༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁵. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄!

𝐒𝐀𝐑 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 the boy's face first, nose crashing against his chin. She then proceeded to tumble forward, sending the both of them down. Her knees jutted hard into his ribs as she did so—that had to hurt—and at the speed she was going, she ended up completely missing him when his back struck the earth. Sar hit the ground with a cry, elbows slashing open at the impact on the rocks even through her lovely jacket. Momentarily defeated, her limbs twisted beneath her in a heap.

          Ow, ow, ow.

          Sar groaned. She felt blood run from several gashes now littering her skin. Her hand moved out to pick herself up off the ground, torn open at the impact of hitting the ground. She'd lost one of her sneakers, it had come flying off her heel at the impact and was now somewhere in the clearing. Turning herself over with a pained sound akin to a whimper, Sar looked at the boy. He looked about her age: brown eyes and brown hair that was hair-sprayed to the max. He probably would have been considered pretty cute, but right now that was absolutely the least of Sar's problems. Being about to be eaten by a monster that's face opened up beat that. By a lot.

          He, having stumbled to his feet, a little better than her considering how he'd landed, reached out a hand. Tugging Sar up, he helped her to her feet. "Hey, are you okay? What're you—?"

          Somewhere in the forest behind them, the monster screamed, cutting off his words. It was an unnatural scream, anyone could tell that. The sound of something that was not supposed to be in these woods, or this town, or this world. The boy turned towards the noise, his eyes wide.

          "What the hell was that?"

          Sar took a step back, her foot crunching on fallen stick. "We need to run. Now." Her eyes were focused on the dark woods behind him.

          "What?!" He alternated looking between her—this strange, new girl, covered in mud and slime—and towards where the sound had come from. Panic was in his tone. "What the hell is going on?!"

          The next scream tore them from any further thoughts. Their heads snapped towards the sound, right as the monster tore from the bushes. Its mouth was open wide, teeth bared. Before either of the two had the chance to move, or shout, the creature launched itself at them.

          Sar certainly did move then. She ducked backwards, dragging the boy with her. The two teenagers sprawled back across the ground as the monster tore across the clearing. Both Sar and the boy were up before it could raise its ugly head again. Whatever instincts the boy had were finally kicking in. "What the hell is that?!" It seemed, apparently, that he still couldn't shut up.

          In the matter of a split-second, she grabbed his arm. "Come on!" Sar took off, pulling the boy along by the arm. They fell into another sprint, as the monster crashed after them. It was having a more difficult time, body longer, less coordinated—having to shove its way between trees or force them down entirely. The boy quickly overtook her in speed as branches whipped at their skin. One let a papercut-sized tear along her face that prickled with blood.

          "What the hell is that thing?!" he was yelling, voice entirely panicked. Rightfully so. Sar didn't respond. Her fear was contaminating her mind—so vivid and terrified that she found it hard to think. Other than her own, people's strong emotions always tended to hinder her. But coupled with the dark mind of the monster, she was slammed with nausea. At this moment, her abilities really were a curse. The monster was still screaming after them. A fallen tree loomed ahead.

          "Jump!" Sar tumbled over the log, nearly losing her balance as her sneakers hit the ground.

          The boy jumped into the air after her. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"

          If it was any other time, she would have told him to shut up. But the fear was short-circuiting her brain and she couldn't gather the thoughts to make the attempt. Ahead of them, streetlights. Shit, there must be a road. It shone through the trees as if some kind of beacon of hope. They were going to make it. Past the edge of the tree-line, and they skidded out onto the street. Rain poured down over their features like tears. Above them, the streetlamp was flickering wildly. Parked on the street was a lone BMW.

          The boy began running towards it. "My car!" He leapt into the driver's seat, and hearing the monster close behind, Sar squished right in beside him. There was no time to run around the passenger's side. She had just managed to slam the driver's door shut when the monster leapt from the woods.

