I lift my head off of the ground and 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, and I can't breathe. The panic builds inside of me and with the short breaths that I'm able to take, moans of fear and agony escape my lips. The person covers my eyes and mouth with something and ties my arms and legs together tightly with rope. 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 covering my face, but it's no use, it's too tight. More rope is wrapped around my chest, fastening me to the tree. The small towel that clads my body slowly slips down and the rope digs into my skin, burning me.
"I didn't make you fall in love with me," A voice mumbles. "It was the other way around." This can't be happening, it just can't. The rope is tightened once more. It can't be her. "All I did was try to protect you." I hear the swish of metal against metal. Like a knife. "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; silencing the quiet sounds I'm still able to make. How could she do this to me? "If you shut up, I'll take the rags off your face." My whimpers stop. "Nod if you understand!" She yells, I quickly nod, and she unties the rags, I see her. Rachel.
"How did you get out?" I try to stay calm; I can't aggravate her.
"Good behavior, 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 pocketknife.
"Look, you can just let me go and I won't say anything."
"Let you go?" She cackles maniacally at me. "No, I told you, I'm going to show you just how cruel people can be." Her knife glides from my ankle up to my leg, she doesn't use enough pressure to draw blood, until she reaches my thigh. She uses the knife to slide aside the towel. The circulation is cutting off, I can't fight back, and my throat is so dry I can barely make a sound even if I wanted to. She gently presses the blade against my leg, then after a moment of piercing eye contact, she presses down. A small squeak leaves my lips. The once pale area of skin around the knife turns bright red as blood spurts from the wound. 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 moves the knife over a few inches and drives the knife in again, this time she makes sure to twist. I try to scream but only air comes out. "Stop squirming!" I look up at her, she's smiling. "You're only going to make it worse." As she's about to dig the knife in one more time, a phone starts 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? There are so many questions, but the most important one is how the hell am I going to get away from her?
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 little yellow knife. I use the minimal strength I can muster to drag the weapon closer to me with my feet. I manage to kick it 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, now spreading through my whole body. My adrenaline kicks in and I manage to scramble to my feet and 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?" I hear Brandon calling out to me. To my right, I see the glow of flashlights pointed in my direction.
"I'm here!" I shout back, but I keep running, she's only a few feet behind me. I can't stop, not for a second.
The lights and the calls get closer, but so does Rachel. I come to a ledge and I have no choice but to stop. I can't scale a cliff. I take a few steps back and turn around. Rachel storms towards me and tackles me to the ground again, I try to fight her off, but she's strong, and she's strong-willed, she's not giving up. So, neither will I. She pulls the knife from my hand and holds it above my face.
"Get off her!" Jesus yells, I turn my head and see my whole family sprinting towards us. Jesus charges at her and pounces, knocking her out of position. He pins her to the ground. Moms run to me and help me up. Then we hear the distinct whack of a fist against bone, Jesus is hitting her.
"Stop!" Callie and Brandon yank Jesus off of her "She's not worth it." Rachel scrambles to her feet and backs towards the edge of the cliff.
"Rachel, don't!" I yell, spitting out blood.
"Stay back, Gracie." Mom steps in front of me and slowly approaches her.
"Don't come closer," She says, and mom obeys her. "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 at 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 at the ground at the bottom of the cliff.
"Please, don't do it," I say through my tears as I collapse to the ground while Jude and mama hold me.
"Then take me back. Take me as I am," She says viciously.
"I can't. But it doesn't mean you have to end your life." I get out of mamas hold and try to crawl towards her. "You can have a future if you want one." Mom's hand rests on my shoulder.
"Not with you, I don't want a future if it's not with you."
"Rachel, that's not how life works, you can't give ultimatums like that. But you can be happy without me. I promise. Just please, get away from the edge," I plead with her.
"I can't." She shakes her head. "I can't, I CAN'T!" She screams out, she begins to cry. I don't know what to do, what to say. "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," I tell her.
"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.
