Salena was sick to her stomach. Each step took her one step closer to vomitting and her grip on her abdomen tightened in response. She felt light-headed, dizzy, and kept stumbling, but she knew this feeling was hardly vertigo.

No, she was absolutely, undeniably terrified. 

She wobbled, tripped, and she careened into the hedge that lined the footpath. She satchel caught on a twig, the strap interlacing through the foliage, and as she tried to step forward it tugged her back mercilessly. 

"Come on..." Salena moaned, giving it a few futile tugs. Something bubbled up into her lungs, a constricting force that compressed her lungs as she fought to keep her breathing even. She tore at the leaves, nails raking through the branches, and she attempted a deep breath. Halfway through the inhale, fear caught in her throat and she let out a spluttered cry and collapsed. She burst into tears as her knees hit the concrete, her weight finally freeing her bag. She sprawled across the path, burying her face in her hands as tears trailed across her cheeks. 

She hiccuped, sniffled, and dragged a sleeve across her eye as she fought for composure. She could do this. She could do this. She could do this. The mantra didn't help.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself, wiping at her  face. "This is crazy! It's impossible!"

She lowered her hands to her lap, staring at them as if they held the answers. Perhaps they do, she thought, clenching them into fists. If there was one thing Salena knew how to do it was compile facts. 'Dealing with it' could come later as long as she had a list. 

She held up one finger. "People are trying to get me." Another joined the first. "The same people are trying to get five of my peers." A third. "At least one of us has something wrong with them." 

She stared at the three fingers. Of all the thoughts flying around her head, these were the only three that she could cram onto simple digits. She swallowed and raised a fourth. "If I ever get home, I will die."

With another deep breath, this time without choking, Salena assessed her hand. Four problems. no solutions. As smart as she was, Salena was more than capable of doing that math.

"I am screwed."

A polite cough behind her was all it took for Salena to propel herself to her feet, scream and whirl around to face the stranger. At any other moment she would be impressed with her reaction time, but the man before her claimed all of her attention. He had reeled back at her response, eyes wide and hands raised cautiously in front of him. 

"Woah Miss," he cried, blinking rapidly at her. 'I just wanted to check you were ok."

Salena sucked air into her lungs, lowering her arms when she realised they had been raised as if to ward off a predator. Or to Salsa. Either way, not the most sane look. She swallowed and assessed him quickly. He looked about 40 with dark hair, glasses and a sweater-vest. As she watched, he let his own hands fall to his side, but they twitched anxiously at his sides. As if he was waiting for her to attack. Or waiting to attack. 

She shook her head, brushing suspicion from her mind. 

"You are ok, right?" he asked slowly, eyes darting down the street. He looked nervous, threatened, like he thought he might end up in the obituaries the next day if somebody didn't walk past soon.

"I'm..." Her voice came out scratchy and shrill, so she coughed and tried again. "I'm fine." He merely blinked, and the nausea returned to her stomach: maybe she had offended him? "Thank you for asking, but really."

He nodded, looking unconvinced, and he licked his lips and buried his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "Well.... can i walk you somewhere?" Salena's mouth dropped open to protest but he continued hurriedly. "You look awfully shaken up and I realise you don't know me from Adam but I swear I just want to make sure you're all right."

She hesitated. He seemed sincere, a genuine good samaritan, but what were the chances that on today of all days she would come across a nice stranger? Astronomical. She was shaking her head before she'd even finished attempting the calculations. 

"Thank you again, but I really couldn't impose..."

"It's no imposition," he insisted with a smile, "Honestly, I just couldn't sleep tonight without knowing you were OK. There's a service station just up the road here and if I could just see you to there then I'd feel much better. Afterall, these streets are hardly safe for a young girl at this hour."

She looked him over once more: he seemed harmless. No gun, no suit, so sunglasses or earpierces. He looked like a completely normal human being - apparently a nice one. 

"especially not you."

The grateful acceptance died on her tongue. "What did you just say?" she asked weakly, her weight shifting as the world spun. 

His eyebrow jerked, his smile fading slightly. "I said that these streets aren't very safe at night for young women."

