She gets away from him

As I am running towards the village, I look over my shoulder to see if Pwyll is chasing me. I see a humanoid figure moving in the distance and it is following me. Oh shit. It must be him. Damn it. This is not how Samhain is supposed to go.

While running, I notice a large patch of tall hedges in the forest. That is the perfect place for me to hide in. I run into the hedges and keep my head down. I keep moving forward for a bit, then I take a left turn and continue moving diagonally. I don’t know if Pwyll is going to chase me in here, but if he does, he will have to either search the whole patch or get lucky.

When I find a place that I feel can keep me hidden well enough, I stop moving and just sit and wait. I try to breathe as silently as possible and listen carefully for Pwyll. At first I hear the ruffling of branches getting closer. The longer I sit around and wait, to more frightful I become of him finding me. I can feel my heart beating in my chest and all I can do is close my eyes and stay quiet while hoping Pwyll will pass me by without noticing me.

When I hear the ruffling of branches move away from me, I feel my prayers are answered. I better stay hidden a bit longer though. I don’t want to make a sound and draw him back to me. Suddenly, I hear him say, “Motherfucker.” It sounded quite far away already. Perhaps this is my chance to get moving.

I start crawling in the opposite direction of where I heard Pwyll’s voice from. I move slowly, trying my best to make no sound whatsoever. When eventually I reach the end of the hedge patch, I carefully look outside. Nobody in front of me, nobody to the left and nobody to the right. I get out of the patch and carefully peer over the hedge in search for Pwyll. He is practically on the other side, and … might have his back to me. It is hard to see in the dark. I take this as an opportunity to leave. Still keeping my head down, I walk quickly from tree to tree until, when looking back, I can no longer see the hedges. Then is when I feel it is safe enough for me to run normally.

It doesn’t take me all that long any more to reach the village. I head for the barn as quickly as possible. As soon as I get inside, I find a place to sit and just breathe. Oh boy. This year’s Samhain was the worst. Well, it could have been worse. Imagine Pwyll had caught me. I don’t want to think about what he would have done. On the other hand, I lost my chance with Zayden. Who by now is probably still in the forest. Now that I am in a place where I can be safe, my emotions start taking over and I start crying.

We had a plan to become married and happy. It got ruined by Mearna. And Pwyll nearly made it worse. Thank the ancestors for Zayden to distract Pwyll. But now he is out there and there was nothing I could do to save him.

A short time later, the door opens and not one but two girls come in. One of them is Rianna, Rowen’s cousin. The other is someone I don’t know. Since I know all the girls in the village, I can assume she is with the travelers. Both girls notice that I am crying and Rianna walks up to me asking, “Kaileigh? Is something wrong?”

I tell them everything about tonight. That I was supposed to meet Zayden, but he had already gotten caught and while walking back to the village with him, some guy called Pwyll tried to grab me, even though he didn’t have a necklace.

“Pwyll did that?” The other girl, named Raelin, says. “I have known him for quite a long time, but I never thought he would act in such a way.”

“Believe me, he did.” I tell her.

“Maybe we should tell the elders?” Rianna suggests. “I’m sure they would think of a good punishment for him.”

“No need to bother.” I say as I start to regain my composure. “I made it back safe. That’s what matters. I just don’t want to think about this Pwyll anymore. Let’s just get dressed already.”

I am sure Rianna and the other girl still have questions, but I am just no longer in the mood to talk about it. I am tired, I am hungry and I want to sleep. Before leaving, we do hear a knock on the door on the other side of the barn followed by someone trying to talk through the door, but we can’t make anything out.

For a moment, I am worried that it’s Pwyll and has not yet given up on me. Rianna seems to notice and goes over to open the door, opens it a crack and checks out who it is.

Rianna converses a little with the other person until eventually she looks over her shoulder at me and says, “It’s Zayden.”

Thank the gods, Zayden is alright. I walk past Rianna, exit the barn and give Zayden a big hug. “Thank you.” I say softly only now realizing he is still nude. Poor Zayden was so worried about me that he didn’t even get dressed first. He came straight over here to check on me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be alright now. I’ve got Rianna and Raelin here. I’ve told them everything.”

“That’s good.” Zayden replies as he hugs me back. “I’m just happy that you are safe.”

After checking up on me, I tell Zayden to go and collect his clothes and go to bed. We will meet up tomorrow and then talk about what happened today. I leave for home too, as do Rianna and Raelin. I can't wait for this day to be over.