Forgive Our Ignorance by Caitlin Mazur

Author:Caitlin Mazur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Caitlin Mazur

16

ELI

My boots hit the ground like thunder, every stride pounding in my ears beside my hammering heart. I darted through overgrowth, branches scraping my forearms and face, overgrown weeds clawing at my ankles. Thick tree cover shielded me from sunlight, but I still felt exposed at all angles. I tried hard not to think about the guns those men held in their hands, the speed at which the bullets left the chamber, and what they might do to my body. What they might’ve done to Mom.

Sweat poured from my forehead, impeding my vision, rolling down my nose and onto my lips where I tasted my salty fear. After some time, my head began to throb from exertion and I slowed my pace. My throat was on fire, my chest tight as my lungs struggled to keep up. For the first time since I’d left the bus, I paused, resting my back on a peeling tree trunk as I sucked down a few deep breaths.

Against my better judgment, I looked over my shoulder at the ground I’d covered. Spots of sun made lone, yellow rays that bounced across green overgrowth, making small insects visible in the light. The world was still, yet my ears rang with static from the buzzing bus alarm and the bullets that had whizzed over my head. I closed my eyes, trying to rid my vision of stars and shake the noise away.

Shouting voices came from the distance, calling out in deep, hurried tones. I tried to make out the words they spoke to one another. An uncontrollable ache had settled in my limbs and once my adrenaline faded, I would be in agony. The tree at my back was a relief; I was so tired, so eager to lie down, to rest my aching body — perhaps here would be fine…

My eyes shot open, palms flat against the tree.

No. Run!

I turned, willing my legs to pick up speed, but rest had slowed my momentum and even with fear as my fuel sprinting seemed impossible. I heard them more clearly now as they got closer to where I stumbled forward.

In the distance, a large overturned tree with its roots in the air showed where the ground had come apart from the floods at the start of summer. I ran toward it, ducking beneath uneven, muddy earth, a rock at my back, the roots hanging a foot over my head, shielding me from view.

I tried to calm my breath and avoid the dry cough tickling my throat, straining to listen. The voices came closer; too close for me to allow myself to breathe freely. They spoke in raised, angry tones, but their words sounded foreign, muddled by the low hum that wouldn’t seem to leave my ears. For a moment, I wondered if I was still rooted in reality at all.

Time slipped past me, unreachable and endless. The voices faded, still bouncing around the area until quieting completely. It began to drizzle, a lazy type of rain that pitter-pattered off the earth, dripping down the ends of the tree’s roots.

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