Run
1162 Words
HAZEL
I stumbled back, my chest heaving, and fell right onto the ground, landing hard on my back. Pain shot through my shoulder as I hit the dirt with a thud. My head spun, and I squinted, trying to make sense of the shadow looming over me.
Everything I thought I saw was still there, a gun, a rifle, and a man. Tall. Broad. Bare-shouldered. Standing above me with an expression that made my blood run cold.
It was Luca.
My stomach dropped. Luca hated me. His disdain for me was clear and unhidden. He didn’t even see me as a person just another one of Axel’s toys, another noise in the background.
“Hazel,” he said, his slow, deliberate smile sharp and biting. “You really don’t know what’s good for you, do you?”
I tried to scramble backwards, my hands clawing at the dirt, but the underbrush caught me. “Luca, I.....” but I couldn’t find the words to continue.
He sneered down at me, cutting me off as he stepped closer. “Your words,” he mocked. “Say it. I want you to finish the words. What were you going to say?”
I shivered. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but my legs wouldn’t obey. I couldn’t breathe. A dozen scenarios flashed through my head.
Why was Luca here?
Was he here to kill me?
Was that why he had the rifle?
Or… was he here to save me?
Did Axel send him to find me?
But this was Luca. I didn’t know how to talk to him, I didn’t even know how to look at him. Still, I had to ask. I had to know whether I was facing salvation or hell.
“Did Axel send you?” My voice cracked. “Are you here to take me back?”
He laughed, raising the rifle slowly, just enough for the sunlight to catch on its metal edge.
“You think Axel sent me to protect you?” he murmured, amused. “No. He sent me to do something else. You seem to forget your place, Hazel. I’m here to get rid of you.”
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst. “Luca, please....”
He laughed again, darker, crueller. A sound that made my skin crawl.
“You’re nothing, Hazel,” he said. “You mean nothing to anyone. Nothing to me. Nothing to Axel. You’re just another girl who thinks she can play with the big dogs.” He leaned closer, eyes glinting. “But your time’s up.”
My chest tightened. “I’m not....really, I’m not. I just want to leave. I swear if you let me go, I’ll never come back. I’ll disappear. Please, just let me go.”
Luca watched me for a moment, silent, unreadable. Then he said, “Okay. Run.”
For a second, I didn’t believe him. But then hope.....wild, desperate hope lit inside me. I pushed myself up, my legs shaking, and started to run.
Not even five steps forward — bang!
A gunshot.
I screamed and ran faster, my heart in my throat. But I wasn’t watching my footing, and the next second I hit the ground again, hard. Pain exploded in my knees and palms as I hit the dirt.
Behind me, I heard him laughing. Low and mocking. I froze. Tears burned my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I’m really...really sorry. Just let me go.”
“I gave you a chance to go,” he said as his footsteps approached. “But it seems like you don’t want to leave, do you?”
I shook my head, trembling. “No, no, please…”
He crouched down just enough to look me in the eye, a dark curiosity flickering in his expression. “What do you want, Hazel?”
My lips quivered. “Just let me go. Please.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I will let you go. But what are you going to give me in return?”
I froze.
He leaned closer, his voice low, dangerous. “Because I’m expected to go back with your head. And if I don’t…” His smirk widened. “It’ll be hell to pay. And I don’t do things for free.”
He tilted his head slightly. “So tell me, Hazel. What are you going to do for me? What do you have to offer?”
I shook my head vehemently.
“I don’t have anything to give you, Luca. Please. I have no money. I have no...nothing. Please. Just let me go. I swear I’ll disappear. I don’t even want to be here, you know this. Please, just let me go. Just look somewhere deep inside your soul and.....”
But before I could finish, Luca laughed again. The sound was harsh, cruel, echoing through the trees like something unholy. He stood up slowly, his eyes cold and detached as he looked down at me.
He had never looked at me that way before, almost with disgust. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Do you want to know what’s in my soul?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous. “I’m a killer, Hazel. Okay? I know you don’t have money… but I know you have something else.”
The way he said it made my blood run cold. I kind of felt where his words were going, where his mind was going, but I didn’t want to take him there.
I pressed my palms together in a pleading motion. “Please…”
He used the barrel of his rifle to push my hands back down, forcefully breaking the prayer I was trying to offer him. Then, with that same rifle, he lifted the barrel to my chin and grazed it lightly along my skin.
“I don’t like you,” he said. His tone was calm, almost casual, which made it so much worse. “But Axel seems to like something about you. Maybe it’s the s*x. Maybe I also want to know what you’re good at.”
I didn’t even think. I didn’t even know where I got the strength. But I slapped him.
Or at least....I tried to. He caught my wrist in midair, his grip locking around it like steel. He held it tight. Very tight. Too tight. Pain shot through my arm and I winced.
“Let me go,” I whispered.
“You think you can hit me? You think you can raise your hand and touch me?” he snapped.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trembling.
But it didn’t matter. He shoved me back with sudden force, and I hit the ground hard. My head slammed against the solid earth, a burst of pain radiating through my skull. I gasped, one hand instinctively going to my back.
Luca straightened, his shadow looming over me. He pointed the rifle directly at my face.
- Writer
