The Darkness

By Amber Raza

The leaves crunched under her feet as she ran. Past the swing set, over the sandbox and
around the monkey bars. She was now nearing the woods at the edge of the playground.
The darkness of the woods seemed to be softly calling out to her, beckoning her into their
black midst. She followed as if in a trance, her pace quick, and her heart thudding loudly
in her chest. She needed to get away from him, and although her body begged for her to
stop, she did not. She did not dare look back, or slow down.

She touched the angry red marks on her neck and shuddered at how just a few moments
back he had held her throat in a vice-like grip, choking off her oxygen supply. If he
hadn’t been momentarily ‘distracted’ by her forceful kick to his crotch, she would
probably be lying dead somewhere, just like the rest of them. But there was no time to get
into that now. She needed to keep moving. He was agile, strong and heavily built, so she
knew that he couldn’t be that far behind.

The branches overhead shook their arms menacingly at her, and seemed like they would
gouge her eyes out at any moment. The angry wind shrieked in her ear, and slapped her
face, whipping her with her own hair. An owl hooted from a nearby tree, its eyes shining
like yellow orbs.

She was starting to slow down now. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, and
if it wasn’t for the vile wind, she would have feared that someone could hear it. The
woods were pitch-black. She had to squint her eyes just so that she could make out the
silhouettes of the trees in front of her, so that she didn’t collide with them. Her ears were
strained as she tried in vain to hear his black combat boots dent the soft dirt underneath
them. She kept her nose on alert so that his familiar smell of leather, Old Spice and
cigarettes would inform her of his arrival.

She was limping now. Her legs ached for release, and she ran her tongue over her cracked
lips trying to will herself to keep on moving. Her arms were like lead, weighing her
down, and she felt herself sinking, falling down on the muddy ground, welcoming the
blissful oblivion that sleep would bring. She greeted the darkness inside her like an old
friend, as the shutters on her eyes were slowly being lowered..

Suddenly, her eyes sprang open. There was someone there, she was sure of it. Twigs
broke, and dead leaves crunched, as the ominous symptoms of the arrival of an unwanted
being made its way in her direction.

She sat completely still, praying that the tree trunk, behind which she was crouching,
was big enough to conceal her tiny frame. She could hear someone or something, slowly
creep towards her. Her heart was in her throat. She felt as if she was going to choke. She
waited silently for her fate, hoping that pain was not a part of it. She sat and she waited.
And waited some more. She craned her neck just a bit so that she could get a clearer
view. She wanted to stare death in the face. She wasn’t going to go like this.

As the clearing in front of her slowly came into view, and she emerged from behind the
thick bark, what she saw next made her want to cry. Out of relief that is. There was no

one there. She was not staring into the eyes of a handsome stranger and cold-blooded
killer. Her throat did not have his black nails biting into it.

She was safe. For now.