Arya sat there for five minutes, clinging on her shirt, as her heart was tight, making it difficult to breathe. She was struggling to catch oxygen.
The eerie around her made her wanting to scream. Scream and curse the world for doing this to her. Must they always take away her loved ones, stealing away her joy and happiness? Who? Who had she offended, what crime did she commit in her past life that the heaven seems to resent her?
No, she had to survive. She could not leave Erin. She had to first escape from here then, she would find help.
But it was easier said than done, when she heard the footsteps retrieving back to her.
"Go find the other girl. I will take this one back. She's blind and I'm sure she can't get far. " The man who had Erin said.
"No, I found this girl, so you go find the other one. No way am letting you take the credit for it," the big man argued.
Arya felt fear creeping in her. They would not stop until they found her. Oh, no! what was she going to do? She could not hide here forever? It was only because it was dark that was why they did not see her. What if morning came? She was for sure dead meat.
Thankfully, the other man that was sent to find her walked past her, as she sighed in relief.
Carefully coming out from the bush into the open area, she picked up the stick along with her. She resumed crawling on the ground, as her senses high lightened now that she was alone.
Arya knew the outcome of the decision she took by coming out. There was no way she could out pass the man without getting seen, sooner or later he would find her. She might as well just crawl back to the bush and hope for someone to help her. Because if she kept on crawling, she would be leaving a trail behind.
What was she going to do? She had to figure out a way? But there wasn't much a blind person could do.
She stood up; her dress covered in dirt, putting the stick in great use. She started struggling to walk, and it was more difficult with her twisted ankle.
Each breath at a time, her sweat beaded across her face. Every step she took was a thorn in her flesh. She was completely unprepared for the situation in the woods. The part that she just entered had many slopes, and the ground was slippery.
Missing one foot, she fell on a small slope, causing her to yelp. The stick in her hand fell and broke and it rolled further and further away from her.
She heard the footsteps of the man, and she forced herself to keep on crawling. The adrenaline rush had taken over her and she did not know how far or where she was even headed to.
All she knew was that she couldn't stop because she heard footsteps coming from behind her.
Arya knew that her strength would soon betray her, so she tried to find a place she could hide in, but she couldn't see any at all. All she could hear now was her own ragged breathing. She started to feel numb but she just continued to crawl as fast as she could until her hands and knees gave way and she fell again on the muddy soil, hitting her head on something hard.
Arya felt something flowing down her face. She protected her head from hitting anything again, but from what she felt, the ground was covered in mud, so it meant that something sharp must have cut her.
Trying to stand up again, Arya found herself between a crack of a large tree. It seemed like she had luckily stumbled into a hiding place. Arya sat and hide herself in the furthest, darkest area inside the tree, covering her mouth with her hands.
She couldn't believe that something like this was happening to her. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would ever expose herself to this kind of situation. She was always in the sheltered part of the world.
She couldn't blame Erin for this. All she tried to do was protect her from the humiliation. She couldn't help but think why she could not just be like Erin, a badass, never scared of anything or anyone, living her life to the fullest.
Maybe now she understood Erin's decision to always live recklessly, never thinking of the consequences behind her actions. It was because her days were numbered. There would be no meaning in living her life caring about what others think when they did not give a shit about what she was passing through.
She couldn't help but ask why she had to be so weak. Why couldn't she be strong, too? Why did she have to be blind and so powerless that she couldn't even protect or save her?
"Seriously, how far can a blind person move? " The man cursed.
Arya's hand on her mouth trembled as she pressed harder. She could tell that he was just a few steps away from her. She was glad that there was no noise stream nearby.
She did not dare to bring her head outside. All she did was to channel her breathing so that it wasn't that loud.
The fetal position she was in now was very uncomfortable. She had to squeeze her body into the tree, and now her knees were hurting badly. And the wound would not just bleeding, she was losing a lot of blood.
Trying to find a more comfortable position, she moved her butt a little to the right, with her hands supporting her body, but she did not know that her hand was peeking out.
She dared not breathe for the next second, but the moment she withdrew her hand back, something jumped down from the tree above her, causing a light thud in her ears.
"FOUND YOU!"