There was only a miscalculation in what time it was going to get dark when Sydney found herself on the obscure road.
“Damn,” she said out loud as she thought about crossing through the murky forest.
The sun was now below the horizon and in the layers of gray autumn was pressing in.
No cars had yet passed her by on her evening run, and she started feeling optimistic about making it back to her own front porch when she heard a car engine behind her in the distance.
She glanced to the right to see the path through the woods ahead. Should she…or shouldn’t she?
The motor was getting louder and before she knew it she was in the headlights. Then, with tires squealing, a gust of wind blew her to the right as the reckless heap swerved past her and up the small incline.
“Damn,” she said out loud as she thought about crossing through the murky forest.
The sun was now below the horizon and in the layers of gray autumn was pressing in.
No cars had yet passed her by on her evening run, and she started feeling optimistic about making it back to her own front porch when she heard a car engine behind her in the distance.
She glanced to the right to see the path through the woods ahead. Should she…or shouldn’t she?
The motor was getting louder and before she knew it she was in the headlights. Then, with tires squealing, a gust of wind blew her to the right as the reckless heap swerved past her and up the small incline.
The tires screeched to a stop at the top of the small hill. Disjointed fingers grabbed the steering wheel as the dark figure realized what it had just passed in the road. Its eyes gazed for a second into the rear view mirror and it thought….a woman. Yes. Yes it could. Yes, it should.
It yanked the steering wheel to the left, gassed it, and made a U-turn in the road and roared back down the hill and slid to a stop. In the gloom its eyes glowed as it scoured the ditches. It picked up the woman’s scent just in time to see a rush of her blond hair through the thicket. It was out of the car and close on her heels as she darted into the tangled woods.
But in the darkness something caught it just as it felt a sharp slice to its neck.
Fifteen minutes later the car engine stalled; the road and the trees were silent.
Sydney stepped onto her front porch and opened the door. Her husband was in the kitchen cooking.
She slipped into the bathroom down the hall and wiped the blood from her mouth.
Jan Darrow is a poet from Michigan who connected with the natural world at an early age. She has been published online and in print and finds abandoned places utterly beautiful. You can see more of her work at jandarrow.blogspot.com.
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