The Monster That Follows

It’s foggy, and I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know why I’m running either, but something tells me I shouldn’t look back. I keep on running. My face was stinging from the ice cold wind as I race with time. My senses are heightened and I can hear something coming after me. I try not to look back at it. The heavy footsteps it brings with it seem to be getting louder the more I run. Nothing in the world could get me to turn around and look at whatever it is. I keep running.

My legs feel like they might give out, my body feels weak as I feel myself begin to tremble at the idea of what this thing is. I don’t know why it’s after me but I don’t want to find out. I kept my pace, making sure not to fall behind. I heard the beast taking heavy breaths, catching up to me.

“Go faster! Faster!” I told myself as I tried gaining speed. I sped up, but not by much. Whatever that was, was getting closer. I gained the courage to turn around and look at whatever it was that was chasing me. I looked over my shoulder just to look back mere seconds later. A huge black figure was all that I saw. I felt a sharp rock dig into my heel one time that I stepped. I nearly cried out from the pain. I didn’t want to set it off, to make it have more of a motive to come after me. I heard its breathing growing louder as it comes closer to me. I saw what looked like a tree in front of me, I close my eyes and took a quick turn. I look to see I went around it. I sigh a little, then jump as I see that the beast had knocked down the tree. It began falling towards me, I barely escaped, but one of the branches scratched my leg. I bite my lip to stop myself from making a single noise.

Soon enough, I felt my body grow weak and my legs gave out, throwing me to the ground. I fell hard. Looking up, I saw the beast in front of me. It drew closer, and closer to me, I knew this was the end of my attempted escape. It let out a breath. The smell it gave off nearly was enough to knock me unconscious. Its mouth opened to reveal a row of jagged teeth that were nowhere near straight. I knew that the second one hit my soft bare flesh, it would look like a I was torn to shreds. I began to cry for help. That simply made the beast angrier. It lunged at me and I rolled to the side as fast as I could possibly move.

I just barely escaped its teeth and murderous grasp. It hits its face hard off the ground, breaking some of its teeth. I tried my hardest to avoid it, and never tried to actually attack it. I tried to get myself behind the beast. I managed to do so after about 10 minutes. I ran up its back, after struggling the task of nearly scaling its tail, and I ran at the back of its head. I ended up kicking it, coincidently, in the weakest point in the back of its head. It made a loud growl and tried its best to throw me off. I held on as best as I could, holding onto its thick matted fur.

The rushing of the wind past me caused me to close my eyes. Just as I closed them, I saw my life go by in flashes. As the last scenes passed me by, I felt my hands free the spot of rough fur that I thought had kept me safe. I felt free for a moment as my body floated weightlessly in the air, only to be brought down hard, making a loud cracking sound on impact. I yelled out in pain from the harsh hit. I could barely move, and couldn’t do anything but watch helplessly as the beast stalked me. I could feel myself shaking, nearly making an earthquake where I lay. It growled lowly, calculating the perfect moment to strike, to catch me off guard. Looking at the beast, I let a tear slip, knowing there was no use… and yet I still tried. My spirit was my sword and my heart was my shield, the only thing keeping me alive. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I felt the world spin, and I felt the air still, now more heavy than ever. I heard my heart pounding in my ears, letting me know that there was still hope for me, no matter how badly I was injured. With all the strength I had I opened my eyes and charged at the beast. It returned the favor by copying my actions. As we gained speed and lost distance I felt everything stop, even myself, as if it was against my will. A loud thud was enough to tell me the beast had fallen. I opened my eyes to see it laying on the ground. With a sigh of relief, I slowly closed my eyes, feeling the fog lift, and light began to consume me. Then, I began to hear someone calling my name.

I open my eyes to see the school bathroom. My name rang through the echoing room again. It was another student.

“Are you okay in there?” she asked in a concerned voice. I sniffled and wiped my eyes of my tears and told her I was fine, but asked her to leave so I could calm down. She complied and left to go back to class. My anxiety began to slow and I calmed down as best as I could. I splashed a little water in my face and took some deep breaths. My heart rate slowed and I felt myself returning to normal.

I hate having to fight my anxiety.