Hey! Here's todays second update!
Thank you to Calliope, tigpop and EmmaJ1996 for the lovely reviews! I hope this answers some of your questions, although it may leave you with a few more!
I'm on my way towards finishing chapter twelve and chapter thirteen is already begining to take formation inside my head.
Please read and review, otherwise my penguin and his enigmatic smile might have to pay you a visit! (Edward Monkton is a genius!) Hopefully at least EmmaJ1996 understands my weird ramblings here! :D
This chapter is dedicated to all my readers, especially those who review! You make make me look like an idiot by smiling at the computer screen like a loon but I love you all for it!
Enjoy!
Much love x
Chapter Eleven
The wetness in the ground beneath her was seeping through her skin, chilling her bones. She tried to move but found she couldn't. Every muscle in her body was screaming at her, desperate for warmth. Underneath her frail body she could feel the sticky mud sucking her downwards and the rotting leaves decomposing around her.
The dishevelled mess of clothes and blonde hair on the floor twitched every now and again and eventually managed to force her heavy eyelids open. She still couldn't move the rest of her body. Each of her limbs felt excessively heavy, it was almost as if some copious amount of air was sat on top of her keeping her on the floor.
Her throat was dry, her lips parched. It would do her no good to attempt to scream, it was highly unlikely that anyone would hear her. Any judicious person with an ounce of common sense stuck to the outer edges of the woodland, if the sheer density of the forest wasn't off putting enough then the rumour of the various people that lay lurking within the trees, ready to pounce on an innocence party simply walking there dog or taking a jog, was enough to scare most people away.
She tried again to sit up, this time succeeding and immediately began to massage her legs hoping that the she could get her circulation going once more. She needed to be able to stand. It was no good her just sitting there simply waiting for something to happen. If someone did find her, it was stupid to think that they were definitely going to help her. What is it was Steven? How would she escape his clutches again if she couldn't even stand up properly?
There was a bitter acidic earthly taste to the air. The light was fading, creating new shadows and dark patches around her. She lifted her face, letting the light and shadow dance across her skin. Bees hummed in and out of the undergrowth. She inhaled the smell of wet earth. It was so natural and Cassie new that in another situation she would be revelling in the sights and smells surrounding her and delighting in the sound of her feet sliding through the leaves. Now wasn't that time though. Eyes glimmered from tree hollows. The wind wailed between distorted trunks, carrying the sickly stink of wood rot. She pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the spindly twigs that caught at her tights and the damp leaves that grimed her skin leaving a sticky trail of some clear substance on her pale hands.
As she forced herself in the direction she presumed the edge of the forest would be, she could feel the rough bark and slimy lichen underhand, and the tickling of spider web strands that caressed her skin. Long grass was sliding against her legs and the uneven ground beneath her feet was litter with rocks, small twigs and pine needles. Tree roots crept from beneath the dark soil, suddenly appearing, trying to trip her up.
The seemingly still forest with alive with sounds you could only hear if you focused properly. The chattering of squirrels as they clambered through the trees, small insects humming as they continued with their daily business undisturbed by the bedraggled teenager limping through the woodland.
She was brought to a halt by a sudden thundering beat of wings against small bodies as birds scattered across the sky screeching wildly clearly frustrated by being disturbed from a peaceful slumber in the lower branches of the towering oaks that she was surrounded by.
Her erratic breathing was loud and Cassie tried desperately to control it, to quieten her down so she could distinguish what is was that had so rudely interrupted the birds. Everything stopped; even the trees stood utterly still, statues in a living museum where no leaf dared to fall.
The sound of feet shuffling through detritus and the rhythmic beat of paws on damp earth filled her head, the sound crashing loudly in her ears like drumsticks in the hands of a giant.
Somewhere out of a sight a branch snapped and a male voice silenced an excited yapping dog. As Cassie peering through the dense undergrowth she could just make out a startling red anorak back in the direction she had come. Upon hearing the voice her heart leaped into her mouth. Could it be Steven? The voice was deep and authoritive, it sent a shiver down her spine. As she pulled herself up right the man squinted his eyes in her direction and Cassie knew straight away that he had spotted her.
"Hey! You!" He shouted.
Cassie did the only thing she could think of. She ran.
She pushed on past moss covered tree trunks with ambling vines snaking around them, the shifting light patterns left her dazed, she had no idea what direction she was running in.
She suddenly found herself sprinting towards daylight and bursting into the wide-open space before stopped feeling a tight uneasy pain in her abdomen. She looked around fearfully and found herself in a churchyard.
The graves were marked with elderly weathered headstones, some leaning together like old friend, others stood crooked and crumbling away. At first sight, this section of the churchyard appeared to be abandoned but, although scattered rather sparsely, there were still trinkets and tokens of love beside some of the graves, though they had taken a severe beating from the weather.
Wreaths and flowers withered before her very eyes. There were plaques with prayers etched on them watched over by the decaying visitor benches and monumental statues depicting angels and children. Debris cluttered the floor. Leaves and twigs were strewn across graves and in places the grass was patchy or overgrown. There were signs of dead trees that had fallen and been left to rot away eventually becoming one with the earth whilst wild bushes and flowers competed for space and light. The cracked and vandalized masonry of the ancient church at the far end of the graveyard was evidence enough that should the man catch her in this deserted area, they would not be interrupted, she would not be found by anyone willing to help her. She wandered along the cracked stone pathway, hunched over with one hand clutched tightly to her stomach, dodging the weeds and thistles that reached out towards her. Her eyes stung with hot tears ready to fall as the pain worsened. She wanted to scream in agony, but the man could still be following her, and there was no way she could run from him again. She didn't have the strength.
She stumbled, weaving her way in and out of the headstones, glancing at the eroded names of a few. Through her own pain she managing to feel pity for those people, who either had no one who cares enough to look after their graves, or who simply didn't have any surviving family or friends.
Right now she wanted her dad. She had only met him for the first time in eight years yesterday but he had shown her more love and more attention in those few hours than her mother had through the years she had kept her hidden away from him. She felt a rush of anger directed at her mother. How dare she keep her away from her father? She had no right to refuse her the love of two parents. She laughed inwardly; her mother hadn't shown much love towards her since Steven had reared his unwanted face. Her mother had been hooked on him from the word go, she had never listened to Cassie's warnings nor her pleas. She had ignored his behaviour last year. She didn't care about what he had done to her daughter. The scars he had created, both physically and mentally. Cassie was still tormented my nightmares even now, she found it hard to close her eyes whenever he was in the house for fear he might choose to repeat his actions.
A searing pain shot through her stomach as she fell to the floor. Her eyes were aching pools of sadness and her vacant expression suggested she was no longer seeing the graveyard around her. Her breathing had become laboured and irregular, her crumpled body became limp and her fisted hands uncurled as all tension flooded out.
There were heavy footfalls from somewhere above her as the man she had fled from came in to her view, his face unfocused and blurry, before darkness descended on her.
The man bent over her unmoving body.
"Are you alright love?"