1 Sweet time

"Run as fast and as far as you can." Was the constant reminder in her head, pushing her to keep going even after stumbling.

The night was cold, but it was colder in the forest. It was dark, with only the crescent moon to give it light.

It was quiet except for the chirping sound of insects, the hooting of owls, and the cracking and squeaking of twigs and dried leaves as a girl ran as fast as she could in the eerie forest with no one to save her from the possible killer.

Running through the forest grounds had ruined her dress; it was ripped in so many places that even simple stitching would be useless. Her once smooth skin was now carrying so many cuts and bruises. Some of them came from a fight she merely escaped from.

The night was cold, as was her body, which was quickly losing blood from the spot where she was stabbed. Just below her abdomen, the knife hilt projected out.

Her pace slowed down as she stopped right behind a huge tree, gasping for air and groaning in pain. She leaned her back on the tree, placing a little stick that she had picked, between her teeth. She placed her hands slowly on the hilt of the knife.

Gritting her teeth as much as she could, she took a firm grip before pulling it out in agony. Her legs trembled hard before finally giving way as she fell on her knees.

She let out a labored breath. Sticking her head out from behind the tree, she looked in the direction she had come to check if there was still someone chasing her.

When she didn't see anyone, she retracted her head, giving out a sigh of relief but it was short-lived.

"How could you let her slip away?!" Her heart raced upon hearing the voice. Anger laced the tone of his voice. There could only be one owner to this voice. She reasoned. 'The bastard, Sullivan.'

"Sir Sullivan," one of the comrades said, "she must not have gone far; she was wounded with a knife that was dipped in poison." At the same time, she coughed up dark blood from her mouth.

"Then what are you all standing here for? Spread out and find her! I want her dead or alive." Sullivan commanded.

Everywhere soon turned quiet after some sounds of cracking twigs were heard. Her hand reached the side of her waist, where a tiny pouch lay. Bringing out a small bottle from inside it, she opened the lid.

"Who knew I would be needing you?" She put two drops of the content in her mouth and on the spot where she was stabbed.

Her thoughts went to the time when she was with her brother.....

"Nessa! Nessa!" A young boy of about 14 years ran up to her with a smile on his face and said, "Look what the old lady gave to me." He raised his hand to show her; it was a bottle like the one she had with her.

"You mean Lady Rose." She tried to correct him, but he only gave a nod. "What is inside the bottle?"

"Medicine. She says it slows down the effect of a poison in the body, giving the victim enough time to reach the physician for treatment. "Just a few drops is all it takes." He spoke with enthusiasm.

"And what do you plan on doing with something like that?" She questioned with little to no interest in the matter, "Unless you plan on poisoning yourself to see if it really works."

He gave out a hearty laugh, "Don't be sarcastic, Miss Storm," he addressed her, "you know me better than anyone else."

"Indeed, I do, but I never thought I was being sarcastic, my dear Thomas Storm." She retorted.

"I am going to sell it in the local market; I'm sure it would be worth more than six gold coins. Please keep it safe for me."

"And why would I do that? Try asking elder sister instead." Vanessa looked at him like he had made a dumb request.

"The local market is in only two days. Keep it for just two days. Please…" Raising up two fingers to prove his point.

"Alright, just two days." She replied, taking the bottle from his hand and then putting it inside her tiny pouch.

He went to hug her. "You're the best."

"Thank you. Now let go of me." He did as he was told.

"I'll be going to see our grandparents in the next town." Thomas informed.

"Have you already told Papa?"

"Mm."

"Send my greetings to them and take care. Don't get into trouble."

"Always." With a smile on her face, she ruffled his hair.

The smile on her face fell as her thoughts came to the present. She stood up from where she sat.

Her left hand clutched on to the wound, trying to put pressure on it to reduce the loss of blood, as she started to run again with no idea of where exactly she was going; all she wanted was to find a safe zone.

But little did she know that there was nothing called safe zone in the forest, especially the part she was heading.

It was much easier for her to run in the forest than before, as she had torn some parts of her dress. She had stumbled a lot before, while running with her full length dress, which reached just below her ankle.

Her head was beginning to feel light, and she took a deep breath as she tried to hold on to her consciousness.

This time, she walked hurriedly instead of running.

Unbeknownst to her, she was making her way deeper into the forest, where most eyes had not seen, and if anyone did see it, they soon met their death.

She heard the wolf-like howl from a distance, and her feet could only turn numb. Her heart pounded in her chest as though it was going to burst out of its rib-cage. She started running again, but it felt like the more she ran, the more the howling could be heard, and her fear was in no way helping as her heart continued to beat very fast until she reached an open field.

The moment she stepped away from the forest to enter the field, the sky turned cloudy and thundered.

Her wound had grown worse, and the bleeding was not stopping. As she ran across the field, some of her blood dripped from her to touch the surface of the ground, which was quickly absorbed by the earth.

This action went unnoticed by Vanessa as she continued to run. She was quick to find a shelter before it started to pour.

Lightning struck from the cloud. It rained heavily, and she really wanted to go into the rain to wash her body, but she had no other clothes to wear.

She stood there for a while listening to the pattering of the rain on the roof and on the ground until she heard sounds from behind her, making her wonder if even after all her running she had not been able to keep all her possible killers off her trail.

And it felt like whatever it was, was actually taking its sweet time. Waiting for her to do something stupid so it could pounce on her. Her heartbeat, which had been calm a while ago, returned to its hurried pace.

Her head snapped back to look behind her, but she didn't see anything or anyone. And that alone should have calmed her down, but her heart rate only grew worse.

Her gaze was fixed ahead as she took slow, quiet steps backward. It wasn't an easy task looking for something in the dark, especially when you are just a mere human. Vanessa continued to take slow steps backward, only for her back to hit a hard wall.

'No, this was no wall.' she thought as she slowly turned around. Her doe eyes met those of a dull red one.

Though she couldn't see who it was, the red eyes were enough to scare the hell out of her. She wanted to scream or maybe run away, but even before she could...