Glitches and Ghosts

The Chase

It didn't take them long to catch up. I only looked back once and just barely saw the apartment window I had climbed through. Those ugly things were already crossing the street after me, their fingernails sometimes tapping the ground and making a strange metallic noise that I could feel more than hear. I ducked into the alley across the street, ran into the darkness, and didn't stop until I was at the end of the street. There was a small brick building there; it was old, and behind it, behind a tall fence, stood a bunch of electrical towers that constantly buzzed. Nick called it a substation, but I don't have any idea what that is. That was where I stopped and hid behind a brick wall in front of a heavy wooden padlocked door listening to the hum of the electricity.

I peeked around the corner, and sure enough, they were in the alley but were not moving toward me. I could hear them but couldn't understand what they were saying. I knew they were looking for me, and it would only be a matter of time before they started moving again. I had to either try and fight them off here or move on. I wasn't ready to die yet, not so close to home. I took a few more deep breaths, crept out in front of the squatty little brick building, and took the street to the right. As soon as I stepped into the road, though, a damn streetlight came on and shined right on me!

The noise those things made was instant and scary, like a thousand people screaming at once, only the scream was deep and painful sounding. It was the same thing I heard in the walls at home and work. They had been trying to get to me but couldn't get through the walls.

I took off running again, and they followed. If I was going to have to run to keep away from them, I knew I could run for a few miles before having to stop, no problem. I wanted to get far from home; that way, there was no chance Nick would find me. When they killed me, someone else would find me. If there were anything left, Nick wouldn't have to see me. I didn't want that.

The monsters filled the neighborhood street behind me, crossing yards and leaping over fences. I looked back and, for the first time, thought in my head that there weren't as many as I first saw, only looked like a couple of hundred under the street light; still, more than I had ever seen.

There was a picture of Sofi and me on the bookshelf opposite the sofa. I had been staring at it for some immeasurable time. It was a candid shot taken by a friend, but it captured her gentle smile perfectly. We were leaning on the hood of my car, talking, holding fingertips, our eyes cast on each other in comfort and joy, totally immersed and enjoying the moment.

I remember the day. I was thinking the same thing then that I was thinking at that moment, and that was of the absolutely trivial things that made her real to me. It was sometimes the small patch of powder on her nose that she had not entirely rubbed in, the acne that reappeared every month on her chin at that particular time, the spot of lipstick on her teeth that frustrated her to no end, the mole in front of her left ear lobe that she was so conscious of. Those little things were not flaws or mistakes; they made her real to me, and when I saw the infinitesimal stuff about her that was not perfect, they only reminded me how lucky I was to have her. Perfect was a feeling and adoration, and in her flaws and all, I saw perfection, my vision of it anyway.

"Renee, this is fucking stupid," I said, looking at Sofi's mom sitting on the edge of our couch, biting one of her fingernails like a schoolgirl.

I seldom used profanity in front of her; I knew better; it just slipped through the frayed nerves of frustration.

"We could be out there looking too. We're two more people who could find her."

Renee was visibly shaken, even more so now that everyone was gone but me. She was beautiful in every sense of the word and behaved with such poise and grace. She wrung her hands and looked at me without saying a single word. I came and sat beside her as if commanded.