All I see is green. Running past all kinds of leaves, thickets, brambles and bushes the only thing appearing in front of my weary red eyes is green. Everything blurs together, as I run faster and my legs work harder the varying shades and tones all fade into a leafy oblivion of bottle green.

I want to stop, every part of my body is screaming for me to stop running. The soles of my feet feel like they’re ripping in two, my thighs are sore, the stitch in my side is begging me to stop and my lungs are barely keeping up with my legs. But I can’t stop running, because if I stop running, I think I might die. the tears attempting to slide down my cheeks frozen in place, unmoving as the air pushes against them as I keep running forward. The salty droplets still sitting in my eyes stay there, making my eyes glaze over and the whirl of green even more of a blur.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running, but it feels like my whole life. Just running and running and running and never being able to stop. I’m not even sure if I’m running away from something or toward a destination.

When I started on this path it was flat. there was a slight incline but I hardly noticed. When I started running, I could see the trees, I could count the pinecones and hear birds singing instead of the rushing wind. But even then I never stopped running. Then the hill started getting steeper, and I started running faster.  The trees disappeared and all I could think about was how I had to keep running. I trip over gnarled tree roots, falling head over heels scraping exposed kneecaps, as I ignore the steep slope of the tree downwards. I can’t see the path, all I see is the green blur of the trees.

As I run, a thorn bush attacks me with its long stinging limbs. The brambles reach out and drag small scratches across my face and forearms. I’m able to stumble out of the monstrous arms of the bush, some of its claws still stuck; constantly stinging as my sweat seeps into the small scrapes.

My heart beats like a hammer pounding my chest, trying to break free from the caged prison of bone. Every inch of skin on my body feels as though it’s being pierced by knives. With each breathless step I take, they only sink in deeper. At this point, I can’t hear the air as it presses against my eardrums. Even as I run faster, all I hear is the sound of my tortured heartbeat, as it slams with all its force into my chest.

I’m running and running and running. And then I’m not. In all the green, I miss the small stripe of blue snaking across the ground. With a pounding step, I fell face first into a shallow stream. Old leaves and twigs swirl around with the water. My nose, forehead and chin all met rough rocks as they were startled by the rocky floor of the stream. Small scrapes mark where I was attacked. I try to stand, I try to crawl, I want to keep moving along my path, but my slender body is defeated. All my arms will allow me to do is flip over. Now that I’m lying in the river looking up at the slivers of blue sky that peak through the green, my lungs finally begin to function.

I lay there on the round rocks, the stream runs over my body, small waves splashing against my cheeks, only droplets remain on my skin as the water reunites with its body.

For a second, everything stops burning. My hot skin, red eyes, and bleeding heart. For one second, the water heals. But then its stops, because now even the cool of the water is painful, and my only option is to run.

Struggling to stand on Rickety Rocks, finding my balance in the blowing breeze; I make my way to the leaf strewn side of the stream. One wet, muddy, step after another, the crinkled fallen leaves on the forest floor stick to my shoes, socks and ankles.