Chapter 2: II
Selena couldn't go with her or say anything to her because she did everything too fast. Anyway, she thought that her friend was exaggerating things and maybe her father was having an intimate moment with some woman and that's why he didn't want to answer the phones, to avoid interruptions. Selena imagined Karina's father in that intimate moment and drew a mischievous smile on his face. She took the DVD out of the player and put it in her secret hiding place. Then she stood at her bedroom window and watched her friend hurry away down the street.
A dog as black as that night pulled his snout through the bars of a neighbouring house to bark at Karina with all his might, which caused her to lose her balance and twist her ankle, falling on the pavement. On the same path, she saw a small stone that she took and threw to the dog, hitting him on the head. This throwing was not very strong, but the fright was stronger than the anger and the dog ran out to take refuge in the back yard of the house. Karina took advantage of the moment to get up and continue running home, but she had to do so with a limp because her ankle was sore from the fall.
Once in front of her house, she reached into her pocket for the keys to the front door. They never showed up. She thought she might have forgotten them at Selena's house, but the desperation that overcame her to find out what was going on with her father was stronger than the idea of going back to her friend to look for them. Her family had always had the habit of leaving the back door to the kitchen without any security, so she went immediately to the backyard to enter her home. She heard voices coming from the living room, but she could not understand what they were saying and decided to slowly cross the kitchen to get closer and try to decipher that conversation. She was stunned. Two tall men, with strong bodies, were holding her father by the shoulders and asking him about her. She knew that there was a struggle from her father when he looked up and she could see one of his eyes beaten. Stephen, seeing his daughter petrified at the door dividing the living room and the kitchen, shouted as loud as he could:
- Daughter! Don't worry about me. Run away!
Karina saw one of the men turn around and stare at her, ready to chase her. She, forgetting the pain in her left ankle, also turned around and ran as fast as she could out of the house.
With a strong swipe she closed the back door to distract his pursuer for a few seconds. She went to the street to try to locate someone who could help her but it was impossible because at that time of night the village was deserted and its inhabitants were sleeping peacefully. She thought for a moment of running towards her friend Selena, but out of the corner of her eye she managed to see the shadow of the man who was following her, which is why she could only advance towards the park in front of her house and go inside. She walked past the rusty, old children's games that seemed to claim the children of yesteryear who used to use them constantly, but had now traded them in for televisions and video games. The big pond of blue water forced her to go around it in order to continue her escape. The woods were waiting for her. Did she have to go in? She hesitated. Then she remembered the words of her father who begged her to flee. Anyway, her father was a grown-up and could take care of himself while Karina got help. She took a quick look at the sky to see that the stars and the glow of the crescent gave her support to light her way through the lush trees. Trembling, she came in. Two branches of a large pine tree frightened her because they looked like arms leaning over her to catch her. As she retreated in fear, red eyes stared at her from the highest branch of another tree. She sighed with relief as the hooting of the owl who owned that piercing gaze welcomed her into the thick forest.
Forgetting the fear she had felt recently, she bent down to pick up an old stick from the ground and use it as a tool to make her way through the trees. Squinting to get a good look, she could see a narrow dirt road, perhaps made by the animals of the forest in their daily walk. She thought of taking out her cell phone to light the path and at that moment she said to herself out loud:
- How can you be so dumb? Use your cell phone to call for help.
Just like her keys, she didn't have her cell phone with her because she forgot it at Selena's. She knew that on the other side of the forest there were more houses in the village and she could find someone to help her. She never thought to turn around and go back along the road that led her to the place where she was for fear of running into the man who wanted to catch her. Therefore, she made her escape down that road at a fast pace. When she had been walking for about three minutes, her feet tripped over roots in the ground, her injured ankle gave way again and, losing her balance, she hit her head on an old trunk and became unconscious.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone