Maisy’s red shoes pounded the pavement as she ran the opposite direction from home, from civilization- from everyone toward the forest. Her place of safety and isolation. They were looking for her. Her mom, her dad, everyone… She had inherited her red hair from her dad and her freckled face from her mom. Not that being out in the sun hurt, but now she was the sun among the trees. Easy to spot if you knew where to look.

The evening sun made the sweat cling to her hair, while tears stung her eyes as she thought of all the possible clues they might find that would lead them to her. She always thought of them, of course… but why did they think she was missing? She told them she went hiking on Sundays and today was Sunday.

I’m sure she thought that they were concerned for my safety. The news reported that an ex-lover had been strangled to death what appeared to be his own makeshift coffin two days ago. The suspect had not been caught and was still at large.

Did they think she did it? She looked too young to be a killer. Too weak to strangle someone. She couldn’t even tie her own shoelaces.

She grinned at the fleeting thought.

Almost simultaneously she felt her shoe leave her foot. Had she grabbed the wrong pair of shoes? Hiking wasn’t her strong suit. It was his.

Whatever, she’d keep going. The police were going to catch whoever did it soon anyway and they were just patrolling the area.

As she bent over to catch her breath she suddenly realized she wasn’t alone anymore. She glanced up to see a handgun trained on her. She gripped the shoelaces in her hand. A literal symbol of jealousy. Of what she did. Of who she now is. A bloody killer.

Her love was never indestinguishable. It was pure unadulterated jealousy that drove her to commit the crime. In fact, he had promised her until death do they part and she was intent on keeping her promises. As far as her parents and community were concerned, she was a young girl who died from a broken heart.