Paranoid.
autumn leaves.
Space
The streetlights about me flickered off as I took another step and gave a view of the bright stars. Not that I was really watching them as they twinkled lightly around the full moon. All around me leaves rustled against the pavement in burnt oranges and yellows, dimmed slightly by the absence of light, creating windy circles of color. The old, rusted metal trash cans that lined the sidewalk held up against the strong gusts of wind, weak and moaning barricades. Their creaking sounds of protest sent shivers up my spine.
I moved forward, the crickets’ cry mingling with the resounding echo my footstep made. Another step. More echoes. The sound of someone close behind. My head screamed at me, You’re being followed! but I blocked it out, concentrating instead on my own movement.
A door slammed behind me, somewhere down the street, and I could feel someone’s eyes on my back, burning a deep hole with their gaze. My palms began to sweat and the back of my neck prickled. The sound of shoes slapping against cement ran up and down the street. My mind conjured images of black capes and shadowed faces, mirroring my motions at an even steadier pace. I spun around, tripping over my own feet, stepping on crunch, invisible leaves. Walking backwards, my eyes darted side to side, scanning the seemingly empty street. Empty. No one. Nothing. I took a deep breath and faced forward.
The lights burnt out again. Inhale. Exhale. An autumn breeze against my face. Inhale. Exhale. I tried to control my erratic breathing as the black ink of night coated me. I took a cautionary step forward and stepped on another leaf. The crunch was a gunshot in the silence.
The light flared back to life, clicking and buzzing at me to use the small amount of time it was giving me wisely. I walked faster, taking long strides. My footsteps fell and then even more footsteps fell in a second’s delay, like yelling down a well or the ripples in a pond. A small car flew past, blowing hair into my opened mouth and blinding me with its headlights. My right hand found my left elbow like a strong magnet and my strides turned into an awkward lope.
The ground rumbled to an inaudible bass line as the only bar -if you could even call it a bar- in town came into view across the street. It was alive at this time of night, its windows wide, bright eyes watching me. Something dragged against the sidewalk behind me, the sound of soft material against rough cement flowing to my ears. Goosebumps played over my flesh and my hand slowly inched down my forearm, landing itself wrapped around my wrist. I walked faster, trying to convince myself that I’d made the noise myself, trying to tell my racing heart that i was still alone.
My fingers absentmindedly spun the handmade bracelets that adorned my wrist, a nervous habit that I’d had for as long as I could remember. I sighted. The end of the block came closer and closer until I was perched on the cracked and yellow-painted curb.
Distant trees danced and swayed in the same strong wind that the trash cans complained of, taking their abuse in silence. Houses with all of their lights turned off creaked from age and stared back at me blankly. Cars laid dormant on the edge of the road and in their designated spots, left alone in the dark.
It was almost peaceful there as I turned to head towards my faded blue barn of a house. I started to wonder what had been worrying me so much as I took step after step down the familiar, cracked sidewalk. The windows that I recognized as the living room and kitchen were lit brightly as a cacophony of my own footsteps and their echoes exploded around me. I slowed my gait as I approached the three cement steps that lead to the front door, which creaked loudly, making me cringe as I stepped through and pulled it shut behind me.
I covered the five feet between the two doors in a matter of seconds and flung myself into the worn house, reveling in the sudden warmth that filled me. My brother sat silently in front of the almost blindingly bright computer screen, looking up something about cars and mumbling the words to a song he hardly knew as it played quietly from the speakers. I smiled to myself, taking silent steps into the comfortable smells and feelings that surrounded me on a daily basis. I sunk into the easy feeling, happy to be out of the chill and away from what lurks in the shadowed corners of my mind.
Maybe I was just a little bit paranoid.
The streetlights about me flickered off as I took another step and gave a view of the bright stars. Not that I was really watching them as they twinkled lightly around the full moon. All around me leaves rustled against the pavement in burnt oranges and yellows, dimmed slightly by the absence of light, creating windy circles of color. The old, rusted metal trash cans that lined the sidewalk held up against the strong gusts of wind, weak and moaning barricades. Their creaking sounds of protest sent shivers up my spine.
I moved forward, the crickets’ cry mingling with the resounding echo my footstep made. Another step. More echoes. The sound of someone close behind. My head screamed at me, You’re being followed! but I blocked it out, concentrating instead on my own movement.
A door slammed behind me, somewhere down the street, and I could feel someone’s eyes on my back, burning a deep hole with their gaze. My palms began to sweat and the back of my neck prickled. The sound of shoes slapping against cement ran up and down the street. My mind conjured images of black capes and shadowed faces, mirroring my motions at an even steadier pace. I spun around, tripping over my own feet, stepping on crunch, invisible leaves. Walking backwards, my eyes darted side to side, scanning the seemingly empty street. Empty. No one. Nothing. I took a deep breath and faced forward.
The lights burnt out again. Inhale. Exhale. An autumn breeze against my face. Inhale. Exhale. I tried to control my erratic breathing as the black ink of night coated me. I took a cautionary step forward and stepped on another leaf. The crunch was a gunshot in the silence.
The light flared back to life, clicking and buzzing at me to use the small amount of time it was giving me wisely. I walked faster, taking long strides. My footsteps fell and then even more footsteps fell in a second’s delay, like yelling down a well or the ripples in a pond. A small car flew past, blowing hair into my opened mouth and blinding me with its headlights. My right hand found my left elbow like a strong magnet and my strides turned into an awkward lope.
The ground rumbled to an inaudible bass line as the only bar -if you could even call it a bar- in town came into view across the street. It was alive at this time of night, its windows wide, bright eyes watching me. Something dragged against the sidewalk behind me, the sound of soft material against rough cement flowing to my ears. Goosebumps played over my flesh and my hand slowly inched down my forearm, landing itself wrapped around my wrist. I walked faster, trying to convince myself that I’d made the noise myself, trying to tell my racing heart that i was still alone.
My fingers absentmindedly spun the handmade bracelets that adorned my wrist, a nervous habit that I’d had for as long as I could remember. I sighted. The end of the block came closer and closer until I was perched on the cracked and yellow-painted curb.
Distant trees danced and swayed in the same strong wind that the trash cans complained of, taking their abuse in silence. Houses with all of their lights turned off creaked from age and stared back at me blankly. Cars laid dormant on the edge of the road and in their designated spots, left alone in the dark.
It was almost peaceful there as I turned to head towards my faded blue barn of a house. I started to wonder what had been worrying me so much as I took step after step down the familiar, cracked sidewalk. The windows that I recognized as the living room and kitchen were lit brightly as a cacophony of my own footsteps and their echoes exploded around me. I slowed my gait as I approached the three cement steps that lead to the front door, which creaked loudly, making me cringe as I stepped through and pulled it shut behind me.
I covered the five feet between the two doors in a matter of seconds and flung myself into the worn house, reveling in the sudden warmth that filled me. My brother sat silently in front of the almost blindingly bright computer screen, looking up something about cars and mumbling the words to a song he hardly knew as it played quietly from the speakers. I smiled to myself, taking silent steps into the comfortable smells and feelings that surrounded me on a daily basis. I sunk into the easy feeling, happy to be out of the chill and away from what lurks in the shadowed corners of my mind.
Maybe I was just a little bit paranoid.
♠ ♠ ♠
This was honestly a story I wrote for Comp. The assignment was called Baby Steps or Slow Motion and the objective was to break everything down as far as possible and add as much description as possible. We were supposed to write about something that had either happened in the past or we could infer would happen in the future. I took a combination of the both and made it a little hypothetical. So, tell me what you think.