She was lost and she knew it. Running into the forest was quickly proving to have been a terrible mistake. But she could not stop, he was right behind her. She knew full well that if he managed to catch up to her this time it would be the end. Hoping to throw him off her track she took a sudden turn, which much to her surprise and anguish led to a cliff. She was trapped now. It was either fight for her life or jump to her death. Adelaide slowly turned around knowing what was to greet her. How on earth had he found her this time? She had gone through so much trouble to make sure there was no way he could follow her to New Zealand, it's literally across the world. She had changed her name, got a new passport, license, AND social security card. It had been almost impossible but she managed somehow. Addy had to give it to him, the man had determination.
"You've always known I love a good chase, too bad this is to be our last." He gloated while stepping closer to her.
Desperate for any way to escape Adelaide looked around frantically only to find there was nothing she could do, so she decided to play with him a little; if he was to kill her she wasn't going to make it easy for him.
"You are such a sick fuck you know that." She spat at him.
He mockingly lifted his hand to his heart and wore a pained expression on his face.
"You know Addy that really hurts, I thought you would be a bit miffed by our last encounter but there is no need for such caustic words my dear."
"Don't you dare call me that!" She screamed at him. She was beginning to shake with rage. "The second you laid your hands on me I stopped being 'your dear' you dick."
"You were always overtly dramatic Addy," he sighed. "You cannot keep blaming me for these ideas you've concocted in your head."
She was going to rip his face off.
"IDEAS?! You have to be joking! You stabbed me and left me for dead! You killed my only friend! Please explain how I am being overly dramatic." The pain was so fresh she could still feel the cold steel slicing through her skin. Seeing him was like being stabbed all over again, sadly she knew that was probably how this encounter would end.
"Oh Addy that was all just a big misunderstanding; I truly hope you don't harbor any bad feelings towards me for that whole mess of a situation." He cooed.
"You can't even imagine what type of feelings I harbor towards you Lucas." She growled in response.
"Oh well, I guess that's understandable given the circumstances. But we shall not let that ruin our evening." Lucas said as he reached into his jacket pocket for something she could not see. Instead of the bowie-knife she was expecting he pulled out a hand gun complete with a suppressor. He was going to shoot her. He was going to shoot her and leave her in the woods where no one would ever find her. She always felt like she had been living on borrowed time. The doctors had said it was miraculous that she managed to live after the stabbing. After having escaped the first time Addy knew life would be a constant game of cat and mouse. And here it would all come to an end.
She would not beg for her life. Memories of the countless times she had begged Lucas to stop hurting her in any which way began to run through her mind. These pathetic moments of her past made her angrier than anything. It was her fault she had been stabbed and that Laura had died. She could have stopped his beatings at any moment, but the pain of him leaving was far worse compared to the pain she had to endure being with him. She had been a weak person then, but not now. Now she would fight back, even if she was to die she would pass knowing she did what she could to escape.
He began inching closer to her. Adelaide stood her ground and stared directly into his eyes. She could see the surprise on his face; usually she would cower into a defensive position in hopes of making whatever was to come a little less painful. Not tonight. He was close enough to touch her now. He cautiously extended his hand and stroked her cheek like he had done countless times before. In that moment Addy remembered what it felt like to be loved. He had been her first and only. It didn't take long for the monster that consumed his soul to appear however. They had been together for four years. The first being pure bliss the last three being utter hell.
For Lucas, seeing Adelaide again tonight had brought back emotions he had not been anticipating. He truly had loved her, but his compulsion to make her feel pain was far greater, it always won.
He pressed himself against her body and began stroking her hair. Whispering into her ear he said "Before this happens I just felt I should let you know that out of all the women I have ever dated, you I loved the most; and that is precisely why I must kill you. If I cannot have you then no one ever will." He purred.
With that he pressed the gun into the bottom of her chin. He leaned in to kiss her one last time and Adelaide let him knowing it would buy her some time at least. During the kiss Addy slowly reached down her thigh for the dagger she always kept sheathed there, quickly thanking God that she had worn a dress. Lucas was deep into the kiss and hadn't felt a thing. Conscious not to waste time she hurriedly brought the knife up to his heart, the same exact place he had stabbed her. With his eyes still closed she dug it in as quickly and as deeply as she could. He abruptly ended the kiss and hit her across the face. They both staggered back from the ledge. Addy quickly recovered and scrambled for any footing she could find. Within seconds Lucas was upon her. He picked her up by her throat and threw her against a nearby tree. She must have broken a rib or two since a searing pain shot through her midsection just then. Lucas bent down to enclose his hands around her neck once more and began squeezing the life out of her. She grasped the knife and twisted with all the strength she could muster. Lucas screamed out in agony but did not cease, he merely squeezed harder. She could feel the lack of oxygen affecting her, her vision began to blur and black dots appeared. In the back of her mind she was happy things had come to this. For over two years now she wandered from place to place, settling down when she felt it was safe enough only to be found yet again. Time after time she had narrowly escaped. But not tonight, not this time. She could almost feel the freedom of it all, to be free of Lucas would be a freedom like no other. In that moment she knew she wanted to live.
Praying for any sort of respite Addy hastily removed the knife from his original wound and embedded it even deeper into his stomach. Lucas had not anticipated this and dropped her suddenly. Addy had been expecting this however and clumsily landed on her feet, after a moment of catching her breath she ran. Having not looked back Addy hadn't realized that Lucas had found his way back to his gun. Addy cried out when an agonizing pain hit her in the arm, but she did not stop, not this time. Addy continued to run for what felt like an eternity until she suddenly ran into what felt like a tree. She didn't know if the culprit was shock, exhaustion, or blood loss but she fainted all the same.
