Little bit of a story

Each time she made it home it was a small victory.  Tonight would be no different.  She would get home and go to bed and start the day again and nothing would change.

The parking lot was bright as always and the fear never really started til she got past the first stop light.  She could drive through town but it took three times as long as the back roads and despite her outwardly disposition she had a life to lead.  Besides she was a grown up and grown ups aren't afraid of childish things like the dark.  To be honest though she didn't fear the dark, rather what blended into it.

So she turned left at the stop light as usual and made her way home with the windows up and the radio turned up.  

She kept her eyes on the road ahead and refused to look at the fields to either side of her.  At least it wasn't corn fields.  Name one horror movie that didn't have a corn field.  That's right, it's impossible, they all have corn fields.  

The road was long and curvy and deserted.  She rarely if ever came across another vehicle at this time of night. 

It was at the first stop sign that the hair on her arms stood up and a chill went through her body.  She sat frozen afraid to look and afraid not to look.  Something was watching her.  It was on her left side.  She could feel it.  She knew.

Leaving the stop sign in her dust, and holding her breath.  Ten more minutes and she would be safe in her home, in her bed, safe.

But what was that shadow?  What was that blur?  

65 miles per hour and what was that shadow?  There was no logical explanation for what could be moving that fast.  It was a farming community.  How fast could cows run?

Breathing was becoming a desperate pant and tears were dangerously close.  How long had she avoided this?  How long had it been waiting for her?  A second stop sign was coming up quick, if she didn't lose it now she wouldn't make it past.

80 miles per hour and no sign of the shadow.  Coming up on the stop sign she reluctantly forced herself to stop.

What is it about human nature that makes us want to look when we know we shouldn't?

Just a quick peek, only from the side of her eye, only for a second.

Nightmares pale in comparison.

Every last whisp of breath left her body.

Fear is not able to explain the instant shaking of her body.  Hands too unsteady to keep a hold of the wheel.  In that instant, it was known that she wouldn't be making it home and that any of the most terrible ways to die would be better than her fate.

Slamming a foot as hard as she possibly could, she shot away from the sign, blinded by the tears streaming down her face.

It ran in front of the car.  Easily, as if it was strolling through a park on a sunny day.

If she could have mustered it she would have been screaming, but it was like a nightmare.  You try and try to make a noise but nothing comes out.

As easily as it appeared it disappeared.  It was gone.  The headlights picked up nothing but the chipped pavement and the swaying grass, the broken fence.

65 miles an hour and trying to hold the wheel steady through the tremors.  

Five minutes away from home.

Dare she believe that maybe she had escaped fate again?  

Last stop sign of the night and then it was into town and home free.  

With more control then thought possible she executed a proper stop.  With more bravery then she ever felt she looked full on to the side.

Into the dark.

Nothing was there

Finally air returned to her lungs and she left the stop sign with a hiccup of thanksgiving.

She crossed the bridge into her home base and sighed, looking into the review mirror at the nightmare she had escaped.