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Eloise didn't dare look back at first. She just kept running.
Her breath came out uneven, her chest tightening with every step as her shoes slipped against damp leaves and loose dirt.
"Why did I go there? Why didn't I just leave?"
Her foot caught on something solid, maybe a rock, she didn't even register it properly before she went down hard.
Her hands hit the ground first, then her knee. Pain shot up her leg instantly, sharp enough to make her gasp. She sucked in a breath and pushed herself up halfway, but the second she tried to move, her knee gave out.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath. Her hands pressed into the ground as she tried to push herself backward, ignoring the sting in her knee. "Don't-" she started, her voice coming out smaller than she meant it to. "Kieran."
Kieran stood a few feet away, looking down at her like he'd just found something mildly inconvenient.
