The Dream

Jade scrambled to reach her parents' car. She lost her balance and slipped on a wet rock, landing on her right side. A sharp pain ran up the whole right side of her body. As she slid into a cool pool of water, she groaned in agony.     The feeling was almost unbearable. Jade began to lose consciousness. The only thing that connected her to reality was the soothing sound of water flowing over the park's milldam. Even the sharpness seemed to ooze away as if retreating to join the cool water that she lay in.     A faint noise awoke Jade from her trance and brought back the forgotten affliction. She snapped alert and forced herself to sit up. As she did an impenetrable cloud of fog filled her head. She heard another noise and immediately forgot the pain. She knew that she had to get up and run. Her pursuer was drawing near.     She jumped up and regretted getting up in such a hurry. Her side cried in pain and her head protested as well. Water soaked her clothing and made her shiver. She looked around, her vision barely trustworthy, searching her surroundings for a sign that he was lurking in the shadows. She looked past the bank of the river formed by the flow of water from the dam into the nature trail. No sign of him so far.     She swallowed a scream when she noticed a silhouette in the trees. It was him.     Jade jumped to the opposite bank, dripping with water, and ran up the hill towards more trees. She knew where she was going at least. On the other side of the vast amount of trees was the parking lot where her parents were waiting for her. If she could only make it! He would not try to attack her in sight of people. Or so she hoped.     Jade glanced back with morbid curiosity as she ran. She wanted to see if he was still chasing her. She gasped when she saw the dark figure approaching her. He was gaining with little effort. It was as if he were floating towards her. Nothing seemed to be touching him.     She looked back towards the trees. She had to concentrate on her path and not panic. She noticed that the sun was almost down. It seemed to be setting awfully fast. Even the sun was not on her side. The colors of the setting sun were teasing her as if to say, "You'll never make it". She knew that she was going to have trouble finding her way through the trees now. Great! She thought.     Her pursuer's eyes burned into her. Though she did not look back, she could feel his gaze on her. She could not help but glance back to see him again. His skin looked so pale contrasted to the darkness around him. She could not really tell what his facial features were from the distance. He also wore a black robe-like cloak. A hood covered his head and shaded the top half of his face making him look even more mysterious. The robe was opened enough to reveal sophisticated clothing almost out of the seventeenth century.     Drat! She thought. I wanted to see what he looked like. Why does he have to look so creepy?     She focused on the forest ahead. She braced herself as she entered the barricade of trees. Many branches grabbed at her arms as if they were thin, gnarly, brown hands. She was too much in a hurry to move the limbs from her path. They probably did not even touch her pursuer at all.     The stinging of the branches scraping her skin added to the pain that she forced into the back of her mind. She had nearly forgot about it. It still lingered there like a ghost, but she would not let it haunt her. It would have been better if she had worn a long sleeved shirt, but she did not know that she would be running through the trees.     Jade kept going despite her pain. She did not know if what he would do to her if he caught her would be worse. Numerous thoughts crossed her mind. She wondered why he was chasing her, what her wanted, and more importantly, what she should do!     She decided to try to throw him off her track though she did not know if it would work. She made an abrupt turn to her left. Then, she started to sprint. She saw a fallen log in her path and estimated the height to take the chance. It was at least a two-foot jump. She was not really an acrobat, but she had to try.     Jade leaped over the log and just barely made it. She landed on her stomach. Yet another source of pain to add to her collection. She released a grunt as she pushed herself up. This time, she got up slowly so not to bring on the foggy cloud again. She looked around out of habit and stood up all the way.     She knew that she needed to keep going. He was still close behind her. She could feel it. Apparently, her detour would not through him off. Every direction looked the same to her. So, she picked one and began fleeing again.     Her breathing started to get heavier from both the running and her fright. She was getting tired. Her body wanted to stop. She assumed that her pursuer meant to run her down until she just gave out. If so, his plan was starting to work. She had to keep going!