Page 18 of The Wallflower

Maybe the next best option is to bow out before I find myself in over my head. Which might be a viable plan if I had any indication as to which way is out. I'm surrounded by towering pines and underbrush. Every so often, a lantern is on a post driven into the ground. I've been trying to stay away from those light sources to avoid getting caught. I don't even see any lights from the distant estate or nearby campus.

Shit. What have Idone?

A soft voice filters through the dark. "Bel...come out and play with me! You know you want to."

Fear slithers up my spine, and I cover my mouth with my hands and press back into the tree trunk, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Why is he hunting me when he can have his choice of any of the girls tonight? I'm nobody. Nothing in his rich, spoiled world.

Maybe he felt like I'd challenged him by telling him no at the library? Now he needs to satisfy his jock-boy ego.

Either way, I fear what happens if he catches me.

The voice in the dark comes again. "This could have been a pleasant experience. Hell, I might have even tried being nice to you."

I fold my lips in and add pressure to the hand at my mouth, all while resisting the urge to screambullshitin the direction the voice is coming from. Nice isn't in that man's vocabulary, and I know that from seeing him for five minutes.

The reality of it is that his taunting is starting to piss me off. If he's going to stand out here and shout lies at me, what's the fucking point? A small part of me knows what he’s doing. He wants me to react, and he's trying to draw me out. I just wish it wasn't working because it is, and that pisses me off even more.

What does this asshole want with me, anyway?

The couple in the bushes a few yards away finally finish. She goes out into the darkness alone again, and the guy cuts through the trees, smiling.

Then I hear voices, his and the guy chasing me.Shit. Shit. Shit.

If I go quietly while he's distracted, maybe I can put some distance between us and possibly win this thing. Hope blooms inside my chest. Carefully, I slide away from the tree, staying low, my eyes trained on the ground and any objects that might reveal my escape. I can still hear them chatting away somewhere behind me. I hold on to that as I move quicker and deeper into the woods.

Once the voices fade, I stand upright and move as fast as my tired legs will carry me. All I hear is the swooshing of blood in my ears mixed with my own heavy breathing.

It feels like I've been walking for hours at this point. There’s a chill in my bones, and my legs and feet ache. Never mind the regret I’m now having for signing up for this stupid event.What was I thinking?

You were thinking you needed to help your mom.But if I have no hope of getting to this damn cabin, then why am I still out here torturing myself?

I keep walking for what feels like forever. The forest I cut through feels thicker, with more logs and bushes around. I have to skirt large trees and shuffle through the underbrush.

It's thicker here, and maybe that means fewer people are trampling through this area. It might be a good sign if my legs weren't burning and the extra effort here wasn't slowing me down.

Fuck. You know what?It's against the rules they announced at the beginning, but I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and hold my hand over the screen. I push the button to light it up, but nothing...shit...there’s no service.

And I can't risk using it for the light either.Dammit.

I shove it back into my pocket and scan the woods for any clues I could be going in the right direction.

There's the sound of water from the right somewhere. If I hear the falls and the river on that side, then I'm still going the right way. Maybe the best place to start would be to go to the water and find the cabin up the river bank. It would take longer but likely keep me out of the main hunting area.

Best of all, it's a plan, and a good strategy always makes me feel better about life.

I turn toward the sound of the water and start heading that way. I walk and walk and then walk some more. My heels throb, and my legs burn, but none of that matters if I can keep myself out of the lion’s mouth.

Hunting for the water, I miss a log lying in my path and trip, going ass up in the dirt.

My knees hit first, then my palms, and finally, my cheek skids across the ground.Ugh.

I hit hard, the breath in my lungs knocked out of me, and for a moment, I lie like that in the dirt. My fists clench tight as my rage boils over inside. Tears leak out of the corners of my eyes, and I swipe them away with my dusty palms.

The urge to scream is almost overwhelming, and I bite my lip to repress it. Allowing nothing but a groan to slip past as I press up off the ground and roll over onto my ass. I don’t feel bad for myself often, especially when I know others out there have worse circumstances, but right now, in these dark woods, where I’m alone and cold, I give in to that self-pity. More angry tears fall, and I hate every single one that escapes.

It's fine.I lean my back against the offending log and give myself a second to rest and breathe. I just need a minute to pull myself together and consider my next move.Oneminute.

Crickets break up the silence around me. At least I didn't fall face-first into someone's ass. The mere thought makes me gag. Then again, now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've seen anyone else… I don’t know if I should be worried or hopeful. If this is the direction of the cabin, and no one else is headed this way, then I might be on the right track. If it’s not, well… I don’t allow myself to think further on that.