Escape {COMPLETE}

~Chapter Twenty-two~

Erin's P.O.V.

Cold was all I could feel. Not the chilling breeze that flowed around me, but a radiating cold coming from within. I think it was caused by the stone cold knife against my throat.

The silver blade glistened beneath me. I was shivering against its touch. I had felt the sharp slice of a knife before, and often welcomed the brief relief it brought to me. But this...this was so different. Like, I could taste bile rising in the back of my throat and I felt lightheaded. This was it, this is the end. I never wanted it to end this way...and I had often times tried to end it myself....but I never wanted it to be like this.

I had struggled with the darker side in my heart for years now and I could feel it surging through my veins at that moment. I felt tears filling my eyes--as they had so much more often lately--and I stared into Blaze's face. Was he really gonna do it? Was he really gonna listen to the demon who was holding me captive, who was screaming at the top of his lungs for him to slice my neck open. I could feel the tension in his evil muscles, the anticipation coursing through him to watch me die.

I didn't want to die.

I pleaded with my eyes for him to let me live. I was practically screaming in my mind for him to let me go, to let me run far away and never have to see this place again. My friends were looking on in horror, agony sparking their faces up with lively light. I glanced around at them all....Anna, Patrick, Nick, Rachel, Walker, Hannah. I had almost forgotten Walker was even there....

But that was the last thing on my mind!

I hadn't been able to decipher the line between sanity and insanity for a long, long time. At one time, I could. It was like the Great Wall of China! But now....it was thinner than a spider's web. I didn't know what to think or how to feel and I had to put on a brave face for everyone else.

Then it hit me....if I died, I'd never have to pretend again.

So I dared Blaze to do it. I looked him directly in the eye and I smiled.

"Go ahead and do it," I hissed, "I'll see you in hell."

The room fell silent. His hands started shaking, making the knife quiver. His eyes narrowed and a single bead of sweat trickled past his furrowed brow. My friends' faces turned from worry to shear terror.

Blaze suddenly relaxed, but still held the knife close to my throat. "I will go to hell once I die," He murmured. "But not for this. I....I've done so many more horrible things.....worse than you could ever imagine. Definitely worse than you've ever even considered doing!" He seemed so sure, so certain that this was his destiny. I pitied him.

"Get it over with so we can move on to the others," The devil ordered from above me. I wanted to kick him, but he'd probably crush me to death if I tried. Blaze returned to his tense state, a glaze of madness in his eyes. He pressed the knife up to my neck and forced it under the skin, causing blood to bubble up. It was a very shallow cut and only bled, but it hurt like hell. I winced at the pain.

His hands started to shake again, making the cut more jagged and hurting more. I gritted my teeth and let a small grunt of pain out. He suddenly clenched his fists so tight around the wooden handle of the knife his knuckles turned white, and he closed his eyes tight.

 "I can't do this..." He sort of whimpered. He ripped the knife away from me and threw it into a nearby tree, narrowly missing his master's head. He looked completely furious and he suddenly lurched towards us. He yanked me out of the devil's claws, then gently shoved me back towards my friends. He must have some sort of super-strength in order to get me out of his iron grip like that.... I thought to myself as I rubbed my bleeding arms.

My friends reached out and hugged me, all at once, but I just simply looked at them. I couldn't say a word.

Then I heard Blaze scream.

Blaze's P.O.V.

"I can't do this..." A million things flashed through my mind as I whispered those words. What he would do to me once this whole ordeal was over, how many lashings he'd give me or how bad he'd torture me....

But I couldn't help him in his psychotic killings anymore.

I knew that I had sworn myself to him, that I promised never to cross or betray him, but this was so different....I think I fell in love. Erin.....I couldn't hurt her.....I tore all those other people apart but her.......I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

I hurled myself at the demon and screeched out a battle cry. Everyone whipped their heads in my direction and I was acutely aware of their eyes on me but I didn't care, for once. I wrestled him to the ground--my caregiver, the man (or creature, rather) that took me in when I was sick and alone after my mother abandoned me.....

But I'd had it with his cruel games, I've had it with the beatings and whippings! I'd had it with every way this thing had abused me. He had tortured me emotionally and physically and it'd rotted me to the core. I was burning with rage, practically foaming at the mouth like a rabbid dog, just itching to cause him as much pain as he'd caused me.

"YOU DIRTY OLD BASTARD!" I howled. "YOU DISGUSTING, PERVERTED, SICK, TWISTED, TORTUROUS BASTARD!!!!!!!!" I beat the shit out of him. I had super-human strength.....

"BLAZE! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO DEFY ME! WHAT'S WITH YOU LATELY?!" He screamed right back. His voice may sound a lot more intimidating than mine, but it didn't phase me.

"I DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU HURT PEOPLE ANYMORE!" I bellowed. "I'M TIRED OF BEING YOUR LACKEY, YOUR WHIPPING BOY! I'M DONE!"

He bitch-slapped me.

I lost it.

I punched him in the face, making his nose bleed. He roared in fury and swung at me, but I ducked and bolted to the nearest tree. I ripped the knife out of it and threw it at his neck. It sliced right through, getting stuck in his windpipe. The blood gushed forth, staining the black-covered grass. It shined like red mud in the moonlight. He grabbed his throat and gurgled, slowly suffocating. I looked at him, so very, very satisfied, gloating over him. Revenge never tasted so sweet.....

"Son...please...." He gurgled.

"It's too late for that." I hissed.

"Son??" A chorus of confused voices raised behind me.

The familiar look of dawning realization lit up their faces with horror. The demon's eyes lost their light as he breathed his last breath. I stood over him, feeling a surge of power overcome me. I leaned down and closed his bloody eyes. "Goodbye, father...."

Then I turned to face the group...and Erin.

"Now nothing can keep us apart."