Sixteen years before

                                                     ~O~

            My voice hitched as a single word came out shaking. It was "run", while watching back and forth, between the unknown and desolating bleakness from ahead and the two men. They were ready to slice our throats with a rusty and worn out blade.

            A knife which daily was carved in our flesh; with each day our parents refused to negotiate to give the money, for our freedom.

            I was still feeling the pain linger.

            Like even now it felt like it was making a small line on the abdomen. Back in my mind, the chains from the wall kept my body captive and the dirty cloth from inside my mouth muffled our screams.

              Trembling, I made a sign toward the other two younger boys which were lying down on the bed of wet grass to get ready. They stood up panting. It was the last effort for us to find shelter in the woods, that before our eyes made its appearance beneath the fog. The veil of mist felt like was a woven in a spider web pattern. It was gripping anyone who might enter it without permission. Glancing at the landscape before me, it felt surreal.

"Get back those filthy kids!"

            Suddenly I heard his deep and husky voice that echoed through the forest, but we could not run anymore. My muscles felt like burning and ripping with each step, but we had to move on.

            I knew at some point we would have been caught and that will be the end of us. I looked back at the youngest boys behind me, and I could see the terror in their eyes, as their nearly naked bodies been carved by the silent forest and blind to everything that was happening.

             All three of us were too exhausted and covered with scratches and open bleeding wounds. Branches from trees ruthlessly pulled the skin off from our bodies.

             Each scratch felt like it was from a sharp nail from a beast, from the book stories our parents read us at night. It was letting behind strands of blood to warm the skin.

            Not far behind us, I could have heard through the darkness of the wood maze the crunches of the thin branches, which were broken under the heavyweight of a foot that were on the ground beneath the muddy leaves, which fell and started to wilt and rot from humidity.

           The smell was strong, as ticks of rain droplets washed slowly our bodies, while the dirty rags that we wore started to cling to our skin.

             "Are ahead..."

             I stopped, feeling my heart beating fast at the hearing of his voice, which felt like a warm breath on my skin and I shuddered. I couldn't remember how much time I have been captive in that freezing and dirty basement, but one thing I knew - I didn't want to go back and be locked like an animal and in my own filth to live no more.

             I pulled how much I could from the dirty cloth I had on me, which was barely enough to cover my upper part while the cold breeze pierced the flesh like a whip, making me tremble and whimper.

            A shiver passed through me, as the wind rippled through the dense branches making the chilly drops of rain to touch my split skin and wounded,  making me yelp. I bit hard my lower lip until felt the metallic taste of the blood in my mouth, as the bitter wave of the wind made my body sting heavy, as pain erupted through my entire body...

             The dance with the devil has started, as the gates of hell felt like started to close once we entered the frightful forest. All seemed still, like time has stopped in this place. It looked like a swamp more than a wood.

             I looked behind and I could only see Yves struggling to get himself free as he was now strapped in a twine of roots which, as the lightning crazed the sky resembled like long fingers from a hand, mummified. He was the youngest from us three and also for his nine years old pretty short and scrawny.

             You wouldn't say was nine, but more like five years old. His black eyes always had a hope in them, and he kept strong each time they hurt us...

             A shout suddenly made me lose my trail of thoughts and  I jolt, freezing on the spot; then a gun was fired.

             I felt trapped in a maze unable to escape. I was like a wounded animal in an invisible cage and the predator was nearby ready to kill us and eat us alive.

               "Olly!" I tried to call the other boy but my voice only came as a whisper as my whole body was trembling unable to seek control on it.

               Silence fell upon the woods and the only thing was heard was the rain, as a mist took over the glade, slowly swallowing everything... It was a like thick veil of smoke, like someone was blowing in my face as they smoked.

              "Natty!" 

               Yves cried terrified and called me, but I could not move. My body was numb, and felt like time itself stood still the moment my eyes felt on Olly. I opened my mouth, but not a single word came out as I felt on my legs a warm liquid, as the scene before my eyes send chills through my spine.

               Oliver, the boy was a year younger than me was staring at me with big eyes as the persecutor was smirking at me, holding Olly from his neck as the boy let a loud shout that suddenly brings to life the woods, as a groan echoed through it.

               On his cloth slowly something resembling a dark stain started to appear while my eyes started to sting with freshly new tears.

               Oliver knew he won't see the sun rising again; he smiled at me, as the blade slowly pierced him from his back, but one thing I noticed, his cloth and mine had more spots of blood as the rain washed the branches from above us...