The Necklace That Protects Me novel Chapter 8

Brie, Amy, and I all sat together at lunch. Even though Brie and Amy were very different they seemed to have hit it off. It was nice to feel like I had people to count on. Brie asked me about my disruption in class and I described it to her fully, even the part about the necklace. Amy seemed to listen very closely.

"I'm probably just going crazy." I shrug and laugh. Brie laughed with me but Amy seemed very concentrated on my necklace.

"Where did you get your necklace?" She asked, trying, and failing, to hide her apparent fascination with it.

As soon as the question came out of her mouth I froze. It was involuntary, but that's always the way I reacted when this particular memory was brought up. I quickly stood up and mumbled an excuse of not feeling well and sprinted for the doors leading outside. I ran until I reached the woods, surprising myself I kept running until I could no longer see the school through the trees. I sat down out of breath, thankful to have been able to push the memory down. It was the worst memory of my entire life. One I only saw bits and pieces of but it was enough that I reacted violently to it being brought up.

I never thought I would ditch but that's exactly what I was doing for the rest of the day. I needed to explain to my newfound friends in a way without bringing my memory up. So here I was ditching. In the woods. Alone.

I found a fallen tree to sit down on, eventually fully laying my back on it. I stared up at the sky. I loved watching how the wind blew the trees. Especially how the leaves all moved different directions, and how far the tops of the trees would move. I closed my eyes and just listened. It was calming to my soul.

I don't know how long I laid there but when I opened my eyes I felt rested and calm, which lasted for about a millisecond. It was getting dark. I was out here alone and no one knew where I was. I didn't even have a cell phone to call for help. The peace and calm I had found in these woods was quickly replaced with fear and anxiety.

I was face to face with the biggest animal I had ever seen in my life. It was completely dark out so I couldn't see much besides it's long black nose and piecing golden eyes. I don't know what it was but I wasn't sticking around to find out.

As stupid and pointless as it was I jumped up and took off running. I didn't look back, fearing whatever that was, was getting ready to pounce on me. I just kept running. Eventually I realized there was no sounds of anything chasing me so I stopped to take a breath. It felt like my lungs were going to explode. I wasn't built to run like that.

After my breathing slowed I took a second to calm myself. I looked around and realized I could see lights through the trees. Praying it was the school I started to slowly walk towards it. I then heard something snap behind me and took off running for the light like a chicken with its head cut off. I stumbled and slipped several times, my shoes and half of my clothes were entirely soaked by the damp floor of the forest. It was cold and my body was going numb but I kept running towards the light.