The innocent death

'No', Sylvia thought. 'This can't be happening.'

She was staring at an old poster. Without doubt, there was Sylvia's face in the middle. Her name, Sylvia Ripley, was under the picture. The top part was torn and ripped, but Sylvia could still see the "Wanted Dead or Alive" sign. The rain had soaked the paper, and it was almost impossible to read the description of her. She didn't need to read it anyway. She knew perfectly well why she was on a run.

"It was not me!"

She grabbed the brown poster and crippled it. Even then, her anger did not wash away. She ripped the paper several times before she threw it into a puddle of mud beside her. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. She looked up to prevent any more tears coming out of her eyes. Thunder clouds were forming. It was going to rain soon. Her legs were tired from running. Her feet were dirty and wounded because she had no shoes on. She raised her leg once again and started running. She had to get out of the city before sunrise, before the cops arrived. She could feel the instant pain as she took off again, but she knew that it would get numb once she got used to it. Hot liquid ran down her head. However, she did not realize that it was blood, not sweat. She was hungry and hurt. However, all these feelings were buried under one emotion: Revenge.

'How could she do this to me?', Sylvia wondered. 'Why?'

The thunder clouds were bigger and darker than ever. It started to rain. Rain started to soak her. It was dawn in autumn, and she was already shivering even before the rain. More and more blood came down her neck. She, however, still believed that it was sweat from running. She clenched her fist.

'I will survive. I will survive and get revenge on her.', Sylvia thought repeatedly and desperately as though stopping the thought would kill her instantly.

Then, her sight suddenly turned vague. It wasn't tears that blurred the vision. Her leg stopped working. She could feel herself falling onto the ground. She tried to get up, but her muscles ached all over. She just lay there for however long. All the power in her body was leaking out. She had to get up. She had to. After several trials and failures, she gave up. She stared blankly at the sky. It was sunrise. The sky had turned into all colors. It was magnificent.

'I'm not going to die', she kept on thinking. 'I'm going to live and get my revenge on her.'

However, even as Sylvia kept on lying to herself, she knew that she was dying. Tears came down on her face. It had been a month since she started on the run. She wasn't going to die like this. Not when she was only sixteen and still had things to do. Her head was getting calmer and cooler. She finally realized the puddle of blood underneath her body. She could no longer deny the fact that she was dying. She started to wonder about her enemy.

'What would she be doing right now', she reflected, feeling anger taking over her once again. 'After she killed an innocent man and accused me of the crime?'

There was no point thinking about her, but Sylvia had nothing other than her enemy to think about. By then, it was five in the morning.

'People must be waking up and getting ready to go to work by now.', she thought desperately. 'The police will find me anytime soon. I'm not going to die.'

She screamed, or at least tried to, so that people could hear her. All that came out was weird grunting noise. She was on the breaking point. She couldn't take this anymore. She was only sixteen. Sixteen. She didn't want to die. The horrible pain was swallowing her and pulling her deeper into the deep sea. She cried because that was everything she could do. She was on the point of dying.

"Anyone... Save me...", she moaned. She wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came out of her mouth anymore.

Then, like a miracle, Sylvia saw a man staring at her. He wore a torn rag and an enormous hat. His body was thinner than her, and she had not eaten for almost a week. His hair was long and dirty. It looked as if he had never brushed it even once in his life. He looked more dead than alive. She was horrified at the sight of him, but at the same time, relieved. She was going to live. He would call the police and they would take her to the hospital. With her very last effort, she raised her hand at him. She stared at him miserably. However, the man just stood there. Why isn't he calling the police? Can't he see I am dying? She felt her heart sinking deeper into the darkness. She panicked. This man is a maniac. As she thought of the worst of every possible event, the sullen man finally spoke in a very soft and quiet voice.

"Do you want to live?"

"Yes...", Sylvia managed to pronounce the words, even though the pain was killing her.

"Are you willing to do anything to live?", he asked once more.

Nothing came out of her mouth, but she moved her finger and wrote 'Yes' on the ground. Darkness invaded her thoughts. She could think no more. She couldn't see anything too. Sylvia thought she was going mad. The pain was driving her insane. Then, she heard footsteps. They were light and slow. She wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't as quiet. The footsteps stopped. She could feel the soft wind beside her head and knew that the man was leaning towards her. In a very unpleasant and creepy voice, he whispered to her ears.

"I will save you", the old man continued, "if you give me one thing you loved the most."

The man waited for Sylvia's answer. However, she did not answer back. She could not. She wanted to nod, wanted so badly to live. Tears that had dried up once again formed at the end of her tired eyes. She thought it was crazy to believe such man could revive her. She knew, ages ago, that even if a doctor came, there would have been no chance of living. However, the man started to talk to her once again.

"Open your eyes, and I will take that as a 'yes'."

She spent the last remaining bit of her strength to open her eye. It was barely noticeable, but the man smiled. He stood up.

"You have three chances to make everything right.", he said.

He continued his speech, but Sylvia couldn't hear it. She could not only hear, but she also could no longer see, no longer feel, no longer breath. She was dead, just like that.