I was running away from them. Running fast. The humid wind of the night hitting my face, giving me chills down the back. The tree trunks passing by like cars in the highway. I could still hear the police behind me, only that now I couldn’t make out a word of what they said. Then, I heard loud footsteps, branches breaking, and voices calling.

I stopped for a second; to make sure I what I heard was real. It was. The police officers were getting closer every second. I could make out every one of their voices now. There were about six or seven of them. Two of them seemed to be arguing and another, whose voice made him seem bigger and tougher, was trying to get them to stop.

I had forgotten completely that I’d stopped running and found myself standing there, in the middle of the woods. Moonlight was shinning even brighter now on the forest floor, and the tree trunks seemed to glow because of it. The forest seemed quite calm with this light, as if nothing were going on inside it. But, then I heard the fighting again, like two kindergartners fighting over a toy.

When I heard they were so close, I looked back to see exactly how much distance we were talking about. I stepped on a branch, accidentally, making a loud noise. Oh no, I thought to myself and hopped no one had heard. I saw the flash lights become still, nothing being heard other than the policemen’s rough breathing in the dead silent night. They didn't hear me, I kept telling myself. I moved a couple of steps to the right so I could see their faces between the trees trunks.

I saw the six cops standing in a single line, shoulder to shoulder. They looked like little kids who had just seen a ghost. They held their six flashlights close to their body, illuminating the trees in front of me. I could see every one of their faces now, all with the same exact look on them. Pale white, and clearly frightened. Something about their eyes made me feel like a real murderer, there was fear in every one of them.

“Sam?” one of them said with a calm tone.

I froze. Could they have seen me? I thought, this can’t be happening. All the work that I’d put on hiding Cole’s dead body and leaving no trace of what I had done was now all worthless because I wanted to see their face. I just couldn’t believe what I had done. I was going to run, run faster than I ever had. So no one would ever catch me and I could disappear entirely anywhere far away.

“Sam, stop. We know it’s you.”

Some people say that you see a flashback of your life before you die, but I think it only happens when you know you ruined your life. I saw everything that I had a memory of in those three minutes. I saw my birthday parties, my friends, and all those good memories that I would never forget. Then last night replayed in my head again, only this time I saw how Cole died. It had been me, I was a murderer, I finally accepted the truth to myself.

There would be no more running away for me anymore, as the next thing I saw were the police men surrounding me. Something cold enclosed on my wrists, and I realized that they were arresting me. So, I thought, this is how it ends.