Herds Final Portfolio Daniela Rodriguez Herds Final Portfolio Daniela Rodriguez | Page 19

needed to act quickly, something was wrong, and her heart pumped faster than before. She could feel the drops of warm sweat falling from her forehead, legs, armpits and neck. But before she could try to get up again, her eyes started to close slowly. She fought. She fought every second so she couldn’t close her eyes again and go to that place. Her eyelids touched, and just for a long second, she could see the meadow again, with the women. The girl could know feel her bony fingers shake, touching the sheets of her bed, even though she was at the meadow. When she escaped and finally opened her eyes again, a large black male silhouette was on the side of her bed and a knife was on his hand. The girl’s force finally got to work, her arms and hands rushed directly to her face, covering what would be the last of it. Her sore body cuddled up together for protection, and in one blink of an eye, the male silhouette was gone, and the girl came back to her non movement state. Now, the girl could hear the beats of her heart in her ears, forcing her to move her head back and forth roughly with fear, trying to take away the scene she had just experienced.

The girl was so scared and in such fatigue, she wanted to give up, but decided to give her motionless body one last shot. She could feel every inch of her muscles struggle, but couldn’t make anything move. Finally, with one last stroke of hope, the girl focused all her strength to her chest, forcing it to wake up. In one quick burst, her chest got up, her weird position made the girl believe she wasn’t the one to accomplish her goal. She was sitting down, her legs were still covered in sheets and stretched out, and her head was flopping down, her eyes were wide open now. She tried to move again, but her struggle was real, something was controlling her. In a quick move, her legs turned to the side of the bed, and got up. Her house seemed a little clearer, but all she could see was the floor.

She walked slowly out of her room and stopped in one spot, next to her door. Somehow she knew that she was headed to her parents room. Then, the girl saw something sparkly in her own hand, it wasn’t quite visible, but when she slowly started to walk towards her parents room, the reflection of the moonshine that came from the dome revealed it was a cold, sharp knife. Her heart pump moved slowly to her head, she needed to do something before anything else could happen, so with all her strength, she closed her eyes one last time and went back into the only place she was allowed to move, the pastureland. She opened her eyes, and there she was, with the two women. “Are there any new kids?” “There is only one, don’t worry.” She turned around and started running, a pump hit her forehead, and when she opened her eyes, she was back at her house, she had just ran into a wall. She finally could control her feet, so she ran into that same wall over and over again. That gave her more strength and power over her body. Everytime she bumped into the wall, her forehead got bloodier and bloodier. She could feel the drops falling through her face like sweat. She closed her eyes, and for half a second she was back at the pastureland. Are. Bump There. Bump Any. Bump. New. Bump. Kids? Bump. There. Bump. Is. Bump. Only. Bump. One. Bump. Don’t. Bump. Worry.

The girl gasped loudly and finally woke up. She got up, and turned on the lights of her room. Then, she headed quietly but quickly to the bathroom. She nervously turned the lights on too, closed the door behind her and stared at herself in the mirror. She checked her forehead, looking for any signs of harm and blood, and there wasn’t any. For five minutes, she stared at herself, in mobile. She knew she could move, but she didn’t want to… She was too scared to go back to her nightmare.

Drawing by: Mariana Padilla