TIME FOR A STORY - THE DARK FIGURE

She couldn’t sleep,  something kept her awake:  a noise , a feeling, a fear. She couldn’t understand what it was. She was lying down on her bed, in her room, motionless in the dark. Her open eyes tried to penetrate the darkness because it was where her demons hid. All her senses were alert, looking for a sound, a movement, anything that proved the presence of another person. The last weeks had been difficult, especially after that strange feeling had become a concern and finally certainty.  Someone followed her. Her house was watched. Someone spied on her movements: where she went, what she did, who she met. Everywhere she went he was with her: always.

Sometimes she had seen him from a shop window after she had  entered. A tall and young man with black hair and blue eyes,  so intense and penetrating to  seem unreal. He was always with her, and he knew she knew it , he knew she felt his presence. Then there was that night in the park. She had left her home to go jogging. Leaving the house she looked around furtively to try to see the black figure, as she had begun to do since she had discovered the stalker. She hadn’t seen him anywhere. She felt relieved, calmer so she started running. The sun was setting and the light of the street lamps illuminated the path,  she ran between the trees. The wind was the only sound other than that of her footsteps. A black figure. Suddenly something (or someone?) tried to make her fall. She remained motionless for a few seconds which seemed hours, then she reacted and started running fast, faster and faster.
She ran as quickly as she could. Her legs moved on their own despite the pain. The cold air came into her lungs and it set them on fire. She could hear distinctly the man’s steps behind her. She heard them closer and closer. She didn’t know what he wanted but certainly it wasn’t by chance he had being following her in the park. They were alone and, though she had done her best to outrun him, he had got closer and closer.

She stopped the flow of her thoughts and stood listening. She could only hear her heart which had accelerated the beats remembering what had happened just few hours before. She stared at those blue eyes so intense that they seemed to read her soul. As far as the depths of HER SOUL.

She looked out of the window. She loved that little town, so quiet. She had picked it at random. She had been attracted by its trivial name. Everybody had been kind to her since the moment she had arrived, though they knew nothing about her. Unfortunately,   the following morning she would have to go. She looked away from the window she stared at those blue eyes, once so intense but now glassy,  which had belonged to the policemen who had discovered her secret. She smiled and looked back out of the window. What a pity! She liked that very small town.

ANGELA