The walk home
"Be safe and call me when you get in, I love you sweetheart!", mum hollered across the driveway as I left with a belly full of food. She worries too much, I thought to myself. I looked back, gave a huge smile and energetic wave of goodbye before turning around and starting my walk. Luckily I only lived a 20 minute walk away from Mum's house, so I stuck in my headphones and continued on my journey.
I only made it a few yards before I realised how cold it was. It wasn't cold in the sense you needed to wrap up, more of a "something isn't right" kind of cold. Eerie and empty.
The streets were filled with fog and the lights seemed more dim than usual. A overwhelming feeling of worry and paranoia slowly started to set in as I began recognize how alone I really was..
Rather than taking the longer way home I decided to cut through the field to save time, this uneasy feeling wasn't budging and I didn't want to find out why I had it.
The path through the field was dark and unkempt. If I wasn't falling over potholes I was tripping over weeds. I decided to use the flash on my phone to atleast see the path while I was walking.
As the beam of light illuminated the footway, a what looked like, thin arm with long skinny fingers retracted too quickly for me to really see it's full detail. "Must be my imagination again" I said to reassure myself as I felt my heart in my throat and the beat of the drums in my ears. I picked up my pace for the reason that, whatever it was, I didn't want to find out.
The gate was drawing closer as a sigh of relief escaped my mouth. As I looked to my left I stopped dead in my tracks. A man, nearing 7ft tall was watching me afar. Eyes glazed over, almost white with the most manic smile I have ever seen. It's almost as if each side of his mouth was touching his ears. I could feel my heart trying to escape my chest with every beat as I stood there, frozen in fear. He lifted his arm and waved slowly at me, those fragile arms and shriveled fingers, that's it, that's what I saw earlier! Waves of panic washed over me as I saw him edging closer to me, his eyes fixated on me. Adrenaline soaring through my body my feet started to move forward while I was still looking back, not moving my gaze from him.
His pace still slow and placid, I quickly glanced at the gate to see it within a few yards. I turned back to see him racing towards me with that frenzied smile. I began accelerating towards the gate as I heard his wild laugh which made my blood run cold. I jumped over the gate, almost twisting my ankle on landing, as I looked back he was gone. As if he had never existed.
I stopped to catch my breath, my chest felt like it was on fire and my legs were like jelly. A flood of comfort filled my body as I saw my house a stone throw away. I power walked all the way there while looking over my shoulder, fumbling my bag for my keys. Walking up the stairs to the door I smiled and unlocked it. I put my keys on the side and dialed my mum. Just as the phone started to ring, I heard it. That wild laugh. My breath caught in my throat as I turned around to look out the door. I dropped my phone as my mum answered. He was there. Standing across the road, with that psychotic smile and those milky eyes.