Saphora vol.1 Retention, Page 4

Chapter 2

  She ran to a nearby tree, climbing it. She pulled herself as high as she could to get to the branch that was furthest up, so that she could make a clean jump without being spotted. Seemingly jumping into the air, she rose herself up above what clouds there were. She made sure she was high enough to pass as a bird or an airplane from a glance. With a sigh of relief, she stretched, before taking off to head deeper into the woods. She wanted to think about this voice that she had remembered during the session. It seemed to her that she had always remembered, but had just forgotten to bring it up during the sessions. But hearing herself bring it up today made her think about it. What was that voice? And from whom did it come from? She wanted to remember if there had actually been a person there, or if she had in fact been hearing voices at the time. Because if she was, then that was an entirely new thing she had to take into consideration. That could put her whole opinion of the truth in jeopardy. After all, hearing voices was not a natural occurrence, right?

  Right?

  It was quite soothing, watching all the clouds pass her by. It was like running your hand through a dream, as she reached her hand out to touch them. They were a magnificent colour, with the help of the setting sun. She smiled, stretching her arms out and closing her eyes, letting her hair whip behind her and about her face. Although she very much feared falling, she had a mixed emotion about flying. On one hand there was the ‘what if’. But on the other hand, who wouldn’t love being able to run their fingers through a cloud and race with the birds? She took in a deep breath and counted her blessings for being able to experience such a feeling.

  But that feeling was soon cut short.

  She flinched upon hearing what sounded like a pain-riddled roar erupt in the skies. She wobbled in the air, her limbs flailing and struggling to keep her balance. Her heart skipped a few beats when the realization that she could fall from such a height quickly kicked in. Her eyes grew wide as her limbs continued to flail before she fully regained her stability. She quickly started to lower herself back to the ground when she realized that there was a chance of falling. And then again, the roar struck the sky, making her heart drop, and her balance waver again. And then, almost immediately after the roar, a bolt of pain struck the sides of her temples. A skull-splitting headache. With a clenching scream, she gripped the sides of her head and she fell the rest of the way, hitting three branches and then finally a tree. She hit the tree with a loud thud, her body curling around one of its thick branches. She coughed up some saliva and mumbled in pain, as she gripped the branch for dear life. Her shaking frame held onto the branch as she looked around with her now blurred vision. She could hear her own breathing blaring in her ears, as her heart pumped at about a mile a minute. It happened. It had actually happened. She had fallen. Because of a headache? No, that scream. What on earth was that scream?

  The tree was pretty high up, and what she heard next made her heart stop for the third time in that minute. The trunk of the tree began to crack. It was going to snap – fall. She had hit the tree so hard, that it was going to fall. She moved herself into a squatting position on the branch as quickly as she could in her current amount of pain, and grumbled when gravity began to take over, causing the tree to tilt forward. She swore under her breath as the tree slowly began falling and jumped from it, landing in front of its path. She landed with a sliding thud on her feet and turned back to look at the falling tree, gaining in speed. She cringed as another bolt of pain struck and crippled her to the ground. The ear-shattering sound flooded her ears once again and she felt herself tearing up. She didn’t know at this point if it was from the pain of her worsening situation or not. She whimpered and held her hands to her temple, waiting for the pain to stop. When it did she sighed in relief, but immediately remembered her situation and looked up. Her mind raced as she thought of what to do, but coming up blank. She could have moved to the side and out of the way of the trunk, at least sparing herself that. But her mind was far too tattered to concentrate on such a simple action.

