And then, he steps out.
From behind the tree at the corner. A figure. Just standing there.
My legs move before my brain does. I spin and run.
As fast as my body will let me. Faster. My lungs claw for air, my chest burning, but I don’t stop. I sprint like my life depends on it. It most likely does.
I don’t have to look behind me to know he’s there. I can feel it. The weight of his presence, the rhythm of his steps syncing with mine, always just out of sight but never out of reach. He could catch me if he wanted to, I realize. He’s letting me get this far.
Toying with me.
The thought burns through me like gasoline, and I push harder. My legs scream, my throat tastes like blood, but I keep going. Faster, faster, faster.
And my shoes… my stupid, useless shoes.
The ruined Converse slip against the pavement, the fabric tearing at my heels. Every step comes close to wrenching them clean off, slowing me down, tripping me up. Panic spikes higher than it already is. I can’t afford to be slow. Not now. Not when he’s breathing down my neck.
I don’t think. I decide.
Mid-stride, I kick them off. One, then the other, gone. My feet hit the icy ground, skin slapping against the frozen earth, but I barely register the shock of it. I just run.
The cold tears at me, rocks slice into my soles, but I don’t care. Pain is nothing. Stopping is death.
So, I run. Barefoot. Wild.
I don’t know how long. Minutes. Hours. Time doesn’t exist anymore, only the pounding of my heart, and the sick certainty that he’s still behind me, always behind me.
And then, the world opens.
The trees give way to something white, endless and blinding under the streetlamps. A field, coated in frost and snow that crunches under my bare feet.
The field.
This is the one.
The one Kym warned me about.
And now I’m in it.
***
If I can just get past the field, just a little further, I might make it. Kai’s house isn’t far. If I run faster, if I scream loud enough, maybe he’ll hear. Maybe someone will.
So, I don’t stop.
My chest is on fire, every breath cutting like knives, but I keep going. My legs shake, my bare feet slip against the icy ground, but I force them forward, faster, faster, faster.
And still, it doesn’t matter.
He’s always there. His footsteps slam into the snow behind me, the crunch getting louder with every stride.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
The sound rips me apart, and the scream tears free from my throat before I can stop it. It’s raw, animal, desperate.
