Petrol Wonderland

Thirteen | Alice in Wonderland

A gentle rustle in the foliage sounded from somewhere at the top of the hill. Lazily, Blake rolled her head to the side and focused her tired eyes in the general direction. There was no urgency in the motion, nor any left in the beat of her drained heart. She was done being scared of nothing but shapes and shadows and her overactive imagination. After all, it was probably just the wind.

But it wasn't. Her attention peaked and she managed to drag her frail body into a sitting position, now certain that somewhere in the distance was an animal.

A detached smile formed on her lips as she considered the possibility that it was a deer. She'd startled the one she'd came across earlier and it really was such a shame. They were stunningly beautiful, elusive creatures and she was a sucker for a cool animal. She'd only caught a rare sighting of a deer three times in her life - twice on her favorite trails in these very woods. Well, now it was technically four times, but to be honest she didn't want to count the last one as a sighting. It hadn't felt magical and exciting as it should've been: but now it would. Patiently, she sat and waited, quieting her breathing so as not to scare the gentle thing.

And, luckily, it approached.

It peaked its head over the brow of the hill and she could make out the vague shape of a large head with two, pointy ears. In the darkness, she watched as its shadow observed her for a few moments, still as a statue. She allowed a shaky breath to exit her lungs. How wonderful was this? She was staring right at a deer and it was staring back. In a peculiar way, they were connected across time and space at this moment.

After a while, it began to approach further and she felt her heart skip a beat from the excitement. It poked out fearfully from the tree it was hiding behind and edged into the moonlight.

The texture of fur could be seen in the pale, white glow. It revealed itself, further still, closer and closer until its entire form was visible to her, stood on the top of the bank defiantly, watching her as she watched it.

But there was something wrong. It was awfully large and there was something off about its shape.

That was when she caught the flash of synthetic, purple fur reflecting in the moonlight and realized it wasn't a deer at all.

It was a man in a cat costume.

The second she realized felt like being shocked by a defibrillator. She was on her feet and running as soon as the sensation hit, but so was he.

Branches lashed out against her face and the girl didn't even attempt to push them back. At first, the sprint felt electric. She kicked off the ground with such power that she launched herself into the air with every stride and bounced from tree to tree like a pinball.

Then the aches set in, reminding her of the fall. They clawed at her every limb and joint making them feel like rusty door hinges and she began to slow in response to their yearning. She was out of energy from her previous run, but he wasn't. He was approaching. She could hear him chasing her.

Running became harder and harder. Her lungs were throbbing and spasming. Her throat had all but closed up and she could barely force the air in through the minuscule gap any longer, especially not with all the extra effort it took just to run and just to focus. She was on the verge of a panic attack in the middle of the woods and it really couldn't have come at a worse time.

Everything swayed from side to side and she wasn't sure if the face of the earth was literally tilting or if her legs were failing to support her. Her limbs were beginning to resemble wet noodles. She could feel the pulse of every vein in her head as they were pried wider by the stream of blood rushing through them. She could hear the crunching of leaves behind her. Not to mention the ragged breathing that wasn't her own.