The man burst into the room and pushed the first man with such strength that he flew across the room. Taken by surprise, he let go of Nalsy, and he did it so suddenly that she could not keep her balance, falling hard onto the floor.
The second man walked across the room and picked up the first one as if he weighed nothing, pushing him against the wall. Nalsy lifted, propped herself up on her hands and looked up at the men. The one pressed against the wall was dressed in a leather-like vest and trousers, his grimace indicating pain. He had a scar running across his face.
Nalsy didn't see the other man's face as he was back to her, too focused on the scar-faced man.
Nalsy watched the scene through the haze. She watched as the man held the other one against the wall, centimetres off the ground, and as the scar-faced man kicked his legs around frantically. But her brain didn't seem to register what was happening, as if she was watching everything through the veil.
With all her strength, Nalsy stood up and walked out of the room. She didn't bother to run; it wasn't as if she could outrun them.
As soon as she was out in the hallway, she heard more voices from downstairs.
Nalsy moved on her trembling legs to her bedroom at the back of the house and locked the door behind her, knowing full well that the plank of wood would never be enough to stop the men. Especially the one who could lift a full-grown man without as much as a huff.
Her room was in a similar state as her parents'. Furniture and its content were broken into splinters and spread across the floor.
It was then that the reality, or parts of it, started sinking in. There were at least three men in her house who did not have friendly intentions. It is a miracle that she is alive, all because of this man showing up. She wasn't sure who he was, she hadn't recognised him from the little she could see.
Nalsy moved as far away from the door as she could, trying to bring out her logical brain and push away everything that had just happened, push away all the distressing images that still flashed as soon as she blinked.
Nalsy knew that it would not be long before the men would be in her bedroom. Her only option for survival was to get out of the house.
Her first idea was to run as fast as she could through the hallway, down the stairs and through the front door, but that would mean going past the men in her parents' bedroom. The chances are that she isn't any quicker than them.
Nalsy looked around the room.
Her eyes landed on the window. Her bedroom was facing a garden which was a fence away from a forest. There was the patio's roof just below the window, which she could use to get down. Nalsy set her mind on it, and she ran towards the window.
She pushed it open, and she carefully climbed out onto the patio's roof.
She was used to climbing out onto the roof during the summer holidays to watch the stars on the clear nights, but she never did it to escape someone.
As she stood on the roof looking down, she realised that there was no easy way for her to come down. The patio wasn't very high, but it was high enough to make her feel queasy.
Nalsy took a deep breath; she laid down on her stomach and started sliding off the side of the roof with her feet down first. She was holding onto the roof only with her hands. Another deep breath, and JUMP!
Nalsy started swearing inwardly as she landed on her twisted ankle. It felt as if something ripped inside!
It wasn't a time for self-pity; she could still hear the voices from inside the house. Now she could distinguish at least two voices downstairs, and all it took for them was to turn around to have a view of the entire garden through the glass sliding back door.
She sneaked towards the fence at the end of the garden. She kept anxiously looking behind her to ensure that she wasn't spotted.
The fence was all that stood between her and the forest, an escape to safety. But the fence was high, and she was clumsy and unfit, and her ankle hurt from the fall. There was no way she could climb over it.
The only way to get onto the other side was to pull one of the panels off. She walked towards a more worn-down panel and pulled it using all her strength. To her surprise, the rotten wood broke around the nails with ease. She was pleased that she listened to her mother's nagging about that fence for at least a year now and that her father was dismissive of the issue enough that he still didn't even look at it, and now he never will.
Nalsy squeezed through the gap, and she gave the house one last look. The man, who ran into her parents' bedroom earlier and saved her from the scar-faced man, was examining the open window in her bedroom. Their eyes met.
Nalsy felt her heart stop. She froze, looking right at the man. He froze too. Nalsy felt a sudden familiarity with him, but she couldn't place it.
The man moved first and hastily walked away from a window. His shouting vibrated through the house. Nalsy didn't need any more prompting. She quickly bolted towards the denser parts of the forest. She tried to ignore her increasingly sore ankle as she ran as fast as she could, switching directions regularly to make it difficult for the men to follow her.