Suellen
**Trigger Warning**
Violence

I'm not sure which is worse, my ankle or my heart. I can't erase the image of my good friend's bloody, mutilated body out of my mind. Charlene has released me and is now several feet away, vomiting. Poor Charlene. She and Julie were just as close as Deanna and me. Steady streams of tears flow down my face.

Once Charlene pulls herself together, she wipes the tears from her eyes and returns to my side. She's the most muscular and put-together woman of the four of us. She doesn't waste time getting down to business.

"First and foremost, we need to splint your ankle."

She looks around the area until she finds two pieces of wood that she believes will do the job. She kneels beside me and gently places my lower leg across her lap. She puts the wood on both sides of my ankle and calves and removes the scarf, holding her blonde hair away from her face. Her hair cascades around her angelic face as she secures the wood into place.

"Do you think that you can move? We have to make it to the road to wave down help." She looks at me with her desperate ocean-blue eyes.

"I think that I can."

Charlene stands and offers me her hand. I take it, and she helps me to my feet. I wince when I put weight on my ankle.

"Shit. I can't put weight on it." I look sadly at my friend.

"That's okay, Suellen; you can put your weight on me."

She places her arm under my arm, and I put my arm around her neck.

We begin to make our way out of the woods, going in the same direction that Deanna disappeared in only an hour ago. We don't get far when I trip and fall over a small log hidden by leaves.

I'm so frustrated that I sit there in the middle of the woods and cry like a damn baby.

"Come on, Suellen, we have to keep going," Charlene begs me as I feel sorry for myself.

"Go! I'm only holding you back. Run! Run as fast as you can, and get us help. Please!" I cry, and I see her contemplate my demand.

Tears well up in Charlene's eyes. "I can't leave you," she whispers.

"Yes, you can." I try to think of how I can convince her to leave me. "We're both going to die if you don't run. You have to go."

"NO!" she screams.

I think of another way to make her go. "Hide me."

"What?" Charlene looks at me as if I lost my mind. Maybe I have, but I know that we're both dead if she doesn't get out of here. I guarantee it.

"Hide me, Charlene. Hide me, and run like hell."

I see her mind working. She mulled over my suggestion and started looking for a place to hide me.

"Okay." She finally gives in, and I take a deep breath of relief. "Come on."

When she reaches down to me this time, I take her hand, and she pulls me onto my feet.

"There's some deep brush about ten feet away. Do you think that you can make it there?"

"Yes." I once again lean on her for assistance.

We slowly make our way to the bushes. She helps me to the ground, and I move as far into the thick brush as possible.

"Can you see me?" I ask.

"No, I can't," she responds.

"Run!" That is all that I say before she takes off through the words.

I lay there silently for what felt like hours and prayed that Charlene made it to the road and flagged down a vehicle for help.

Leaves are crunching in the distance. Is this the help I've been waiting for since Charlene left me? No, it's coming from the wrong direction. Shit.

My face is smashed against the damp earth, and breathing in the musty smell of the dusty soil into my nostrils is suffocating. I remain still, my muscles tense as footsteps get closer and closer. The crisp crunch of the autumn leaves gives him away. Holding my breath, I hide in the dense brush, hoping to stay out of the monster's view. Silently, begging for him to pass me by without noticing my body pressed against the damp earth. Crunch, crunch, he's so close to me that I can hear his heavy breathing, and his sweaty, bitter scent assaults my senses.

He halts; his boots come into my view. They're muddy and bloody, and I can't prevent the tears from spilling down my face onto the earth below me. What was supposed to be a pleasant hike through the woods with friends turned into the biggest nightmare of my entire life.

I close my eyes and hold my breath, pleading with the gods above to make this monster keep moving. I scream; pain shoots from my ankles when a beast of a man grabs my ankles and pulls me away from my hiding place. I open my eyes and come face to face with the demon, who, I'm sure, took the life of my friend Julie.

He smirks at me, and I stare his ass down. My anger trumps any fear that I feel. My husband and children flash before my eyes. I know that I'm dead, but if this fucker thinks that I'm going down without a fight, he's got the wrong girl.

He pulls me away from the path to where I know that Julie's body is hanging lifelessly from a tree. I keep quiet and don't give the bastard the satisfaction of another scream. I'm lying on my back, which stings from the scrapes of the forest floor's debris, scratching me raw as he pulls me to his desired location.

He looks down at me curiously. He's a large man with a muscular build, dark, beady eyes, and a crew cut. He's dressed in an orange jumpsuit and boots. I guess that he's a fugitive on the run. I glare at him, sure that he's not used to this type of reaction to him, but fuck him. He took my friend's life, and I can't help the hate I feel for this asshole.

He pulls my sweater up over my head and removes my bra. I don't even try to fight him. I'll bide my time and strike when he least expects it. I want this motherfucker to pay for what he did to my friend. He removes my splint and pulls my leggings off of me. I lay before this lunatic naked, and I don't care. My only thought is to take this asshole down the first chance I get.

I'm shocked when he speaks. "You're very different than any other woman that I've met. Why aren't you afraid of me?"

I look right into his eyes and spit in his face. He slaps me hard, and I don't make a sound. Instead, I stare daggers at him once again.

He pulls a bloody stick from his top and waves it in my face. "I'll create a beautiful masterpiece on you, my soft canvas, just like I did with Julie and the brunette beauty."

What? This bastard got to Deanna before she made it to her truck to get help. I may have had a flash of shock, but it only lasts a second before I once again have my pissed off, and I don't give a shit look back on my face.

He takes the bloody stick and thrusts it into my arm. I don't even feel it in my fury. Do what you have to do, asshole, because, in the end, I'm taking your fucking life. As he works on carving my left arm, I search the forest floor for a sharp stick with my right hand. Success. It's thick and sharp, perfect. I'm waiting for my opportunity.

He starts his assault on my right arm before moving to my abdomen. Go ahead fucker. Do your best work.

He stops and leans back. "Who are you?"

I smirk, and he looks at me with what I can only imagine is respect. Don't respect me, you piece of shit. He plunges his stick into my right breast.

"Fuck you!" I screamed and offered him my left one. He shakes his head in wonder before plunging that same stick into my left breast.

I can see that it's frustrating for him because he's not getting the response from me that he deeply desires. It has to be my anger and adrenaline coursing through my body that overrides the pain. He sits back. His biggest mistake was leaving my arm free. I pull up the sharp stick in my right hand and bury it into his chest, piercing his black heart with full force. He looks at me wide-eyed, in shock, before shoving his stick into my neck and collapsing on top of me.

I'm satisfied when darkness consumes me as this beast, and I take our last breaths.

*****