"No…please, I'll do anything", Ayla pleaded as a dark figure moved toward her.
He felt unfamiliar.
This shadow of a person wasn't someone she had faced yet.
Fear was taking over as she turned to run and escape, but she wasn't able to process her thoughts fast enough to think of where to turn.
Ayla desperately looked around for a place to hide while running through the exit of the alley.
All she could see now was that she was out of options.
There was nothing but woods around her, because she had hit the edge of town and found the forest.
She was just starting to collect herself, mustering the courage to escape the danger, when the man grabbed her wrist.
Her brief moment of hesitation was all it took for this threat to catch up.
Ayla turned to see that the man didn't appear to be much older than her.
In fact, he looked around the same age as her.
That only made the panic inside of her increase.
"Let me go", she demanded, as she stomped on his foot, jerking her wrist simultaneously in an effort to get freedom.
Once free, Ayla darted off into the thick brush in front of them.
Ayla knew she wasn't out of his proximity yet because she could feel his presence as he followed her.
She knew she had to keep going, but she didn't know where to go.
'Oh, come on, think Ayla. Where the hell can we go from here' she thought to herself.
This was the furthest she had ever been when trying to run from anyone following.
Several people had chased her or were trying to kidnap her.
Why did this feel different?
Was it because of how close he managed to get?
The only reason she didn't go to where she had been staying was that she wanted to keep her temporary home a secret.
That was her home, the place she felt the safest.
It was just a small, abandoned area, sheltered away from the world in the alley, but it was a temporary resting place.
Her temporary home.
This bounty hunter was a good one.
He seemed to be hot on her trail, and he wasn't giving up.
She knew that she had to do something quickly.
If she didn't, all her running would be for nothing.
Ayla was determined to be the winner of this chase.
It wasn't long before she heard the sound of water near her, so she directed all her efforts to getting to the turbulent river ahead.
Ayla knew that if she could get across the water, it would make it difficult for the tracker to follow her.
Whatever method he was using to follow her would be less effective.
She pushed herself harder than she ever had before.
The closer she got, the faster she ran.
Faster and faster.
Then she came to an abrupt stop.
Her heart froze.
Before her lay two options, and she didn't like either one.
Ayla finally realized why the sound of the water was so strong.
She was realizing why the water could be heard so far away.
The young woman felt trapped deep in the forest with few options.
Fear consumed her even more at that moment than when the mysterious man had actually grabbed her wrist.
She was standing at the edge of a large waterfall, staring into the vast darkness.
Ayla proceeded forward and stood in the middle of the river, where a small area held a raised rock.
Unable to do anything else, she looked down with her feet feeling the water rushing past her in an effort to help her with her choice.
To her surprise, the water wasn't cold.
When her feet met the river's embrace with pleasant, warm splashes.
She was reminded of bath water as she closed her eyes and let the moonlight wrap around her as she stood there.
Her delicate feet were inching closer to the edge of the river to give her the safest advantage and more time to consider her options.
Ayla knew she didn't have a lot of time because a strange man was chasing her, but she had a few seconds to calm her mind and think.
The man was nowhere in sight.
This was scary, all of it was scary, and ultimately, she now had only a few choices.
Before she realized what was happening, her time had run out.
Whoever was chasing her was there.
The unknown challenger was on the riverbank.
He quickly stopped moving forward and looked at her curiously.
Whoever it was didn't want to rush her just yet.
It was mostly for fear she would jump immediately, but he wasn't backing down either.
He feared they were both at a sort of stalemate, and he wondered how this was going to progress anywhere.
She clearly had no intention of interacting with him.
To him, it looked like she would rather jump off a waterfall than introduce herself.
His interest was piqued.
'What's wrong with this girl' he thought to himself.
More than that, how could it seem like she was completely clueless that he was there?
Was she really unaware of his presence, or was it a trick to make him think that so she could catch him off guard?
Now, he was on alert, unsure of what to do.
Was she about to attack him again?
He had no problem taking a moment to catch his breath.
It gave him a moment to assess the situation to ensure his own safety.
Ayla was deep in her thoughts, so immersed that she was truly unaware of her surroundings.
The young woman had begun pondering her options over what felt like an eternity in her head.
One thing she thought was that she could always just cross the river and let the water wash away any trace of her.
Instantly, her tracks would vanish, and she would be untraceable, as she had originally intended when the sound of water hit her ears.
The man could easily anticipate that she crossed through the river, though.
He would keep following her.
