I is for Intensity - April A to Z Blog Challenge

     She is running. She hears him behind her, chasing through the dark night. She knows he is close because she hears the footsteps and his breathing.  She runs harder. Somewhere in her peripheral vision, she sees another person running at her from the left. Now there are two chasing her. But the joining of forces behind her seems to slow them down and she is gaining ground.  She can still hear them running, but no longer hears the breathing. She must keep going.  Then another form surfaces just behind her to the right.  Her legs are burning, her lungs are burning, but she pushes ahead faster. Again, the footfall behind her seems to get a little farther behind, but now there are three.

      Of course, this would have to be a dark moonless cloudy night. She can’t see anything save for large forms of trees as she runs through the forest behind her home. Home, where one is supposed to feel safe.

     She stumbles, and falls onto the ground. It feels strange, and then a clap of lightening, lets her see momentarily what appears to be freshly turned dirt. She doesn’t know for certain where she is, but she is quite sure she is no where near the garden. She is confused and suddenly the sound of heavy breathing and pounding feet, registers.  And the voices she hears send her into a momentary state of shock. This can’t be real, how is it possible that they are involved? She scrambles to get up, sinking slightly, a bit unsteady in the fresh dirt. She hears the unmistakable sound of a pump action shotgun.

 

     Abby bolts upright in her bed, drenched in sweat, her heart racing, her breathing labored, the all too familiar and frequent knife stabbing pain in her chest. She glances at the clock. She sighs, realizing she has only been asleep 15 minutes. She wonders if she will ever be able to sleep again. Will she ever feel safe. She must find a way to curb the intensity of the nightmares.


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~*~
Scarlett Braden
in Cuenca, Living the good life!