My lungs burned. My furious paddling was becoming clumsy, and I was losing speed. I risked a glance behind me to see if the men were still running down the side of the bank. They were.

An hour ago I had been relaxing in my tent. Each year I came out here, to the same spot. Though this year I was a few months early, the weather was still cold, but I had a lot going on in my life, and I needed some space from the real world. People threw their constant opinions at me, that it wasn’t safe to wild camp alone. I proved them wrong year after year, but despite this, they still offered their opinions. It was due to the lack of action on my previous camping trips that I found myself quite unprepared when people in strange animal masks surrounded my tent. I was so immersed in my own thoughts, I didn’t hear them approach.

When I first noticed the group of people, I was so startled I let out a yelp, then began to laugh. As if someone held out a “laugh sign” (like the one they had for live audience tv shows) the group surrounding me all began to laugh. The one nearest to me, who was a large man with a snake mask on stepped forward and shouted in a booming deep voice “the prey has been chosen! Let the hunt commence!” Every nerve in my body was shaking as a fresh dose of fear washed through me. The man grabbed me by the scruff of my hoodie. I closed my eyes as tears ran from them. The man, instead of hurting me, whispered into my ear “I’d start running, if I were you” and he threw me towards the river bank.

I’d barely hit the ground before I began to run. I only had some thick Woolley socks on, and the rough ground was agony, and made it hard to run. So many times I almost rolled my ankle. I heard an air horn blow in the distance. After a few minutes I could hear the snapping of twigs and the shouting of people, rapidly approaching. Realising running was futile, I scanned the shoreline for anything to help me cross the river. Many people came here to fish. I’d seen people only yesterday in a small boat. I could hear the group getting closer; my feet couldn’t take anymore, and I wanted nothing more than to stop, and let it all be over with. As I was about to admit defeat, I saw an unattended canoe and a small flicker of hope burned within.

I clumsily made my way to the canoe and walked it into the water. The icy water soothed my burning feet. I heard shouts, closer now, and I wasted no more time before slamming the paddle into the water.

It was a difficult start, I’d never steered one before. I began to cry, without slowing my momentum. How could paddling be this hard? I tried to take some deep breaths, my panic wasn’t the situation. The breaths didn’t help, but when I heard some slashes of water, and saw some attempt to make it to my boat, something within me clicked, and I managed to move the canoe into the middle of the river. I wished there had been more of a current to carry me away.

I had no idea how long I had been paddling, but my chest burned, and bile rose at the back of my throat. My body was exhausted, head to toe. As I looked over my shoulder, I could still see figures pursuing me at the side of the river. I decided to risk steering myself closer to the opposite bank. I figured no one would be there as I hadn’t seen any way for them to cross the river. I scanned the area, and saw not to far ahead of me was an embankment with dense trees. I decided it was now or never. I made it to the bank, and jumped out of the boat. As soon as my feet hit the floor I gasped in agony, I had forgotten what a bad state my feet were in, but there was nothing for it.

I ran as best as I could through the pain. I don’t know how long I’d been running, but I eventually made it to the road. I risked catching my breath, before walking down the road. It was getting dark, and I was freezing. When I saw headlights my heart leapt with joy.

I flagged down the car and jumped in before they had come to a proper stop. I hysterically blurted out my ordeal to the woman driving the car. She nodded along, smiling. She kept saying everything would be okay, that I’ve been found. She told me to get into the back seat and lie down to rest, and she would take me to the nearest town. I thanked her, and gratefully settled down in her back seats.

I began to drift off, but just before I fell completely into sleep, my heart turned cold, as I heard the phrase, “the pray has been found”. I was too tired, and realised I had heard the doors lock as I blurted out my story, so I lay there, accepting of whatever was to come next…