It was the rain that had washed my head down, shoving the black hair all over my face. It helped. That way, I figured I would never have to see what would happen to the girl. Not clearly anyway.
She never stopped running. Not until she felt safe.
Her heart must've been bursting.
Thudthudthudthud, it had gone. Faster than her feet on the ground.
Her body is drenched, too, but I assumed they were all mixed with her sweat and the rain. Because she had been running… for a long time she had.
The girl never looked behind her. She didn't know who was after her. But she knows if they caught up to her… if she is to stop, to hesitate, weak, she will die.
She never yelled for help. Had she seen me hiding in the plain air, would she otherwise?
She went past me.
I followed.
But it wasn't me that she was running from. Somebody else is behind the two of us.
The wind blew against our direction. My cheeks were freezing, so would hers. My body was burning, so would hers. I could hear my own footsteps against the wet cobblestones. Could she hear it, too? If you had been a prey for a long time, you probably could have.
She ran faster, and I didn't fail.
Her body turned right; I didn't fail.
Left.
There was a car behind us. That had triggered her to run more, as if she had imagined her feet could outpace an engine and tires.
It was one of her many mistakes.
She tripped. Her face hit the ground.
The stones were laughing all over her.
She must've felt hurt. She must've asked for someone.
"It hurts… hurts…" she whimpered.
She wasn't moving. Or that she didn't want to anymore.
But if she stayed there, all of this was for nothing. So I put myself close enough and told her what she was to do: "Run."
She tore off her forehead from the ground with her weak arms, looking all over the place. She couldn't find anyone around. If she thought she was hearing the rain, let her. All that mattered then was that she not get caught.
She was back on her feet.
And she ran.
Until she reached a park with nobody else in it.
She must have figured that if someone was chasing her in a car, they couldn't anymore if there were no roads.
But they were humans that followed her. They had their own pair of legs.
Her heart must've cried to stop. But she won't even if it dies.
She was stronger than I thought. For her to make it this far is proof of the promise her friend told me about.
She can be stronger.
If she survived this.
Gravity did it again. Or was it her legs that gave up?
She tried to get up; she slipped.
She tried to get up; she slipped.
Her mind was strong, her flesh weak.
This time, even if I can't say anything that can help her. If there is anything that can save the girl, it would not be words; it'd be me.
But I have yet to exist for her.
I can only feel sorry.
I hoped she chose the right god to pray to, because her world is only getting darker and darker.
She hadn't been trying anymore.
Maybe she figured out that she couldn't run anymore.
But that didn't stop her.
The girl grabbed a handful of grass and pulled herself forward.
She was running with her hands now.
"Do you want to see her dead?" A voice of a woman at the back of my ear. I didn't turn around, for I knew even if I did, I wouldn't see anyone.
"No, I want her to live."
"She couldn't run anymore; she will die. What are you going to do?"
The question possessed an obvious answer. Yet, "I don't know."
The voice was cackling as if to find everything about this amusing.
"If she yells to help, would you come down as her savior?"
I probably will. But she will never do that. Not anymore.
"My hour has not come," I recited.
"I'm curious what she has to say to that. I'll go talk to her for a while," sang the voice, "I want her to hear the good news. That you will come to her life, to make her finally safe, oh, she must have dreamt of that."
The voice disappeared for a while.
Only the rain and a distant whimpering of a girl filled the silence of the moment.
Then the voice returned, "When I told her the cost of her happiness is to offer her body to you, a man, she wept!"
I closed my eyes, hoping that the voice would disappear once again… and this time forever.
But then I heard a step, splashing a puddle.
There he was, a man with an ear, getting closer to the girl.
When he was just an arm away, the girl turned her body, swinging her fist.
Twack.
It hit the man's head, wobbling him away.
The girl took the opportunity and pulled herself away from him.
The man spat, groaning. He was back again chasing the girl, but now he only had to walk.
Step. Step. Step.
He raised his hand. His shadow cast on top of her head. He was grinning; that motherfuckker was enjoying the moment.
Stop crying. Scream for my help. I'd come down there and take the man's other ear for you. I'd hold it down; I'd grind my knife against the flesh; Or I yanked it off with my teeth.
So, wails!
"Help!"
Thud.
A fist cracking his the back of his skull.
The man staggered away, until finally his legs tripped and brought his body down.
The girl who wailed was saved. But not by me.
Someone in a white hoodie. They and their clothes were not wet like ours; a white umbrella was over her head.
They crouched down to check on the girl. She wasn't moving. She must have used all of her last energy to wail.
Her savior put down her shelter from the rain, carried the girl on their back, and moved.
But before they disappeared in the fog of rain, they turned around as if looking at me.
I never got a good look at their face, but I can tell… they were expecting someone to come.
Maybe it was me.
But that can't be possible.
I have yet to show my existence to any of them. Not Nelly, not her.