All he had to do was go to the other side and find her tracks there.
Ayla would have to keep running all night, and she was so tired of running.
So tired of running all the time, but especially that night.
Exhaustion didn't even begin to describe what she felt.
She didn't want to run anymore.
Then, again, there was a chance for escape right there in front of her.
Sure, it was dark and scared the hell out of her, but so did living alone and running.
There was also the point that she couldn't see what lay below the darkness and water mist.
What were the odds of something that awful happening anyway?
Did that really matter?
Both paths gave her uncertainty.
Which one gave Ayla the most hope that she could quit running at that point?
After she turned sixteen, it seemed like one person after another was always after her.
She had been hiding for years and evading capture for so long that she started to feel helpless.
Ayla didn't know why they were after her, and she didn't care.
People were always trying to kidnap her, and at that point, she wanted all the chasing games to come to an end.
Then, a lightbulb popped off in her head as if someone flipped a switch.
'What if she did jump' she thought to herself.
Even if nothing happened and she was fine, it could maybe seem like she wasn't.
Maybe it would be enough for whoever was after her to leave her alone.
It would only work if there were a witness to think she was dead.
Whoever was after her would surely stop coming for her, right?
Her thoughts were starting to solidify as a smile crept on her face.
Just then, Ayla noticed she was being watched.
She nearly jumped out of her skin, nearly making her lose her balance.
"No" he yelled in her direction.
Not long before that, she had yelled the same exact word at him when their evening had just started, and with similar vigor.
He had blurted so quickly that he couldn't stop himself, so he followed it with, "It would be a shame if you fell" trying to cover for his odd concern.
Ayla looked at him in confusion.
She was curious now, just who he was.
This man seemed different than the rest for many reasons.
First, he yelled to stop her with concern in his voice.
Then, he threw in a nonchalant phase to cover for it.
All of which made no sense, because he didn't have a clue who he was.
So, she inched forward while watching him.
His hand acted as if he was trying to catch her from the shoreline as his feet took small steps toward her.
Her eyebrow rose in suspicion, "And why shouldn't I jump? I would be free of you"?
With every word, she studied his expression intently.
"Nobody sane would jump in these circumstances" he replied, thinking she was sane.
"I'm supposed to just stop my plan because you say so. Why would any sane woman want to keep running from you and everyone else who keeps trying to capture me for no reason? This curse of a life is not one I wish to bear any longer. What kind of a life is that" she ushered back.
He was at a loss.
How could he respond when he didn't know what she was referring to?
She was clearly not sane.
She put her hand up as if to gesture for him to stop moving any closer, as she eloquently raised one foot over the tumultuous falls.
He reluctantly agreed, as shown by his pause in steps.
The unknown man started shaking his head, "I can see how this seems like that to you, but that is not my intent. I'm not sure about what you have been through before now, but I just wanted to talk to you because I saw you and thought that you were breath taking" he said without pause.
In his mind, if he could sweet-talk her just right, maybe she would come off the edge of the waterfall.
She squinted her eyes to look at him, because she didn't believe what he was spouting.
"You're lying. You're a good liar at that, too. You are just like the rest of them. If that were the truth, you wouldn't have kept following me so deep into the forest. Why would anyone chase a girl so far into the forest alone? Where are your friends waiting" she asked.
He knew this was not going well, "I was not chasing you per se, and there is no one waiting. I'm alone. I followed you because I was worried about you being out here all alone. I felt guilty because I was the one who caused it. I didn't know what to do. Since you were a female all alone, I wanted to follow and make sure you were okay. It isn't right for you to be out here like that. What if something happened? I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me. Clearly, I was wrong to worry about you, yet completely valid at the same time if people are after you" he said, looking at her with concern.
She thought about it for a second and felt he might be sincere. The only problem was that she had no way to prove it.
That gave her an idea.
"How do I know you are telling me the truth" she asked.
"You don't" he replied with a small pull upward on the side of his mouth, revealing that he wanted to smile, but he was scared to.
"You would have to trust me and take a step back off the ledge. It looks like you are attempting to take a leap of faith. Trusting me, in essence, would be taking the opposite leap of faith that you seem like you are about to take. Instead of off the edge, it would be to trust me" he pointed toward the waterfall as he finished speaking.
Her head moved to direct her eyes at her foot and what lay beyond underneath for a moment before looking back up at the stranger she was speaking with.
Suddenly, her eyes changed from wanting to trust him to pure fear all over again as she looked at the sight before her.