After driving around aimlessly for twenty minutes, I started feeling like someone was watching me, possibly following me. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a blue car. I decided to test my theory and turned down a random road that was off to the side. The car pursued me - turning down the same road.
"Calm down, Aria. It may just be a coincidence," I mumbled aloud.
I looked around, frantically trying to devise a plan. I saw an old dirt road on the side. I slammed on my brakes and turned just as I got to it. I could feel my car fishtailing, but I quickly regained control.
The blue car squealed when it braked as I had, and then it continued to follow me. I sped up, and my eyes darted from the road to the mirror in rapid repetition. I was familiar with dirt-road driving. That was all we had in Haluali - narrow dirt trails.
The car tried keeping up with me, but I took a sharp turn to the right. When they tried to do the same, they cut the wheel wrong and the car flipped into the air. It rolled into the pasture beside the dirt road and landed it on its top.
I gasped as I saw the chase ending in the mirror. I slowed down, watching carefully to see if they were alive or dead. As soon as I saw movement, I breathed out in relief.
I wanted to check on them, or at the very least find out who was tailing me. I was too scared though. It made me flash back to the conversation Iris and I had shared. She seemed worried, even asked me if I had felt threatened. I didn't at the time. But now, I wondered if there was something I needed to know.
Who would follow me and why?
I sped back up, letting the blue car vanish from sight before I could identify my chasers. I was hoping the road wouldn't dead-end. It was a long, winding path that seemed to go on forever. There was a small cluster of trees not far away.
"Some woods. Thank God," I said in relief.
I definitely needed a sanctuary now. I couldn't go home while I was shaking and terrified. I would worry everyone.
I parked way off the road so no one would see my car. I started walking, holding my sketchbook to my chest. I found a rock resting next to a small trickling creek. It seemed peaceful, and I definitely needed a calm retreat.
Should I tell Iris about this?
I decided it would be best to hide out in the covered area until I knew for certain the blue car people were gone.
My feet crunched against the leaves that had fallen from the old, dry trees. I took a deep breath, still trying to calm my nerves. I wanted to try and sketch the small creek, which paled in comparison to the magnificent waterfall I had once sketched, but I couldn't find the will to do so. There was something else on my mind, so I started sketching the one thing that did inspire me.
I was content for the moment in my accidental hideaway, but as I finished my sketch, I heard something. It started as a slight rattling of the leaves, but then it became more defined.
I could hear something running - something that seemed to be moving unbelievably fast. It had to be an animal. Judging by the speed and incredibly loud crunching, it was a big animal.
I couldn't help but think of how everyone cautioned people about all the poisonous and dangerous animals in the jungle surrounding Haluali. I had never once come across any fatal creature. Now, here I was in Massachusetts, and something large and fast was coming right toward me with such unbelievable acceleration that it seemed almost impossible. I hate irony.
Even if I ran as fast as I could, I'd never get away, so I stayed still, praying it didn't sense or smell me.
Finally, the mystery creature came into view. To my astonishment, it was a person that had been racing toward me with such unnatural velocity. A man with short blonde hair approached me slower than he had raced in.
He was young, early twenties maybe, with an odd facial expression. Then I got sick at my stomach when I thought of the car that had chased me earlier. Maybe he was tied to them in some way - or he was one of them. I found my mind racing for answers as to why anyone would have such interest in me.
I tried to think of any other reason he could be here with me right now unless he intended me harm, but nothing came to mind, so I went with playing dumb. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves before speaking.
"Hello. Is this your land?" My voice cracked slightly and the lump in my throat began growing. I found it almost impossible to breathe when my chest suddenly felt like there was a heavy mass pressing down on it.
He said nothing. He just looked at me so strangely, like he was confused and excited at the same time. His head was cocked to the side, and his mouth ever so slightly turned up in the corners, edging itself into a bone-chilling, ominous grin.
His brow was furrowed, which scrunched the spot in the middle of his eyes. His eyes shifted from side to side, as if he was looking for someone or something. He just continued to move toward me slowly, while still scouring our surroundings in a cautious fashion.
I stood up from the rock - shakily - and tucked my sketchbook in the back of my pants as I started moving backwards, ready to run. I could hear my voice crackle much worse this time while I spoke.
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I was just looking for a quiet place to go. I'll just be leaving now." I turned around slowly, planning to sprint to my car.
Perhaps I exaggerated his speed. It's not possible a man raced in here as quickly as I thought he had. With the large gap between us, I thought I had a chance to outrun him. But, as I got my body turned around, I released a bloodcurdling scream.
He was suddenly in front of me. As quickly as I had turned around, he had gone from a few hundred feet behind me to being directly in front of me.
Impossible.