runrunrun from the echoes of the past

by angels fly with starry wings

she hears the yells behind her, come back, come back, but all she knows is that she can't. /one-shot, for the Madrigal Prompt Challenge.

runrunrun from the echoes of the past

by

angels fly with starry wings

.*.

run. run. run.

get away.

her feet slap hard against the pavement, sending shock waves rippling through her veins, pushing her breath out with a sharp gasp. she hears the yells behind her, come back, come back, but all she knows is that she can't.

faster. faster. faster.

don't stop. they'll catch you if you stop. don't stop.

there's a pinprick of light ahead of her. it looks so warm, and all she wants is to reach it, bathe in it, dance in it. a vision flits through her head of her twirling in it, a smile on her haggard face, the scars on her face and arms and legs and back disappearing in the rapture of happiness. she pushes harder, and her bare feet go numb, but if she can't feel the pain, she doesn't care.

go. go. go.

this is all you've wanted, to be free. don't let go when it's so close now. don't you dare let go.

and just as her fingertips graze the light and the heat of it explodes in her nerves and the warm breeze blows her limp, greasy hair back and the beginnings of a smile grace her face, the skeletal fingers of everything in her past, everything that she's running away from, grasp her and pull her back. she screeches, clawing forwards, screaming, "no, no, please let me go, please let me go!", but they won't, and she's dragged back into the shadows, back into all that she hates.

and soon enough, she hates herself too.

.*.

dedicated to me. length was intended, as well as the style of writing and the no capitalization. i imagine this to be about natalie, but it can really be about any of the 39 clues ladies.

for the madrigal's prompt challenge.

.aRi.