  Not seeing any options, or enough time to move out of the way, she covered her head and ducked, waiting for the tree to fall, and prayed that it would somehow miss her by some miracle of millimeters. She cried, her chest heaving as she thought of Fran in what she thought to be her final moments. How she had always told her to be careful, not to go too high. She should have listened. Why didn’t I listen? she thought. But what happened only added to her astonishment. She heard the tree fall with a loud crack, and felt the ground shake beneath her as it did. Her eyes were closed tight as she waited for the onslaught of pain. But none came. There wasn’t even a hint of it. After a few moments went by, she dubbed it safe to open her eyes, and take a look at the damage that had been done. The tree had indeed fallen, corrupting the natural layout of the ground around it into a dent. But where she had been standing, the ground was at peace. In fact, a significant area around her was at peace, as if it had never been touched by the tree. Slowly, her hands returned to her sides as she looked up in curiosity. The tree had been bent upwards above her, almost like it had been snapped in half to protect her. She stared at it in shock as she took a few steps back from the destruction, trying to piece it all together in her mind. What had just happened? Had the tree split on its own? Had she done that? And if she had, how in the world… She kept looking, along the entire tree, looking for answers but finding none. She looked down at her hand, eyeing its shaking frame, now with slight horror. She shook her head and looked around to see if anyone had in fact seen what had happened. And indeed, there was one.

  A man. With … red hair.

  Her body seemed to freeze, when her eyes came into contact with his. His black eyes. Bottomless pits …

  “Making a mess again, I see,” the man laughed, shaking his head.

  His arms were crossed as he stepped towards her. Menacingly. She took a step back towards the tree, whose life had suddenly been ended. Something inside her wanted to run. Her body was on edge, her mind was drawing blanks, and she hadn’t the slightest idea why she wanted to cry. The man smiled as he continued to walk forward and she continued to retreat. His head tilted and his eyebrows raised as his arms lowered to his sides.

  “I’m starting to think you remember me, Saphora,” he said in amusement.

  And with the saying of her name, her fists clenched, and she knew why she wanted to run. But it couldn’t be. It wasn’t real. The night wasn’t real. It was a bad dream. The dismay! To see her nightmare before her. She had gone for so long wanting to prove that her memory had in fact happened. That it could be validated. And now that she was standing face to face with the man she had feared the most in her entire life, she wanted it to be everything but real. The man from that night is who he was. And she was in no position to escape him. She took several more steps back until he stopped walking and she nearly tumbled over. This can’t be happening, she thought. I’m seeing things.

  “And it seems like this time you feel like running! Could it be that you remember it all now?” he asked, continuing to walk once again. She took in a sharp breath, trying to remind her lungs how to breathe. She took a quick glance around, wondering if it would be best to scream for help. But given their location, she doubted anyone would be able to hear her. But a part of her also wanted to talk to the man, and find out who he was, and how he knew her. But for now she stayed quiet, her mind having forgotten how to speak.

  “What’s wrong? Why don’t you speak? You remember me don’t you? Surely you must have many things to tell me,” he said curiously. And without thinking, she shook her head, which sent him into a fit of laughter.

  “You mean to tell me you still do not remember? You’re making this too easy now. It’s been years, you know,” he laughed, coming closer. Her fists clenched again as he burst into laughter. She wanted to get in on what was so funny.

  “So tell me who you are. And why you’re showing up again years later, knowing who I am,” she demanded, actually taking a step forward. This
made him stop, and tilt his head back up.

  “My name is Tebias,” he said bluntly. “I am hunting you.”

  Her head tilted back slightly at the harshness of the words. Hunting? She didn’t know what those words meant in that context. Only she did, but didn’t want to make the connection with what he just said and herself. Not only did she have the urge to run, but charge at him with everything she had in the same instance. She didn’t know which one she should have done first.

  “Don’t understand?” he asked, reaching for his hip, and unhooking a weapon that resembled a gun of some kind.

  Her eyes immediately darted to the previously concealed weapon, wide and cautious. Her arm flinched, as if to protect herself, and then her entire body flinched when hearing and seeing the second half of the tree trunk to her left side slide forward along with the movement of her arm. Both of their heads jerked in its direction, and stared at it in bewilderment. It stopped when she did, its branches still giving off slight movements as a few dozen leaves fell from them. She turned back to look at the man by the name of Tebias, and he turned to look back at her, now in a crouching position. He honestly looked quite scared. Which meant … He didn’t do it. Slowly, he stood straight, and cracked his neck, looking back at the now still tree trunk. He fixed his attire and repositioned the weapon in his hand, clearing his throat.

  “Well that was odd,” he said with a slight grin.

  She shook her head a bit. He wasn’t going to fool her. This tree… What was she doing to this tree? She turned back to look at it again in wonder, and he cleared his throat again, trying to get her attention.

