Her face hurt. He had hit her so hard her mouth was bleeding. It was a real shame. She wanted to run away and hide so he could never find her. She got up and tried to find her keys in darkness. She could hear his footsteps approaching. She shivered in fear and gulped the thickness in her throat. She could do this. If she hurried, she could run away before he would find her. She could be free if she hurried.
The dim light coming from the street through the narrow window of her room lit her face and the small bruise on the side of her mouth. It had turned blue. She touched it and yelped in pain. She stood up as she heard his footsteps closer and run to the door. Her heart started to beat faster. She was terrified what would happen to her if he found her. She hesitated as her fingers circled the doorknob, and the footsteps became clearer and creepier.
Her body was covered in cold sweat, and in that short moment she made a decision. She would run away from him. She wouldn't let him catch herself ever. She opened the door and started to run. He had noticed her. She knew it, because he started to run after her like a crazy beast. She looked back and saw his face contorted and in rage. Her knees buckled, and she tripped down. Adrenaline rushed through her blood, as she realized she was running for her life. If she wanted to survive she was supposed to escape him, because if he caught her it would be last day she saw a daylight.
The fear didn't paralyze her, on the contrary, it made her swifter, stronger, crazier and more desperate. She got up and before he could reach for her leg and run away to the stairs. When her face met with the streaming light coming from the upstairs, her eyes watered. But she didn't stop, she kept running forward without looking, without stopping. She took a deep breath only when she reached the front door. Her heart was hit with a poisonous pang. The door was locked. She was stuck, he was close. She was going to get caught.
She looked around. She couldn't let herself get caught. She would fight. She would fight if it was necessary. She turned towards the door in the corridor, and stepping in, locked it behind her.
"You can't escape. Don't even think about it. And you are going to get punished for this disobedience when I get to you," his voice terrified her to her core.
She swallowed hard and blinked quickly, trying to spot something worthwhile for a fight. It was a storage room that smelled really bad, and there was dust everywhere that made breathing hard. She clutched the keys tighter in her hands and run towards the old cupboard, but hiding wasn't an option. He would find her quickly, and she wouldn't be able to escape from his hands. And then she spotted the ventilation. If she could get there, she would manage to escape. The footsteps were getting closer, and she was scared.
She pushed the cover and jumped up to get there. He was banging the door. She could hear it, and it froze her blood in her veins. She finally managed to get hold of it edge and after a few attempts climbed up. When she pushed back the cover, the door broke, and he burst in. Her breathing froze, she stared down horrified that he might have seen her go up in there. She could see him, his face reddened and angry. He looked around surprised not to find her, and Haruhi forgot how to breathe.
"Where are you girlie?" he called, sending nasty shivers down her spine. "Come out now, and I won't be too hard on you."
She followed his every move with pang of her heart, fearing he will discover her any moment. "I know you are here! Come out."
She blinked when the dust from the room filled her nostrils. No! No, no, no! She couldn't, no, no, if she did, he would find her right away.
"Come out! Come on, you little bitch, come out or I will skin you alive if you make me find you," his voice was so dry, it made her heart drop in disgust.
She pinched her nose and kept her breath. This was her chance, she couldn't allow him find her.
"Where did she go?" he spoke to himself, "I saw her run this way, and the door was locked from inside. She is definitely here, hiding in some corner."
He tossed everything on his way and kicked the cupboard open. Haruhi was glad she didn't hide there or she would be in his hands now.
"Get out right this moment," he growled.
She closed her eyes and started to count in her mind. Everything would be fine. She would get out of there. She would trick him. She knew he was smart, but she still could trick him. She was a smart girl, a law student. That's why she started all of this in the first place. She would go away from him.
He kicked the old chairs around, and a few vases fell down and broke. The noise made her shudder. Breathing was becoming very hard. She couldn't move either. The canal was too narrow.
"Where did you go, damn girl?" He yelled and strode out.
She didn't move, she was scared he would come back and find her. She concentrated her hearing and tried to place him. He was walking down the stairs. She was sure of it, and his footsteps were getting more and more distant. This was her chance. She kicked the cover and jumped down into the pile of junk in the ground and winced when a small piece of broken glass went into her arm. She gritted her teeth and tried not to make a sound. She grabbed it and quickly pulled it out. It hurt. But she didn't have the right to cry.
He was searching for something downstairs. She could hear the enraged noise he was making there. He had completely lost control over himself. She ran out of the closet and went straight for the fire extinguisher on the wall. She grabbed it, and praying that it worked because it was the only chance she had, crushed it against the lock on the door. It broke, and she heard his sudden burst from downstairs. He ran up to her, but she was already out, running away.
It was dark outside, and she had no idea where she was running to. All she knew is that if she stopped he would catch her. There were no houses around, no traffic lights. Nothing. It was one big nothing in the middle of nowhere. She needed to get lost, or he would spot her and come after her, and he was far faster than her especially when she was barefoot.
She continued to run like crazy, ignoring the pain and blood coming from her arm. When she saw trees, her heart started to beat more enthusiastically. She could run away and hide there, make him lose her trail. She looked back and realized he was too close. She could hear his breathing.
His glasses fell on the ground, and he stopped for a moment to pick them, she run towards the forest and without losing time, started to climb the nearest tree. He wouldn't find her there. He was too focused to chase after her that he wouldn't stop to look for her around. She hid behind the thick branches. And kept her breath steady so he wouldn't hear her.
He ran after her in a few moments and looked around baffled. But didn't stop to wonder. Something grabbed his attention, and he run towards it. It must have been the wind. She was right. His mind was too, obsessed over the idea of catching her and he didn't even for a second thought she could have been hiding somewhere. He just wanted to chase after her.
She stayed there the entire night, not daring to climb down and accidentally come face to face with him. Only towards the morning, she decided to walk down when she spotted him returning home. He was angry and messy and had spent the entire night chasing after her, while she was on the tree waiting patiently. She was waiting for a convenient moment, and that moment had arrived.
Her hand had bleed so much. She had to cut the hems of her dress to bind the wound. She run forward. She was tired, she didn't sleep and her body hurt. She wasn't sure she would make it.
It was already bright morning when she got out of the forest. There was a road with no cars at all. She suspected he had taken her away from the city. Her feet were bloody, and she couldn't walk properly. There were many scratches and wounds left by the branches and tiny stones on the ground of the forest. Her face still hurt, and she really thought she was going to die there. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No! She couldn't stay there. What if he came looking after her. She was on an open road with no one around and in her current state she doubted she would be able to run away fast enough. She needed to move. She needed to get away she couldn't sit and rest. She couldn't afford such luxury. The keys were still in her hands. And she pressed them against her chest and kept walking.
It had been a week or maybe a few more days she couldn't tell for sure. She was missing for a week or more. People should have noticed. They should have been looking for her. Maybe they already were. She wondered if her father knew that she was gone and was searching for her. She needed to keep going for her father's sake. But her body was weak and she had lost a lot of blood.
She gulped when she heard a noise coming from back. She turned swiftly and saw a car. Her heart dropped. She tried to run away in panic, but her mind was giving up on her. She was losing her consciousness, her sensing were half gone. The colours were merged. She saw his face, not clear enough. But he had his glasses on and he was tall and in a suit. He had found her. She tried to run away again, but fell down when darkness coated her mind.