in front of me. The forest that was going to hide my sin, hide me and the evil growing inside of me.
Chapter 11 B ut I never made it that far. As I ran towards the forest a car drove up next to me on the old road. “Going somewhere?” a voice said. I turned my head and looked into the eyes of a man in a green uniform. He was hanging his head out of the window in a black car. He was smoking a cigarette and blowing smoke in my direction. My heart started pounding faster. On the shoulder he bore the triple cross, the symbol of The Iron Guard. “Can’t answer, boy?” he said. I turned my head and focused on the road ahead of me, hoping, wishing they would eventually leave me alone. I was sweating heavily despite the icy wind in my face. I looked in the direction of the haunted forest. They would never follow me in there, I thought. No one ever dared to go in the haunted forest. Everybody was afraid of it. Quickly I took a turn and left the road. I speeded up and ran as fast as I could across the fields covered in snow. Running became sprinting when I suddenly heard the sound of the car engine behind me. They had followed me across the field! Their car was bumping and fighting to cross the piles of snow, but they were getting closer to me. I panted and gasped forcing my legs to run faster and faster, but still they came closer and soon they hit me with the front of their car. My leg made a sound like it was breaking into a thousand pieces before I was thrown into the air and landed in the snow. The car stopped while I tried to get back up, but my leg was badly injured. I couldn’t stand. I moaned and groaned in pain as I fought to get up, but again and again my leg collapsed. Boots came closer and stopped next to my face. I felt the soldier grab my hair and pull me up. Then he took his cigarette and killed it on my cheek. I screamed in pain. “Bastards!” They laughed and the soldier threw me back into the snow. It cooled the burn on my skin. I touched the cheek and felt a sore mark. I groaned again and tried to stand, but my effort was in vain. Then he kicked me in the stomach, in the face, and stepped on my back. I felt another man grab me and lift me before I received a wave of punches in my face and on my body. I could taste blood in my mouth. It was metallic. “Throw him in the car,” someone said. I felt hands on my body and I was lifted up from the snow. I tried to fight them but it was too painful. My leg was hurting badly. When they threw me in the back of the car and closed the door I spotted my sack still lying in the snow. Then we drove off.
They took me to their headquarters at the police station in the city of Cluj-Napoca. They searched me and in my pocket they found my mother’s sack of money that they confiscated. I was screaming when they carried me into the cell and closed the heavy door. I banged on the iron door, screaming, yelling, but no one came. Then I fell to the cold floor and started crying, sobbing. The smell in the cell was horrible, the stench of urine from prisoners defecating in the corners, mixed with the metallic smell of blood. It made me sick to my stomach and I threw up on the floor. I don’t know how long I lay on the floor, but I do vividly remember the despair I felt at being completely alone in this world. Maybe I deserved this? I thought. I was a monster who killed people. I deserved to be locked up behind bars. I deserved to be beaten and maybe even killed. I was evil. Pure evil. The door was unlocked and boots entered the room. I was picked up and dragged to an interrogation room. There was nothing but a chair and a light bulb in the ceiling. No windows, no other furniture. They placed me in the chair and I realized my leg didn’t hurt anymore. I looked down and moved it carefully. It wasn’t even hurting when I tried to move it. Even my face felt less sore and my chest and stomach were better too. I lifted my hand and touched my cheek where I had