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I growled in frustration as I stalked out of the living room. My brother Brennanyelled something after me that could have been an apology, but I was too angry to listen.At that moment, I wanted to kill him. When people say hot with anger, they’re closer thanyou’d think. I could practically feel the heat rising off of me in waves. The housesuddenly seemed to small, too cramped. I had to get out of there. Without a secondthought, I swung the front door open and flew out of the house.The cool night air hit me like a solid wall. It stung my lungs when I breathed, andI immediately began to lose that hot, squashed feeling I’d felt inside. The sky was dark,indigo-purplish, and speckled with that glorious magnificence of about two stars. Talk about air pollution. It was quiet out there, with only the occasional dog barking or sirenwailing in the distance. I took a deep breath, attempting to calm down. It didn’t work. Mymind kept replaying the fight. It had been embarrassing, not to mention humiliating. Myteeth clenched as I remembered how my 18-year old brother, Brennan, had made fun of me in front of my friend Allie. And worse, how she’d just laughed, instead of speaking upor defending me like your best friend for four years straight is supposed to. I’d beentalking to her about something I really cared about, trying to make a point. Brennan had butted in the conversation, making his own snide comments; it all went downhill fromthere.Behind me, I heard the front door open and close quietly. I knew without checkingthat it was Allie. As always, the tiny selfish part of my brain was glad she had followedme. If she hadn’t, I would’ve been pissed. I continued on down the pathway that led tomy house, and turned right when I got to the sidewalk. My house was on the corner of two streets, so I had twice as much room to pace. Though I was angry, I slowed a bit untilAllie was behind me. I didn’t look at her, and she didn’t speak. The silence stretched between us, thick like saltwater taffy (Have you ever tried that stuff? Ugh.). She knew better than to try and talk me out of being mad -- which was probably why she had stayedin the best friend position for so long. Gradually, I began to relax. Out there, in the peaceful stillness, it was harder to remain mad, and that was the whole point of me goingoutside. It was after I took a deep breath and let it out slowly that Allie said, “Sorry.” I gotthe impression that she didn’t really know why she was apologizing, but that she meant it.It softened my temper even more; she hadn’t meant to hurt my feeling in the first place. Itwas really my fault for being so sensitive. And Brennan’s for starting it in the first place.“’S okay,” I muttered. We fell silent again, but this time it was comfortable. Weenjoyed the breeze blowing in our faces, and the silence. We turned the corner around myhouse, heading down the next street. I wanted to run, wanted to stretch my legs, but Isettled for feeling the freedom of being out of the house at night without a nagging parent. I wasn’t ready to go back in that suffocating house yet.As we walked out of the comforting circle of golden light cast by the line of streetlights that paraded down the first street, darkness fell like a curtain around us. I was preoccupied talking to Allie, so I didn’t notice that this block was devoid of workingstreetlights. I paused, but didn’t think much about it. It didn’t really matter that this block’s lights were all out. The moon was bright enough to show the ground in front of us.By now, Allie and I were well past my yard, about three houses down. I was in themiddle of a sentence when I saw something emerge from behind a line of parked carsdown the street. Focusing on it, I expected it be a stray dog, or maybe one of the many

mangy cats that took advantage of the caring people in my neighborhood. What I did notexpect to see was a man. I mean, it was pretty late to be outside. I didn’t have a watch on, but I guessed it was about ten thirty. He was walking towards us from the end of the block. I wasn’t too worried, but I knew well enough that there was a reason two teen girlsshouldn’t be alone outside at night.I nudged Allie and jerked my head towards the shadowy figure. She stoppedtalking and nodded. She looked at me warily, asking what I thought we should do.Casually, I turned around and began walking at the same pace they way we’d come. Ididn’t know for sure something was wrong. He could be a perfectly nice guy, for all Iknew. I just was not willing to take that chance.I glanced over my shoulder and was surprised – and more than a little nervous – to see that that the man was closer than a couple moments before. He could be normal but. . . I was willing to be a bit paranoid. The distance between us was now only about fiftyfeet. I sped up, and Allie did too. We were almost trotting now, going as fast as we couldwithout jogging.I listened hard, and was able to hear a third set of footsteps in time with ours. Theman was coming faster now. It was only then that I knew we had a problem. “He’sgetting closer!” Allie gasped. Before I knew it, Allie and I were flat out running. Myheartbeat pounded in time with feet hitting the concrete. My eyes were as wide as I couldget them, and my rapid breathing was not just because we were sprinting. As much as Iwanted to, I didn’t look back again; I couldn’t risk tripping and sprawling all over thesidewalk. It would be just like me to fall and take Allie down too.We tore around the side of my house, cutting through the lawn and tramplingflowers in our haste. I saw the porch in front of me and cleared the three steps in one leapthat left my feet tingling. I lunged for the doorknob and had a sudden fear that it would belocked, Brennan’s idea of a practical joke . . .It wasn’t though, thank God. I scrambled inside just ahead of Allie. As soon as wewere inside, I pushed her aside from where she slumped against the door, wheezing, tolock the deadbolt, and the handle for a good measure. Then I just stood there for asecond, listening to our frantic breathing and straining for any sound that would alert usto the man coming. My mom and dad came out of their bedroom and saw us standingthere, frozen, like we’d not only seen a ghost, but spoken to one too.“Some . . . guy . . . chased us,” I managed to say, still taking in as much air intomy lungs at time as I could without hyperventilating. I lifted the bottom of the blinds and peeked out of the large bay window that covered the wall facing the front yard. There wasa man walking by, and in the light of the streetlamp on the corner, I could just make outthe barest details of his appearance. His skin was black as the tank top he wore, and hehad a scruffy little beard, as if he hadn’t shaved in a long, long time. He wasn’t evenlooking at us, but walked away. The man looked perfectly normal, as if he hadn’t justchased two girls down the street. His face was pointed away, hidden by shadows.I pointed at him, watching my parents’ and both brothers’ reactions (they’d just joined our little family get-together, probably coaxed away from their precious X-box byall the commotion). I watched my dad’s jaw clench, my mom frown, and my brother’stower over me like angry bodyguards. Brennan even cracked his knuckles. I describedour story, with Allie filling any details I missed. It was only when I’d finished telling mystory did I realize I was shivering uncontrollably. There hadn’t been any time to be scared

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Silvergul423

lol, thanks.

reply03 / 01 / 2009

*Love ~ Angel ~ Music ~ Baby*

wow u write really well i was so scared with u this happend to me n my friend not on such a big scale but we got followed for about two miles wen we went for a walk once it was so freaky turned out he wanted to know where my friend got his trainers but didnt want to scare us by coming over! moron haha!

reply03 / 01 / 2009