Run. Run. Run.
I dug my dirty white fingers into the woman's purple dressy-shirt. I kept clenching and unclenching my fingers, and panting. That's all I heard out of myself these days: panting with fatigue. I'd been so emotionally tired the past two months it was unbelievable.
The woman's red lips became an 'O' of surprise, yet she laid her hand on my shoulder blade. She was already protecting me. I clenched her fabric as if I would fly away if I let go.
I panted more…even harder as I heard the bushes rustle in the wind. Any movement paralyzed me.
Every time I blinked, it took so much effort to pry them open again. I only wanted to shut out the world and sleep forever, but I knew I couldn't. This was all my doing, anyway. I coughed in the middle of my next string of gasping pants.
The woman with red lips' creamy hand patted my head as if to comfort me--but I could tell she was just as scared. I looked around--my huge eyes roaming from vampire to vampire.
I was motionless, huddled next to the beautiful woman, dirty and disheveled. My mouth was parted, my face undoubtedly whiter than paper. The beautiful woman's fingers clenched the back of my neck in protection. I shuddered into her purple fabric.
I could see my protectors--I'd seen them so long ago. They were like distant memories that I hadn't given thought to until now, when I needed them most.
Illuminated beneath a streetlamp placed oddly in the road ditch, I could see the shapes and colors of them--that's all. Yet, I could pick them all out from my vibrant memory; Edward, Carlisle, Emmett, Rosalie, and Esme--whom I was clutched against.
They all protected me, Esme and I were at their flanks. Their backs arched and they crouched territorially. I blinked heavily and pried my eyes open once more, gasping at the quivering trees.
I'd never been so frightened in my life. My tiny body was shaking, the bitter cold tore at my bare arms. I had a gray dress on…I didn't remember ever buying it, though.
For such a pretty dress, you'd think I'd remember. It was ruined, anyway. The white beading was bare in many spots and the mesh had torn into big holes the size of fists. I had mud soaked up to my waist and dirt clumps tacked to my body.
Pine needles were wedged behind my ears and in my hair. My eye had even gotten poked rather hard by a branch. I had cuts all over my naked arms--non bleeding, gaping gnashes. Inside the skin's jagged lips was nothing but purplish skin, yet it stung as if they were gushing. It hurt everywhere as I flexed my fingers into Esme's protecting fabric.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye; not wind or a squirrel. I froze, every joint becoming glass that would shatter if I even flinched. My panting became more labored and the air that ran down my throat was sharp and ice-cold.
I was surprised Esme didn't swat me away from grabbing her so fiercely. She probably heard the movement, too. I looked up into her face, and her pretty lips were still in that 'O' shape.
I saw him emerge from the bushes--branches caught in his button holes and leaves in his hair.
His ruby red eyes dripped with malice and pure fury towards me. I could only see his black shape…and his dripping red irises and flashing white teeth.
I could see every pointed tooth from afar, and it shot me full of fresh fear.
I remembered those long nights when he would balance a file on his knee and grin at me while he snatched it and stuck it into his mouth. His face would curl into a gruesome grin as his hand would move in quick jerks, sawing down his teeth to make them pointed. I would sit on the floor, looking up at him, trying not to give away my horror as he rubbed and rubbed until I could smell the powder of his teeth in the wind. I never understood why he wanted to be more of a monster than he already was.
His pupils were so tiny that the horrifying red color painted his whole eye.
They were each like spiraling staircases that beckoned for you to explore down--but you would find yourself not progressing and try to turn back. The dreadfully macabre trick was that no matter how much you backtracked, you would never escape--that way or the other.
Right now, I felt like I was taking a new option after blindly traveling up and down the stairs: balancing on my heels on the staircase banister, failing my arms out, trying to seek protection. Yet, I knew I would have to leap down the endless hole to gain freedom again. I could only hope that the Cullens would be at the bottom to catch me, if there ever was an end.
My brown and gray streaked fingers dug more and more as if clawing Esme's hip would somehow save me. Her hand was frozen on the nape of my neck. I could see the nightmarish figure draw closer to us, and two more henchmen lumbering behind like twin shadows. Their eyes matched his feverish glow.
I managed to feel relieved for a moment when the dark figure stopped for a nanosecond, taken aback by my new protectors. However, he wiped off the slight unease and brought back his cocky swagger towards us. Such a walk would be scarred into my mind forever and become the star of all of my nightmarish flashbacks.
The wind kicked up and pricked my bare arms again, but I could barely feel any of that. Thin branches quavered and the ones scattered on the floor twitched and tumbled off. The pine needle carpeting thinned out and was carried off. Some sprinkled across my lap.
He stepped into the light.