Run! Run! Run!

She couldn't run any more step. Her heart was beating fast, not far away from an explosion. She didn't know how long she had been running through the shadows of the forest; between the old, black branches; passing by any type of animals and plants she hadn't seen in her whole life. She would have liked to stop and stare; to contemplate their beauty or ugliness; to smell their fresh aroma; to bow before the scary, mysterious power, they got from Mother Nature when they were created. But she couldn't take a rest. She had to keep on running as far as her feet would carry her.

But even the strongest feet couldn't run forever, and so, when she thought it could be enough, she fell down onto the soft soil, which was covered by a thick coat of grass. She closed her eyes for some moments and listened to the screams of her heart, which was aching in her chest, taking away all her strength. She tried to open her eyes, but as she looked up to the sky, she only saw a million of little different-coloured light points floating in the air. She thought it would be better if she rested a little longer and closed her eyes again.

Her whole body was aching and still shivering. Her feet hurt just like they were all bleeding. Her head was hot, probably screaming-red and felt like it could explode every second. Her hands had swollen lightly and looked rather like a builder's strong and dirty claw than the soft fingerfortress of a young lady - But who cared? She wasn't a lady, after all...

She turned her head to the left and opened her eyes again. She had fallen down just beside a tall tree. She didn't know what type of vegetal pillar it was since she had never been interested in trees, bushes or flowers. She almost hated every type of plants. It was something too feminine, she thought. But the height of the tree was quite impressive and it looked like it was stretching its highest braches like arms to get a little bit of eternal life from heaven. From where she was looking at it, it looked scary...

Scary? That was because she had been running...
She had been scared. Somebody or something had scared her and she only wanted to flee. But what had it been? An enemy? Somebody with bad intentions? Someone who wanted to kill her?
Sure, there were lots of people who'd have liked to see her dead, but she couldn't remember if she really had come across with one of those bad guys...
Or had she seen Death?

She tried to remember the moments before she had started running like a normal, young woman who was trying to save her child from becoming the victim of a crime. It happened when she arrived at this beautiful meadow near the waterfall where she had stayed for two days to recover from a sprain in her left leg. On that meadow, there was a small wooden house.
When she had got near to see who was inside, she had become a silent witness of a harmonic family scene. The young woman had been standing near the stone cooker, preparing dinner for her loved ones. The man had been sitting on the floor, with some kind of... wooden toy in his right hand...
And then, she had seen them...
The two children the man had been playing with... Two boys with short, brown hair and big smiles on their faces...

She hated children almost more than plants. The simple image of peaceful playing children was like a nightmare to her. She always denied that she had been a child too, long ago.
When her look had reached those two ugly faces, she had got scared, had turned around and had started to run...

She didn't want her life to end like that. She wanted to be travelling until the day she'd die. She was scared of that life form... That was all...
She got up and looked around.
No children around here...
She followed the sun's footsteps through the dark forest of Vardemnya, hoping that she'd never see any child's face again...