Beep. The clock changed to twelve. It was midnight. Time for me to get some sleep. I hopped up from the computer chair I was sitting in and closed my laptop. A song came on the radio and I listened to it quietly. Walking around my room searching for my pajama pants, I heard rustling outside my door. I dismissed it as my sister going to the bathroom. Putting on my pants, I slid under the warmth of my covers. I reached over and turned off my lamp. A night of restless sleep laid ahead of me. I sighed, welcoming my fate.
I walked around an empty street aimlessly. The houses were abandoned and streets worn away. Dead flowers and leaves littered the ground. The neighborhood itself was fairly nice. Other than the fact that it needed quite a bit of T.L.C. A dog barked in the distance. Hope filled my chest as my legs pumped harder than they ever had. The barking grew louder with every step I took. I passed several Victorian looking houses and a few two-story cottages. My coat hung loosly on my shoulders and my dark brown hair, pulled tightly into a bun, bounced up and down against my neck. I rounded the corner and stopped abruptly.
A middle-aged man, wearing a press suit and dark sunglasses, looked up at me from the phone he was trying to get signal on.
"It's no use. The power lines have been out for ages." I told him confidently.
He smiled at me. "Oh, my sweet Kat. I have no use for phone calls when I have you." Venom dripped from his words as he pressed a button on his phone. A barking sound, the same one I had heard, came from it.
"No!" I screamed. "Please no! I am sick of running from you.. You nasty vermin." I spat on the ground for emphasis, turning away from his gaze.
He gave a throaty laugh and pointed his phone at me. "Don't worry, darling. Ol' papa's gonna take care of you." He sneered at me.
I turned right around and ran as far as I could, not daring to look back. I dashed across backyards, kicking rubble out of my way. I could feel his breath on my neck. I whipped my head around, still running, only to find he wasn't there. My lungs burning, I slowed down to a jog. Huffing and puffing, I leaned on a tree, holding my side. I was in an old house's backyard. Two windows and a sliding glass door decorating the back wall. Vines creeped up the house and brown grass scraped my knees.