          Sharing the same seat, Sar was crammed up against the window, and the boy against the console. Each of their legs were on top of each other's, to avoid sitting on one another. So when the monster jumped onto the BMW roof, their shoulders cracked together painfully.

          Sar gripped the inner door handle, half out of panic and for purchase, and half afraid that the monster would try to open it. "Fucking drive!" she yelled, as if it needed to be said. The monster tore into the roof of the car. The sound of screeching metal filled their ears, and Sar saw the roof physically rise as it tried to rip its way in. The boy slammed his foot on the pedal and the car shot forward.

          The monster clung on, some sheer example of luck, gripping to the metal with its long claws and tearing as if it was paper. The boy was yelling still, but Sar was silent, feeling terror like she hadn't in years. One of the creature's claws pierced through the ceiling. Her fingers dug into the door handle as she firmly clenched her jaw, and Sar slipped into the monster's head, in a moment of desperate panic.

          It hurt.

          It wasn't like a human mind—not painfully simple—no, not at all. It was like a black hole, deep and so, so dark, that swallowed everything surrounding. Sar could feel her own thoughts being lost in that inevitable maze, consciousness reeling away from her. It was practically impossible to find a single cohesive thought anymore. Just feelings. She thought that if she stayed in its mind any longer, she might become lost.

          Sar steeled herself, fingers tightening on the handle and brows furrowing, and then her mind gave a great push against the monster's own consciousness. Digging in deep, with her own claws. Somehow, amongst all the darkness, Sar found its mind, and—all in a matter of second—gripped on as hard as she could. Her presence momentarily short-circuited its functions. The creature's muscles spasmed, its claws let loose in a panic, and then the monster was tumbling off the roof onto the road behind them. It screeched. By then, the car was already taking off in the darkness of the night.

          Sar's eyes shot wide open, mind snapping back to her as her hands flew down to her knees to grip at them. Trying to steady herself. She was struggling for a clear thought, brain reeling. It took a moment of blinking for her to totally come back to reality. Her head ached, a deep hurt that was far more stabbing than whenever she used her powers to rob banks, or even make a getaway. She still felt bits of the monster's consciousness... lingering at her own. She'd never felt anything like that before.

          The blonde girl was still crammed into the driver's seat, stuck against the door as the boy next to her was visibly freaking out. His leg was looped under hers as he had his foot down on the acceleration pedal as far down as it would go. Probably not safe in the rain. It turned out he'd been yelling the whole time, though she'd never heard him, too zoned out. Even now, the world sounded as if it was underwater. Blood dripped down from her nose and onto her thighs. One drop, two drops, three... four... seven. Shit. Woozily, her fingers gripped at the door.

          The car was squealing wildly against the wet roads, still roaring at an incredibly dangerous speed. "Okay, what the hell is going on!?" yelled the boy, taking one of his hands off the steering wheel to slam it back down in panic again on the circular ring. His eyes were wide, totally panicked. Sar knew how afraid he was by the way his breath was coming out uneven—painfully clear from where his shoulder was crammed against her own, and was rising and falling unevenly with each inhale and exhale of his lungs. "What was that thing?! Why was it chasing you?!" Every now and then, his eyes moved from the road and darted to look fearfully at her.

          Sar mustered the strength to turn around, body feeling like it was heavy and weighed down. Sluggishness creeped at the edges of her senses. All she needed was a little rest, then she'd feel better. Sar looked at the dark road behind them. Its mind lingered somewhere back there, but far, now. "It was just in the woods." Blood fell on the leather car seat, her lips parted as she breathed in exhaustion. The monster was nowhere to be seen. "I don't know."

༉*ೃ༄

btw, when sar is in someone else's mind, she's pulling parts of her own consciousness out of her own body — which means, there is the very real possibility of her consciousness getting lost out of her body. just thought that would be a good heads up as to the reason why it affects her more than it affects eleven.

word count: 1,594

originally posted, 19.12.2017.

revised and rewritten, 06.11.2020.