[ the token ]

[ prologue ]

Run. That's all she could do. Her feet stamped the ground harder each step, her breathing hard as clouds of carbon dioxide escaped her mouth. The person she trusted the most, the person who she thought she could love, her mother's new love is trying to murder her. Again.

This isn't the first time, no. Her stepfather had tried to kill her before but failed horribly. Alex had been too scared to call the police, afraid of what her stepdad would do to her if he found out. Her stepfather only had time to give her a minor wound before she barricaded herself in her room, but this was a different story.

Courtney had been chased out into the woods. The cold, dark, snowy woods. Her stepdad closes on her trail, she tried to fool him multiple times but always seemed to fail. She had seen 'The Shining' and thought the way Danny covered his footprints from the killer would work out. Sadly, it hadn't.

Her stepfather held a kitchen knife, already stained from dried blood. God knows where that came from. Alex screamed out multiple times, calling out for 'help' or 'please go away.' Her screaming only made her stepdad go faster, wanting her to shut up just in case someone hears.

Her dad was only inches from her back, swinging the knife backwards, she prayed silently. Her leg gave out underneath her, falling flat onto the snowy ground of the woods, her eyesight blurring as she screamed once again.