Everything was black. I looked up at the sky that peeked through the trees. It was overcast. Not a hint of the moon was visible. I tried to walk forward but a branch smacked me in the face. I made progress through the woods by holding my arms out in front of me and taking one tentative step, then stopping and listening for any sounds to guide me in the right direction. Ginny had to know that I wasn’t behind her anymore. She would’ve reached the clearing by now. The well-worn path through the woods to the cemetery that had once existed was now a tangle of brush and young trees. No one visited the graves often, it seemed. Suddenly I was afraid. I was in the middle of the woods with only a general idea of which way to go. No light of any kind to guide me. I leaned against a tree and took a deep breath. I heard the scurrying of small feet not too far from me and I wrapped my arms around myself.
“Ginny.” I said it, but it was kind of a whisper yell. For some reason I was afraid to scream her name. She was on the lam and I didn’t want to get her into trouble. There was no answer. No sound of footsteps. Nothing.
I pushed myself off the tree and started walking again. It was painstakingly slow. I couldn’t see the overhanging branches and was hit about my head and shoulders. I bumped my shin on a thick branch that had fallen across the path and it hurt like hell. I was rubbing my leg when I heard footsteps. The crunching of the autumn leaves and dry pine needles were unmistakable. And it wasn’t the sound of little animal feet. They were big human footsteps. “Ginny?” I said again. “Ginny, is that you?” There was no response. Little pinpricks went up my spine.
I suddenly didn’t care about branches hitting me or bumping my legs. Someone was out here. Quietly stalking me. I was in a half run when it suddenly occurred to me that I had come full circle. I’d been running through these very same woods trying to find the front gate not that long ago. Dylan had boosted me over the fence and I’d tramped in circles, not sure of where I was going. I wasn’t even sure now. Just then something hit me full force in the face. Something hard and rough. I fell flat on my back and grabbed my nose. Moisture came off on my hand. Blood? Pain spread out across my face. I lay there on my back staring up at blackness when I heard the footsteps again. Close.
I pushed myself to a sitting position. Wetness rolled down onto my lips. Blood. Salty coppery blood. I tried to wipe it away but the pain near my nose was excruciating “Hello.” I called out. Even the movement of my mouth caused agony. My head was spinning. I heard footsteps again. Right near me. And then I blacked out.
There were voices in the distance. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I knew they were there. More than one. Something in the back of my head told me to scream to them for help. But the words didn’t reach my lips. Every so often I felt pain and then it would dim. There was a sensation of someone standing over me but I couldn’t open my eyes. I coughed up the bloody taste of burned pennies. Hands on me. Of being moved. A stabbing pain in my arm and then nothing.