Chapter 9: Paralyzed
Terra pivoted around on her heel. She whipped her head in the direction the voice had come. She knew that voice. It belonged to one of the two men from the "incident." She searched the shadows of the walls of the dark alleyway without moving any body part except her eyes. She found no one. She turned back around and walked back the way she had came.
"Hahaha! You are quite funny, thinking that I would let you go. Haha, not so. I did not lure you here just so you could leave! Do not think me so foolish." This time he had spoken too much and she saw his shadowy figure perched behind a city waste trash can that was a big as a car. He had to have know that by now her eyes had searched him out. He jumped up and said, "Here I am, Love. I should not have to hide, and neither should you." She had put her coat back on agin on the run over here. Terra crossed her arms over her chest and he whimpered. Terra was terrified, but she didn't show it. She looked serene and calm on the inside. This was her facade, her safe place. She came here when she needed to retreat, and right now she needed to retreat. But she did not know how. She tried to turn and run, but she had been running so long, and needed a rest.
"What are you going to do to me?" She asked the man. She was happy that the worry usually dripping from her words was absent. He smiled a rough smile, that did not look like a smile at all. It looked like his left side of his face was stiff or paralyzed.
"Do you see? That is what I love about you! You are just so..blunt! Straight to the point, sharp as a needle, as quick as a whip, reflexes like a cat! See, right now you are showing me no emotion...hopefully that'll change in the near future." He had moved out from the trash piles and was slowly walking towards her. Terra smiled and turned around and started walking down the alley, and away from her predator. She knew that he would not just let her walk away, or unscathed either emotionally or physically. He laughed his freaky chuckle.
"Why do you still run away from me? I have been following you ever since our last night together. You are a rather easy target, I am afraid to say. Did you really think you could be normal after what has happened? Did you actually think that I would leave you alone, even after Murray went to jail. He told me that he gives his permission."
Terra was still not facing him, but she had stopped walking. Her mind was racing. She wanted to run. She got up the courage to start running. She pumped her legs up and down. They had rested enough during that period of time. She roamed the streets. She heard his big shoes thudding after her. He was not in sync with her rhythm, it was a little slower than her's. He was falling back, but he shouted up to her. "Do you think you can run forever? I will find you, and when I do I will not be nice about it like I have been today."
Terra turned a corner and drowned out his voice. She kept running until she saw familiar ground. She was in her new neighborhood, but she had skated these streets many times in the past week. She ran past he dozens of houses filling up the streets and alleyways, she ran past all the numerous buildings of warehouses and businesses, she ran until she could run no longer. She ran until her breath would not come anymore. She doubled over and lay on the sidewalk in a messy heap of clothes. She was burning up from the warmth of her coat, but she was too weak and lifeless to move her arms to take it off. She felt lightheaded and a little dizzy. All of a sudden she wanted to sleep. Everything became very dark and distorted as she closed her eyes against the sun's blaring rays. Her head lolled back and she felt cool underneath the shade's comforting embrace. She heard a deafening roar and then heard no more.