Nirvana

Chapter Five: The Pursuit

As night fell, Lucy quietly shut the front door of her house, hoping to make as little noise as possible as she exited.

She was going through with her plan and made her way to the alleyway where she first met Alec. In her mind, she told herself she was meeting him for answers, but deep down, she knew that was an excuse to see the boy again.

She contained her excitement as she stopped at the same spot where she encountered him last. She took a look around her, examining her surroundings. Nothing seemed out of place: the streets were as empty as usual, with quiet and dark alleyways barely illuminated by streetlights. The people stayed shut in their houses. All seemed fine, yet still, Lucy couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss.

The bad feeling festered inside her. A gut feeling told her to get away fast, warning her against the danger that was on the horizon. She never felt anything like this before, even though, she was used to going out at that same time and place almost every night.

She tried to brush off that feeling, convinced that it had to be her anxiety acting up. Lately, her anxiety attacks had been getting worse for some reason. She paced in the alleyway, her hand held behind her back as she leisurely walked back and forth, waiting for Alec to show up. Minutes turned into hours, but nobody showed up. She was starting to lose more and more hope as time went by. Too much time had passed; it was to the point that Lucy huffed in defeat and decided to return home.

Just as she was about to turn back, she heard whispers in her ears, and a gush of air blew past her, making her hair fly out in all directions. She quickly brushed her hair back into place to clear her field of vision so that she could inspect where the wind came from. Her heart raced uncontrollably as she glanced back at the source of the wind. She couldn't tell exactly what was coming her way, but she could feel the imminent danger creeping closer at an alarming speed.

Before she realized it, she was sprinting in the other direction with all her might, not wasting a second to look back. Her reaction was pure instinct; unsure of where to go, Lucy simply ran with nothing on her mind but the determination to get as far away as possible. She dashed through the unfamiliar alleyways toward an unknown destination.

She ran as far as her little legs let her, not slowing down until she started getting out of breath. She stole a glimpse behind her, praying that she had outrun whatever was after her, and to her relief, she found the streets empty, with nothing coming her way. She stopped to take her breath, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She took one last careful look, ensuring she was safe before she snapped out of her adrenaline-induced trance. She took a moment to regain her focus and awareness of the surroundings, only to realize she had gotten herself in a ditch.

The street ahead of her was a dead end, meaning that she had to walk a number of steps back to where she came from to get out. Lucy drew in a sharp breath, collecting every bit of courage left in her as she made her way out of the dead end.

Suddenly, she sensed something flying towards her at great speed. She couldn't make out what it was due to the poor lighting of the streets. She was almost certain it was the same creature from before. All she managed to see was a shadowy figure, not necessarily human-like, gliding near the ground and closing in on her.

She froze, unable to think or act in the brief moment she had before it was too late. She could sense its malicious intent from a mile away.

Having nothing to do but accept the inevitable, she squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the worst.

Silence.

More silence.

It was so silent that even the drop of a hairpin would have sounded like an explosion. Lucy peeled her eyes open; her vision gradually returned as she lifted her eyelids.

The scene remained the same, only as if frozen in place. The shadowy figure loomed over her, measuring up to twice her height. It stood as still as a rock, staring ahead of it.

Now that it reached a close enough range, she could see it better. It was an 8-foot figure, wearing a long black cloak covering its entire frame, with a hood that concealed its face. In its hand was a large scythe with a curved blade. 

Lucy recognized its silhouette from pages of books she liked to read. She didn't dare utter its name; all she did was stare up at it while waiting for it to do something, undoubtfully, evil.

To her surprise, it stayed rooted in its position for a few minutes. Dumbfounded, she found herself doing the unspeakable.

"Uh, hello!" Lucy greeted it, mustering her best 'I'm innocent, please don't kill me' look. Upon hearing her voice, it lowered its head, meeting Lucy's eye level. Its moving lips closed as if it had just been in conversation with someone else. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion; she was sure she hadn't heard people speaking. Who could it be talking to?

Without warning, it backed up a few steps and vanished, causing another rush of wind that ruffled Lucy's hair once more. Through her hair strands, she caught a glimpse of yet another figure in her peripheral vision. It happened for a split second before it, too, vanished.

The only difference was that this other figure emitted a subtle white hue, contrasting with that of the shadowy figure.

Lucy was too numb to make sense of everything that had occurred to her. Her main objective at that moment was to find her way home as quickly as possible.