touch Read Online Free Page A

at
Clavin.  Despite what they’d done to me, I didn’t want to hurt them in return. 
Clavin saw the rock sailing toward him and tried to dodge.  It clipped his hip
with a deep muffled sound and he folded over yelling in pain.
    Brian stood frozen holding his door staring at me in shock
for a moment before running around the car to check his friend.  I returned his
shocked stare with one of my one.  What had I just done?!  I’d created the
distraction I needed.
    Shedding the brief paralysis, I sprinted across the road
opposite their car into the trees.  If they caught me…  I cringed at the
thought and ran faster dodging around trees to move steadily deeper into their
cover.  Through my fear, I focused to maintain a sense of direction instead of
running blindly.  The cloud filled sky made it difficult.
    Too soon, I had to stop because of a stitch in my side and
the ache in my face.  Bent over near a clump of bramble gasping for air, I
tried to listen for pursuit.  Their voices echoed distantly from the direction
I’d run as they yelled to each other.  I couldn’t see them.
    Shaking with adrenaline and dread, I wanted to cry.  Walking
softly over the leaf-strewn ground, I snuck from tree to tree making my way
back toward the road where the trees thinned.  After a few moments of quiet
movement, their yelling stopped.  I counted on them thinking I’d head straight
toward my house and keep heading in that direction.
    By the time I reached the road, I could breathe
semi-normally.  The wind swept over me through the thinning trees.  The dry
rough bark of one of the trees lining the road bit into my palms as I leaned
against it to risk a look.  In the distance, their car still sat on the shoulder
just north of my position.  At least I’d passed it.
    Sprinting across the road in an attempt to minimize my time
in the open I leapt back into the cover of the trees on the other side and
tripped on a dead broken branch half covered by fallen leaves.  Going down
hard, I skinned the palm of my right hand.
    Immediately scrambling to a crouch, I held my breath and
listened again.  Nothing.  Not necessarily a good sign.  They could be
anywhere.  Moving quietly, I made my way further into the trees and started following
the general direction of the road.  I had no idea how much time elapsed, but
the fading light spurred me on.
    Tired and sore, I jogged when I could and walked when I
couldn’t, making slow progress.  Several times, in the distance, I heard a car
on the road and quickly dropped to the ground.  I wasn’t sure how far in they’d
be able to see driving past, but didn’t want to take a chance.
    After a while, the long shadows in the trees forced me to
the road, which proved fortunate.  I recognized my surroundings, the familiar
bend in the road.  So close to home.
    I wanted to laugh, but a vibrant orange streaked the sky
announcing the sun’s final rays.  Out of time.  Fear, instilled with every
lecture from my mother, grandmother and aunts, had me sprinting over the
blacktop and then down the treacherous gravel driveway.
    My house waited ahead, shutters already drawn.  The front
door stood open, light filling it from inside.  I wheezed for air, but didn’t
slow.
    Behind me, I caught the cadence of running feet harshly
hitting the crushed gravel.  Another spike of adrenaline filled me.  Even this
close to home, within sight of my family, I didn’t trust Brian or Clavin to
leave me alone.  I just hoped it wasn’t Brian behind me.  Clavin, heavier and
less fit then Brian, meant I’d have a chance.
    My mother stood in the door shouting for me to hurry her
arms outstretched to catch me.  The worry on her face had me turning my head to
look behind me while my legs still ate the distance between me and the house. 
My eyes widened and I cried out for the second time that afternoon.
    A dark creature with glowing green eyes and horns galloped
on two hooved feet behind me.  More shadow