  “As I was saying. I’m your hunter. I need you to come back with me, or I might have to use this. I spared you this weapon before because you were a child. But it seems I underestimated you,” he said with a grimace, walking towards her again. She swung her arm out again, staring at the tree. But it did not move. She raised her arm above her head, and still nothing. This made him laugh.

  “What are you doing? Do you think you did that? Obviously the tree just fell a little more,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  She stopped her moving and thought about that. It had been in a position where it was susceptible to falling further. Her suspicions died a bit as she thought about the logic behind that. She turned back to look at Tebias, who was beginning to really close the gap between them, making her retreat again.

  “Who are you?” she asked again, having been lost in her thoughts.

  “Why, I just told you. Is your memory really that bad?” he asked in a soft voice.

  “What do you mean, you’re hunting me?” she asked, beginning to feel like she was in a dream. Maybe she had actually fallen unconscious in the tree, and she was now dreaming. It would make sense that she would dream of him, after just talking about him in her session with Dr. Lupin.

  “Just as it sounds. You’re hearing it right,” he said with a grin, spinning the weapon on his index finger, causing her attention to be drawn to it. And then it was suddenly aimed between her eyes, making them go wide as her body tensed. She was in no dream. Her body would have startled her awake ages ago. No. This was a living nightmare.

  “So are you going to come with me, or am I going to have to use this?”

  “Go where?”

  “That’s none of your concern. It’s a yes or no question.”

  “I think it is my concern.”

  His grip on the weapon tightened in frustration and she took an uneasy step back, which he followed and then some.

  “Yes or no,” he repeated, his eyes narrowing while hers darted about. Her heart rate quickened and her frame began to shake again as he waited for her answer, which she knew to be no. Sensing her answer, he shrugged and gave off a look of indifference before speaking.

  “Suit yourself. Such a waste,” he said before going to pull the trigger. She felt her body pulse with adrenalin as her arms moved to guard her body, and her face buried itself into them. The time seemed to expand and move so much slower, because she saw it all. From under her arms, she watched the ground beneath her pulsate and indent into the ground, almost like a ripple. And as she panicked, her breathing quick even in this slow-motion vision, she watched as the tree trunk as it was slung forward over her and into Tebias. The bullet Tebias had fired had gone into the trunk of the tree as it hit him, and sent him hurling into the ground under it. She lifted her head with wide eyes and watched him fly alongside the tree while his weapon was knocked into the air and out of sight.

  And then time picked up, and everything landed with a ground-shaking thud. She seemed to be gasping for air when it was all over. She watched as the tree rolled to a stop, the leaves shaking subtly. She looked around at the other half of the tree, which was now beginning to fall down on her at a rather quick pace. She lifted her hands above her head, looking up at it in horror, and then in disbelief when it stopped in midair, almost like it was floating. She blinked, and stared, before even considering moving her hands, in fear that if she did, the seemingly magical tree would then continue to fall. But with a sudden knowledge of what she was doing, or an involuntarily jerk of her shaking body, she did just that. She shifted her hands to the left, and the tree followed, falling onto the ground. She huffed out a nervous laugh and looked down at her trembling hands in awe. I did that? she thought. The tree … Did I just move a tree?! And then another realization hit her, once again. She had just seen Tebias. Tebias. His name was Tebias, and he was real. But with what had just happened … She looked over at the rummage of the one half of the tree trunk that had fallen, slammed up against another tree with what she knew to be Tebias under it. Had she just killed someone? Her chest heaved at the thought, and she felt her knees go weak for a moment. Even though the man had just tried to kill her, she may have just killed someone. Her body shook as her mind started to pick up in speed during her thought process. She started to panic. What would she do?

