Enemy Beloved

32 | run

★

C L A I R E

I flip around, my fingers clutching my phone tight as he stands before me. In the daylight, his appearance is more menacing and duplicitous with the strange mask on.

"No, no, no..."

My foot falls on the pile of mud, twisting at the toes and gravity pulls me down to the ground, my one hand falling on the burner phone and Nina's voice stops when the thing crashes under my palm.

"C'mon, darling." The man takes steps towards me while I drag my body backward, the pain in my toes making it hard to make my legs work. "Stop playing around and get this over with."

His voice. How can someone have such a harsh voice? It sounds like he has something in his mouth, making the sound unrecognizable. But there is a hint of something known. I must have heard him before. I know I have heard him before.

"What do you want from me?" I ask him. My hands hurt as my palms drag through the gravel, slicing a layer of skin. "I don't have anything. Please leave me alone."

"Oh, honey, you do have something..." He comes closer, twirling the knife around his index finger, his steps slow and steady. "You have that ring that binds you to your husband and if there's something that I despise the most, it's that."

Half of his words tune out for me as my eyes focus on his shoes, calculating the distance between us. Skin peels from my palms, leaving burning wounds in their wake.

"No, no...please..."

My searching hands find stones on the ground and just like before, I pick some and throw them at him. He laughs but turns his neck to the side, letting the pebbles hurl past him. I take that time to get up and as soon as I am on my feet, I dash for what's behind me without caring to look. My bag drops to the ground, falling in the muddy pool of water along with my phone but before I can even think of picking it up, I see the man making a run for me.

"Don't make it more painful for yourself, Claire."

His footsteps are loud, echoing behind me as I round about the warehouse, finding dead ends after dead ends.

The work in this part of the warehouse was never finished and the sight of cement, steel rods, and bamboo sticks barricading each end zone makes me loathe my choice of following Nina's voice. Right then, all I wanted was to check if she was okay. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me. Apparently, nowadays being good brings you nothing but muggers and masked killers behind your back.

When I reach another dead end, I spot a part of the building separated by a short wall in the middle. It is shorter than my height; I can jump over easily. With my hands above the bricks, I use the force to push my body above the wall and swing one leg over as I jump down to the other side. I don't land on my feet but my face, my head hitting the ground hard, pain jolting my very bones.

"Ah!" I put a hand over the area on my forehead and bring it forward to see red blood gushing out of it. My vision starts to go blurry. "Fuck...not now."

I pull myself up again, only to discover wasted land separating me from the grey building of the warehouse. I have been running so fast that I didn't even realize when I went past the warehouse. I make out the place to be somewhere behind the building. If I am somehow able to reach closer to the place, I can shout for help.

Taking a step forward earns me another jitter of pain, coursing through my legs and clamping my muscles. I look up and see the sun shining brightly over my head, making my body heat up. My throat aches with the need for water.