"Especially not young women like you, Salena."

She jerked away as if she had been slapped, burying her shoulder in the hedge. The man looked concerned, reaching forward to steady her, but she jerked away quickly and avoided his touch. 

"I never told you my name," she hissed, backing away from him. 

He kept pace with her, concerned expression etched in place. Now she could see the twitch in his eye as if from great strain and the way he was perfectly balanced on his toes: indicators she hadn't noticed before. She would have kicked herslef if her feet weren't otherwise engaged. 

"Did you fall? Hit your head? I think you're hallucinating." He sighed, pursing his lips. "You should really go to the hospital. Here, I'll drive. My car is just around this corner." He offered her a hand that she pinned with a fearful glare. 

Her legs had stopped working. She couldn't move. The man was drawing nearer and with every step Salena's stomach clenched tighter, fear paralysing and toturing her at the same time. She let out a strangled groan, worried her heart might give out at the rate it was going. Think Salena, she urged herself, managing one last retreating step, think!

Her bag slipped from her shoulder, evacuating before all hell broke loose, and both of their eyes traced it's journey to the ground. Salena's eyes remained fixed on the path, the two sets of shoes that stood nearly toe to toe: a set of dirty white joggers and... shiny, black, men's dress shoes. The type of shoes men typically wore with... suits. 

"got you."

That was all it took to send Salena sprinting in the other direction, aware from the man and his promised car, a vehicle she was now sure would have come complete with tinted windows. It was barely a second before she registered the footsteps that thundered down the path after her, the blood that rushed through her ears quieting enough to let that horrifying sound through. If she hadn't have been using all available oxygen to not collapse, she would have cried out. As it was, exhaustion kept her quiet. 

She came to the split in the path and, without hesitation, darted across the only untravelled path - aware from the man she was fleeing and the home she had fled. After half and hour of panicked, anxious, sickening freedom, she was beginning to think she could never go back. 

As she tripped, Salena decided to focus on the running. The hedge was still towering to her right, the footsteps still earth-shatteringly loud behind her, and her breaths coming far too quickly, but when the bushes suddenly stopped, a wooden gate hanging in the opening, she made for it like the school bus after she slept in. Throwing herslf at the gateway, she propped a foot in a crack and propelled herself over, collapsing in an undignified, panting, shaking mess on the otherside. The only thing that got her moving again was the yelp of anger that ensued from the otherside as the man came to a stop and slapped a hand against the panels. he raised a foot to copy her gymnastics, and she raised a foot to sprint in the other direction. 

At any other time, she would have been extremely proud that as she recognised her surroundings, she only hesitated for a milli-second. It wasn't every day she was brave enough to run through a cemetary. Or scared enough. 

Skirting the headstones and any peice of land that might have human remains laid out to rest beneath it forced Salena to run back the way she had come for a distance, before swinging to the left and heading towards a line of trees. Truth be told, she had no idea where she was going, only that she was glad to still be 'going'. The change in direction gave her a fleeting view of the gate just in time to see the man land, feet-first, on her side of the baricade.

She ran faster. 

He ran across graves. 

She was nearly at the trees. 

He was nearly at her.

A cry of terror tore out of Salena's mouth as she reached the first tree, swinging herself towards the others. She didn't know what she was doing! Was she trying to hide? To flee? To bury herself alive? At this point, her oxygen-deprived brain was considering anything. She needed a plan, but instead she had a man gaining on her and frazzled nerves that were about to suggest she attempt to climb a tree. 

Before she had time to dismiss that idea, she collided with something, someone, and they both toppled to the ground, rolling down a small incline. Salena rolled over a log ripping off a measley branch and scrambling to her feet with the weapon extended. Something trickled down her cheek - blood? - and her entire body hurt, not that she could hear it complaining over her laboured breathing, but she raised her arm fractionally and watched the other crash test dummy roll over. 

Stunned, the twig fell from her grip. "Austen?"

Hi. Again. Tired. Am trying to put up an update a day for the next 10 days. We'll see how that goes. 

Enjoy, SwimmingUpstream xo