The Story Of Dusk

Senja gritted her teeth as she kept forcing his small feet to take more distance and more paces. She was breathless and barely could see her surroundings as her vision was spinning.

She wasn"t sure the direction that she took was right or it would bring her deeper into the forest. The only thing in her mind right now was she needed to escape from that man, because once she was caught, the chance for her to runaway would be near zero.

The howling wind that brushed pa.s.s her ears was akin to crying ghost that would make one shuddered out of fear in normal situation.

However, for her now, there was nothing more to be afraid of.

Senja thought human was scarier than any ghost, she had never met any ghost and as long as she was alive it was human who had been hurting her and made her life difficult, not a ghost.

When Senja"s foot caught a root of tree and she stumbled, only then she realized the bald man had gone. She had left him behind.

Senja tried to calm her raging breath so she could hear the situation around her clearer.

A second…

Four second…

Ten second…

Even after she waited for almost a minute there was no other sound except her own breath and the rustling of the wind along with the fluttering of birds" wings.

Only then Senja could slightly relax and arranged her raging breath.

Apparently, the bald man could catch up with her due to his eyes, which Senja had pierced harshly. She didn"t know how much she had injured him, but she wouldn"t pity him neither she regretted her action.   

Senja took her surrounding and a.s.sessed her situation.

Tree and tree, that was the only thing that she could see with the limited light. She couldn"t see farther than three meters away.

Slowly Senja stood up and brushed the dirt from her dress before she left her spot and walked deeper into the forest. She couldn"t let her guard down yet.

Even though she couldn"t see the bald man now, but it didn"t mean he would be trying to find her again. After all, he saw Senja as money and people like them cherished money the most.

Senja trudged further, her body, legs, arms and neck were so painful, only now she felt it.

Because of her vomit earlier, her throat was so dry and her chest was aching. No, all over her body was aching.

The only thing that kept her moving was her survival instinct, she only depended on that. The more she walked, the darker the forest became.

The eleven years old girl started to lost her vision and surrendered to the exhaustion as her body stumbled forward and she lied flat on the ground.

***  

Pain in her wrist and ankle grew uncomfortable as the light above her head made her felt like she was being roasted alive.

Pain was the first thing that Senja realized before unfamiliar voices from grown up man around her put her in alert.

She tried to move her arms and legs with no avail, she was being tied tightly, even the ropes felt like ate her skin with her every move. She could hear her heartbeat thumping wildly in her ears as fear started to creep her entire being.

Am I being caught again? That was the first question that ran inside her head when the understanding down on her about her situation now.

Senja tried to open her eyes, but shut it close immediately when the sun above her head was glaring viciously. She let out small whimper, her body started getting numb because of her uncomfortable position.

She didn"t know how long she was being like this or the person who had captured her was the same person like before, the bald man.

Senja tried to focus to hear people around her, who were talking, catching their topic of conversation, but it was a hard job to do as her head was banging with headache.

"What a lucky day to find a fine little girl inside the forest!" The first man exclaimed, excited was palpable in his voice.

"Sure thing." The second man agreed. "Look how smooth her skin. She must be from a rich family, missus in the household."

Senja could feel the man rough finger traced her cheeks as she kept pretending unconscious.

"Indeed." The other man said, his voice was rougher than the two. "But, what she was doing in this forest?"

"I think she was being kidnapped and then somehow managed to escape." The fourth man made a simple theory, which was exactly Senja"s case. "If not, she what a girl from n.o.ble family was doing here…" His voice sounded younger than the other men.

"Whatever her case, she is belong to us now." The fifth man concluded.

From the voice alone Senja could count there was at least five people, who were talking and surrounding her, but she felt there were more of them.

Senja tried to suppress the urge to shudder and whimper when one of the men scooped her body and carried her somewhere.

"Should we sell her to the L clan?" The man, who was carrying Senja, asked. Looked down at the beautiful girl in his arms, in another more years she would be ready to be a woman, he thought.

"Let bring her to black market and see how much her price. I think people from brothel will give us more money than L clan." The other man suggested and there was buzzing agreement from the other.

It was settled, they would bring her to the black market.

Then what the point of Senja"s attempt to runaway last night? She felt dreadful and helpless.

Why life always treated her unfairly?

How she supposed to escape from many people like this?