Following Me(7)

She glanced over her shoulder again, feeling eyes on the back of her head, but no one was there. She was all alone. How could she be all alone? Surely, someone else had to be around.

Against her better judgment, Devon went up to the first building and tried the door. It didn’t budge. She did the same to the next door and the next one after that, but they were all locked up tight. She pushed her shoulder against another door to no avail. She wasn’t in some crime show. There was no way she would try to kick her way through a door. The longer she stood and tried to find a way into a building, the more she felt like someone was watching her, stalking her movements. As she banged on a door, her throat seized, keeping her from screaming for help.

Someone please answer the door! she screamed in her head.

No one came to the door. Nothing moved, not even the wind.

Tears welled in her eyes as desperation kindled in her gut. She moved on from the doors, knowing she was having no luck here. Her walk turned into a jog, and the sounds of footsteps behind her fueled her on to a full run.

The only problem was she didn’t have a clue where she was going. She knew she could run for only so long before exhaustion overtook her. How long did she have before they caught up to her?

Keeping up her fast pace was tiring, and she felt herself slowing, but she could tell from the patter of feet behind her that her pursuer was catching up to her. Tears streamed openly down her face, and she did nothing to stop them. She had a terrible, terrible feeling about this.

When she turned a corner, she saw a light on in the building directly in front of her. Angling straight for it, she gained a burst of speed. It felt like she was running toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Devon yanked at the front door, and it mercifully opened. She didn’t wait to see if the person behind her was still following her. When she stepped inside, light streamed in all around her, and loud party music filled the room. People were dancing in every inch of space, but no one stopped to look at her.

As she closed the door behind her, the lights dimmed, and flashes of color bounced off the walls. She reached for the first person she could, but he brushed her off. Every person she tried to speak with after that ignored her completely. It was like she wasn’t even there. Pushing her way through the room, her head was spinning as the volume of the music seemed to increase tenfold.

What is happening to me? she thought.

Then, she felt the eyes on the back of her head again. She turned around in a circle, looking for the source, but she found only a sea of other people. If she had thought she hated feeling isolated in a deserted city, then she hated being invisible in a sea of people even more.

She pushed people out of the way, shoving them like they were rag dolls, until her arms were screaming in pain at her. She couldn’t move fast enough. Her feet were giving out, and her arms were failing her. She couldn’t escape.

When Devon looked back to see if the person was still pursuing her, she saw a single figure walking directly toward her, but the person was indistinguishable from the dark surroundings. Turning around, she rushed forward with one last bit of effort. She propelled herself through a set of double doors, stepping into a stark white bedroom that blinded her.

Just when she reached the other side, she felt a person grab a hold of her arm.

DEVON AWOKE WITH a start, gasping for breath. Her hands clenched into the quilt, her chest heaved up and down, and her body racked with tremors. A cold sweat had drenched through her thin T-shirt, and she shook as the chilly air sank into her skin.

Where the hell was she?

Anxiously, she looked around the dark room, searching the unfamiliar space. Whose bed was she in? And why didn’t she recognize this place at all?

Taking a deep breath, she tried to return to reality. She took another breath, calming her still racing heart, and it came back to her. St. Louis. The train. Hadley. She was staying at Hadley’s place with Hadley’s boyfriend. They’d had dinner and wine. They had gone out drinking afterward, and she had fallen into bed drunk.

Her stomach grumbled angrily at the memory, and her head throbbed against her scalp. Great. Hangover.

Her eyes roamed to the red-numbered alarm clock on the dresser.

Six thirty in the morning.

Devon still had two or three hours left before she had to get up. She sank back into the comforter, feeling completely emotionally drained.

It was just a dream. Just a dream. She had to keep telling herself that over and over again. No one was after her. No one was following her.

Just a dream.

DEVON JUMPED IN the shower a few hours later. No matter how hard she had tried, she hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. The haunting memory of someone chasing her through the streets had stayed with her. She had emptied the contents of her stomach in the bathroom twice since waking. She was dead tired, and she just wanted to crawl back into bed and crash, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to shut off her brain. As soon as she had tried, everything had rushed back to her all over again.

She changed into a pair of light jeans and blue tank top, pulled her hair up into a ponytail, and then covered the dark circles under her eyes like an expert. Her head was still aching, despite taking 1,000 milligrams of Tylenol earlier. She knew she needed to eat, but the thought of food sent her stomach into a fit.

Finally feeling human enough to leave the bedroom, she edged out into the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and slowly sipped it.

“Good morning!” Garrett called cheerfully, walking into the kitchen.