Quote:
You're walking home in the dark and soon hear the sound of footsteps following behind you. Every time you turn around, nothing is there. If you try to quicken your pace, the footsteps start running right along with you. No matter how you try to see behind you--if you use your phone camera or if you look in window reflections, you can't see anything...but you know it's getting closer. If you don't run fast enough, you can almost feel a hand on your arm, a breath on your neck...

You need to get home, fast.

If you can.


At first, Nimue hadn’t noticed the echoing footsteps. She’d been too busy happily considering the new sheet music that she’d picked up for her guitar. And then, as the music had begun to fade from her brain, she’d become increasingly aware of the footsteps. At first, she’d chalked it up to another person walking a little behind her. Nothing to worry about. Except… except that the footsteps didn’t go away and the few times she’d peered over her shoulder showed that there wasn't’ a single person around.

She’d done her best to ignore the footsteps, but as the sound of them seemed to echo so mockingly around her, she hadn’t been able to help speeding up. She’d even been able to keep from completely panicking when she could hear the footsteps speeding up to match her pace.

It was like the weird carollers at Christmas. Just as unexplained. Just as ******** creepy.

Nimue only began to run when further peeks and glances continued to show neither hide nor hair of anyone following her. And by that point, she was utterly convinced that she was in one of her nightmares come to life. All thoughts of her music had been replaced by incoherent screeching from her lizard brain telling her to get away. Skin prickling with fear, Nimue bolted down the sidewalk, wishing that someone else, anyone else was out prowling. A quick glance toward a storefront window showed her that there wasn’t anything to see, yet she could still hear the footsteps chasing after her. And maybe it was just paranoia, but she would have sworn on a damned bible that the footsteps seemed to be mocking her.

Sucking a gulp of air into just-starting-to-ache lungs, Nimue slowed the tiniest bit, only to be gripped by the certainty that if she didn’t hustle her a** right now, something was going to reach out of the dark and grab her. And if it got her, she would be swallowed up by the darkness, never to be seen again.

Grimacing as her body pumped even more adrenalin into her veins, the tall girl forced herself to run even faster than before, bouncing heedlessly off of random telephone phones and trash cans. And with each forced pause, she could feel something awful reaching out of the dark to grab her. Even if she couldn’t see it, she knew it was there. And somehow, not being able to see what she was so frightened of was far worse than if she could just see the evil clown or Lovecraftian horror shambling along after. A cold trickle of wind crept along her neck and Nimue was dead certain that it was the breathing of whatever the footsteps belonged to getting closer.

Practically sobbing with fear, she panted as she pushed herself away from a mailbox, throwing herself even harder into her flight. If she could just get home. Niamh was at home. Nimah wouldn’t let anything hurt her. And home was so, so close. And the footsteps seemed to know it.

Sensing that she didn’t have much energy left to devote to fleeing, Nimue nearly wept with relief when she saw the home she shared with her cousin. Almost there…

When she literally threw herself at the door, clammy fingers grasping the knob and forcing it open, Nimue thought that she felt a brush of fingers just above the skin of her neck. Then, as she fell inside, ignoring her cousin’s frantic queries, Nimue thought she heard the barest whisper of reluctantly retreating feet.

Then, secure in the knowledge that her tiny, but tough cousin had this, Nimue allowed herself to faint right the ******** away.