  “Oh my god … He’s real. He’s real, and he’s dead,” she said to herself in a shaky voice, as she began to move her feet. In fear that if she didn’t, they would give in on her. Suddenly her world was thrust into action. She’d waited all this time for some kind of contact with her past, and now she was getting it – physically. He was just in front of her. Talking to her. Threatening her. Her head spun as she tried to recover from the impact with the brick wall of reality. For the first time, without paranoia behind it, she felt fear. Actual, logical fear. Her hands fumbled for her back pocket, aiming to take out her phone so that she could call Fran. But she stopped herself when she heard movement from the branch that had been tossed. Her body froze as her head slowly turned in its direction. It rocked, ever so slightly, stabbing Saphora’s heart with a surge of fear, before slipping from the angle it was leaning at on another tree, and falling to the ground with a loud, earth-shaking thud. With eyes that seemed to be caught in headlights, she stared at the tree, watching, and anticipating any sudden movements from it. There were none in the next immediate moments. But she didn’t want to stick around to see if there would be any in the near future. If Tebias was alive, she wanted to be as far away as she could before he came to.

  Making the wise decision to leave, Saphora took off in the direction that would take her towards the zoo, where Fran worked – or so she thought. She didn’t want to go home – not where she would be alone for the next several hours. She wanted to be in a crowd. She wanted to be somewhere she could hide, where if she was found again, it would be harder to get a hold of her. But more than anything, she wanted to feel the safety of being in Fran’s arms, under her watch. Of course, that wasn’t real safety. Not from a man with a gun. But Saphora was frantic. She didn’t know where else to turn, or where else to go, except to the only person she trusted would do her no harm after listening to what happened.

  After running for about a minute, and getting deeper into the woods, Saphora began to lift herself into the air. She was doing so hurriedly, causing her limbs to flail with the flu
ctuation of her distraught concentration. She ended up running into a tree, so to speak, and wrapping her body around the branch she hit. She coughed from the impact to her diaphragm and gagged for air as she tried to keep her grip on the branch. In the mists of the chaos of her cracking psyche, Saphora felt her eyes begin to well with tears at the stress of the trauma. Her chest heaved in a sudden sob. Why didn’t I listen to Fran? she thought hysterically, blinking away the forming tears. This was too much. What was happening to her? Why?

  She lifted herself up on the branch with uneasy limbs, and steadied herself to leap into the air. But during the moment of takeoff, that same bone cringing cry struck her ears, and her hands immediately went to cover them. Her concentration was nearly shattered as she screamed and fell to the ground with a crackle and a thud. The air left her lungs once again, and she curled into a fetal position. Her hands gripped the thick grass of the ground as her lips parted to wheeze and force air into her crumbling lungs. Again she coughed, desperate to inflate them as she lifted herself back onto her knees.

  She couldn’t fly. And the zoo was over an hour away on foot. The tears began to well again. What if she couldn’t make it to the zoo before he woke up and came searching for her? She turned her body to look behind her. Thankfully, there was no sign of Tebias’ recovery, if there was one to be made. Her head jerked back in its previous direction with a sudden sense of ambition, filled with the desperate hope that she had the time to get away. But now that she feared flying, she would have to rely on other methods of getting to the zoo in a timely fashion. Feeling her lungs recover, she stood once again, and started running in the direction that she needed to go. And while doing so, she dug into her back pocket to reach for her phone once again. She speed dialed Fran, and waited for her to pick up as she rushed through the scattered trees, trying to get to the open road on the other side. Fran picked up on the third ring.

  “Hi, honey. You finished doing you-“

  “Fran, he’s real. I saw him! He’s … He’s …” she breathed as she ran, being careful not to let the phone slip from her grip. “He said he was hunting me, Fran. A tree fell! I fell when I was flying, Fran, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said in a slurring cry into the phone, nearly tripping over herself. Fran shook her head, stopping in the mists of her walking and pressing her index finger into her other ear so she could hear her better. The man who was walking with Fran slowed to a stop as well, turning back and seeing the look of distress on her face. They were on their way to the iguana exhibit. Fran pressed the phone against her ear; there seemed to be static interference.

  “Wait – What? Saphora, honey, slow down. I can barely hear you. What are you saying?”

  Saphora groaned, pushing her free hand against a passing tree to give her a bit more speed. She gave a quick glance behind her as she ran, to see if Tebias had begun to follow. He hadn’t, but the combination of her turning and hurried movements caused her to trip over an uplifted root and tumble onto the ground. She grunted uncomfortably, dropping the phone and tumbling a few feet forward.

  Fran’s eyes narrowed and then widened when she recognized the sounds of movement of pain. She bent over herself, pressing the phone to her ear in worry.

