He was coming.
My chest was heavy, heaving breaths of oxygen that couldn’t sustain me for too long. My legs ached and they went up in flames as I ran along the dim-lighted sidewalk. But I could hear him. Laughing something horrible at me as I ran. I could hear him crunching over dried leaves.

He was coming.

I tried my hardest to sprint across the street, but I heard him everywhere. He was ubiquitous, coming and going, his laughter becoming a horrifying reverberation in my eardrum. Then I heard a knife being drawn from its sheath. I felt panic boil in me, bubbling until I started to sweat and churn in my stomach.

He was coming.

I started crying then, trying my hardest, but knowing it was all in vain.

It was just inevitable.

Was just inevitable.

Just inevitable.

Inevitable.

But then, I saw a light. A bright light that illuminated across the city. It seemed like miles away, but I had hope. And hope is blinding. I slowed down for a moment in my heart of joy and felt happiness let my feet fly with the wind. But then I heard his laughter in my ear.

He was coming.

I felt a brutal pain at my cheek as the knife hurtled itself into my flesh. A laceration of a trench was embedded in my face forever, but that lent me speed I never knew I still had in me. I screamed in panic and fear as tears rolled down uncontrollably and blurred my vision. I knew that if I wiped the tears away, it would slow me down and that would be my expiration. More laughter.

He was coming.

Then I tripped.

I didn’t see the trashcan in the way. And I toppled over, knowing that it was always meant to be.

It was just inevitable.

Was just inevitable.

Just inevitable.

Inevitable.

Sobs of pitiful helplessness escaped me as I felt something lung into my back out through my stomach. I screamed in agony and cried as the pain came back over and over again.

He was here.