Parker felt a twinge of relief pas through him as Rosalie turned and ran, her dark waves flying around her as her feet hit the ground. Parker waited until he could no longer see Rosalie in the darkness before running in the opposite direction. He knew that Christopher would try to follow them into the darkness and Parker was not going to let him get to Rosalie.

He ran into the unknown, pushing past the trees that surrounded him and used the moonlight to navigate through the forestry. He ran hard and fast, narrowly avoiding falling over numerous times. 

Once he was sure that he was quite far away from the cabin he stopped, leaning back against the trunk of a tree, his chest rising and falling at a rapid pace.

He had no idea where Benjamin or Sadie were, and the chance that he would find them was pretty low. He had told Rosalie that he would try to find them, but that wasn’t what he was doing when he told her to run. He was trying to save her at any cost, maybe even his life.

He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the gravity of the situation he was about to force upon himself. He drew his body away from the tree, turning to face the direction he was pretty sure he had come from.

‘QUICK ROSE!’ he screamed out loudly, the sound echoing through the forest.

He had to make Christopher think that Rosalie was with him so that the man wouldn’t go looking for her in the real direction she was running in.

Parker needed Rosalie to make it out of this, he needed her to go find help and to be safe. He owed that to her, to do whatever it took to keep her safe, to get her back home to Mackenzie.

Parker was tried, he had been awake for god knows how long, stuck in the cabin, swimming, walking through the woods, running from a psychopathic serial killer, the usual.

Exhaustion and Adrenaline were fighting a malicious war inside of Parker, and he didn’t know whether to run or to pass out. Parker’s hands were shaking, and he could barely think straight with the mixture of fear and exhaustion flowing through his veins.

He decided to keep going, he had to get himself away from Christopher. He had only taken a few steps though when he heard the unmistakeable sound of something making its way through the forests behind him. The crunch of leaves and heavy sounds of breathing were echoing around Parker, who looked around himself frantically, eyes searching for the danger that awaited him.

In the moonlight, Parker could just see a dark silhouette making its way towards him.

Christopher had found him.

Parker pressed his back against the nearest tree, shielding his body from the man who was still running in his direction.

The loud breaths and crunching of leaves stopped for a moment, and Parker held his breath.

‘I know you two are out here!’

Christopher’s voice echoed through the trees, his loud, booming tone scattering birds high up in the treetops.

‘You aren’t getting out of these woods!’

Parker moved against the tree slowly, sliding around it slightly to poke his head out of the side, eyes searching for Christopher.

The man dressed in black stood only a few trees over, one hand grasping the hilt of his blade while the other rested heavily against a tree trunk as he fought to catch his breath. Blood was still dripping from the cut on his face, droplets cascading down his neck.

Parker moved back behind the tree, focusing on keeping his breath even and quiet, and not moving his feet, knowing the single break of a twig could set the other man in his direction. It seemed like the world had stopped, like the only thing that mattered was this moment, was whether Christopher found him or not.

Parker wondered how it had come to this, how he had ended up pressed against a tree, breathing what could be his last breaths, while he hid from someone who used to be his friend. Parker wondered if Christopher would enjoy plunging his knife into his friend’s neck, watching the blood fall from his body to the ground below, and it made his stomach churn.

Parker closed his eyes, pressing his head back up against the tree silently, hoping that Christopher would keep going.

It was then that he heard the crunch of leaves again, indicating Christopher’s slow calculating steps towards him.

Parker opened his eyes and turned his head to the right, only to come face-to-face with the man he had been hiding from. There was a gleam in Christopher’s eyes, like he knew he had won.

‘Hello Parker’

Parker tried to run away, propelling away from the tree and lunging in the other direction, but Christopher had a firm grip on his arm in an instant. Parker was pulled back to the tree, his head hitting the bark with a fair deal of force, making his head spin for a moment and making his vision blurry for a few seconds.                         

‘You,’ Christopher started, pressing his face close to Parkers while simultaneously brining the knife up to rest against the delicate skin of Parker’s neck, ‘are going to tell me right now where Rosy is.’

Parker drew in a few shallow breaths, looking into the cold, hard eyes of his former friend. ‘You won’t ever find her,’ He said harshly, spitting the words out.

Christopher laughed, a hard sound which Parker never wanted to hear again. ‘I will find her, and I will kill her,’ He moved the knife across Parker’s skin slowly as he spoke, the pressure not enough to draw blood, but the threat was there. ‘I will drag this blade across her perfect skin, and I will watch as the life fades from her eyes. The only difference is that if you tell me where she is I will kill you quickly, and believe me, the alternative is much less desirable’

That was the moment that Parker realised he needed a plan, because Christopher was going to kill him, no doubt about it.

Parker widened his eyes, looking just past Christopher’s head, and shook his head quickly but subtly.

This made Christopher’s evil smile gleam, ‘It seems like you don’t need to tell me.’ He dropped the knife from Parker’s neck and turned his head, looking into the darkness which held nothing, and Parker felt a little relieved, his plan had worked.

‘Run Rose!’ Parker screamed, and Christopher shut him up, plunging the knife deep into Parker’s left bicep.

Parker screamed out, his hand flying up to clutch at his arm, blood seeping through his fingers.

Christopher’s eyes met Parkers for a moment and as hard, green eyes met soft, wide blue ones, it seemed like the world had stopped spinning. Parker broke the contact first, fear and pain overcoming him thoughts. Parker tightened his fingers around his bleeding arm and tried to move his fingers and arm, but pain filled his entire body and he whimpered.

