Pain pounded in her head as Nora opened her eyes slowly, afraid of what she would see when she did. But all she saw was the blue sky and towering trees, no sinister man in a hoodie.
Nora breathed deep sigh relief and slowly started to sit up, she groaned when her head pounded furiously and froze so she wouldn't make it any worse than it already was. "What the hell, " Putting her hand up to where she felt the most pain she realized that she'd landed on a tree root.
She pulled her cellphone out of her sport's bra and clicked the side button to see the time. It was 5:34pm. She had started her run at 4:40 and had only been running for 30 minutes when she'd heard the screams so she'd been passed out for over twenty minutes.
"God dangit!" Nora cried and looked around for any sign of the mystery man, or the woman she'd heard scream but saw no one and the water a few feet away from her looked calm and peaceful.
Maybe she'd imagined the screams and the hoodie guy was nothing more than a creeper who liked scaring random women. Well either way Nora knew she couldn't sit on her ass all day she had to get home and take care of the every growing lump on her head and the gash on her hand.
Nora carefully stood up using only her good hand, being sure not to even glace at her injured one because she knew she would most likely repeat her ever so graceful passing out. She looked around her one last time and noticed what looked like scuffle marks on the ground near the alligator pit. But there was nothing else to prove there had actually been any sort of problem.
On her very slow walk home Nora played the scene over and over in her mind, trying to piece togetherWhat had happened. Well whoever that guy was, he sure was an asshole for not sticking around to see if she'd be alright.
"Jerk." Nora spat angrily out loud, not really caring about the stares she was receiving as she walked down a rather crowed sidewalk. A few people looked insult or curious but most of them shook their heads in confusion or ignored her completely.
She paused to sit on a bus stop bench because her head was really taking her for a spin. Mindlessly she looked around at the people around her, not really eager to look at her hand. Suddenly she thought she spotted a tall man wearing a black hoodie duck into a store a few yards beside her where she had just passed a minute ago.
Her eyes widened and she stood up quickly, " Is that the same guy from the swamp?" Nora's heart started to race until she saw a good looking guy walk out of the store pulling the hoodie back up on his head.
She laughed at her silly paranoia and shook her head, he didn't look dark or menacing at all, it certainlycouldn't be the same guy from before. Nora decided she'd rested enough and continued on her trekback to her one room apartment. For some reason she felt like she was being watched, but whenever she turned around there was no one suspicious. But Nora could have sworn she felt eyes following her every move.
"I need to lay off those horror movies," She joked with herself, "I'm starting to her screams and feel people watching me." Nora grinned widely at her stupidity and pulled her key out of the tiny pocket of her running shorts.
As soon as Nora walked inside her house she locked all the doors and checked the windows. As she closed the blinds of her front window she locked eyes with the same handsome man who had come out the store earlier. He looked away quickly and continued strolling down the street without a second glance.
Nora walked to the sink and finally looked down at her arm, "Shit!" She squealed, "I need a doctor." Thegash looked like it might need a few stitches to heal correctly, "But first... the blood."
She held back a gag and bravely started to wash off her hand and arm, which was now crusted in dried blood.
YOU ARE READING
To Die For
Mistero / Thriller(formally known as Every Breath You Take) Nora McKenzie is stalked and eventually kidnapped by a man who's only pleasure in life is killing for fun and controlling her as if she were his own life-sized doll. She can only hope to escape before he dec...
