Élodie opened her eyes.

It was dark, but the light of the sun was clearly visible, through the rectangular hole that was used as a door in the concrete wall. She painfully raised up her heavy head, which rang because of the night spent on this cold, wet and dusty floor. She sat, stretched her stiff limbs and she breathed in, at length, the fresh air of the forest.

This night has been one of the least restful nights of her life. Even the sleepless nights she secretly spent watching TV shows or reading were more relaxing. Besides, the warmth of the summer nights has probably saved her life : without it, she would be frozen to death. And to think that only two days ago, she was peacefully sleeping in her cosy bed... Everything has happened so fast...

"All of this because of this... this..." Élodie couldn't find the right word. A ball took shape in her throat, and tears blurred her vision. She began to have a severe nausea.

"All of this because of Alexis..." The teenager burst into tears. She didn't know what to think, everything was too hard to bear. She was not the kind of person who is easily discouraged, but now, it was too much.

Be alone, in the middle of the Vosges forest, bound to sleep at the bottom of a sort of dark box, it was too much.

Élodie knew why she was nauseated. It was because of her hate for Alexis. She hated him deep in her soul, he hurt her heart. Of course, she still loved him, but she couldn't do anything except hate him. He betrayed her, simply betrayed her. She would give him her life, and now he sold her to killers.

And she knew the cure for this nausea which drowned her. It was simple and painless, it was something that she has learned to do, when she was very young and that she often repeated. But this time, she couldn't do it, she couldn't forgive him, he did a too big low blow, it hurt too much.

A tear rolled down her cheek.

Élodie was angry, tired, lost, alone, thirsty, broken, and the only thing about what she thought, was Alexis. This monster.

Yes, it was that. Élodie has dated a monster.

A monster who was looking like an angel.

The teenager thought about her father, who would hug her, who would comfort her. About her father who wasn't here, who left during a month, for Japan, left her alone in the house. In fact, not really alone : she had her friends, she had the high school, she had the social networks, and she always could contact him. Today, she was totally alone. She was lost in the middle of the forest, in the mountains, without any means of communication, with for only comrade, the sadness and the bitterness.

So, she stayed here, to stare at the open door, her eyes slowly immersed herself in the picture of the trees. Her father would give her some mystical advice, to help her get trough this ordeal, but at this moment, the only thing which sounded to her ears was the silence, sprinkled by weak and sad bird songs.

She missed her friends, too. She missed laughing. It was stupid, she would never think that when she would be reduced to sleep outside, her biggest need would be to laugh. However, it was the case. But she didn't really know if she could laugh again. Maybe it reminded her too much of Alexis.

Her stomach pulled her from her mind, because of a big rumbling which continued to resonate during a moment in her head. She needed to eat something. And it was not here where she could find what to satisfy her hunger. So she decided to stand up.

Slowly, and with difficulty, she sat up. She tried to lean on her right hand, but the pain called her to order. She had totally forgot that she got hurt when she had run away, the day before. Almost all her palm had swollen and became greyish. So she tried to rise, she laboriously stretched her aching muscles, and cracked all of her joints, while ensuring to not use her hand.

Once up, she stayed on her feet, she was frozen here, in front of the opening. A light breeze made her hair dance, her dark brown hair, still all tangled. Her eyes, brilliant blue, stared at the distance, examined the emptiness.

She stood in front of her life; she stood in front of her destiny.

She stood in front of the hatred, the suffering, but also in front of the love and the peace.

............

Translated from French by a_dreamer_girl_, thanks to Translate Agency.