Lost

Chapter 1 rewrite

|| Trigger Warning ||
This chapter contains mentions violence, getting burned, and suicidal thoughts.

Wind tangled itself through my short hair as I ran. Out of breath, I didn’t have time to admire the colours of the changing leaves. My body ached, begging me to stop my frantic sprint. My skin stung where the thorns from various bushes had embedded themselves. I doubt I’ll be able to fix either of these issues anytime soon.

 A heavy set of footsteps followed behind me. I have no idea how far away that thing is, and it’s not worth the risk of falling to check. I just have to keep running. I’ll be able to escape it eventually. I have to get away from it. It can’t catch me.

My thoughts blurred as I jumped over a fallen tree. My head was suddenly incredibly light, and the trees began to blend together. The burning in my lungs made itself clearer as I forced myself forward again. Even if it’s hard to stand and dark spots are starting to distort my vision I can’t stop running. Dying would be better than letting that thing catch me.

I rammed myself into a tree and stumbled. Before I realized what was happening I was laying on the ground, attempting to get back up. However, the shakiness of my arms and legs wouldn’t let me. My muscles screamed for me to just lie there whilst I begged for the exact opposite. I glanced back at the forest behind me in hopes that the pounding footsteps were nothing more than a hallucination caused by the hours of running

My eyes grew wide when I made out the blurred silhouette of a shadowy figure quickly approaching from about a dozen meters away. A spike of adrenaline hit me, and I was finally able to stand back up again, but it wasn’t enough. After only a few steps, I was back on the ground, and now laying in a puddle. 

The water seeped into my clothes and began burning my skin. I wanted to get back up, but the only thing I could manage was shuffling out of the puddle so the water wouldn’t eat away at me anymore.

The footsteps slowed and eventually came to a halt behind me. “Is our game of cat and mouse finally over?” That thing asked, sounding far more amused than it had any right to be. It was only met with silence as I squeezed my eyes shut and attempted to will this situation away.

“It’s impressive how long you were able to last,” It mused, taking a few steps closer to me. “I honestly expected you to collapse hours ago. But here we are, nearly four and a half hours after you jumped into the overworld!” It laughed, sending shivers down my spine. I began struggling to sit up before that thing pulled me up and leaned me against a tree. I finally got a decent view of its appearance. It looked like one of those shadowy figures you’d catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye.

“You really shouldn’t strain yourself,” It scolded, cupping one of its hands on my cheek, causing me to flinch. I tried to push it away, but it didn’t budge so I quickly gave up. “I’d hate for you to get hurt.” I absentmindedly looked out at the forest, trying to get the strength to run, but being unable to do so. I brought my attention away from it momentarily when that thing took its hand off my face. I looked over at it and was greeted by it offering me something. I made no attempt to grab it.

“Come on now, I know you’re hungry,” It gestured for me to take what it was holding. I smacked it away from me and stumbled to my feet. All it had to do was grab me to stop my feeble attempt to escape, yet it made no attempt to do so. It didn’t even chase after me.

I could feel its smile digging into my back as I ran. This is only a game to that thing. I’ll see it again soon, I’m sure of it. I just hope that I’ll have enough strength to get away. Although at this rate that is seeming increasingly unlikely.

Soon my sprint fell back to the pace it was at before. My mind was still fuzzy, so I didn’t pay much attention to the roaring sound in front of me until it was overwhelmingly loud. I finally came to a stumbling halt when I noticed a deep dip in the ground with water rapidly flowing through it. I stood there for a moment thinking about what my next move should be when the sound of footsteps returned. They were distant and hard to hear over the sound of the rushing water, but they still scared me enough to start running down the side of the river in search of a place to cross.