S-s-so c-c-cold. Oh, god, I’m going to die out here!

No, she couldn’t think about stuff like that. She had to keep moving. If she stopped moving, she really would die. She had to keep going, until she found someplace where she could take shelter from the snow. Someplace heated.

None of this would have happened if you’d just stayed at the cabin!

No! No way was she going to stay at that cabin! Not after everything that had been done to her! Not after everything that had happened. She knew that He would be there if she went back. She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him again.

Maybe he’s not there.

No, that was a foolish hope. Why would He leave? Bastard didn’t care about her. She was just His possession. How many times had He told her that? The only reason He took her in the first place was because she was pretty, and caught His eye. No, He wouldn’t come out into the storm trying to find her. He would wait in the cabin, content to let her com crawling back to Him, so that He could punish her.

Maybe he’s dead.

That thought brought her up short. Could He be dead? She didn’t think she had hit Him that hard. It wasn’t like she was all that strong, or anything. She wasn’t some kind of martial arts master or anything. Surely, she couldn’t have actually killed Him.

You did hit him pretty hard with that frying pan.

The cast iron pan. She remembered it. Heavy thing, much heavier than the normal pans she had at home. No Teflon or anything to make it nonstick, either. Such a pain to clean. And cleaning had always been her responsibility. And cooking. And everything else around the house. That was ‘women’s work’, according to Him, along with her ‘duties’.

There was a lot of blood.

Oh, god, the blood! She remembered that now. Blood everywhere. After the first time she hit Him, she couldn’t stop. Again and again and again. Oh no, what if she did kill Him? Did that make her a murderer? Would she go to jail? Would she get the needle? Oh god, oh god, oh god!

You aren’t going to jail. The storm will kill you first.

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That was true, wasn’t it? She was all alone in the woods, at night, and the snow wasn’t stopping anytime soon. She’d be damn lucky to survive until morning, and even if she did, she probably wouldn’t last until she found civilization. She had been blindfolded when she was brought out to the cabin. She had no idea where the nearest town was. She didn’t even know which way she was going. She knew she was somewhere in Montana, but it was a big state.

The whole situation was terrible. She shouldn’t have had to deal with any of this! She didn’t deserve any of this! Why had all of this happened to her! She’d always been a good girl! Now, she was a killer, a murderer, and soon she’d be dying alone in the woods. It wasn’t fair!

Except, maybe, in the end, it was? She had killed the Man. If the frying pan hadn’t done it, then the oil lamp she knocked over on her way out of the cabin should have done the rest. She remembered the smoke. So maybe the cabin wasn’t an option any more, anyway. And she wouldn’t have to worry about Him anymore.

He deserved it for what he did.

That was the first time she agreed wholeheartedly with those thoughts. He deserved it, and worse. Maybe it was better if her frying pan hits hadn’t killed him. Maybe he would be caught in the fire, and wake up to burning alive. He deserved it, and worse, for everything that had happened to her.

She had been on a school trip. High school. Her private school had several arts programs, and one included ballet. The class had gone to see a professional ballet company, and gone to a reception the company was holding afterwards. He had found her there. Why He picked her, instead of one of the other girls, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was coming back from the bathroom, when she was grabbed from behind, and a smelly rag forced over her face. She tried to scream, but everything went black.

When she had awoken, she was in the van, blindfolded, gagged, her hands and feet tied behind her back. She knew instantly that she was in trouble, but she couldn’t get free. Her attempts to move around, though, caught His attention, and He laughed, and told her to just relax, and that they’d have plenty of time to ‘play’ soon. His voice made her skin crawl.

He is better off dead.

He had violated her! Taken everything from her, everything that was supposed to go to her beloved on their wedding night! Again, and again, as hours became days, and days became weeks. Sometimes, His friends would show up, and He would share her with them. Her life became a hell of cooking, cleaning, and forced copulation. And then, she began getting sick in the mornings.

She knew what it was, of course. She may have been a good Christian girl, but her school wasn’t so far down the religious nut rabbit hole that they didn’t teach basic health to the kids. The bastard didn’t use condoms, and she hadn’t been on birth control. She wasn’t getting her cycle any more, either.

The Bastard found out, when her belly started to get bigger. Once more, she was bound, gagged, and blindfolded, and thrown into the van. When the blindfold was removed, she found herself looking at one of the Man’s friends, who was wearing scrubs. She looked down, and saw that she was strapped to an operating table. And then she heard what they were talking about! She couldn’t resist, couldn’t fight them. They did the procedure without any concern from her, and, as yet another violation, she heard the doctor assure Him that he had ‘taken care’ of it for the future, too. She would never be able to have children!

That was why we killed him, yes.

Yes, that night, she’d waited until he was asleep, grabbed the frying pan he had made her cook dinner in, and slammed it down on his head. And the oil lamp took care of the rest. That didn’t change the fact that she was freezing, however.

And then she heard the howl. Wolves! Not thinking, she turned, and ran away from the sound, crashing blindly through the snowy forest, looking back behind her, expecting to see glowing eyes in the dark coming for her. At any moment, she knew she would see the dark forms and sharp teeth chasing her!

She should have been looking ahead. The next thing she knew, her foot rested on thin air, and she tumbled forward. Her eyes grew wide as she fell. There was a crevasse here, cut by a little river far below, and she hadn’t seen it because of the snow! She closed her eyes as the rocks came up to meet her.

At least now it is all over.