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The problem was, none of the other people walking on the city streets around him knew what he was running from. Not the businessmen and women in their sharp suits, or the college students with their backpacks, or the elementary school kids on a field trip, or the homeless guys who watched with amazed, grimy faces as Jeff raced past.
Because none of those people on the street could see…them.
In his terror, Jeff allowed himself one glance over his shoulder. To see how close they were, to see if they were gaining.
He shouldn’t have done it. As soon as he looked away, his foot hit a raised crack in the cement sidewalk, and down he went on all fours.
Despite the pain of banged knees and scraped palms, he immediately flipped over on his back and stared at them rushing down the street. It was like a tidal wave – all those thousands of tiny eyes, those snarling mouths, the grasping hands – reaching for him, and him alone.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, the part that wasn’t running on sheer adrenaline, Jeff swore that whenever he saw another person talking to himself in the park, or swatting at things in the subway, he wouldn’t think those people were crazy.
Unless I’m going crazy, too.
No. He couldn’t believe that, he couldn’t allow himself to think that for one second.
Even if it were true.
Just because other people can’t see them…doesn’t mean they’re not there.
He repeated that to himself over and over again as he scrambled to his feet.
If he just kept running, it would stop. It had to. It hadn’t been like this before. In fact, it had only begun a couple of days ago…
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Copyright © 2008 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
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