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While you're walking home, the wind suddenly seems to change direction. It gets colder. And if you look behind you, it looks like someone's following you. There, in the distance, a shadowy black figure. If you move towards him, he seems to disappear, but once you turn around again, you can feel him watching you. No matter how far you run, no matter how fast, he always seems to be there when you look over your shoulder. Once you reach your destination and are safely inside, suddenly you can't see him anymore, and after a few harrowing moments the air seems to lift. You're safe, but...what was that all about?
Rebecca tugged her coat on tighter, carefully reaching down to zip it up in hopes of retaining just a little bit more of the warmth that seemed to be slipping away second by second. It hadn't seemed so cold when she'd first left Romano's for another trip into the city, but it seemed like now that the longer she spent on the streets, the worse the temperature dropped around her. If this was what fall had to offer, the teen wondered what winter would have in store. She could only hope she'd brought enough warm clothing to last her through it or that would be another dip into her allowances that she wasn't sure she wanted to make right now.
As if in response to the thoughts, the wind shifted, blowing back on her and bringing with it a chill that she couldn't shake. As she reached up to brush an irritating strand of hair behind her ear, some thing in her periphery caught her attention. A frown pulled at her lips as she turned her head for a better look and, yes, there it was, a shadowy black figure in the distance but steadily coming her way. A bit too far to discern any identifying features of the person, and surely no one to be worried about.
Her breath caught anyway, heart beat picking up in tempo against her better judgment. For some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, she remembered the strange shape she'd seen the night before as she'd been about to go to sleep. Something just out of the corner of her eye, some movement just enough to catch her attention just like this. She'd lost a lot of sleep watching for some imagined monster in the shadows of her dorm room, and now she was being just as ridiculous for even conjuring up the idea that whatever it was had followed her into the light of day.
Becca shook the paranoia off, turned her eyes forward again, and kept walking. If her pace was a bit quicker, it was only because she was more determined to get out of the cold quicker and not at all because of imaginary fiends that definitely weren't trailing along behind her. The mantra of 'you're being ridiculous' carried her nearly another block before the urge to look back again became too strong. It was closer now than it had been before, but no less indistinguishable. The panic surged up again. That was weird, right? That was really weird.
As she kept walking, the sensation of being watched built itself up more and more, topping off her dread and growing from it. Once she made the decision to turn and move towards the figure, to face her fears head on, but it had been gone then. The feeling hadn't faded a bit, though, only intensified, and the next time she looked back it was there again. She'd officially had enough. Gripping her purse tightly to make sure it wouldn't be lost, she took off at full speed, glad that that was something physical training had been steadily improving on.
She was fast, she knew, but the figure never seemed to have fallen behind any when she risked glances back. It wasn't until she ducked into her destination, a little shop that had caught her eye days before, that the cloud of dread hanging over her seemed to ease. She lingered there longer than she'd been planning, making sure the shadow wasn't waiting outside before she risked leaving, and she hurried back to Romano's more quickly than she ever had.
