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I woke up feeling my body light as if I was floating, and I was extremely cold. Then, I realized, startled, that I was indeed floating on running water. I started to swim against the water's force, struggling to get out of the violent river.

A feeling of urgency impelled me. I didn't know why, but I felt like someone was chasing me, and I was very scared. All I knew was that I had to get as far away as I could from that point. Far away from the bad people.

South. I had to go south, where there was lots of sunlight. Sunlight was safe. The bad people didn't like the sunlight. I knew that. I just didn't know how I knew that.

To be honest, I didn't know why I thought that there were bad people after me, but I couldn't bring myself to stop running. My mind simply refused to allow my body to relax.

I was dizzy and confused, and my forehead hurt. I was trying really hard to reach the riverbank, but my arms were heavy, and I felt very tired. Panic spread a cold sensation through my already freezing body when I realized that I could drown if I gave up fighting.

And the water kept dragging and dragging me. Half of me was grateful for the river's violent cruelty because it was taking me ever farter away from whoever was chasing me. But the other half knew that I couldn't keep going with the flow because eventually I wouldn't be able to fight the river anymore.

Slowly, I started to gain a little control over my direction, partly because the river flow was getting less rapid. Finally, I managed to reach the riverbank, taking a hold on a branch that was above the river, and pulling me up. Then, I noticed that my backpack was slightly open. I shut it quickly, but I wasn't fast enough. I saw pieces of paper being dragged for the water. I didn't have any forces to try and catch it.

When I put myself out of the water I was panting and exhausted. The ground was wet, and the fallen leaves rotting on the earth spread a nauseating scent in the air. The smell made me sick, and I coughed heavily, vomiting a lot of water, and I felt very weak.

I dragged myself as farter as I could from the river for several minutes, but I wasn't able to go very far. My arms and legs seemed to weight tons, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. The only thing that kept me awake was the unbearable cold I felt.

I thought for a second that I had never felt cold before. This thought made me feel a huge pain on my chest, like there was someone squeezing my heart. I couldn't understand that sensation, though. I wasn't hurt in my chest. I had checked.

But then I noticed that I was hurt indeed, because I saw blood dripping down my neck, and my head was hurting badly. I put my hand on my forehead, looking for the injury, and the pain increased when I touched it.

I was terrorized, knowing that my blood would attract wild carnivores' animals, and I was too weak to fight them. The blood started to dry, and I felt the wound kind of burning. I put my hand over the cut again, realizing that it was, in fact, already healing.

All the while I was wondering through the woods, trying to find a safe place. After what seemed like a long time I found a little entrance on a minuscule hill, almost like a hole. It was almost too small for me to fit on it, but I found a way to put myself inside of it, anyway, hiding from the cold air.

Getting out of the wind helped a little to fight the cold, but my clothes were wet. It would take hours for them to dry. I embraced my backpack, only then remembering that I was caring a little baggage. My body was starting to warm up, and my eyelids got even heavier, and I couldn't fight the unconsciousness anymore. It was night already, and I knew somehow that I was lost on that unknown part of the forest for hours. I couldn't remember why I knew that, though.

In fact, my last thought before I drifted off to sleep was that I couldn't remember anything about myself.

I woke up hearing the dreadful sound of a roar. I was instantly aware of my surrounds, paying attention at every single movement my eyes could catch. I wanted to open my backpack, and maybe find some clue about what had happened to me, but my fear was commanding me to run, so instead of opening it I took it , and put it on my shoulders; testing it to be sure it wouldn't open or fall.

Fear started to increase my heart beats, and I knew I had to get out of there. I also knew that I had to keep moving to get away from my persecutors.

My throat burned with an unbearable thirsty. I had to feed quickly, but I was too afraid to venture out of the precarious protection of the earth around me. It was still very dark, despite the thin light that announced the dawn. Then, a small rabbit crossed in front of my cave, and I couldn't resist the urge to chase after his delicious blood.

I jumped on it in a flash, not giving it time to escape, and drank him dry in two seconds. The blood went down my throat smoothly, soothing my need in a caressing way. I felt my body getting a little refreshed by its strength. I needed more, though.

I caught another rabbit scent, and carefully went deeper in the wood, cautiously distancing myself from the roar, but trying to stay close to the river. Luckily for me, there was more than two rabbits around, and I could find one close to the route I choose. Catching the other rabbit was even easier than the first one, and its blood also helped feel better and stronger.

Then, the strangest thing happened. I literally felt my limbs getting longer, like they were stretching. My clothes got tight on me. Following the stretching sensation, I felt a paralyzing pain on my head. It hit me like a lightening, and felt almost like my brain was splitting in two. I fell to my knees, panting. Another wave of pain hit me, and I rolled on the ground, convulsing and crying.

