Running.
Because she wants nothing more than to escape.
The rain pelts down harder, as she sprints across the hard forest floor.
She's sick of it all, the endless ridicule, the betrayals.
All she wants is to get away.
Leave the thoughts, the memories, the feelings, leave it all behind.
She runs faster.
She tries to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, on anything but her thoughts.
But it doesn't work, not at all.
And soon the tears are flowing, mixing with the rain on her face.
Yet she keeps on going.
Soon her lungs are aching for air, but she ignores it.
"None of this ever happened. It was all a nightmare. I'll wake up," she repeats to herself, almost obsessively. Because she'll go mad if she tries to face the truth.
She reaches a clearing, and instantly collapses on a rock, sobbing.
Nobody is there to here her heartsick cries.
So she lies there, not moving, for what seems like hours, waiting, praying, for somebody to find her.
But nobody does.
~
Weeks later, she knows she can't last much longer, but she doesn't care.
One night, she just slips away, finally finding her escape.
~
And when a hunter passes through the clearing, he comes across the corpse.
There's still a smile on her face.
The first time she smiled in months.
