Broken Bones

The sun shifted positions when Nalsy finally slowed down. She had stitches on her left side. The pain radiated through her foot more and more, but not any less than the rest of her body. The blood from the cut on her neck started drying out after it darkened her burgundy jumper.

Nalsy took a phone out, but it ran out of battery. Nalsy cussed inwardly, wishing that she had called the police.

She looked around, and only then she realised that she had no idea where she was.

She started walking in a single direction, hoping that eventually, she would reach the edge of the forest. Unfortunately, the forest was running for hundreds of miles in each direction.

When a cold breeze made Nalsy shiver, she felt defeated, but she decided to push through for a little longer as sitting still would make her feel colder. For now, she was still too stressed out to sit still.

She kept looking up at the leaves, trying to see a glimpse of the sun in the hope of trying to work out the cardinal directions or at least to determine the time of a day. But instead, darkness started setting around, and soon she could hardly see anything. She kept tripping over broken branches and rocks, but she stubbornly continued moving.

It wasn't long before Nalsy couldn't see anything in front of her. She tripped over another branch, but instead of landing on the leaf-lined soft ground like before, she tumbled downhill, landing headfirst on a rock.

Everything went blank.

Nalsy woke up with a pounding headache and body aches. She tried to recall what happened, but it all seemed hazy.

She felt comforting warmth around her body. She was scared to open her eyes in fear of what she might see, in fear that what now seems like a dream, or rather a nightmare, was indeed true.

Maybe if she didn't open her eyes, she didn't have to know that the warmth she felt wasn't from the comfort of her bed at home. Maybe if she didn't open her eyes, she wouldn't have to think about all those horrible things she witnessed.

But Nalsy couldn't stay in this state of denial for long. She slowly opened her swollen eyes, and with struggle, she managed to lift herself enough to notice a fire right next to her, which must've been a reason why she was feeling so unexpectedly warm for the autumn night. The night was dark and tall trees were bending over in the wind. Nalsy was covered with what seemed like a jacket, which most definitely didn't belong to her.

As she sat up, the world started spinning violently. Within seconds she felt nauseous and could barely stay up.

"You should rest." she heard a deep voice from another side of the fire, but she couldn't see anyone through a tiny slit that was left between her swollen eyelids.

She wanted to find out who the person was, but a sudden feeling of heaviness took over, and she passed out again, falling back onto the ground, hearing the crunch of the leaves beneath her.

When she next came through, she realised that she was moving – floating even. It was warm and comforting, and the smell that filled her nostrils was intoxicating; it was refreshing, slightly fruity, with a hint of chypre and mint.

She couldn't resist it. She inhaled it deeply and let out a quiet sigh.

A thought crossed her mind that she might be in an afterlife, but then she started to feel all of the pains. They began to increase in strength, and within moments Nalsy grimaced at it, trying not to scream.

Surely, she wouldn't feel as much pain in the afterlife. But then, maybe she was in hell. She always felt like that's where she would end up one day. Of course, her parents were keen to say that, too.

Nalsy's curiosity won, and she opened her eyes only to look right at someone's chest. She put lots of strength to look up. Moonlight gently shone onto the man's face, but Nalsy did not recognise him. All she could see was a well-defined chin and cheekbones.

The man was focused on the path ahead, skilfully stepping over any obstacles in his way. The heat she felt was radiating from his body. The comfort of his arms around her vanished, and instead, a dread set in.

Someone – a stranger! – carried her in their arms!

Did one of the men from her house catch her?

Nalsy felt a flush of adrenaline as she started to panic; it gave her a sudden burst of strength. Forgetting about her pain, she shoved her fingernails in the man's eyes and pushed herself away from his chest. The attack was so unexpected that the man had no chance to prevent it.

He screamed in pain, dropping Nalsy to the ground. She fell with a loud thump and winced in pain. Nalsy rolled over onto her stomach, trying to get up onto her feet, but the man managed to collect himself already, and he grabbed her by her ankles, pulling her towards him. The force on her sore ankle made her scream in agony. She couldn't control her tears.

"Leave me alone!" Nalsy shouted as she kicked as hard as she could and scratched him everywhere she could reach; she hit, punched, slapped, and smacked.

The man tried picking her up, but Nalsy fought hard to keep him away. She ripped his t-shirt and scratched him across the chest, face and back. She felt his skin curl up under her fingernails as she dug deep; she felt his blood dropping onto her, but to no avail. The man didn't let go.

"Stop it. I am trying to help you," the man said under his breath. Running out of patience, man used his weight to pin her to the ground, and he tightly held her hands. Nalsy started sobbing. With the last bit of strength, she freed her leg from underneath him and kicked him in his face. There was a sudden gush of dark liquid as she managed to break his nose, now deformed into a flattened bloody mess.

The man got up and pulled Nalsy with him, but as soon as Nalsy was up, she managed to free herself by punching his already broken nose.

With the last bit of hope left, she sprinted as fast as she could, as if her life depended on it.

She was fast, faster than ever before, and that last bit of hope gave her an unusual level of stamina.

The man ran after her. She could hear his steps, the rustling of the leaves under his feet, breaking the tree branches, and soon she heard his panting behind her. No matter how fast she ran, he was faster. Finally, he launched himself at her, which made her fall hard to the ground.

The man sat on her back, pulled her hands behind her and tied them with remnants of his shirt. Nalsy was still trying her best to push the man off, but she couldn't catch her breath with her face in a pile of rotten leaves. Her last hope for an escape was slowly perishing.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." the man repeated in a much calmer tone, but Nalsy had none of it. She was throwing herself around as much as she could and continued screaming on top of her lungs. Once she was tied up, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

After a while, she stopped her fight. The man wasn't sure whether she calmed down, fell asleep, or passed out.

"Are you still going to try to scratch my eyes out?" He asked, still out of breath.

"Yes." She hissed even though she didn't have the strength to fight anymore. The adrenaline started to wear off, and she realised just how much her body hurt. "Who are you?" she asked curiously. "What do you want?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm just here to help." He replied more sternly than before.

"How does tying me up going to help?!" she raised her voice again.

"You're injured and need medical attention. It's not my fault that you suddenly decided to fight the only person that can drag you out of those woods and take you to someone who can fix you."

Nalsy didn't reply. She wasn't sure about the man's intentions, but she was lost and had nowhere else to go. She started going through all the possible scenarios in her head and concluded that it didn't matter if a random man murdered her or if wild animals ate her; she'd end up dead anyway, so she may just as well get along with it. She was too tired to fight regardless.