run to you // noah & antonia
It had happened without warning. They had all heard about the fight in the town square and had closed down for business, they always did this. The fights had gotten more frequent, Antonia knew it had started to affect their business. She had long talks with Eric about it, it was in the middle of such a conversation that the locked door got busted down and then the brothel was flooded with men. Panic quickly spread and everyone tried to flee the brothel. Every prostitute knew what the men’s intentions were. Antonia hastily guided the girls out she could, she lost sight of Eric in the midst of it all. She yelled for everyone to run, she was in the middle of escaping when she saw one of the young girls getting caught by a man. She recognized him as a prominent rebel. Without thinking, she ran over to try and pry the man of the poor girl. She succeeded in distracting him, enough so the girl could escape, but now she was standing face to face with an angry rebel who had been ‘robbed’ of his spoils of victory. He immediately grabbed her instead before she could flee, she struggled against his firm grip. She bit him when he reached out for her face and was rewarded with a sound slap. Her cheek stung from the impact, it left a fiery red handprint on her skin. “My my, this lass is with child. What a pity, she has such a pretty face.” Antonia felt a chill run down her spine as he spotted her bump, she was so far along now that it was easily visible. She heard a couple of men laugh as they seemed to gang up on her. “Who cares about the swollen stomach? Just turn her around and you won’t see it.” She immediately wanted to cry, she had foolishly hoped they would find no lust for her when they saw she was pregnant. She screamed as they started tearing at her clothes. She had no thought anyone would come to her rescue, but suddenly some of the King’s men entered the brothel and another fight broke out. With the men distracted, she was able to shake their hands off her and flee the ransacked brothel.
Antonia ran outside, the air was filled with smoke. Someone had set fire to something in the town square, she coughed and covered her nose and mouth with her hand. She looked around frantically, suddenly seeing the men who had almost assaulted her ran out of the brothel, clearly still determined to pursue her. Without thinking, she started running towards the forest. Noah. She needed to get to Noah, he would protect her and the baby. It was difficult and exhausting to run while carrying a child, she quickly was out of breath but she did not dare to stop before having reached the outskirts of the forest. She took in deep breaths and quickly dived behind a tree as soon as she could. She could hear the men shout after her and their hurried footsteps. She held her breath as they seemed to get closer, she made herself as small as possible so they wouldn’t spot her between the trees. Luckily it sounded as if they ran in another direction away from her and soon silence was all she could hear. Antonia never thought she would be so grateful for the quiet. When she thought she was safe, she immediately hurried on her way to Noah’s cottage. She was still running, she was too afraid to stop. Her feet hurt along with the burning of her cheek, she could already tell a nasty bruise would form. She kept looking over her shoulder for the men. Before long, she emerged from the trees and found herself close to the familiar cottage. She thought she heard footsteps close to her, so without thinking she started yelling. “Noah. Noah!” She could not bear the thought of being trapped by the cruel men again. Her dress was half-ruined, they would have an easier job now ripping it off her, a prospect that filled her eyes with tears but none of them fell as she continued her frantic pace to get to the door.
