HIS CLAIM

46

Elsa

We kept running further into the dark woods. Running between the trees to try and lose the people who were after us and to try to avoid the bullets as much as we could. By now, I was running significantly slower as I was struggling to get even just a little bit of air, and my lungs were begging me to stop.

My legs were ready to collapse at any moment now.

But I had to keep going.

Despite what I told Nicholas , I knew I still wasn’t fully recovered. I could easily feel how weak my body was now compared to before. I was panting and my body was covered in sweat but I somehow still found the strength to keep going. If it wasn’t for my mother dragging me, and pushing me to keep going, I would have already been caught and dead.

“Over here.” My mother led us behind a large tree, able to hide both of us. We had managed to get away from the men and she had also managed to take down a few of them with her gun.

“It looks like we lost them. For now.” My mother whispered while looking around.. But it sounded like, we were alone for the moment.

The woods were silent and I couldn’t hear any gunshots or movements, making me wonder how long we had been running because we were pretty deep into the woods.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” My mother turned to look at me, her eyes scanning me and I shook my head.

“I think I’m fine.” I panted. I couldn’t tell if I was hurt or not because right now I couldn’t feel a thing. My body was still pumping with adrenaline, numbing any pain I should have.

“Are you okay?” I asked her and she nodded while she kept scanning our surroundings.

“Mom… What’s going on?” I whispered to her, my voice coming out scared and tears welling up in my eyes. She looked at me, with a pained expression on her face as she swallowed hard.

“I’m so sorry…” She whispered back, her eyes glistening while holding my hand in hers.

“This was not supposed to happen. I just wanted to protect you… Everything I did was for your protection. But I failed.” A tear escaped her eye and she pulled me into her, hugging me tightly into her body. I had already tears streaming down my cheeks as I sobbed into her shirt, wrapping my arms tightly  around her waist. I was overwhelmed with feelings, everything coming at me at full force, each emotion trying to dominate the other.

I couldn’t say anything. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. My throat was tight, giving me trouble to even swallowing my own saliva as I just continued to hold her tightly.

We sat there for a while and I had finally calmed down my breathing. We were sitting entirely in silence in the woods with only the leaves making noise with the light wind blowing.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what else to do… He threatened to hurt you while you were there and I didn’t know what else to do. I had to do what he said to protect you.” She suddenly said, making me lean back to look at her.

“Wh-what’s going on? Who are you talking about?” I frantically looked around her face as she looked at me with a sad expression.

“I should have told you the truth from the beginning…. Elsa , honey, listen to me.” She looked at me with a determined look.

“Whatever happens to me, you stick with Nicholas. He’s the only one who can protect you from him.”

“Don’t say that! Mom, please, you’re scaring me… Who are you talking about?” My breath halted as I waited for her answer. My body went cold the more I waited.