The house was quiet behind him. He glanced back through the open doorway and saw no-one.
He’d feel a lot better if he could hear her and have some idea of where she was in the house, but he had to take his chance. There was no telling when the next would come. He carefully pulled himself up onto the windowsill and took one last look back.
The thud of his shoes hitting the ground sounded incredibly loud. There was no being silent with all this undergrowth, so he raced forward at top speed, aiming for the road.
Each step sounded like a giant crash of splintering wood and rustling leaves. Like an elephant barreling over the ground. It had to be audible for miles around.
He made it across the road in three bounds and continued straight ahead where the ground sloped downwards. He felt like a gazelle for the moment and a rush of hope filled him. Still, he didn’t dare look back. He definitely couldn’t risk stopping to listen for sounds of a chase.
The forest was made eerie by a thick early morning mist but he welcomed it, hoping it would help screen him. It felt like it should dampen the noise he made as well, but he had no idea if that was true or not. Then he laughed at himself, as if physics could help him against his captor.
His breath was coming in painful rasps now and he was forced to slow down. The feelings of strength and speed from before had faded, replaced by a burning sensation in his chest and legs.
He turned, attempting to keep parallel with the road. Hopefully he’d gone far enough from it that he couldn’t be easily spotted, at least not until he’d put more distance between himself and that house.
Now that he was going slower he took more time to look around. The forest was much the same, not too thick with trees but the ground covered by ferns and other short growth. He started to choose his steps more carefully, trying to avoid the loudest crackling branches and twigs.
He looked back, wondering how easy his tracks were to follow. Would she know how to do that? With his luck, yes. When he turned his eyes in front of him again there was a figure there, stepping out from behind a tree.
He stopped short.
At first he didn’t trust his eyes. It had been days. Maybe. It felt like it. She should have gotten out to safety and hopefully alerted the police or search and rescue.
“Amanda?”
She looked equally disbelieving but took a faltering step towards him. He could she that she wasn’t exactly as he’d last seen her; she was dirtier and there were dark shadows under her eyes.
He rushed forward and his vision blurred. No, not his entire field, just where she stood. He tried to slow himself but he was already by her side. She snapped back into focus and instead of Amanda it was her.
“Of course your loving girlfriend was just standing here, waiting for you in the woods,” she said scornfully.
A gasp of air escaped him, as if he’d been hit, and his shoulders slumped downwards.
Written for the #365daysofwriting challenge by 
Photo by Thibault Penin.