Fear the Darkness

"This was the best party I have had in a long time!" Leia gives her best friend, the birthday girl Charlie, a big hug. 

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here for the night. It's no problem, really. You know my parents won't mind", her best friend looks worried. 

" I'll be fine, don't worry", Leia reassures her.

"But it's dark outside and you need to go through the forest to get home. Please just stay till morning", Charlie pleads.

Leia thinks for a moment. She doesn't really want to go through the forest all by herself at night.

"You can phone your mum and tell her that I said that you can stay over", Charlie explains.

'I guess Charlie is right. And that way my parents would not be worried about me not getting home in one piece.'

"Alright, I will stay the night, I guess the party isn't over either yet. But I'd better phone my parents then quickly, so they don't start worrying about me." With that I rush upstairs into Charlie's room and shutting the door, I pull out my mobile phone from my bag that I had left in Charlie's room and dial my parent's number.

"Leia, thank god you are phoning. Your mum was already starting to panic and was just about to phone the police", dad's voice is heard on the other end of the phone. In the background Leia can hear her mum telling him to give her the phone, so she can talk to her daughter.

"Alright, alright. Take it easy. Leia, your mum really wants to talk to you. Give me a second, so I can put you on loudspeaker."

Then Leia hears nothing but the mumble of her parents for a few seconds.

"Leia, Leia, can you hear me sweety?" her mum's voice is now heard. "Yes mum, I can hear you", Leia replies. 

"Oh thank god that you are alright. Where are you right now honey", she asks me.

 "I am still at Charlie's. She said I could stay over at her place for the night, as it is dark outside." 

"Sure, that's fantastic. Then we will see you tomorrow honey", mum answers, sounding a lot happier than before. "See you tomorrow. Love you two", Leia replies. "We love you too." 

Leia heads back down the stairs. The party is still going, the music is loud and everyone is talking or dancing or drinking.

"Hey Leia. Do you want to play too", Charlie calls from across the room. A bunch of people has gathered round a table and are about to play 'Truth or Dare'. 

Leia decides to go and join them. The game begins and everyone is having a great time. "I'm just going to catch a bit of fresh air", Leia tells Charlie, who nods in response.

Leia heads outside. She takes deep breaths. 'Okay, I'd better stop drinking now. I don't want to feel any more dizzy than I feel already.'

Just then somebody touches her shoulder from behind. "Hello there cutie", a deep voice is heard. She turns round to find Donovan, the school's biggest pervert, standing behind her.

"Leave me alone", Leia answers and walks further into Charlie's garden. But to her disappointment Donovan decides to follow her. "There's no need to go away. You won't get rid of me that easily!"

Leia walks even further into the garden, until she reaches the little garden fence at the back of the garden. Donovan comes up close and tries to pull her close. He is stinking of beer and completely drunk. Leia tries to pull herself away from him, but he won't let go. Leia sees no other way out and kicks Donovan hard in the leg. He shreaks with agony and lets her go immediately.

She quickly opens the gate and runs out towards the forest, not looking back once.
She keeps running further into the forest.

She can hear somebody following her closely, but she doesn't dare to look back. 

By now she is already deep inside the cold, dark forest. All around her are trees, nothing but trees. But still she does not stop running, not even to catch her breath for a minute. It is pitch black and Leia cannot see exactly where she is going. All she knows is that she has come off the direct path that leads through the forest and is now going deeper and deeper into the dark and unknown forest. 

Behind her she can still hear footsteps. 'Why is Donovan still after me? Surely he must be out of breath right now, as drunk as he was back there... And anyway, it's not like I hurt him that much that he has to have his revenge', the thoughts circle her mind. Once back in the real world, she realises that she has slowed down her pace and she quickly picks up the pace again.

The forest around her is silent. No birds or any sign of life visible or to be heard anywhere. The only noise in the forest are her feet, as they hit the hard ground, and the sound of the feet following her.

Suddenly she feels a mighty force that knocks her to the ground. Now she is lying on the ground facing the floor. Moments later the force turns her towards the sky and she is face to face with Donovan. 

He has both her arms tightly under his legs and is hovering with the rest of his body over her. 

"Here's payback for kicking me beforehand", he smirks. 

"Please, let me go Donovan", she pleads, tears rolling down her cheeks. 

"Oh, don't cry. It'll be over before you know it!"

Then he places his hands around her neck. 

"Help, help!" she screams with the little bit of breath she has left inside of her, but there is nobody around to hear her cries. 

Then Donovan tries to strangle her and her eyes slowly fall shut.