Before I can scream a hand covers my mouth, my arms are forced underneath my body, so I can't move them. Someone is sat on top of me, I can't breathe. The panic builds inside of me and with the short breaths, I take, moans of fear and agony escape. The person covers my eyes and mouth with dirty rags and ties my legs together tightly, and then my arms are brought around to my back and are tied together too. One arm and one leg are grabbed, and I'm flipped over, sat up and being pushed up against a tree. I try to shout through the rag, but it's no use, it's too tight. I feel more rope being wrapped around me and I'm getting tied to the tree.
"I didn't make you fall in love with me," I hear, "It was the other way around." I can't believe this, it can't be happening, it just can't. The rope is tightened, "All I did was try to protect you," I hear the swish of a pocket knife being opened, "I wanted to show you how cruel people can be, but you still don't get it," I sob through the rags, her hand grabs my throat. How could Rachel do this to me? "If you shut up, I'll take the rags off your face," My cries stop, "Nod if you understand!" She yells, I quickly nod, and she unties the rags, I see her.
"How did you get out?" I try to stay calm, I can't aggravate her.
"Good behaviour, ironic isn't it? It was a struggle getting the ankle locator off, but desperate times, right?" She smiles in the sickest way as she twiddles with her knife
"Look, you can just let me go and I won't say anything."
"Let you go?" She starts cackling at me, "No, I told you, I'm going to show you how cruel people can be." She starts rolling up the left leg of my pants, the circulation is cutting off, I can't fight back, and my throat is so dry I can barely make a sound. She gently presses the blade against my leg, then after a moment of piercing eye contact, she presses down hard and draws blood. A small squeak leaves my lips. I'm done for.
"Please don't," I say in a tremulous voice.
"I'm doing this for you! The sooner you understand this, the sooner we can go back to normal!" She uses her knife to cut through the fabric of my leggings, and drives the knife into my right thigh, making sure to twist. I try to scream but nothing comes out, it's too unbearable, "Stop squirming!" I look up at her, "You're only going to make it worse." As she's about to dig the knife in one more time, I hear her phone ringing. She gets up and takes a step back to answer it, making sure to be far away enough so I can't hear her. Who could she possibly be talking to that isn't trying to catch her? How did she even follow us up here?
I search desperately for something that'll save me, I see rocks and broken twigs, then I look to my feet and see Rachel's pocket knife. I use the only strength I can muster up to drag closer to me with feet. I kick behind my back and grab it. I twist my arms to get them into a position where I can slice through the thick rope, as quietly as I can I cut the rope around my feet and my body and try to get up. My leg is so weak that all I feel is the pain, spreading through my whole body. My adrenaline kicks in and I manage to scramble to my feet and I make a break for it. I only have a few seconds before she starts chasing me, so I call out for my moms, for Callie, all of them. Then I just start shouting for help. I'm so disoriented that I don't know what direction I'm going in. But I just have to get as far away as possible.
"Gracie?" Brandon calls out. To my right, I see the glow of flashlights pointed at me.
"I'm here!" I shout back, but I keep running, she's only a few feet behind me.
The lights and the calls get closer, but so does Rachel. I come to a ledge and I have to stop, I can't scale a cliff face. I take a few steps back and turn around, Rachel comes at me and tackles me to the ground, I manage to try and fight her off a little bit, but she's strong, and she's strong-willed, she's not giving up. She pulls the knife from my hand and holds it above my face.
"Get off her!" Brandon yells, I look over to him and see the whole family sprinting towards us. Brandon comes charging at her and jumps right on her, knocking her out of her superior position. He pins her to the ground, moms run to me and help me up. Then we hear the whack of a fist against bone, Brandon's hitting her.
"Stop!" Callie and Jesus yank Brandon away from her, "She's not worth it." Rachel scrambles to her feet and backs towards the edge of the cliff.
"Rachel don't!" I yell.
"Stay back, Gracie." Mom steps in front of me and slowly approaches her.
"Don't come closer," She says, mom stops, "I'll do it."
"You don't have to, you can get help."
"I don't want help, I want her." She points her knife of me.
"You can't have her, listen. Put the knife down, get away from the edge and come with me." Mom reaches her hand out.
"No, it's her or it's that." She looks down to the ground at the bottom of the cliff.
"Please, don't do it. I don't want you dead." I say through my tears.
"Then take me back. Take me as I am." She says viciously.
"I can't, it won't work. But it doesn't mean you have to end your life," I get out of mamas grasp and walk towards her, "You can have a future if you want one."
"Not with you, I don't want a future if it's not with you."
"We can't have it all. That's not how life works, you can't give ultimatums like that. You can be happy without me."
"I can't," She shakes her head, "I can't, I CAN'T!" She screams out, she begins to cry. I don't know how to feel. "My life isn't worth living if I don't have you, don't lie to me and say it is. Don't you think I know what kind of person I am? Look at what my dad did."
"You're not your dad,"
"You were supposed to make me better. That's what you do, you make me better!" She looks confused for a second, "Why are you making me feel worse? You're making me crazy! Fix me!" She takes another step towards the edge.
"I can't fix you, okay? But someone can, I promise."
"You can't promise that. No one can." She sounds monotonous. She turns to look down. Then in a blink of an eye, she does the unimaginable, she jumps.
