Incubus

Chapter 4

The dance between darkness and light will always remain- the stars and the moon will always need the darkness to be seen, the darkness will just not be worth without the moon and stars 

~C. JoyBell C.

The fresh smell of coffee was wonderful. I poured some into a coffee mug and breathed in the rich smell of freshly ground coffee beans. Taking a sip, I immediately felt more awake. I grabbed the keys off the coffee table and headed out into the bustling activity of the city.

Once on the street, I stopped and observed the goings on around me. People filed into taxi cabs, held shopping bags, talked on cell phones, and didn't really pay attention to much else. Turning on my iPod, I listened to my music as I headed down the street. I hummed to the melody and looked around to try and find my way to work. I suddenly felt that strange sensation again, as if someone was behind me, staring at me. I paused and tentatively turned around, but didn't see anything strange. People, like me, were trying to get to work or bring their kids to school. I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes at my stupidity and continued my trek down the street. But the next five minutes continued to feel strange. It seemed my anxiety skyrocketed for the first time in years as I tried to weave through the crowd of people. I felt like all eyes were glued to the back of my head, watching my every move. The minute I thought of that, his eyes came to mind. Those dark haunting eyes. But if I turned around anymore, people might think that I was losing my mind. 

Stopping at a light, I scrolled through my songs list, not paying any attention. Forgetting that the light wasn't green for pedestrians, I walked out and heard a screeching honk from my right. Looking up, I saw a stream of cars coming at me and I froze, unsure of what to do. As I was sure the car would careen into my side and kill me, I felt an impact on my side and then saw the world sideways. My vision grew blurry and I felt a stinging sensation on the left side of my head. I was lying on the ground, my iPod not in my hand anymore, but lying a few feet away from me on the sidewalk. Trying to figure out what had just happened, I sat up, rubbing my head. I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach.

People were rushing over to me, asking me questions, but they all blurred together. I was too confused to properly identify what was up and what was down. I waved all of the questions away and looked up to see who had helped me.

"Does anyone know who saved me?" I asked them. 

They all stopped mid-sentence and looked like they were thinking back. A woman shook her head. But a man said, "All I saw was a man ram himself into you. I thought he got hit himself, but apparently not, the minute you started to get up, he made a run for it."

"Do you know what he looked like?" I didn't know why I asked that question in particular. Wouldn't I rather want to know why he had run away all of a sudden? If he was hurt? Or if he said anything?

"All I saw was a man wearing a white T-shirt ma'am. Maybe some jeans- I couldn't really be sure." The others around me seemed to nod as if what he recounted had jogged their memories.

Whatever I had planned that day had to wait, for my hip decided to go on its own accord and torture me with shooting pains for the day. The crowd that had gathered around me had all insisted to call an ambulance for me, but I assured them that I was in working order.

The one thing that I couldn't shake from my mind as I iced my hip, was why that man had decided to run away after he knocked me out of the way of that car. Had he really gotten hurt, and just decided to run to the nearest hospital? I laughed at my stupidity.