Footsteps

FOOTSTEPS

 
 
The footsteps reverberated around the small block of garages. She stopped. A quick look about confirmed what she had already known; she was alone. She also knew, however, that the footsteps had not been her own. She started walking again, her trainers making little noise even as she quickened her pace. The footfalls too started again; in time with her own, but heavier.

She saw the light of the main road ahead; a beacon, a lifeline. Charlotte let out a sigh of relief as the footsteps finally ceased. Just her imagination after all.

How many times had she been warned about her shortcuts? She'd lost count, and despite tonight's incident she maintained her belief that they were safer. Only those who knew how to take care of themselves and the mad would use them and no-one ever wanted to find out which category a fellow traveler fell into.

A gust of wind caught her hair. It was a crisp November night but a still one. She shuddered. Her heart, only just returning to its regular rhythm, sped up again.
 
"Need a lift?"
 
She turned, startled by the sudden sound, she'd not even heard the car pull up. He seemed friendly enough; a handsome face and a ready smile, but Charlotte shook her head. Her instincts were good and right now they were screaming at her to keep away. She moved away from the roadside and with a shake of her head began walking again.
 
"Don't be silly, love, get in I'm not going to hurt you."
 
"I said no." Charlotte kept her voice clipped, cold even.
 
He accelerated away; tears welled up and began to flow down her cheeks as fear and relief vied for dominance. Then she saw it, the car pulled right across the path. No other car was visible down this side of the long road. She stopped a few meters short of the car. Charlotte felt a vague sense of deja vu.
 
"You. Out of the car now. Hands where I can see them." A voice was saying. A familiar voice.

Michael was barely believing his luck, they'd set out to try and jog driver's memories of that night, not catch the actual killer. The other officers had already left for the night but he and Sam had agreed to try one more time, for him at least it was personal.

He turned to his colleague and for a moment could've sworn he saw the victim; the driver obviously did as well as he couldn't stop yelling that he'd killed her. Michael shook his head but now he saw only his friend, dressed to look like the victim.
 
"Good job, Sam, you almost convinced me for a moment there." Michael said.
 
Charlotte furrowed her brow slightly. Then it all came flooding back; the attack, the ambulance and the gentle voice of an officer. An officer who had never left her side all the while she had been in the hospital. A hospital she knew now she'd never left; at least not alive.

"Thank you." She said softly before allowing herself to fade away, leaving the young woman who'd walked in her footsteps but thankfully had not followed them.