In the Shadows

Jess stops in the middle of the sidewalk, her fingers curling at her sides and teeth gnawing at her lower lip. To a passerby, she’d appear odd. Standing alone in the darkness. Frozen in time. Eyes fixed ahead in trancelike concentration. But there aren’t any passers by. She’s alone.

Or is she? 

The sound of her heart pulses, a whoosh reverberating through her veins and bouncing against her ear drum. It’s so loud it’s all she can hear. She holds her breath, clenching her stomach muscles in an effort to conjure enough silence to hear what’s happening in the inky world behind her.

Is that a whisper of a breath, or a foil wrapper being carried on a gust of wind? Or is it the rustle of fabric, someone hiding in a shadow, holding their own breath as they wait her out?

The heavy woollen texture of her jacket weighs on her shoulders. The collar scratches against the bare skin. Itching. Clammy despite the cold. She tugs at the top button, freeing it, and for the briefest of moments, forgets where she is as cool air snakes its way to her neck, calming her, reminding her of happier memories. A time when her every move wasn’t being followed. 

A snap behind her rips open the calm with a jolt. Something metal falls to the concrete. She throws a glance over her shoulder, the movement stiff, her eyes straining in the direction of the noise. She instantly feels like a bug trapped under a glass with no escape.

The woman’s there. Jess knows she is, even if there’s no evidence.

Pupils trained on her.

Footsteps tracking her every move.

Even breathing in synch.

And all of it while wearing an identical woollen winter coat, and matching brown lace up boots.

Her shadow. And just like a real shadow, there’s nothing she can do to escape it.