Night Running

My heart was pounding so hard, it felt like my chest was going to explode. My legs were so sore I thought they would fall off. Yet I knew that if I stopped running, these wouldn't even compare to the pain that awaited me. So my feet continued to carry me, though to what destination they couldn't say. They just knew that there, wherever that was, was better than here. I had no reason to disagree with them, so the rest of me was along for the ride.

I ran past tree after tree in the dark woods, barely taking in my surroundings. I had never been here before, but given the darkness, familiarity probably wouldn't have done me any good. I would occasionally catch my foot on a root, but through sheer will or more likely luck I hadn't tripped or twisted an ankle. Branches from both the trees and bushes were slowly tearing away at my jacket and jeans. It was like the forest itself was trying to eat me alive.

I kept listening for any signs of civilization to guide me, cars or people or anything that would indicate the end of these damned trees. Unfortunately, between the war drum that was my heartbeat and the rampage of my flight through the forest, the only thing I could hear was myself. I decided that if I ever wanted to get out of here, I would have to stop and get my bearings. The primal part of my brain screamed that stopping was a bad idea, but the more logical part of my mind won out and sent the order to my feet to halt.

I leaned against a tree and tried to catch my breath while my ears strained to register any familiar sound. My ragged breathing was the only noise ringing in my ears, so I tried holding my breath. I could only do it for a second or two, but that was all I needed to remind myself why I was running. In that second, all I heard was the overwhelming quiet of nothing. I grew up in the rural countryside, so I was familiar with the sounds you should hear at night. Bugs, bats, owls, even frogs depending on the time of year, there was always something making sounds in nature when the sun was down. But right now, it was like a blanket of silence had smothered the forest. Even considering that some animals might have been scared off by the noise I had been making, the absolute absence of a soundscape sent shivers down my spine.

While catching my breath, I looked towards the direction I had been running from, and then I saw them. Two red dots, floating in the darkness, unmoving and completely fixated on me. My blood froze, the hair on my arms stood up, and once again the primitive part of my brain started screaming for me to run. Whatever alarms my brain was blaring fell on deaf ears however: my body refused to budge. This had nothing to do with the exhaustion I felt, it was entirely fear. Fear that the minute I took my eyes off whatever was out there would be the moment I died. As my eyes locked on to the red dots, I could feel the air around me getting colder, my breath slowly becoming visible. What had started as an unusually warm autumn evening now contained a chill brought straight out of winter. My body tensed up, waiting for something, anything to happen.

The dots moved slightly forward, and I turned and resumed my desperate retreat. This time though, I could somehow hear the silence getting closer. The chill started reaching my bones. My breathing heavy, I pressed on. I knew I wasn't going to make it, but every second I was moving was a second I was alive.

Unfortunately this time I didn't last long. The silence caught me and I didn't need to worry about my tired legs anymore.