Paranoia

The rain had just started to fall sending an almost refreshing musty smell to her nose as the drops of water stirred up the dust on the sidewalk. She was on the left side of a narrow cobblestone street lined with tall, dark and uninviting town homes. The homes on the left side of the street seemed to go on forever while the homes on the right were grouped into threes separated by alley ways. The alleys looked dark and cold, which is precisely why she stayed on the left. All of the doorways were darkened, no lights shone in any of the windows. Only the moon and dim lamp posts lit her way.

She walked forward, she knew she had somewhere to be, but didn’t know where or why. The high heels of her shoes were starting to pinch and the moisture on her skin made the straps around her ankles feel tight. It wasn’t until now that she realized how difficult it really was to walk with high heeled shoes in the rain, which had gone from a light spray to heavy drops. The wind picked up and swept the hood of her jacket from her head. She lost her footing, snapping one of the straps around her ankles as she scrambled fix her hood. Her attempt to catch herself on a nearby street post was unsuccessful, missing it completely she ended up in a puddle next to the post sending the broken shoe into the road.

Pulling herself up off the wet sidewalk she caught a glimpse of a man standing in the alley way across the street. The lights were dim, but her eyes had adjusted enough for her to make him out of the shadows. The man was tall and thin, wearing a dress coat and dark slacks. He wore a tall hat causing the light to cast an eerie shadow across his face. The moon lit up the smoke from his cigarette as it rose from his lips, the tip was barely glowing. She could smell his cigarette from her side of the street, it smelled like the cheap cigarettes Granddad used to smoke while he was fixing her Mother’s car. He kept his head down.

The presence of the man made her uneasy, but she was glad to know that she wasn’t entirely alone. She pressed forward, slowing her pace to prevent any more falls. She stepped as lightly as she could so that the heel on the remaining shoe wouldn’t make any noise. The man hadn’t seen her yet, and she didn’t want to find out what would happen if he did. She walked several minutes before she stopped to take off the shoe, the rain had let up for an instant and she decided to seize this moment. The man was out of her site by now, and the shoe was causing her foot to ache making it priority over distancing herself from the shadowy figure.

Sitting down on the cold steps of one of the houses she thought she noticed something moving along the road. She slipped the shoe off her foot, rubbing her finger over a small blister that had appeared. Once again something moving in the road caught her eye. A small turtle no bigger than the stones in the road, was slowly making its way over the wet cobblestones to a small puddle just beyond the sidewalk. The rain on the turtles shell gleamed in the light of the moon.



She had no idea how a turtle ended up in the middle of the road, but she was mesmerized by the simple creature. Just as the turtle reached the edge of the puddle a bright flash of light lit up the street, illuminating the dark doorways and causing her temporary blindness. Her eyes burned as they struggled to adjust, frantically she searched for anyone or anything that may have caused the flash. Her gaze was drawn back to the puddle, all that remained of the turtle was a smoking empty shell.

Her head ached from the flash, her body temperature seemed to be rising and she knew something wasn’t right. The sound of footsteps bounced off the houses reaching her ears just as the man she had seen across the street came into view. She leapt to her feet, she didn’t know what was going on, but she knew the man was headed straight for her. She didn’t know where she was or how she ended up on this street, all she knew is that she had to run.

Dizzy at first from how quickly she stood up she seemed to not be able to get her footing just right. She could hear the man’s footsteps getting louder and she knew he was gaining on her. She desperately scanned the street hoping to find a place to hide, but she knew it was hopeless and kept running. The row of houses seemed to be endless in front of her, with each house she passed another house came into view, all with darkened doorways. She started to feel as if she was running in place, he was gaining on her and she had no where to go. She wanted to scream out for help, but her voice was not cooperating. It was inevitable that he would catch her, she was giving up.

She slowed her pace and the shadow closed in on her. Tears ran down her cheeks as thoughts of how she would defend herself against the man raced through her head. She closed her eyes, “Please help me?” she screamed in her mind. She could feel the presence of the man, she could smell the smoke from his cheap cigarette, she could hear him breathing. She opened her eyes, the street had mysteriously come to a dead end.

She stood facing a lone house at the end of the street and through the darkness stood a bright red door shining in the light of a flickering door lamp. It was out of reach, she ran toward the door just as the man leapt to grab her. She could feel his fingers graze the belt of her jacket as he fell to his knees. Her hand slammed into the cold metal handle, twisting is furiously. The door was locked. She pounded on the door with all her strength, and with one final breath she screamed, “Please open the door!” Sharp chills ran up her spine as the man’s icy fingers closed around her ankle, pulling her toward him. A creepy smile spread across his face as the man pulled her close to him. She could almost taste the cigarettes from his breath as his hand closed around her throat.

“Avari!” A familiar voice echoed from behind the door.

“Mom! Mom please help me!” She choked. “Mom!” A lone tear fell down her cheek as she started to lose consciousness.

“Avari, wake up!” The door creaked, spilling warm light onto the street as it opened.