Tales From A Cafe: Nightmare

"He looked through me like I was thin air. I'm so stupid. He didn't even remember me and that night wasn't even a month ago..." Her mind kept wandering back to the last hour before she had left the restaurant. The bus ride seemed like an eternity, and she still had a few blocks to walk before reaching her apartment. The signal was red; she waited to cross the street. The light above her flickered on and off, and finally shut off leaving her standing in the dark.

"...I just can't believe  it. I'm so emb..." She felt a cold hand grab the back of her arm. A young girl with jet black hair and bright blue eyes stood behind her, staring up at her wide-eyed and emotionless.

Startled, she shook off the cold, pale hand and ran across the street. Once on the other side, she turned to look back, but the girl was gone.

"This town is creepy," she thought to herself as she hurried home. She felt a sudden gust of wind and sensed that someone was following her.

"Were those footsteps or the wind howling?"

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the girl following a few paces behind her on the opposite site of the street, head bowed.

She walked faster, fumbling in her bag to find her keys. Her heart pounded in her chest as she unlocked her front door, ran up the stairs into her apartment and bolted the chain behind her. With all the lights on, she crept to the window to peek outside. Down below, she saw the girl's blue eyes staring up at her and jumped back, dropping the window shade back into place.

"What the hell?! Who is this girl??" She reached for her cell phone to call someone, anyone, but being fairly new to town, she didn't know whose number to dial. She clutched the phone to her chest and peeked out the window again. The girl was gone.

She quickly dialed the restaurant, hoping one of her co-workers would pick up and calm her down. But the phone just rang, never reaching the restaurant's voicemail.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. She heard the gravel on the roof crunch beneath slow, heavy footsteps getting closer and closer to her bedroom. She stood in the middle of her room, holding her breath, listening as the sound stopped right above her head.

The last thing she saw was her own frightened image in her mirror before the room went completely dark...

~C