24 FOLLOWING

A few hours later.

I went to the kitchen to cook some Dinner for everyone but to my horror, there wasn't any material for a proper meal to be cooked so I decided to go out to buy some things from the grocery store.

The store wasn't that far from their place, it was at a walking distance.

"Thank you," I said as I took the stuff and left the store.

It isn't too soon after I started walking down the dark sidewalk that I notice the footsteps behind me.

At first, I wasn't too concerned.

A middle-aged lady with a shopping bag had been heading in the same direction as me earlier. So I assumed that it's her making the soft clicking sounds on the concrete behind me.

But, I shouldn't have.

The thing that caused me to get alarmed was that when I lengthened my stride and speeded up my pace, the footsteps speeded up too. And when I begin to speed-walk due to my uneasiness, the footsteps followed.

My heart was jumping in my chest, pounding like a drum being beaten to its physical limits.

I'm being followed.

Too scared to turn around because I'm already aware of who's behind, I simply gulped in a huge breath of freezing cold air and pushed my body into a slight jog.

I wracked my brain, pushing past the gnawing fear edging through me as I try to think of someplace to go to.

As I do, I glanced hesitantly over my shoulder.

There behind me, mirroring my slow jog, was the man I feared him to be.

He wasn't even being subtle now, keeping a small distance between the two of us as he watched with a tiny, terrifying grin.

There was no one around him, or me. The street was completely desolate, devoid of any other life forms in the dim street light.

I broke into a sprint.

I didn't know where I was headed to, but I had to get there fast. I was smaller than him, maybe there's a chance that I can outrun him and avoid being subject to whatever plans he's made for me.

Just maybe.

Shivering, I refused to think about what those plans might be.

For the first time, the man spoke.

"You can run, little HIKARI" he called mockingly, in a rough, gritty voice that sounded like he's been smoking for a long time. "But you can't hide, just give up now, sweetheart."

I'm surprised that my heart is still in my chest at this point as my limbs trembled with overwhelming fear,

There was no one here to save me.

No one here to hear my screams.

'helpmehelpmehelpme' I screamed inside my head but I was silent on the outside, forcing all the physical energy that I could muster into my legs.