LiAi didn’t look back when she ran across the forest. She had leave it behind her, not looking even once behind as she knew if she did she would et a terrifying end. Those people who had captured her wouldn’t be happy upon seeing that she ran away and out of their anger, they would surely strike or even kill her.
She had seen Manager Gou’s eyes and heard his words. She was young but she understood well that Manager Gou had seen her like a burden and once he could get rid of her, he wouldn’t think twice before doing so.
Little LiAi held her hands together as she continued running only to see a few flashlight beaming, cutting through the forest’s darkness.
The girl fearfully walk around the place and when she realized there were also people on her back, she understood that she was trapped.
"Wasn’t there sothing moving over there?" Soone asked, "I saw it. I really did. Let’s look over there maybe she’s hiding!"
Fearing the n, she looked around before stuffing her small body into a place. She hid behind the warehouse, between the place and the bushes.
Then she saw lights forming a line moving criss cross in front of her.
The n looked around and shone the flashlight to ever corner they could, frowning when they found nothing, "You sure you saw sothing?"
"I did! I’m telling you, I did!"
"Well there is nothing, maybe those bears have children sowhere around here?" the other man answered as he looked around, "That could happen, you know."
"No, I’m sure it’s her- look!" The man yelled as the other one followed his line of sight. When he looked forward and then down a smile appeared on the two n’s lips. They both realizing that they have caught a prey as they picked up the red shoes that were right under their foot.
They recognize it even if they hadn’t pay attention to LiAi earlier. The size of the shoes, too small for an adult, was lying around on the ground, pointing toward the bushes. They both smiled, walking slowly toward the bushes as they could tell she was there. With a slow movent, they had walked until they reached out their hands and ripped apart the bushes in front of them, smiling as they readily try to pull for LiAi from the place only to be shocked beyond words when she was no where to be found.
Speechless, the two looked at each other as they shone the flashlight closer to the darkness, "She’s not here."
"Did she threw the shoes and ran away?!"
"That can’t be! A child wouldn’t be as smart as that."
But the man had guessed right. Upon seeing the many people around her, the only way to run away was toward her front. But there were those two people over there and knowing that, she had to distract them before running toward the place where those two had guarded earlier.
The Little LiAi cleverly put the distraction carefully. She had ran subtly between the shadows for the n to notice. Then after she was done, she quickly hid behind the bush and wait for their attention to be stolen by her shoes and to approach the wrong bush.
The last thing she had to do was run! Run as quickly but quietly as possible and hide when she sees another adult on her way to escape.
But the girl who had walked by the side of the road didn’t know the dark abyss beside her. She was exhausted and couldn’t run in ti so when she did, her feet had slipped and she felt her own body falling backward, her body free falling downward.
LiAi’s breath caught in her throat as the ground suddenly disappeared beneath her feet. The world tipped, the sky and trees spinning in a blur as she tumbled backward into the darkness. Fear causing her blood to turn cold while her eyes could only see the ground she had walked on earlier now far from her face.
The forest’s wind rushed past her ears, numbing the loud heartbeat and rush of blood she felt. Her small hands plead for help to the air, desperate to grab onto sothing but there was nothing to hold, her fingers that crawled as she tumbled down began to bled, her nails chipped and the little girl was put to so much pain than she could endure. Her small body kept tumbling, down and down, swallowed by the forest’s endless depths.
She continued to tumble until she had reached the ground, a tree bark breaking her fall. Pain at once rang through her tiny fra as she hit her back roughly at the tree. Not only was the tree painful as it had smashed her back, but her body had also rolled down through the rough terrain. The sharp twigs had clawed against her arms leaving tiny but bleeding cuts, rocks hit her knees leaving bruises, and the entire few of the sky was just dancing over her eyes.
She couldn’t cry anymore, only gasping. But she knew she couldn’t make a noise and pulled her hand that had been bleeding from earlier. She had tried to stop herself but the slope was too steep, too slick with the muddy dirt.
For a long mont, LiAi couldn’t breathe, she was disoriented and wanted to give up, falling to sleep. But she knew she couldn’t do that. Fearing that moving would be more painful, she lay still for a while, her chest rising and falling as she let out painful small gasps. Everything hurt. She missed everyone, she missed the warmth of uncle Xiao’s food even though it was inedible. She wanted to go ho, she doesn’t want to be here anymore. It hurts. It hurts, but she was alive, at the least she was still alive.
Her fingers twitched slowly. With her legs felt bruised and her arms scraped raw, bleeding, she could only lay down so she slowly moved around, moving to a more comfortable position. Slowly, she turned onto her side, wincing as pain shot up her chest.
Above her, the distant beams of flashlights flickered at the cliff’s edge. The n were searching but as she was down here, no one wanted to check or thought she would be down. Even if she did fall down, they thought that she would die.
"She’s gone," one of them muttered.
"How could she would be gone so suddenly?" another asked. "She’s still here, sowhere."
LiAi held her breath, her breaths slipping weakly from her lips.
"Let’s continue the search. She could be eaten by the bears... well if that really happen it wouldn’t matter anymore," the first man finally grunted. "Even if she survived, she’s not getting out of there. Let’s move."
Only after the footsteps and the light disappearing slowly did she exhale. Tears finally spilled all over her eyes as she curled like a ball. Her whole body trembled, her heart pounding against her ribs like a drum. But she had done it, she managed to escape and she was still alive but she feels light headed and being wounded, she didn’t know if she was in safe condition or if she was trully going to survive.
Now that she was alone in the deep, dark forest, all the lonely thoughts haunt her. She clutched to her chest, fear eating her alive and she whispered, "Mama... papa.." she sobbed, hiccups between her trembling gasps.
The n in the warehouse were in a ss, yelling for one another to move quicker. Quicker so they could find the little girl. She was still young, she couldn’t have ran too far but why couldn’t they find her?! It’s as if she vanished which should be impossible as she was still a child not a ghost.
Just then Manager Gou who was prepared to find LiAi out of anger heard a sound of a loud bang.
They all froze in place as they looked to each other.
Then they turned to the door they had locked tight. The one made out of tal and was hard to destroy or bent.
There was another sound of bang, this ti louder, sharper, angrier.
Realizing soone was trying to break in, the boss of the kidnappers yelled, "GATHER AROUND! WE GOT COMPANIES NOW!"
The kidnappers exchanged wary glances. The air was thick with tension and the silence before the monotone bang beca eerie. Manager Gou’s fingers twitched as he rushed backward, fearfully trying to hide behind the n who was ard. The boss of the kidnapper’s face contorted with a rough annoyance as he wasn’t aware of who was now trying to break into their warehouse.
BANG.
This ti, the door dented inward, an unnatural bend forming in the reinforced steel. The n flinched as this wasn’t the kind of thing done by human. Whoever was on the other side wasn’t just knocking, they were tearing their way in.
"What the hell—" one of the thugs stamred, stepping back as the warped door groaned under the pressure.
Then, with one final thunderous blow, the doors exploded inward, nearly flying off their hinges. Dust and shards of tal scattered, a harsh wind rushing into the room as if the darkness itself had co alive.
And standing at the entrance, frad by the moonlight, was a man. Li ZiChen’s eyes were filled with fury as he demanded.
"Where is the girl?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)