Page 101 of Pride

Right. Fucking. Now.

Eventually, the smooth bumps of the road he was driving along turned to rockier, bumpier terrain, and the tyres crunched as they drove over what sounded like rocks. Then we came to a stop, and he switched off the engine.

I lay deadly still, my eyes darting about in the darkness. My heart beating so hard against my chest that I could hear the pounding pulse in my ears, but I tried to stay calm, to focus and breathe steadily so I could hear what was going on outside. The calmer and more focused I stayed, the better chance I had of escaping and surviving.

I would never stop fighting.

And I’d never give up hope.

I heard the car door open, then a harsh bang as he slammed it shut. His footsteps were slow and measured as he walkedtowards the back of the car, and I could hear twigs and branches snapping under his feet. Then, a rush of cold air hit me as he opened the boot and shone a torch into my eyes, making me squint, shuffle my body backwards, and close my eyes.

“Oh good,” he mused, like this was all a game. “You’re awake.” And he put the torch between his teeth as he reached forward to grab the tops of my arms and pull me out of the boot.

I tried to resist. My mind screamed at me to do something, but there was little I could do with my arms and legs bound and my mouth taped shut. I fell at his feet with a thud, twigs scraping against my face as I lay on the cold, wet floor of the forest where he’d brought me.

“It’s just over here,” he snapped, and I felt him pull at my arm as he dragged me across the floor, the ground scratching and ripping into my flesh as I scrambled to stand up, to do anything to give myself some leverage. I tried to dig my feet into the soil, and I clawed at the ground, dirt gathering under my fingernails as I desperately tried to stop him and slow myself down.

But I was powerless.

It was nighttime now, the moon and stars above bearing witness to my plight. Roughly, he pulled me through the forest until, eventually, we came to a clearing where torches had been set up to offer some light amongst the darkness of the trees that surrounded us. Trees that stood like the devil’s guards, keeping me trapped in hell. My eyes frantically scanned the area, and when I saw what lay ahead, I gave a muffled scream and tried to clamour away.

He'd dug a deep hole in the ground.

A grave.

My grave.

He continued to drag me across the clearing, and I cried out, terrified that he was about to throw me into that grave. But hedidn’t. He pulled me towards the trunk of a tree and forced me to sit against it.

I blinked through my tears and gasped for breath, my eyes darting around to try and find a way out. But he just laughed to himself and then leaned down to stare in my face and grin at me like the lunatic he was.

I stared back...

At a face that had become as familiar to me as my own.

At green eyes that I’d got lost in more times than I could count.

At a smile that always set my heart fluttering.

And a man who had turned my world upside down.

Only...

It wasn’t his face I was looking at.

Or his eyes.

The smile was so similar, and yet, it wasn’t.

He had the same tattoos on his hands and neck, only different.

And in my mind, I screamed, ‘Who the fuck are you?’

He tilted his head and said, “You can see it, can’t you.”

I nodded, snivelling as pieces of the jigsaw started to fall into place, but the pieces didn’t fit, and the picture looked so wrong.

“I was going to compose something for you, to explain it all, but then I figured, fuck it. I may as well tell it like it is. I didn’t want to waste my precious time on you. You don’t really appreciate my words, anyway.”