The Good Neighbor (27 page)

I couldn’t let that happen. I
wouldn’t
let it happen.

I was nearly naked now, as my blouse was
ripped to shreds, and they had taken my pants and panties. I was
even missing a shoe. My hair was in knots, some of it having been
torn out in handfuls. My scalp was burning. I smelled a sweet,
unfamiliar smell coming from my lower body. My stomach turned. My
whole body ached.

I was filthy and smelled horrible, and I
couldn’t help but cry as I stumbled on into the darkness. The salty
tears ran down into some of the cuts on my face and made them sting
worse than they already did. Still, I barely noticed. That pain was
nothing compared to the constant burning and stinging that emanated
from between my legs. It felt like those monsters were still
ripping apart my tender flesh.

Of all the times in my life that I wished I
wasn’t fat and was in better shape, this one counted the most. I
needed to be able to run quickly, but the extra weight I carried
held me back, slowing me down. I hated myself so much for being fat
at that moment that I almost stopped running. I wanted to let them
come find me and start all over again with their torture and
torment. It would almost be better anyway. Wouldn’t I rather die
now than live the rest of my life knowing what they had done to me,
and with knowing that it was all because I was fat? If they found
me, the torment would continue, but I also knew that I would not
escape twice. They would kill me, and death wasn’t looking like
such a bad thing at this point. At least the pain and misery would
end.

While I was thinking of dying to end my
suffering, my steps slowed to no more than a jog. For another
minute, I thought of whether to pick up my pace or stop altogether.
I thought about what my father would do and say once he found out
what happened. I couldn’t keep this a secret. I shuddered to think
of how I must look. My father would blame me, and he’d look at me
for the rest of my life with disdain and disgust. He’d looked at me
with little more than that my whole life. I’d always felt that he
was ashamed of me and this would surely only add to that. My mother
was what made me run. No matter what my father said or did, my
mother would be crushed if she lost me. My mother never acted
ashamed of me. She was never afraid to let me know that she loved
me, and I’d always appreciated that. My father never showed any
love or affection for me, but my mother had made up for it as best
as she could. I couldn’t let her down. So I ran harder than
before.

My legs were weak, and getting weaker by the
second. I needed to stop and catch my breath, but I couldn’t risk
it. I had to get help. If they caught me, it would be over.

I don’t know how long I ran, but it felt like
days. My feet were sore and blistering, especially the one missing
a shoe. I couldn’t hear them cheering and calling out my name
anymore, but faintly, somewhere up ahead in the distance, I could
hear a vehicle pass occasionally. I knew I was near a highway and
if I wanted to live, I had to get to it.

Every time I thought I should be at the
highway, I’d hear a vehicle and realize I’d been running in the
wrong direction. I’d turn and run in the direction where I’d heard
the last vehicle, only to hear the next one off to the right or
left. I was going in circles and I knew it. I fought to keep from
panicking.

I was sure I was running in the right
direction until I came to the top of a small hill. What I saw at
the bottom of the hill stopped me. My knees quivered and nearly
buckled beneath me. My heart stopped pounding. In fact, it seemed
to stop beating altogether. The forest grew silent, though only in
my mind. There were no sounds, not even my labored breathing. Then,
I realized I wasn’t breathing. I blinked quickly, trying to clear
my vision in the eye with which I could still see. I wanted to make
sure that what I thought I was seeing was what I was really seeing,
and it was. It was the three of them.

They’d heard me run up the other side of the
hill. They looked at me and time seemed to stop. The three of them
in unison stood and stared at me. Suddenly, my heart and the world
started again, only both were going too fast. I screamed.

Panic took hold of my body. I ran harder than
before; faster than I had ever ran in my life. I was scared. I
expected my heart to pound the flesh open on my chest and beat its
way out. It was hard to take a breath and it hurt like hell when I
let it out, but I was running to save my life. I could recover
later, but I had to move now.

I heard them coming up the hill after me! I
tripped and fell several times, but I was up as soon as I hit the
ground.

“Annie! Annie!” They called repeatedly. They
were still taunting me, still laughing at me, and still cursing me.
If they caught me, they’d kill me for sure. There were many times
in my life that I’d wished I were dead and there would surely be
many more, but right now, I was certain that I did not want to die.
Especially not this way. It would mean that they won, and worse
than that, no one would miss me other than my mother.

The next thing I knew, bright lights shone
directly into my eyes. I heard tires squealing on the asphalt. I
was relieved. They couldn’t get me now.

I stopped running.

A man jumped out of his truck and ran around
to the front where I stood paralyzed by shock.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sounding nearly as
scared as I was.

I felt him take my elbow in his hand. I tried
to tell him what had happened to me in the woods, and that I needed
to get to the hospital. I needed to tell him that I had to get away
from them – and that they were coming – but I couldn’t find my
voice.

Then, everything went black.