It's that sudden sensation of numb fire.
That almost audible rush, that pressure suddenly spiking in the brain...
When the adrenaline hits, it takes away everything but sight. And at the same time, a blind feeling comes over, and all the senses get that deep, subtle burn like dry ice.
And it was when I saw him. The second I saw that utterly still silhouette against the fog, the second my mind was overrun with fear, raging hard and fast like lightning, burning through my thoughts like a flash fire, destroying forever all the most important information until nothing was left but me, in the uncertain dark, and the fog.
That it wasn't real, that it was a trick of the light, that I was in my own neighborhood, that I was surrounded by bright, unflickering orange streetlamps and warm houses with people awake inside, that it wasn't even late at night yet, that I could move, that I could scream. Those thoughts died, quick and silent. I forgot it all.
I leaned backwards, my body acting on its own, automatically yearning to get away from him. But my intelligence kept me still, and the fear kept my eyes trained on that form, watching, and the thought of turning my back on him and running seemed so incredibly unbearable, even more unbearable than standing here facing him. I felt such fear.
How far was he from me? Wait... no, it never even occurred to me to move my legs as I stared, my eyes wide and pupils expanded in the dim, staring so sharply, watching so very closely, that dark form. It had to be a trick...
No, yes, stop, this was silly, It was just a person walking, a shadow cast on the fog, a mailbox post, or a tree branch, or...
His leg moved.
Or no, it didn't move, but he moved... like sliding, maybe his feet dragged across the sidewalk pavement, but there was no sound. No sound except my heart pounding so very fast, faster than I'd ever heard before, and he moved straight towards me.
Somehow he moved. So slowly, though, but so strange and so, so frightening.
And I stayed, I was stuck, each grain of sandy, rocky packed cement holding the rubber soles of my shoes fast against the ground. I couldn't believe it. My mind wrapped around it but flinched back, my sanity whimpered like a wounded animal as my brain tried to comprehend this thing that was impossible to contemplate, let alone to see.
And I saw him. I saw him, I watched, watched him move towards me down the sidewalk.
I had to run. I had to run. Run! Run, move legs, move away... but I had to watch him.
No! ...
But... so strange, my rushing blood suddenly felt so cold, my body felt real again.
Real! My life!
Run!
Like at a gunshot, I turned and ran before my thoughts could stop my body.
And I was gone. I'd never run that fast in my entire life. I felt like crying, too, but I had to run, and I couldn't scream, I felt like the sound of my own voice would bring about my doom.
I ran.
I ran so hard, I don't remember how far or how long. I turned a corner, past more houses, more streetlamps, I didn't look back.
I couldn't look back.
I ran hard, out through an open space... an empty parking lot. The neighborhood swimming pool, all closed up and locked and deserted during autumn.
I still couldn't look behind me. Not until I ran into the open space, ran under the wonderful glaring orange streetlamps shining down on cement. Away from the trees.
