A short explosion of sound filled the air, one that seemed to be so far away and then right beside me in a matter of seconds.
"Get down!" Nate yelled, as the sound traveled towards us and disappeared in a heart beat. When my back hit the dry sand, I was too much taken off guard to be shocked by what was going on. Nate pressed his body on top of mine, and I started panicking.
"Get off me!" I yelled, trying to wiggle my way out from underneath him. How on earth could I have trusted a random stranger? Look at what I had gotten myself into…
Nate wasn't paying attention to my complaints or struggles, which by the way got me no where. He was strong, I couldn't wiggle my body at all. In one swift movement, he kept one hand to rest on me and used the other one to reach behind his back and take out…
A gun?
Shock filled me as I realized what was truly at stake here. Quickly assessing the situation, I saw that Nate was looking off into the distance, and had lifted his body off of me. His hand was the only thing keeping me down. I used the opportunity to break free from his force. I shoved his arm away, got up, and ran like a mad woman back down the beach the way we came, shouting and flailing my arms in all directions, trying to get someone's attention, or…maybe just going insane. As I saw the lights from the bar in the distance, I looked back in the direction I came, and saw nothing but a huge expanse of darkness. Nate wasn't emerging from this black hole. Despite this good news, I kept running like an Olympian until I couldn't breathe. I ran straight up the stairs and around in circles, searching for Cecelia. I found the table with my bag, but it was vacant, no sign of her anywhere. I panicked, ran up to my bag, and noticed a note folded over it.
Roxy,
Would have texted you, but my phone died. Went home with a sophisticated gentleman who offered to show me his beachside house over a glass of wine. Don't hate me, I'll be safe! Car keys are in your bag.
Love, Celia.
There had never been a time I needed Cecelia more. And she wasn't here. It wasn't her fault that this happened, although I had told her only a million times how unsafe it is to go home with men, not to mention undignified, and in my opinion, morally wrong. But this was no time to re think my relationship with my best friend. I had to get out of here. I grabbed my bag and ran out of the bar, down the opposite set of steps, and toward the parking lot.
It was a long expanse of powdery sand that turned into grass, which I saw would eventually turn into pavement. And what was even worse was the patch of forestry to the left of all of it, a perfect hiding place, and vantage point. Fear gripped me and wouldn't let me go, no matter how hard I tried to shake it off. I could feel my heart beating so loudly that it vibrated my whole body, but thank God for adrenaline, because it kicked in, and I sprinted for the parking lot that seemed a life time away.
As I ran, I spotted a dark figure to the far left of me. I kept going, knowing if I stopped I'd have no chance. But then, another figure behind the first came in sight. Then another. And now there were three dark figures making their way towards me, closing in very quickly. I tried to veer off to the side to buy myself more time, but now I couldn't see them. I tripped over a rock in my path and fell to the ground. Scrambling, I got up and kept going, I could now hear the figures behind me, literally on my heels.
"What are you waiting for? Grab her!" One said to another. I didn't dare look back. Tears were welling up inside the crevices of my eyes when I realized how close I actually was to death. Then that same explosion rang in my ears. The sound was definitely a gun shot.
My breath stopped at first. I thought I was hit, but then I felt one of the men behind me collapse on top of me, impeding me from running. I hit the floor in a painful, abrupt thud. I turned around to see a man with a bullet in his back, blood gushing from the wound. He lay there on top of me, dead. I screamed. More gun shots rang in the night sky. The tears had escaped my eyes and I struggled to get the mass of dead weight off of me. I heard more thumps as two more bodies hit the ground beside me. I tried to check the faces for Nate, wondering if maybe he had come with company, someone heard me screaming, and the police had shot them all. As if I was so lucky. I was wrong; Nate's face was not in the trio of bodies.
I was next. The thought could not escape me.
Were there four men at this bar with different agendas of raping and or killing women? I was scared, confused, and regretting every decision I had made in the past twenty four hours that had led me to this night. I kept screaming, trying desperately to get the man off of me. Tears were still flowing down my face as a sense of hopelessness set in.
I heard footsteps. Someone was running towards me. I called for help a dozen times, hoping it was a rescuer. The person came to my side, and when I looked up, there stood Nate, gun in hand, looking startled and apologetic. I was about to scream again for help, when I realized he was moving the man off my body. Then I put two and two together. He had shot the men chasing after me.
