelopes tightly in her hands, not really knowing why she bothered. They were just going to blow away after she was gone but she hoped somebody would find them. She didn't want this final sacrifice to be for nothing.

Her face creased into a painful sob, tears streamed but she wiped them angrily. She had done all the crying she could at home and it hadn't helped, it would probably just help the wind freeze her to death right now.

She had tried so many different ways to get away, always knowing in the back of her mind, that this was the only way she would escape. It both comforted and terrified her. Unless he found her in another life. She felt a laugh surface, imagine that. Surely, after this, she would be free but looking at the edge of the cliff face she sat in front of she realised she couldn't find the courage. The smile soon fell. She had known she wouldn't do it. If she had wanted to go quickly she would've jumped when she got here but human nature kept her far from the edge and the blackness. But still she felt brave.

Another shiver rattled her body and she decided to take her safe option. Wiping more silent tears, she lifted her legs back over the wall to the safe side and carelessly jumped. She yelped into the wind as the rough stone scraped the skin from the backs of her legs but she didn't really feel anything. She had been numb for a long time but her instinct to cry out never faded.

As she righted herself, her hair caught a gale and the light rain that had only just started, plastered it to her face. Blinded and frustrated, she shouted again. Angry and loud into the wilderness.

He shouted back.

Deep and echoing.

She froze, knowing she had not imagined it. Knowing his voice so well, it could only be him. Her arms and legs tingled with shock and adrenaline as she tried to work out how close he was, when he shouted again from even closer by. She frantically scratched the hair from her face and listened. Ears pricked to hear only rain. The tension was unbearable. She couldn't control herself.

She bolted. She waded through the long grass ahead of her and fought to get to the trees so she could run properly. She couldn't hear anything but the wind rushing in her ears. Why had he followed her? He couldn't let her go her own way. He was finished with her but he still couldn't.

It was harder to run through the trees than she imagined. They seemed to spring from nowhere, aiding him and torturing her. She could see lights far ahead. Too far. All she could do was run.

Until she fell.

A sprawling trip that launched her into the rough bark of a huge fallen tree. Her hands missed their chance to save her face. She crawled and sat at the base of the trunk of the tree next to it, sobbing and clutching her broken jaw and nose. She walked her fingertips across her face, and felt teeth dangling from her mouth. Pulling her knees up, she lowered her head but kept her eyes on the way ahead. She knew it was too late. Her bag was gone.

Then she saw him. a dark figure moving slowly toward her. He stopped and she knew he had found her. His laugh echoed through the trees and down her spine. She passed out. An act of kindness that her mind would be spared what he had planned.