Page 22 of Drowned In Silence

Elliot

I wait for herto get down the street and into the woods before I leave the front door. Her Father is screaming from the front lawn, yelling at Dynah for leaving his side once again, cursing me for setting him up, and banging his hands on his car. What a godly fucking man.

If I would have known that he would have laid hands on her, I never would have let her walk inside of that fucking house. How pathetic do you have to be to lay hands on your own child? How pathetic do you have to be, to be a fucking pastor and treat someone like this? I know the answer because I too lived the same way before I left.

Once I find her and make sure she’s safe… I will fucking kill him.

The last few days Spencer and I have sat at the rental, doing as much research as possible on him. We only got a name and the place where he works. That’s how I know he is a pastor at the local church.

Pastor Robert Avery.

I lost sight of her once she hit the treeline, but I know I will find her. I can hear tree branches in the near distance snapping and breaking from the force of her bare feet. She will be cut up, but I will tend to her wounds.

“Dynah! Where are you, Darling?” I yell into the woods. Maybe if she will come to me, we will have an easier go of this. “I won’t hurt you, I want to help!”

I can hear her sobs between her painful breaths, and I know she is just ahead of me. If only I could see her little body from where I’m at.

She just wants to run, and I know that… But I just want her to stop. She doesn’t need to run anymore, from anyone or anything. I will save her, protect her, love her.

I love the chase, the hunt, so that’s what I’ll do.

“You can run all you want, Dynah. But, I will hunt you into whatever realm you travel to, whatever life you find for yourself, whatever hell you escape to. You are mine!” I scream into the forest.

She must have stopped or her Father is behind us, because a branch snaps behind me. I spin around, looking for whoever made the sound and catch a glimpse of her bruised face.

There you are.

I speed through the trees, jumping over fallen logs, and around holes in the forest floor. My breathing is controlled, my mind focused. If only I could reach her.

There is a road up ahead, and I can see the frame of an old metal bridge. I can only hope that she isn’tthatstupid to try to escape me.

I turn directions and head for the riverbank, crossing the road and running down the embankment. I wait beside a large rock, waiting for her body to appear on the bridge.

“No one in the woods but Dynah. No one in the woods but me and her,” I sing into the cold night. When my words reach her hopefully she will understand that it’s just me and her, and that no one else matters. I keep singing, low enough not to scare her more, but loud enough that she can hear it.

It’s eerily silent, deafening to the average human’s ears. I’ve known of a place that is so quiet you can go crazy just by the sound of your own heartbeat. This feels similar.

Snow is falling, blanketing the shrubs and rocks against the river. Bats skim the surface of the water, quietly catching their prey and swallowing it whole. Fog rolls around us, the air colder than the ground– it’s almost as if the ebony water is steaming, curling around itself.

There.

I watch her as she walks up to the bridge, clinging onto one of the frosty metal supports. Stepping out from beside the rock, I make sure she can see me. Our eyes meet as her face reflects off my mask.

“What are you doing, Little Raven? Are you scared?”

She shakes her head before looking around, checking to see if we are alone.

“Don’t you dare jump. Because when I save you, I will make sure I’m the last person you will ever see. I will make you crave me more than anything you’ve ever desired. I will change your mind about anything you’ve ever thought to be true. You’re stuck with me, Dynah. Whether you want to be or not.”

She shakes her head once more, probably hating the thought of being alone with me, and wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

“I will smother you until you’re forced to surface and crawl into my arms. You’re sin, Little Raven… and if this is what sin tastes like, let me drown in it until our last breaths.”

Forgive Me

Dynah

My stalker. My MirroredMan. My fucking ‘savior.’