Christopher smirked before looking back into the forest. Parker took that as his opportunity, running away from Christopher. Parker figured that Christopher must have decided that Rosalie was more important as the other man didn’t follow him.

Parker’s steps were less calculated as they had been before, most of his attention on the pain that filled his left side. He narrowly avoided tripping over a log, and came close to running into trees as he attempted to navigate his way through the darkness.

He stopped and turned, but he didn’t see Christopher, or hear the tell-tale sounds which indicated someone moving through the forest. Christopher must have been searching where he thought Rosalie was.

Parker had intended to run away from Christopher but also in a different direction to Rosalie, for fear of leading Christopher to her, but as Parker looked around, he was completely unsure of the direction he was heading in.

He looked down at his arm, the blood seeping through his fingers and coating his arm all the way down to the tips of his fingers. Parker breathed out heavily and turned his eyes away from the painful wound. He needed to get the bleeding under control before he lost any more blood, yet he had no way to do that.

He decided to just get as far away from Christopher as possible so he kept going, his feet moving fast beneath him. His feet felt heavy and it seemed like the trees were spinning around him. He didn’t know how long he ran, but before he knew it he was uneven on his feet and his breath came in heavy, sporadic gasps. He fought to keep upright, but he was losing.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Rosalie only just saw it in the moonlight, the large shape which was hidden behind a mass of trees. She stopped running and turned, trying to make out the shape in the darkness it was hidden in. She hesitantly made her way through the thick mess of trees towards it.

She realised that it was a cabin. It was much different to the cabin which she had just come from, this one was older, the windows were missing glass and the few steps which lead to the door were broken and fragile looking. The cabin looked uninhabited, but Rosalie needed help, and if there was a chance that people were here, then she was going to try.

The forest cleared around the cabin, and stepping out of the secure line of trees made Rosalie feel somewhat vulnerable and exposed. Her eyes searched the area for any dangers, but she couldn’t see anything strange.

Rosalie looked at the stairs she was about to make her way up and she frowned. The wood was broken and cracked in many places, not exactly secure. She got the railing in a firm grip and quickly climbed the few stairs, letting out a breath when she didn’t fall through the wood.

The door was closed, the heavy wood featured a small wooden handle which looked to be about to fall off. She knocked on the door, her fist making a soft thud against the wood. She was greeted by silence, and she frowned.

She grasped the handle in her fist and was relived to find in unlocked. The door was heavy as she opened it. She peered inside, but couldn’t see much in the darkness. She stepped inside with caution and felt along the wall of the cabin with her hand, searching for a light switch.

She felt the knob and flicked it, yet no light appeared.

‘Hello?’ called out into the darkness, ‘is anyone here? I-I need help.’

Again there was no reply and she walked further into the darkness, only to lose her footing as she stepped on something. A small scream left her mouth as she fell hard onto the ground. She landed on the floor, and her hand went down to feel the ground for what she had fell on. The object was long and cylindrical, and with closer examination she realised that it was a flashlight.

She felt along the side, pressing the button which illuminated the space in front of her.  

She slowly got up, shining around the flashlight to examine her surroundings. She was standing in what seemed to be a one bedroom cabin, the small, old fashioned kitchen to her right and a living room to her left. Besides the living room was a door which Rosalie assumed must lead to the bedroom. The furniture looked old and broken, a thin layer of dust covering most surfaces. The rooms were bare of any personal objects that Rosalie could see, other than a few books placed randomly and some clothes placed along the table. There was an old couch before her, the seats vacant. She walked past the couch and into the kitchen, finding a silver phone.

She grabbed it and dialled, but the phone was dead.

She sighed and looked around for anything else that could help her. She opened the kitchen cupboards and found a power bar, which she pushed into her pocket. There was also a first aid kit, but she ignored it, instead searching for water.

A few bottles of water were in the cupboard and she quickly opened one, sculling the liquid in haste. She looked around, as nice as it would be to stay at the cabin, she needed to find help, and she wouldn’t find it here. She walked around the small rooms quickly, but didn’t find any maps or any way of contacting the police or her aunt. One thing that she did find was a gun, the small object had been placed in the drawers in the bedroom. Rosalie had never been comfortable with guns, they had always set her on edge after what happened with her parents, but the moment that the heavy weapon rested in her hands she felt a surge of power over the situation. She was not new to guns, her father had taught her the basics so she was relieved when she found that the clip was full and the gun seemed to be clean and in working order.   

She left the cabin quietly, the flashlight grasped tightly between her fingers and the gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans.

She walked back towards the forest, but just as she was entering the tree line she heard it. The unmistakable sound of feet hitting the forest floor and harsh breath.

Christopher.

Her eyes searched around her frantically, but she couldn’t figure out which direction the noises were coming from.

She turned off the torch and grabbed the gun with her free hand. Her hand was shaking as she grasped the weapon, taking the safety off of the gun.

She pressed herself up against the closest tree and tilted her head around the trunk to see a figure running her way. The moonlight only allowed her to see the silhouette of the person and Rosalie noted the way the person was running, one hand seemed to be holding the other arm while they ran unevenly through the trees.

Christopher’s found me.

She took the safety off the gun and pointed the weapon, her finger ghosting over the trigger.