Oddly Me

He continued to stand there for a few seconds. Finally, something inside me conjured up the courage to get moving. I pushed myself off the pavement and started running once more. This time I had a new adrenaline within me. There was a newfound sense of urgency that I didn’t possess before. Now I needed to get away. I needed to survive. As I turned a street corner, I stopped for just a second to catch my breath. I leaned around to see if he was still chasing me. He was nowhere to be found. I glanced around at my surroundings. I was looking for anything that could help me out. Then I saw it. A telephone booth. I ran across the street, pulled the door open, rushed inside and slammed it shut. I just needed to make one call. I dialed 911 immediately. After what felt like forever, someone finally answered.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“Please, you have to help me. This man is trying to kill me. I locked myself inside this phone booth. Please help!”

“Ma’am, where did you say you were?”

“I’m in a phone booth at the corner of 25th and 9th?” I said it like a question because the street sign didn’t look familiar.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not a street in our system. Let me try tracing your call.”

There was some crackling on the phone then what sounded like shuffling on the operator’s end. She kept making strange noises when finally she spoke again.

“Claire, I’m sorry, but we can’t seem to find your location.”

Wait, how did she know my name?

“I’m sorry? I never told you who I was.”

There was a long silence. After a few moments, the operator finally spoke up.

“You didn’t have to. We already know who you are.”

*click*

Suddenly there was no dial tone. The light within the booth quickly turned off and all the noise around me was void. The street lights started to darken. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. If I wanted to get away from this guy, I had to breathe and think. I didn’t have time to dwell on a strange phone call. I quickly exited the phone booth. It seemed the street lights were slowly going out one by one. If I didn’t keep up with the light, I would be stranded in the dark. I followed the lights until finally I came to a dead end. There were dumpsters which lined a chain-linked fence.

“Claire!” The stranger’s voice sounded just a few feet behind me. I turned around and there he was. Standing as still as could be, a knife in hand. I quickly turned around, pushing myself up on one of the dumpsters. I could hear him running towards me, but that only made me move faster. I pulled myself up over the fence. Finally on the other side, I felt safe. Then, I turned to see two more men dressed exactly like the killer standing a few feet away.