It was his plan to sell my body parts, I have to run, she thought, and left the bag. Her life was worth more. She ran as fast as she could in the tall grass. There were sounds that made her fear for her life. He was right to say there were strange animals. But she had to do what she could to avoid joining those other pieces in the freezer! Maybe all the talk of wild animals was just a set-up to stop her from running off. She felt drained and tired. She had hit her foot on a stone while she was running, and she was in pain.

Birds chirped nearby and there was a dog barking from afar. That restored hope in her. She could find help: where there was a dog, there would be humans. She panted as she raced through the long, frail grass. The tall trees were blowing and shaking in the wind as if something was there. There could be animals, in truth. She thought she caught a glimpse of a monkey and a long brown thing hanging in the tree.

She felt eyes everywhere and didn’t know which way to run. There was no house or people in sight. She thought the sound of the dog barking was her hope but it looked like it had vanished into thin air. She realised the more she feared, the more she heard weird noises. Trey knew that his victims touldn’t run far enough to escape. The crickets were making her heart explode with the noise they made. Her legs were aching and one of her sneakers got stuck in some wire. When she tried to remove it, it tore the sole off. She had to walk barefoot in the grass with thorns.

“Damn it! Where can I get help? I just want a shop, then I could call Charlotte!” she gasped. Just then, she saw light in the distance. She hid behind a tree, breathing heavily. She peeked out and saw a car. She ran towards it, waving her hands, trying to compose her body, which was already drained. As the car drew closer, she noticed it was the same BMW Trey had. She ran into the bushes again, forgetting how much the thorns hurt.

A man appeared from the car, chasing her, and she knew it was Trey. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She hid near a tree trunk again, to catch her breath. She covered her nose and mouth so they wouldn’t hear her breathing. She saw an owl in the tree. There was shuffling coming from the grass and she threw herself on the ground and held her breath.

She saw a foot through the grass: noticed Trey’s sneaker. She closed her eyes and mouth to make sure they didn’t hear her breathing. The sky was already turning orange on the west side. She sweated with fear. She was exhausted, thirsty and getting weaker by the minute. Her feet were red and sore. Trey and the other guy looked around more, but missed her lying in the grass. They left and she fell into a deep sleep.

The owl was hooting. Amanda dreamt that Trey and his friend were tying her to a table and cutting her into pieces while she cried for help. Trey laughed as he held her leg and when he tried to pull out her heart, he smiled at her.

“You won’t flee any more,” he laughed.

“Please, let me go!” she cried.

She woke up terrified, feeling the air unsettled with the breeze. The grass was wet and her body was frozen. It was like she had been submerged in cold water for hours. Her feet were colder than any part of her body, so much that they were numb.

The birds made an irritating chattering as she started to move herself. Then she felt tickling on her arm. She looked down and screamed: there were hairy worms all over her. She jumped up and down shaking them off. She was near the dusty road. She saw a puff adder and she dragged her feet but she didn’t even see where she was going. She felt dizzy and something bumped into her, hard and she fell to the ground.

She heard footsteps and breathing and she thought Trey had caught her.

“Why didn’t you look?” a feminine voice said.

“I did, she just came out of nowhere,” he said nervously.

“This is bad, she could be dead,” said the woman’s voice again.

She checked Amanda’s pulse. The woman smiled because they had not killed anyone. Her husband didn’t have a licence and felt relieved. Amanda fell unconscious. The couple carried her to their car and drove with her to their home.

Tell us: Do you think Amanda is finally safe?