A distant, high-pitched noise filled my ears, but I didn't realize what it was until Mom started shaking me. She was screaming—her mouth was open, but I couldn't tell if she was saying words—and pushing me towards the door that wasn't pinned against the tree.

Alex too was looking at me and talking, but she looked kind of blurry. I felt the rough material of my backpack being shoved into my hands. Pulling myself out of my daze, I tightened my grip on the strap and started kicking the door to open it.

Standing upright was difficult. The adrenaline urging me to run was blocked by the dizziness that caused my sight to spin. Cold, sharp raindrops crashed against my exposed skin; the gale-force winds pushed me forward.

Mom grabbed my hand and started pulling me after her. Once I got my feet moving, it got easier. I still couldn't see two feet in front of me, but as long as I stayed behind Mom and Alex, I could manage to avoid tripping. My heavy backpack upset my balance and threatened to slow me down, but I knew this was a life or death situation; all I could do was keep running as fast as possible.

At one point I made the mistake of looking behind me. Lightning struck just as I turned around, illuminating the silhouettes of several figures dressed in all black. They were barely ten feet behind us.

My adrenaline made me push onward. Every muscle and bone in my body screamed, but I was not about to let myself die. Trees whipped in and out of my line of sight, and thorny bushes clawed at my legs. The winds had turned its powerful strength against me, so now I felt like I was running through cold honey.

I was running behind Alex. Her wig had come off in the crash, exposing her scarred head to the elements. As panicked as I was, I couldn't help but focus on her graceful figure. She was the runner of the family; she was made for this scenario.

My eyes were still locked on her when the unthinkable happened: an arrow appeared protruding from her calf. One second there was nothing but jean, and then bam, a thin shaft of wood with a feathered tip. I could only watch as she went down hard.

I wanted to stop. My mind was screaming Help her!, but my legs didn't listen. I just kept on running. Maybe it was because Mom was still holding my hand and pulling me forward, or maybe it's because I was fucking coward; regardless, I didn't stop to help my best friend and, just like that, she was left behind.

Less than a minute later we crashed out of the tree line and into a clearing. Mom didn't stop until we had reached the center. When we got there, she collapsed onto the ground and started digging through that goddamn fanny pack of hers.

"What's happening?" I screamed. My legs buckled and I crumbled like a ragdoll into the mud, the brown goop squelching under my weight. The unrelenting rain continued to beat my face and the howling wind blocked out all other sounds.

"I don't have time to explain everything." She pulled a few random items out of the fanny pack and started arranging them in a circle on the ground. Some of the lighter things, like a crumbled ball of paper, had to be shoved into the mud to keep them from blowing away. "Just come here, now!"

I didn't have the strength in me to question her. My backpack was threating to dislocate my shoulder and the wind was doing all it could to keep me from standing upright. I crawled towards her on my hands and knees.

When Mom was done with the items, she turned her attention to me. "Give me your wrist," she commanded.

The panic and fear in voice compelled me to listen; I had never seen her so crazed like this before. Her hair, lifted and twisted by the wind, had taken on a swirling life of its own. The pink jacket she had been wearing during the crash was gone and her right pants leg was tattered beyond belief.

I extended my right arm to her and she slipped on a bracelet. It was too dark and rainy to make out any details finer than that it was metal and gold. It settled weightily against my bare skin.

I reached up to touch the cold metal. "What is-?"

"Get in the circle," she interrupted. With a shove, she sent me stumbling backwards into the two foot in diameter ring.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but she cut me off. "Iulia, darling, I want you to know how much I love you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm glad I got to spend so long with you. Please remember me!"

It would have been a touching sentiment if she weren't screaming it at me in the middle of the second coming of Christ. As it was, I was so baffled that the words just got stuck in my throat. The I love you that finally made its way out was too quiet for anyone to here.

She gave me one last hug, one that was tighter than any hug I had ever received, before stepping out of the circle. I tried to follow after her, but she held up a hand and I was stopped by an invisible wall. I wanted my legs to move in her direction, but they were frozen in place; I could only watch.

Mom closed her eyes and started chanting, similar to what she had done in the car with the lighter. The language also sounded similar. I struggled against whatever force was pinning me in place, but it was utterly useless.

The rain grew even stronger before my very eyes. It was coming down in heavy sheets now, the cold chilling me to the very core. The howling winds rivaled any tornado out there, and I was forced to cover my ears with my trembling hands.

I watched as a bolt of lightning struck the ground only a hundred feet away, right at the tree line. Once again, the blast illuminated something I didn't want to see: the same cloaked figures as before. There were two that I could see, and they were running directly towards us. One held a bow, knocked with the same kind of arrow that had taken down Alex. The other wielded a pistol that was pointed straight at me. I saw this all in only an instant, but it was burned into my mind.

As I struggled to concentrate on what was happening, a flash of light enveloped me. It was so brilliant and stunning that for a fleeting moment I thought an angel was before me. And then, just like that, everything went black.