I stumbled, and fell to my knees against the hard bitumen of the road. I quickly scrambled to my aching feet, with trembling fingers brushed the pebbles indented with blood in the scrapes on my knees. I looked back over my shoulder, my eyes darting right to left frantically, terrified. Where was it? My breath coming in- shuddering gasps that wracked my body with pain. Then I could see it! It was coming at the end of the street, the dark big and black van, the harsh chrome menacing like an animal in the twilight. The grille at the front of the van, baring its teeth in anger and madness. The engine in turn growling back as if in conversation, like an animal full of lust for blood and pain. I darted quickly to a small shrub near the road, shivering, rubbing my hands over my freezing arms, my body protected by nothing but a thin dress of cotton.
Pain
English: Illustration of the pain pathway in René...
A toddler girl cryingThe van crept forward, like a predator hunting for his victim. The bright headlights, a piercing gaze, searching, looking...for me. But I was hidden, but I knew if I stayed here they would eventually come by the shrub and. I lowered myself closer to the dirt, til I could almost taste the grainy black substance. I whimpered, the painful memories flashing by my eyes. There was no time to waste, I jumped to my feet, ignoring the screaming pain from my aching and cramped muscles. I had to get away before it was too late.
The headlights caught my silhouette. I froze, like a rabbit, wanting my legs to carry me away from this unspoken danger in front of me. I could hear the shouting voices from the van, Russian voices, the hard and guttural language, rolling towards me like waves...