Her throat was parched, her muscles screamed
Yet she stopped not for a breath
The eerie streets, the dormant sky
The wind smelt of fear and death.
The virgin darkness seemed to house
Unnamed monsters at every niche
Waiting for her to take one wrong step
The invertebrate city slept at ease.
She wished she’d returned while the sun still lived.
Her ailing mother waited for her
But the extra hours of overtime paid-
The electric bills and the doctor.
She ran faster, and faster still
Her heart hammered against her chest
Were those footsteps that she heard?
She chanced a glance, risking some rest
Indeed, a shadow lumbered over
Heavy feet hitting the ground
Her eyes widened, her pace sped up
Her crippling fear betrayed no sound.
She did not want to end up here
On the pavement, worse than dead
Limbs torn apart, blood watering grass-
In hysterics, harder she fled.
The wind whistled into her ear
A stream of vicious, painful hazards.
Soon she was flying, and like a fallen star
She fell on the road, knees scraped by shards.
She’d not go out without a fight
She won’t let candles weep for her
She was spent, but her eyes blazed
She braced for her final war.
Her nemesis walked over to her
Kneeling down, he extended his arm
“My girl, are you hurt? Why did you run?
Here, you dropped this. Hold it firm.”
The kind, wrinkled hand patted her head
She sat, dumbstruck, clutching her purse.
She’d never felt safer, she sobbed out loud
The night sky twinkled in a thousand stars.