  “Saphora? Saphora!” Fran shouted, alarming some of the people that were around her, including, Brad, her coworker. He came closer, worried but not quite sure what to do.

  Meanwhile, Saphora was slowly getting back onto her knees for the third time, while looking around for her cell phone. She could hear Fran yelling on the other end, and it helped guide her hand-ear coordination. She succeeded in finding the phone, and stood up, placing it back against her ear and immediately starting to run again.

  “Fran, he’s real!”

  “Who’s real? What just happened? What was that?”

  “I fell, Fran. I heard this noise and it was awful and I fell into a tree and the tree fell only it didn’t fall and-“

  “Saphora! Slow. Down. I can’t understand you. You fell?”

  “Flying! I fell out of the sky.”

  “You what?!”

  “I-“

  “What did I tell you?! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

  “I’m in the woods,” Saphora sobbed. “He’s trying to kill me. I can’t fly! Please, come get-“

  “Kill – what? Hello?”

  “Fran!”

  “Saphora? Hello? Honey?”

  The phone’s connection was beginning to worsen, no doubt due to the dense area of forest she was currently in. It wasn’t long before the phone beeped and cut out completely, losing the signal. Saphora whined, listening to the line go dead, and looked at her phone in utter disbelief and propelling sorrow. In a hurried trial, she tried dialing her number again. But with each attempt, all she got was the distant beeping on the line, telling her that there was no service. With a huff of frustration she stuffed her phone in her pocket and picked up her speed. She thought that maybe if she could get to the road, she could have a good enough service to reach Fran. She could tell her where she was, and get her to come pick her up. She had to tell her what happened. That the story she had been telling for all these years, and blindly defending, was actually fact. Facts that left her with so many more questions. But none that currently had any time to be answered.

  Meanwhile, Fran was at the zoo, still standing in the middle of the pathway, yelling into her phone.

  “Saphora? Saphora! Hello? Saphora?” she repeated again, and again. Brad, who was beginning to get more concerned, stepped closer to Fran, wanting to know what was wrong. Fran’s eyes were beginning to tear up, and Brad, like any other sensible man, did not want to have a woman crying – especially not beside him on a crowded path.

  “Fran, what’s wrong? What happened to Saphora?” he asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She immediately sprang up and grabbed onto his other arm with her free hand, somewhat startling him.

  “She’s in trouble. She’s never in trouble, Brad. She said she fell out of … in the woods. I lost her signal. She sounded like she was hurt,” Fran said, trying to level the wobbling in her voice. Brad gripped her shoulder a bit tighter, trying to steady her.

  “I’m sure she’s alright, Fran. Saphora seems like she can handle herself.”

  “But then why would she have called? She’s always fine, Brad. Why would she have called if she was fine?” she asked frantically. Brad struggled for words as Fran let his arm go and put her phone back into her pocket, turning on her heel and heading in the direction from where they had come. “I’ve got to go find her.”

  Brad’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he jolted after her, carefully taking her by the elbow to turn her back around.

  “Whoa, whoa. At least tell the manager first, Fran.”

  “You tell him for me. I’ve got to go now. She could be hurt out there. She sounds like she was crying. Tell Wayne I’ll make up for it in tomorrow’s shift. It’s an emergency.”

  Small sounds from the forest floor behind her made Saphora’s back arch as she ran. Normal noises, which were probably caused by her own fast movements through the leaf and twig covered ground. Even so, they tormented her, convincing her that Tebias was only a few short steps away, mere moments away from cornering her again. And without any answers to help her defend herself.

  Finally, after a few more yards, she saw the opening of the forest, which let out into the road. She smiled, curling her hands into fists as she once again added a little more oomph to her speed, hope powering her on. She looked to her side as she ran, fumbling to take out her cell phone again and try dialing Fran. With her jerky movements, it proved to be somewhat difficult as she approached the side of the road.

  She finally was able to pull it out as she ran onto the dark pavement of the road. She gripped it tight in victory. But that feeling was short lived. It was almost immediately replaced by shock. Two bright headlights and an ear-ringing horn were the last things she saw and heard before everything went black.
<
br />