text: I can feel my muscles tensing. I can feel my feet aching. I can feel sweat run down my face. With every step I take I can feel leaves crack, twigs snap, and my captors fast steps getting closer. These are no ordinary men. Their footsteps move in unison. When they first began chasing me I heard two voices now I can only hear one, but yet their footsteps still remain the same. I had taken this chase into the woods praying that the tall trees would block the full moons ever illuminating light. My prayers had paid off. I dive behind one of the many tree trunks. With my back against the trunk I catch my breath. Sitting there I can’t help but observe how well the shadows are hiding my body, my focus turns back to the men chasing me as I hear one of them say” Dammit, we lost him! Let’s turn back!” his associate speaks,” No, he’s somewhere in here!”. The first man responds immediately, ”Fuck that, I’m not wasting my night on some shit we’ll never find!” “Fine, then go” barks the second man. At this point I hear a cacophony of footsteps on the other side of the trunk I'm resting against. I then hear both men march away in unison the same way they did before. With their footsteps getting more distant I look up at the trees around me. I offer them thanks for granting me shade and helping me continue my escape. I peak my head out of cover from the tree trunk to see how far the men are. As I do some I come face to face with one of the men. As we look at each other in the face, eyes wide, I look past him to see the other man on horseback. I know this man has no intentions of keeping my secret and as he goes to yell I lunge at him. I grab him by the neck and force him down to the ground. While I have him by the neck choking him, I’m stalling, I need time to come up with an idea on what my next course of actions would be. Without my knowing the man pulls a blade from this boot. He uses it to slash me on my right cheek but I don’t let go. He tries to get from under me, at this point I look at my surroundings. A pointed rock sits nexts to me. I grab it. With multiple swift smashes to the man's head he no longer struggles. He doesn’t move but neither do I. I am frozen, I am scared and I don’t know what to do. I get from on top of him. Praying he will move but this prayer falls short. As I look at the man I can’t help but think to myself this was a man who was taught to hate me. This was a man who like me didn’t know any better and who was doing what his life had guided him to do. This man did not deserve to die this way, he deserved to be taught to see his fellow man as his equal. It’s unfortunate that no one was able to teach him until this point. As I am wondering what to do with this man I look the way he came to see his colleague slowly coming back. He has yet to enter the woods. This time the horse can be seen taking a leisurely pace. I look back at the man on the forest floor. I know this man is dead. I know I will soon be if I let this man capture me. With this brief assessment of my circumstances I run. I run like I never have before. I make a promise to myself. I will make it to freedom.