Paranoia

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

 

      Raven was walking all day with strange looks and odd stares thrown at her as she passed by.

      It was already getting late. She had no money on her and she didn't know where to go.

     She turned to an alley way, in between two brick walled buildings. The alley way ran only a few meters and ended with a high wooden fence.

     There were laundries hanging above her, with fire escapes on each side of the buildings, and a large dumpster against the first building.

      The first building was more of a remodeled old factory that was made into an apartment. The building had mossy bricked walls and a small metal chimney at the very top with white smoke gushing out from it, and slowly vanished into the clear black sky. The dumpster was against a wall, full of old posters.

      The second building was located on the right side and had been built for quite some time. What used to be a bright red bricked wall was already dull in color and was filled with graffiti. The building was purposely made to be an apartment type, having balconies in every glass sliding window that looked down the alley.

      The sound of the busy streets echoed between the walls and the lights from the cars that passed by quickly flashed.

      The garbage bags began to rustle inside the dumpster making Raven snap her head towards the noise's direction. The sound got louder and more chaotic. Then a rat jumped out of the dumpster and ran away, followed by a cat that looked at Raven before chasing after the rat.

      Raven moved back slowly, away from the alley way. She suddenly bumped into someone and she turned around immediately.

     She bumped into lady, appearing to be in her late forties, who was wearing a scarf over her head and the ends were wrapped around her neck. She looked at Raven with a wide eye.

      "I'm sorry," Raven said.

      Then the lady suddenly screamed making Raven jump and started to panic.

      "Is something wrong?" Raven asked worriedly.

      "Get away from me! Get away from me!" the lady yelled as she started hitting Raven with her bag.

      Raven covered her face with her arms and slowly moved towards the lady who was backing up towards the road while continuing on hitting her.

      "Be careful, you might get ran over," Raven said.

       "Get away from me! Police! Police!" she yelled. "Don't hurt me, take my bag, but don't hurt me," she pleaded in a shaking voice as she looked at Raven's hand.

      Raven followed her stare and saw she was still holding the butcher's knife. She winched and threw the knife towards the alley way. She heard a clashed blade against the paved road and a loud cry of a cat.

     She turned around and saw that the butcher's knife had landed on the cat's stomach, pinning it down to the ground and almost cutting it in half – the same cat that looked at Raven.

      The lady screamed making Raven jerk around with a worried looked.

     "Animal killer! Police! Police! Poli –" the woman didn't get to finish when a truck ran her over.

      Raven's eyes widen and she gasped. She covered her mouth with her hand as tears went down her cheeks.

      She killed a person – unintended.

     The truck stopped and the driver went out. People started to crowd and started talking to each another.

      A man looked at her angrily. "That's her!" he said pointing to Raven's direction.

     She didn't know what to do, so she ran.

     Rebecca's doing, she thought as she ran. She couldn't dare to kill something not to mention someone. She wants me to be blamed of everyone's death, even those who were innocent.

     "Don't let her escape," she heard a faint voice from behind. She stopped and looked back and saw a few angry men running towards her.

      She was scared as she started running again, as fast as her feet could carry her.

      "Stop her!" she heard a man yell from behind.

      She made a quick glance behind her and saw the men slowly became distant. She picked up her pace and headed straight forward.

      She saw a stone bridge where a train would pass by towards another town.

     She hurriedly ran towards it as the train moved towards the bridge. She moved quickly across the train track, but her foot was suddenly wedge in between the tracks.

      She saw the train fast approaching, its lights blinding her and its loud horn deafening her making her to start yanking her foot out.

     She needed to move quickly or else she'll be dead and cut into pieces.

      She yanked harder until her foot finally was free.

      With the train only a few meters away, she jumped down the bridge and made a hard fall as she tumbled on the cold dry soil. She groaned at the pain that her body was feeling but the sensation that she was alive made it all go away.

      Raven stood up and dusted herself then looked at the passing train.

      She headed towards the woods. With the moon being full tonight, it brightly shown down through the tress giving a just enough white illumination to walk through the woods.

      As she went deeper she heard the owls and the crickets, the snapping twigs and rustling of bushes which she ignored.

     She found a small abandoned cottage and found herself standing in the clearing.

     The cottage looked sturdy and was made up of hardwood despite its built age. It had a stone chimney on top and a rocking chair out in the front porch.

      She looked around before heading towards the cottage and creaked as she stepped on the porch. The glass windows were broken and were covered with dust.

      She gently pushed the door and it opened with a squeak. The moonlight entered the room through the windows and the open door giving light inside.

      Raven slowly moved inside, with the floorboards creaking and scanned the place. The whole place was full of cobwebs and it seemed like no one had lived here for years.

      She saw a light switch hanging from the ceiling and pulled it. Miraculously, the light went on, but only in dim.

      She moved towards the kitchen and a gasped, making her bolting back into the woods.

A/N: Hey guys! What do you think of this chapter? I want to hear your thoughts. First thing's first. What was being ran over all about? Was this really all part of the scheme? And what did Raven saw? Cherios! Will update Chapter 20 soon. :D

Don't forget to vote, comment and share. Thanks for tuning in and reading. GOD BLESS YOU GUYS! :*