, staring directly out the doorway, not wanting to look back into her eyes anymore. ‘I just hope she won’t ask any questions. Or maybe she could…just…keep mum. Just don’t ask anything. Don’t give her a reason to question me or to treat me differently. Just keep silent and let her work things out on her own.’ He squeezes his eyes shut and forces himself to think of something else, anything else. Anything except that damn face…that damned face that has haunted him ever since he met it yesterday. Suddenly, there is a loud knock on the door.
His heart jumps into his throat. ‘Shit!!! What if it’s her, what if it’s the man she told us to leave alone!! Oh God! No, no, no, no, no!! Not now!! Please, please just leave me alone! Don’t come in!! Leave me alone! I don’t want you in here!! Please!!’ He can’t move or speak or think, his thoughts are screaming at him so loudly that it sounds like someone else yelling. ‘Not now..please don’t!...Please…leave me alone!!’ But she doesn’t stop knocking, and he doesn’t know why; he doesn’t even know what she wants, where she wants him to go, what she wants him to do now. Her words echo in his mind over and over again like a mantra, echoing around and around inside of his skull. The longer the seconds pass, the louder they become until he starts imagining all those terrible things that could happen if he stays, that could make him choose between them and his parents. They would never forgive him for betraying them – they would kill him if he even tried to escape. If he stays here, he’s certain that it’ll end badly. So many times he has imagined it in his dreams. He remembers how happy they seemed together during their journey through the woods that day – how his father held her close while kissing her forehead lovingly every time he came home from work, when she smiled so brightly whenever he brought his friends round to visit. He can feel tears welling up in his eyes at the images his brain conjures up, the tears rolling down his cheek uncontrollably as the scene replays itself in his mind endlessly.
‘It can’t be true, it can’t be…why isn’t she leaving?!’ the boy sobs, shaking his head in denial. He hears footsteps outside of the door and his blood freezes; it's too late. His eyes dart around frantically, his chest beginning to rise rapidly. His breath becomes erratic as he tries to fight against the overwhelming panic filling him, trying desperately to stay calm – stay strong. ‘Don’t worry, I can handle this’, he tries to reassure himself but fails miserably. He takes a shaky inhale of air and holds it for a moment before exhaling slowly as he attempts to steady himself. ‘Calm down,’ his mind tells himself. But he doesn’t listen – instead he panics even more. ‘It can’t end like this, I have to get out…,’ he tells himself. ‘They’re probably gonna kill me…,’ his mind whispers back. But he pushes the thought aside because he doesn't want to think that way anymore - he just doesn't want it to be true - his mind telling him that he can get away, run away, and live in peace without being found out or punished. He doesn’t want to die in prison. His parents were kind to him…they didn’t deserve such harsh punishment, especially since they were good people who only wanted what was best for him.