1 Prologue

(5 years ago...)

Shelby lay numb on the bare cold ground on a rather warm day. Her eyes fluttered open weakly as the dying embers of the sun pierced her eyelids. The light rays peeked through the rustling leaves of the giant tree under which she lay. She struggled to form any coherent thoughts. Shelby felt tired and weak even in her sprawled and helpless position. It was so much that she wanted to cry but she was emotionally spent!

'Is this how it feels to die? Am I even dead yet? I should be…. Right?'

The pain had long since 'faded away' as she felt the life draining from her. She couldn't help but still think, '...But why do I feel no pain despite…'

Yeah, it's only been a few short minutes, but the occurrences were just too unbelievable for her, who now lay in a pool of her own blood!

She coughed out weakly. A splutter of blood gushed out, nearly choking her. A small trail of blood followed and down her mouth as she wheezed, trying to get in as much air as possible. But no matter how much she tried, the 'suffocating feeling' building up did not reduce. It felt like a pile of bricks was being pressed on her chest, even though there was no such thing.

She used all her willpower to try to raise her hand to wipe the blood but gave up halfway as her hand slumped back onto the ground. There just was no strength in them!

"Is this really the end?"

Shelby turned her head weakly and lightly glimpsed the retreating back of her assailant. He never once turned back. Neither did he look panicked. The fact that he did this in broad daylight but still …

'But why is there no pain?' She briefly wondered. She'd been battered quite brutally, and he had left her for dead. She was sure he had left because, like him, she knew in her guts that she would never survive this much blood loss. The warm, sticky liquid steadily flowed out of her, and she couldn't do a thing about it.

A few moments earlier, she had walked here on her own two legs with the man who was like family to her, the only father figure she had grown up to know. But little did she know that her end was near. It is indeed right to fear those closest to you.

'No! I can't just lie here and do nothing…. I must try- to do something…. I mean anything!' she thought as her eye landed on her phone not far from her.

Hope surged through her.

Shelby struggled to get herself up or at least reach for it. It was just about fifty metres from her, but it seemed so far away that she tried to reach it with all her might but to no avail. 'I can call for help only if I get it. This is my last string to life!'

"Uhhhh!" she groaned in pain from the slight movement as more blood gushed out, and she slowly faded out.

She did not know how much time had passed, but when she managed to open her eyes again, the sun had long since set. Shelby was sure that she had heard various voices around her. Her unfortunate incident had occurred on the remote side of a public park.

Her trembling hands reached for her abdomen, riddled with knife wounds. He had stabbed her multiple times and left with the blade. 'Of course, he wouldn't have left with any incriminating evidence...'

She had also been beaten to a pulp. Her face had swollen with bruises, and she tried to think of what she had done to deserve this. One thing the man had said just before the final thrust of the knife gave her a fair idea of this.

'You should be grateful that you caught my interest, and you dare resist me!' He had spat on her with a look of disgust masked with lust!

'If I am still alive, there should be hope. I cannot sit here casually for the grim reaper to come for me,'

She moved at a snail's pace, unwrapped her shawl from around her neck and tried to press it on the wounds to stop blood flow.

When the voices approached her, she called out in barely a whisper, "He-lp m-e…. Pl-ea-se, s-omeone… please help." It took all of her reserved strength to call out as she felt another wave of faintness wash over her.

Not far from her, two lovers were taking a stroll, and one paused briefly.

"Did you hear that?"

"What? Are you hallucinating again?"

"I think someone called out for help!"

"What? Did the person whisper it in your ears?" the second person asked and rolled her eyes.

"At this remote side, who will be here but us?"

"At least keep quiet, and let's listen again!"

"Stop with your nonsense, and let's go," the person said as she dragged her friend away further from where Shelby lay behind the bushes about 150 metres from them.

"P-lease… help!"

Shelby managed to say again before she blacked out yet once again.

'I a-m s-oo- c-old!' Shelby's fragile and battered body shivered slightly in the cooling night.

'This time I should be dead, right?' were her thoughts again as her eyes fluttered open yet again to the night sky. Her lips felt cracked and parched. The trail of blood had dried up on her face from her chin to her neck.

She tried to take huge gasps of air but to no avail. As her last strands of life faded right before her eyes, she heard it: the crunch of leaves and the unmistakable footsteps heading right towards her direction, bringing with them hope.

She had no energy to react or call out as she had done previously.

The footsteps stopped right by where she lay as the person squatted by her. He pressed two fingers by her warm throat and muttered to himself,

"Alive but barely hanging on…" he observed her for a bit and then added, "With this much blood loss, she won't survive anyway."

He then stood up and turned to leave. Using her last ounce of strength, Shelby pleaded, "P-pleas-e h-elp me…"

Her voice came out as a cracked, raspy whisper, but it was very clear in the dead of the night.

He stopped and turned, "What do I get in return?" his deep, husky, almost monotone voice sounded in her ears. Considering the circumstances, it seemed like a ridiculous question from him, but she had no mind seeing this point.

"An-yth-ing!"

"I hope you don't regret this!"

He looked at the pitiful girl on the ground in her own pool of blood and then squatted back down. But instead of calling 911 as Shelby had thought he would. The man propped her up gingerly by the tree trunk under which she lay. He firmly pressed on the wounds on her abdomen and tied the shawl around her waist and over the wound.

Shelby watched him intently and instinctively shrunk back as he brought out a knife. Her heart sank, and a slight panic set in.

'Haven't I had enough of knives for one day?' she thought.

Disregarding her reaction, he slashed her palm and did the same with his. She didn't even feel the pain from it compared to her injuries; that was nothing! She watched as the blood droplets dripped to the ground as if it took minutes instead of fractions of seconds. His hooded gaze watched her as he clasped and intertwined their bloody hands, muttering some words under his breath.

A few seconds passed, and Shelby started feeling it! The pain! So immense that she knew this time without a doubt that she would die from it. She opened her mouth wide and screamed as unbearable and excruciating pain rocked her body.

___

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