Chapter 2 Runaway

Yet she didn't linger. Lila concentrated on heading further toward the woods, enjoying her new found freedom but also taking in the risks that were there. Every footstep she took, dragged her further away from the life that was meant to be hers and drew nearer towards an unknown destiny.

Memories of her relationship with Lucas flashed through her mind moments of tenderness interspersed with manipulation and psychological abuse as she ran. In between the smiles and stolen kisses they shared, even intimate conversations, she always felt somewhere deep down that he was unnecessarily possessive of her.

"What was I thinking?" she muttered aloud. Am I sure that this is the right thing??

The but the thought was broken by a pop behind her again, more intense this time. Lila spun back, heart once again pounding in her throat as she looked into the foliage of trees. "This isn't funny!" her voice, filled with terror, screamed into the night. "Who's there?"

She called out to the Silence Heavy And Looming The silence answered her Uncertainy wormed its way up her insides, as she visualized Lucas bursting through the underbrush in anger and pain toothed into his handsome face.

"What if he finds me?" Her voice filled with dread as she whispered. But there was still a part of her that had experienced someone so powerful in making such an influential decision to go.

She went on, succumbing to the excitement of adventure: fleeing from a life she felt confined in and rushing toward what it could look like for her to become genuinely herself whatever that even meant.

The track became overgrown, and Lila wandered into a moonlit clearing where silver light fell across meadow flowers that danced in the wind. They were so pretty, she had to stop and take her breath. She knelt among the blossoms, and her heart found rest in a thrilling delight. This moment, this connection to nature - it was visceral; nothing like the refined and managed life up at the manor.

I whispered to myself, pulling a tiny white flower and tucking it behind my ear. I will go out and take my place in the world. I will not go back."

But suddenly, the quiet night was shattered by quick footsteps. Lila's heart. She shook her head and climbed out of bed with hurried steps. She bolted back towards the tree line in a panic, trying to put plenty of earth between her and this infinity-hot space she had felt so safe with just moment before.

Fear carried her through the darkness and she ran. Her arms scratched against branches, her lungs felt like they were going to explode with every laboured breath but she knew stopping was not an option. Lucas's face flickered in her mind, disappointment masking abject fury.

"Why did you leave me?" she heard his voice!!!"You're mine, Lila! You can't just

walk away!"

The prick of tears in her eyes as she struggled to move through the underbrush, everything heavy and clawed at her heart. Every step that she took was a memory of love lost, but her feet were responding to an instinct older than time itself; the need for self preservation.

And just as she thought that the just when noise of pursuit was a vague memory in the distance Lila burst out into another clearing. It had been smaller but darker, shadows folded in on one another so tightly and the moon barely seeped through the canopy above it. She stopped, panting and her heart whacked against the prison of ribs holding it.

Lila whispered to herself, looking all around for any kind of danger. A soft rustling made her bristle, each nerve tightening with fear. "Get it together."

She made it only a few yards into the forest when something burst out of underbrush in front of her, stepped from shadows a tall silhouette bearing features she knew. Lila's breath stuck in her throat. It was Lucas. He advanced, face calm now to an unsettling degree- so much the moonlight glinting off him again made it look like a predator stalking prey.

" Lila, " he growled in his low magnetic voice. I bet you thought I was going to run away ..... not on your life!

"What are you doing here?" Lila's voice warbled, her every instinct screaming for the hills while a current of so many similarly livid emotions practically vibrating inside. She stepped back in terror, eyes wide.

It was a small laugh, but it made the hairs on her body stand up in an uncomfortable way. "I came to bring you home. You belong with me. You know that."

For an instant she wavered, a half-glance returned to him. She saw the glints of fondness mixed with something evil in his eyes, an infatuative type love that burned so bright out would limit her.

"No!" "Charge them bitches!" she says, resolved. "I'm not going back! Not now, not ever!"

But before she could turn and flee, Lucas had already reached for her. Before she could turn and slip unseen into the dark, though, behind her there came a snapping of branches followed by abrupt whirlwinds that smashed everything into chaos.

"Lila!" A combination of desperation and anger seemed to charge the air as he yelled. "You think this is freedom? You think I'll let you go?"

Life sending an electric pulse of adrenaline through her. She sprinted deeper into the forest, ducking between trees and branches as fast as her terrified heart would take her. But then, as she felt like it might be leaving her behind at long last, she ran smack dab into the thickest patch of undergrowth yet and skidded to a stop just shy of tumbling over a precipice.

Below, the dark gulf yawned lazily; somewhere from deep within its stark bowels echoed faint sounds of rushing water in the still night air.

That panic surged anew as she spun back around and saw Lucas walking calmly into the clearing, his silhouette a stark black against haze of the night sky. His face was in a disdainful blend of outrage and something else misery or maybe even like longing but twisted.