Spring Break

episode 17

Your decision: Emma should ignore the man's deadly warning and make a run for it down the dirt road.

A thick cloud crept across the sky, sliding across the pale moon. Encompassing shadows fell around the trees, the dark path of the road in front of her. Emma's toes curled around the grass as the muscles in her legs tensed. Her body and mind were screaming in unison; begging her to escape. She had to escape.

Emma lurched forwards, feet pushing off against the ground, launching her body onto the road. Her bare feet slapped against the compact dirt beneath her while her arms pumped feverishly by her sides.

The house behind her held its presence, holding that prickle on the back of her neck. It was as if it was warning her, warning her that there was no escape.

But she refused to believe it. Emma locked her eyes on the horizon that lay straight ahead, refusing to look over her shoulder. She refused to give into her trembling muscles, or into the greedy need for air that burned in her lungs. She just kept running; running from the man in the mask: running from the house: running from her dead friends: and running from herself.

She just kept running. Around her lay the silent night, filled with the sounds of her ragged breaths and feet pounding against the ground. The faint sound of birds echoed in the night, accompanied by a distant rustling sound from the surrounding woods.

A thunderous bang shattered the silence, cries of birds ripping through the darkness as they took flight into the sky from the safety of the trees.

Gasping, Emma's pace slowed until she was stumbling forwards. Searing pain branched from the bullet that had entered her back, burrowing beneath her shoulder blade. It stole the breath from her already deprived lungs, earning a whimper of pain from her lips.

Finally she could continue no longer, the pain growing until it took control. Knees giving out, Emma collapsed onto the cold dirt, a hazy cloud of dust rising around her. Her chest rose and fell in jagged motions as she tried to comprehend the pain, her vision spinning as she rolled onto her back.

The navy sky stretched above her where tiny stars poked through the dark blanket. A small smile pulled at her lips then: as she imagined dying. She imagined becoming part of the infinity that encompassed the world above her. She imagined becoming that dot of light that broke through the darkness. And suddenly, death didn't seem so bad.

But then came the booming sound of footsteps, each slap growing louder and louder. Then the massacred face loomed above her, anger written in the pinch of his forehead and his icy eyes narrowed on her.

The smile vanished from her face as the sense of peace was ripped violently from her hands. "Now, why'd you have to do that Emma?" the man asked, lowering down to his knees. Emma's vision spun, trying to focus on the gun that he gripped in his hand. "Now you've gone and made me very, very mad." he seethed, a dark grimace on his burnt face.

"What are you gonna do?" Emma panted, "kill me?" she laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the predictability of it all. She let her head fall to the side where she could focus on the soft, green grass as she waited for her death.

But nothing came. Confusion knitting her eyebrows together, Emma turned back to look at the man's pensive face. "No. No, I'm not going to kill you. At least, not now. I have something more fun in mind." he concluded, a disturbed grin washing the anger from his face.

Dread sunk in Emma's core, nausea flooding her stomach. A hot layer of panic settled over her skin, the horrifying scenarios running rapidly through her fading mind. "Fuck. You." Emma glowered back, eyes refusing to show her fear.