Silent Screams

The Walk Home

Footsteps. They followed me. But when I stopped and looked over my shoulder there was nothing. It was just the empty, dreary street. But as soon as I started to walk again I could hear them clearly. It was daunting. I could hear the shoes clash to the concrete. A slight shiver went up my spine. My hands started to shake as the footsteps came closer. I couldn't bear it any longer. I closed my eyes and I started to run. My vision became a blurry mixture of trees and speeding cars. And the faster I ran, the more weary I started to feel. "Almost there" I screamed, trying to furiously encourage myself. As my hand grabbed the doorknob, my legs stopped working. I fell down on the porch of my own house, with my hand still on the doorknob. I managed to gather myself together and stand up. I worked my way inside and I set myself on the couch. Both exhausted and perplexed of what just happened I fainted.

I woke up by the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. I tried to sit up straight but someone or something was holding me down. I couldn't move. I slowly opened my eyes and I tried to remember what happened last night. I coundn't. As I started to feel my legs again, I sat up straight. Headache. I felt my heart beat in my head. The dizziness came back. The room around me started to spin faster and faster. Darkness. In a fight against my pounding headache I could hear them loud and clear. A thumping sound. Footsteps.

First I thought it was my heart, beating. But it sounded too familiar. I recognized the deep, low pounding sound, and after that the high-pitched click. I looked around me to make sure I was alone. I was. My throat felt like someone pulled a piece of barbed wire through. Dry. I stood up to grab a glass of water. As I walked to the kitchen everything started to slowly come back. I remember going to work by car. I remember having a meeting about our new solar panels, and how good they would be for the environment. I remember having 2 cups of coffee after that. But the strange thing was, I couldn't remember anything after that. It didn't matter how hard I was thinking. I just couldn't. It was like if someone put something in my coffee. A pill that makes you forget everything that happens after you take it in. But that was impossible because I got the coffee myself, right? I wasn't sure anymore. My head was filling itself with thoughts. It felt like it could explode at any second now. My house would be filled with millions of little pieces of me, the walls would be smeared with blood but the headache and the dreadful fear of the footsteps would be gone. That thought was weirdly relaxing. My head started emptying itself. I was exhausted. I sat down on the countertop. Inner peace filled me. My eyelids closed and everything faded out. Darkness.