Something was very wrong with me. Maybe the cut on my head wasn't healed at all. Maybe it was just on the outside, and on the inside my head was about to explode.

I was sure I was dying. I cried harder, afraid. I didn't want to die alone and cold in the middle of a wild forest. I knew that that wasn't right. It wasn't like it was supposed to be. I couldn't die. I had to keep going. I had to go back. Go back to where I belonged. Only I didn't know where to go back for.

After several long and agonizing minutes, the pain passed as quick as it came. Just like that. I felt strange, my head seemed heavy. It felt like a fog was wrapped around my mind. I shook my head vigorously, trying to get it back like it was before, but the sensation didn't disappear.

I kept lying on the ground for a few minutes more, feeling my body adjusting to that new condition. Something had changed, but I wasn't hurt anymore. In fact, I felt stronger than before. And thirstier.

By the time I put myself together, and got up, the sun was already high on the sky, and the wild animals were running freely around the forest. I concentrated on the forest scents, and caught the smell of some deer, scampering to where the herd was. Taking one down was as easy as it was to take the rabbits. I was sure it was due to my new long and stronger arms.

I went to the river again, planning to use it like an escape way. I thought that I could use the same technique to escape dogs by swimming my way out of that place. Dogs easily lose the scent of whatever they were chasing if their prey went to the water. I thought that, maybe, whoever was chasing me couldn't find my scent if I did the same.

I thought it was ironic that I could remember that kind of detail about some animal so easily, so naturally, but when I tried to remember something from my past, my mind went blank. It was like I was blocking myself.

I swam for several miles, always heading south. The night fell quickly while I got out of the river, and went to find a safe place to sleep again. I actually found a small abandon cabin incrusted in a big tree. It probably was a place that hunters used during the hunting session. It was warm and dry enough for me, and kept me out of any big animal range.

When I settled down on the cabin, I took my backpack, opening it for the first time since I woke up in that scaring river. There wasn't many things there, only my ID, saying that I was Vanessa Wolfe, and a lot of money. Nothing more.

I stared at the ID for a long time, pronouncing the name wrote on it, tasting it. Somehow it didn't feel right. It was like I never knew this Vanessa Wolfe person, but it was my picture on it. It was my name. I felt hopeless, thinking that I couldn't even recognize my own name.

'If I don't know who I am, how am I supposed to go back to where I belong?' I thought, desperately.

I curled up around my backpack like I did the night before because its familiar leather smell made me feel calmer, trying to warm up. Thinking about warmth brought back that loneliness feeling, the one that keep telling me that I belonged somewhere. Plus, I was so scared to be alone in the dark woods, fearing to face some beast that I couldn't fight.

It was such heavy and powerful feelings that my eyes instantly watered. I cried myself to sleep again.

My life became an endless cycle of waking up, hunting for blood, going south – which I always did running as fast as I could, and swimming whenever I could find a river – to escape, staring at my ID, trying to take any information about that name from my mind, and crying myself to sleep at night.

I couldn't tell how much time had passed because I was so focused on my task to stay alive that I lost track of time. I stopped counting days at the fifth one; days weren't important. The only thing that mattered to me was running. The only thing that mattered was survive.

Slowly, I started to notice changes on the woods surrounding me. Green started to transform in brown, there weren't so many trees around me anymore, and the weather wasn't so cloudy either, and I knew my journey was coming to an end. I was finally reaching a sunny place where the bad people couldn't touch me or chase after me.

My clothes almost didn't fit me anymore because I grew up so much, and they were ragged and dirty. They also failed to keep me warm a little more every day. I needed to find something else to wear, but I was too afraid to look for a city. The bad people chasing me could be there.

With the thought of finding new clothes in mind I decided to find some house near the woods. I didn't want to contact the people there; I just wanted to steal some clothes. I knew stealing was wrong, but I didn't have another alternative.

At some point, I would have to find a place to stay, and I would draw too much attention if I appeared looking like a savage kid. I wanted to find a safe place where I could go to get out of the woods. I was scared of it.

Despite being a lot bigger than the first day of my escapade, I was still afraid of the big beasts that resided the forest. I did everything to keep away from their routes, and hunting range.

I was living a repeating nightmare day after day, and I didn't have any hopes to wake up from it.

A/N: Without the Sun made to the second round of voting on the Avant Garde FanFiction Awards. I´m so happy!

Thanks to all of you that voted for me. Please, don't forget to vote for my story again. The voting session is open until December 26.

See ya! ;)