Designed in Canva
SUSAN!
Murphy's dark and gritty voice reverberated in the forest. Cold chills dotted Susan's skin with goosebumps as her heart raced with fear. A quick backward glance revealed her fiancé was far behind.
Her leg caught on a tree root and she fell, her face hitting the ground hard. The contents of her sling bag spilt out: her coffee flask, small makeup purse, insect repellent, her almost dead cell phone and a small bottle of water.
She'd been running through the forest for over twenty-four hours.
"Where are you, Susan? You can't hide from me," Murphy roared.
Susan stood up quickly, tears flowing down her cheeks as she pushed the items back into her bag, her hands trembling. She could hear his heavy footsteps drawing close.
She was going to break up with him after the last incident. He knew.
It was just a slap that left her cheek red and throbbing the whole day. But his verbal lashings hurt more as they tore down her self-esteem. The scales had fallen from her eyes. She'd had enough.
He apologised and spoiled her with stuff she loved including a planned weekend of hiking during the day and spending the nights at a hotel. Her intuition warned her not to go. One last time, she promised herself.
Stupid! 'No' was a hard word for Susan to vocalise. She couldn't deny Murphy anything. If she tried, he found a way to make it 'Yes'.
They had hiked up a hill when he jokingly pushed her. She screamed as she slipped down the edge of a small cliff. He was shocked at first then guffawed at the fear etched on her face.
Enough! She climbed on all fours until she found firm ground and began to walk away. Murphy yelled after her and that was how the chase began.
She got lost in the forest and tried to call for help but there was no cell service. They had never hiked this deep into the forest before and she suspected it was part of Murphy's sick plan to make her fear him more.
She spent the night up on a tall, sturdy tree, wide awake, watching and hoping he didn't find her. Her girls' scout training came in handy and so did her coffee flask. The coffee had lost its aroma and was slightly bitter. She sipped now and then to stay awake.
Every hour, Murphy would scream her name, letting her know he won't let go. She broke out in a sweat every time, his gritty voice piercing the quiet forest and stabbing her with fear.
She examined her trembling hands in the dark and sobbed quietly. How did she get into this mess? She gazed up at the sky, hoping for some miracle and help.
"Don't give up on us, Susan," Murphy said, dry leaves rustling from a distance. It felt like they were chasing each other in circles.
It was almost dawn after the second night in the forest. As soon as the sun rose, she would climb down and take another route that she glimpsed from high up on the tree.
Her eyes felt heavy and tired. She shut and rubbed them for a minute when she heard, "You always make the dumbest mistakes."
Susan gasped, her chest heaving like she was going into a panic mood. She glanced left and right and saw no one. Her stomach growled in response.
"Yea, see what you've done to yourself. Soon, you'll shit your pants as well." Susan felt she was going crazy at the judgemental tone. Was it some magical being in the air she couldn't see?
"Who are you?" She whispered.
"S-U-S-A-N!" Murphy drawled, sounding a little tired. "Why are you doing this to us? I'll find you, no matter how long it takes."
"What a nightmare!" The voice again. Susan started to cry, her eyes hurting from the continuous tears.
"Your crying will get you nowhere. It's action that matters."
"Please, tell me who you are," she pleaded.
A sigh. A grumble. "Humans. Erm, don't freak out but I'm in your flask."
Susan gasped and took another look at her flask like it was a foreign object. She uncapped the cover and stared at the stale coffee left inside.
"Don't drink me. If you do, I can't guide you out of this forest."
"Coffee?" She scoffed. "I must be going crazy."
"You already are, for going on this hike in the first place!" That shut her up for a moment.
The coffee sighed. "Look. The guy's bad news. You know that. Why didn't you just say NO?"
Susan sniffed. She was alone in the forest and if this coffee was willing to help her, she could as well talk to it, get out safely and stay clear of coffee forever.
"I wanted to but I don't know how."
She felt the coffee roll its eyes. "Uh-huh. Never be afraid to say NO. It's almost sunrise. See that footpath at your ten o'clock? Follow…"
"That will take me back to Murphy. I heard his voice coming from that direction."
"Will you just listen to me? He's not there anymore. Come down as quietly as possible now. Don't wait for sunrise like you did yesterday. You've been predictable and Murphy's smart. Follow that footpath and run like hell."
"Where does it lead to?"
"You'll burst out onto a tarred road and hopefully, someone will give you a ride to the city."
"Alright. I'm going down now…." As soon as her feet touched the ground, her flask slipped and the coffee spilt to the ground.
"Oof!" The coffee exclaimed.
Susan gasped. "Oh no. Coffee?"
"Just run-nnn," Coffee whispered as the liquid finally seeped into the ground.
The sound of crunching twigs was all Susan heard that spurred her to obey the coffee's last words. She ran like hell, found the tarred road and help came, just like the coffee predicted.
Entertaining story with great dialogue.
Thanks for participating in this week's initiative:)
The pleasure is mine. Thank you very much for your time and for these interesting contests. 😊🤗
Fabulous tension, I was glued to the page. So glad that the coffee had a sixth sense; enough intuition to sniff out the path to freedom
Thanks to the coffee, Susan escaped from her mean fiancé. 😃 Thanks for reading, and for taking the time to comment. 😊🤗