Freda Pov
I ran through the forest as fast as my legs would carry me. Tears streamed down my face, and I could barely see where I was going. All I could think about was Rex's face. The way he had smiled at me with that cold, empty smile. The way he had raised that dagger, as if he was going to kill me.
"That was not him," I said between gasps. "That was Yolande. Rex would never hurt me."
But the image of him walking toward me with the dagger kept replaying in my mind. The terror I had felt in that moment was real, even if Rex had not been in control.
My foot caught on a root, and I went down hard. Pain shot through my knee as it hit the ground. I rolled onto my side and looked down. My knee was bleeding from a deep cut. Blood dripped onto the forest floor and soaked into the dirt.
I pressed my hand against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but it kept coming. The earth under me seemed to drink the blood. Like the ground was thirsty and my blood was water.
