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It was only a matter of time before he caught on to you. Blood-stained clothes, an even more battered arm. You were running alongside the darkness, as if you were one of those shadows. Creeping above, hiding in alleys and slipping in and out through the crowd that littered underneath the stars. You were cursing the night owls that had come out to play. With such slick agility, you seemed to weave around and about countless obstacles, like a cat chasing its prey. However, no, you had none, it was you who had begun the prey. The cat was being chased by a much larger being. A panther, was it?
Your hair flicked wildly in the wind, as you ran, and ran, you hadn’t saved any of your energy. It was imperative you get as far away from who was chasing you as fast as possible. Maybe your legs would burn and cramp later, or maybe you’d trip over a rock because of a slight miscalculation when running. Your body was numbed anyways, blood dripped down your nose at the overexertion of muscles, stressing your joints, your tendons that pulled with each movement and jolt you made.
Your clothes, however wrecked and seemingly worn to bits, had clung to your skin and stained with the crimson of your own blood. Your arm flung limply at your side. You saw ahead of you, a train crossing with its arms slowly descending, a sign. In the worst case scenario, you die and your remains are left on the train, splattered upon its windows and blood dripping down its metallic tracks. Best case scenario, you separate yourself from that man and find yourself free another day.
You narrow your eyes, heart running rapidly as if it had been alongside you throughout the chase, stampeding on the ground like a horse beating its hooves to its track. Your resolve begins to strengthen itself, and you continue your pursuit forwards, the peripherals of your vision growing black as you continue to strain yourself. If you stopped for a second, it’d be over. Done. You’d most likely black out and collapse, left at the expense of the pursuer.
Yet, what you failed to realize, or rather stubbornly didn’t take into account because you understood your efforts had a poor chance of success, was the speed of your pursue, who was only taking up a playful prance behind you. This was never a chance to escape, no, it was a playful tease at what could’ve been your freedom. As you reached the tracks, the train already encroaching closer at a neck breaking speed, you could’ve never made it. Your heart falls through your chest, the blinding headlights of the vehicle taking your entire vision from black to white as you feel a tug at your shirt, pulling you back as the aftershock of the train breezes through your hair. A breath you hold unconsciously being whipped out of your lungs once you’re thrown to the ground.
Your chest feels as if it has shattered, your vision became even more blurry than it already was as tears had begun to prick at your eyes. Your heart continued its merciless onslaught on your ribcage, pumping blood up to your head and legs that only caused you to ache further, writhing in pain on the ground. The adrenaline that had taken you such lengths began to wear itself down, and you felt yourself grow even more excruciatingly in pain. You couldn’t even speak, as a figure loomed in your vision, blocking the sky from your vision.
“Darling,” The voice said, the man looking down at your figure through his shades, and you could swear you could see a striking red peek through his dark lenses, “Please don’t fuss.”
Your body shakes, both with fear and pain, as you sputter up blood from your throat, beginning to choke. The man bends lower, and you could smell a slight whiff of salt from his body, a sign of the pursuit that had just taken place. His hair came loose from the tight gelled up style he always had it in, and it surprised you that you were able to think a little clearly in the situation you found yourself in, that of which you were choking on your own blood. He seemed to look down upon you for a moment, and if he were thinking you hadn’t been able to notice, only to assume as his feelings were always hidden behind that mask of his.
He lifts you into his arms, as you dangled helplessly, completely at the mercy of this man, who looked to you as if you were only his plaything, and wordlessly he jumped from his position to a roof to the side, and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop. With every movement, your body groaned and ached, and it was as if he was doing it on purpose too, fingers piercing your flesh with every time he landed upon another platform. Though, it strangely felt euphoric to you, as you could only recall the blissful moments you’ve had up until this point, the hair in your wind felt as if you were running on your own, unwounded and through the forest. Laughing, smiling. A distant memory now lost to the fog, it seemed your brain had its way of protecting you from the physical pain as it brought forth joyful memories.
A deluded smile tugged at your lips, as your body began to enter shock. Though to you, it felt quite nice. As long as you weren’t present, your consciousness that is, left drifting through pure memories. The man who held you looked down to your body and cursed to himself, a few minutes later and they made it to the destination he had in mind. A facility, looked to be in the middle of nowhere, far from the city you once were.
It was a blur to you, but when you awoke you found yourself bedridden. Body sore, it felt as if blisters littered your side but you could find none. Your lips pursed as you remembered the previous day’s events, and couldn’t help but grimace as your hands felt along the bandages that covered your neck, ribs, and your right leg. It seemed you were fed some painkillers, or rather, injected, as you could feel a slight stabbing throughout your body peeking from a cloud of weightlessness. Your mind fuzzy, you could only hold your head, sitting up from your position and taking in your surroundings.
You had just been making your great escape, a chance at freedom. You laughed bitterly, no, it wasn’t a chance of freedom you must remember, but a silly game he decided to play with you. There was no escape, this solidified your helplessness. The door to your room began to creep open, and you ignored the lavish setting you’d found yourself in. It wasn’t foreign afterall, you were always treated fairly nice. It was just this… one time, where he’d found your escape plans that he’d grown angry.
You smiled faintly, as you met the man’s eyes filled with amber hue, “Albert.” You said, quietly, a small whisper through your throat.
He shook his head at you, walking closer and sitting at the edge of the bed. Placing a gloved hand down on the blanket beside him, before your bandaged leg. He was wearing a black long sleeve that had been pulled to his elbows, with slacks and shoes that accompanied the top nicely. You, however, had only worn a silky nightgown, but you wouldn’t fuss.
He sighed, “Really, you must take your medicine.” His voice held a tone of worry, and you finally felt it yourself, a rush of delusion heading its way into your brain once again.
He placed his hand to yours, and you responded, “I’m sorry.” It was all you could muster after the earlier occurrence.
You grimaced at it yourself, realizing it was only your fault you were in such a state. Your mind entered a state of paranoia, mania, hallucination had overtaken your vision and you had left the house late at night, fleeing into the city as if you were being chased. No, it was only your lovely husband who was attempting to rally you before you had killed yourself. Kill yourself, you almost did. You’d even thrown yourself to the ground afterwards, it hadn’t been him. An effect of the mental condition you held, which deteriorated further each day. You didn’t understand how he could deal with you.
He held your hand tightly, as if in conflict with himself before finally taking you in a tight embrace, his tone breaking, “My love,” He said, his shaky voice alerting your heart and it felt as if it had shattered even more, “Please keep taking your medicine, I cannot… bare to see you in such a state.” He chose his words wisely, knowing you were sensitive to it yourself.
You held him back, tightly, “I know, I-I…” You stuttered, “I had forgotten, they weren’t… I think I dropped them somewhere and settled on getting them later.”
His hands seemed to melt into your skin, the warmth of his body and shuddering only served to make tears cascade upon your cheeks even more, apologies sputtering from your mouth before he silenced you with a simple hush. It only took holding each other to know the care held in each of your hearts.