Title: The Near Miss
As I entered the park, a voice came, "Don't look back, otherwise..."
Upon hearing those words, I froze. Somewhere deep down, I struggled with the notion of taking off in the direction that I had just come from, but there was no telling if the owner of the voice was armed. There was no way of knowing if he could hurt me. Yes, it was the voice of a man. That was unmistakable. As my mind continued to contemplate and permutate, I heard leaves rustling and twigs breaking underneath his feet as he started towards me. I don't know how my mind calculated this but from the sounds of his steps, I somehow knew he was heavily built. Or at least I imagined. My mind was on hyper-alert with millions of iterations going on in my skull per second. Adrenaline. My heart was also pumping rapidly. It had gone from circulating about 80 milliliters of blood per second to about 120 mililiters.
From the sound of his footsteps, I could judge that he was now halfway between where he was and where I stood. transfixed like one of the sculpted works of Michael Angelo. Do I dash forward? further into the park? I didn't know how athletic he was, besides, he had almost gotten to me now. That was a no-no. I wasn't armed. Even if I had, in my state of mind, I wouldn't have been able to use it.
I had woken up that morning feeling like I needed to take a walk and I did. It was a path I was familiar with. I had not in my wildest didn't anticipate this at all. Would he defile me? or rob me? what exactly was going in his mind?
My thoughts were rudely interrupted when he reached out, touched my shoulder and called me name: Laura! In that split second, my mind had calculated the odds of escape. The fact that he touched me with one of his hands and that he knew my name meant he knew who I was.
With one of his hands out of the way, that means there was less risk of him immobilising me I turned swiftly screaming on top of my lungs at the same time and with a burst of speed, dash towards the route I had taken into the park.
As I turned, I caught his face from my peripheral view. I couldn't make out who he was. But I could tell that he was taken aback by my reaction. He didn't anticipate it at all.
Seeing that pushed more adrenaline into my system. I knew that I was in a precarious situation. This person knew me he planned to do something very bad.
I Â kept running and running. Initially, I heard steps behind me and my trepidation heightened. I was not sure if he would catch up. What if I didn't make it back to "civilisation" on time? I was running as fast as my legs could go but it felt like I was running with an extra 25 kilograms on both legs.
Finally, I saw one or two other hikers. I was relieved somewhat. At least, I was no longer alone. But I continued running. I pushed until I got to the police post just at the entrance of the path which led into the park.
Thankfully one of the officers was around. He helped me calm down. He offered a cup of water which I gulped down in 5 times faster than I would if I was calm.
After about 5 minutes, the adrenaline was beginning to wear out. Â I was still in shock but I could talk. So I recounted my experience and immediately, the county cop radioed the information to other cops in the area who went into the woods immediately just to ensure the safety of other hikers.
After taking my statement, the cop offered to drive me home. I could have walked but I was too shaken and still slightly afraid to go home alone.
He dropped me at my doorstep and zoomed off after he was certain that I was okay. As I open my front door, something dropped to the floor. Upon closer observation, it was a piece of paper and on it was written the words "That was a Near Miss Laura". Underneath that note was a smiley looking very weird.
The trepidation returned.
