Running

The Incident

I ran, my bare feet crashing through the dry leaves and twigs. I couldn't feel the pain. All I could feel was the terror. I glanced over my shoulder, and I didn't see anything. I slowed my pace, but I didn't dare to stop.

I couldn't feel anything below my waist, but I kept going. I was barely going faster than a walk. I stopped and sank onto my knees. My chest felt as if it was being torn into a million pieces by the cool spring air. Every gulp I took hurt, yet I couldn't get enough of it.

As I looked around my surroundings, I saw the forest, lit by the early morning sun. Everything was as it should be on a Tuesday morning in the middle of March, yet nothing was right. My entire life had been ruined, only a few hours ago. I looked down, imagining how pitiful I must look right now. My feet were bleeding from the twigs and rocks that I had stepped on, and my white nightgown was torn and stained.

I should have been safe. I ran for hours. I lay down on the soft carpet of leaves, unable to will myself to run anymore. My surroundings slowly drifted away to be replaced with a calming, welcoming darkness.

I unlocked the door to my new apartment, and slowly pushed it open. It creaked as it moved, and revealed a well furnished one bedroom living space with a nice kitchenette and plenty of room. I was amazed. The rent was low and the apartment seemed phenomenal.

Here I am, a twenty year old actress who goes by Dalia Day. How could I possibly get this lucky?

It was three weeks later and I was getting ready to work again. I looked at the dark circles under my eyes and grabbed my concealer to cover them up. I had woken up again in the middle of the night to the same whispers that had been haunting my dreams ever since I had moved in. They were there from the first night, but lately it has gotten much worse. I only get a few hours of sleep at a time before the whispers and shrieks return.

I woke up again. It was the third time this night. I looked over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was around four in the morning. It wouldn't be worth it to try and fall back asleep now. I got up and I felt something soft under my feet. I had a hardwood floor and I clean my bedroom every night before I go to sleep. I leaned over to my nightstand to switch the light on, but there was nothing there.

I climbed back into my bed and opened the curtains to the window next to it to let through whatever artificial light could come in from the street lights outside. I looked back and saw that my apartment had been ransacked while I was asleep. I ran into my bathroom to check that the money I hid behind the mirror was still there, but when I saw the mirror I could only stare.

A message was written on it in the bright red lipstick I had worn the day before. It was a simple message, but a message that changed my life.

I am coming for you, Rebecca Irwin. You will never escape.

I sat up, my heart pounding in my chest as I relived the memory from a few hours before.

My mind flooded with questions. Who broke into my apartment? How did they find out my secret? Why were they coming after me now?

I had erased my previous identity of Rebecca Irwin four years ago. I had woken up in the morning and I found my family dead in their beds, and on the bathroom mirror was the same sentence: You will never escape.

Who was doing this to me? Before I lost my family, I kept receiving threatening messages. They came through the mail, to my email, and appeared in my school backpack and my purse. After that terrible day when I was sixteen, I erased Rebecca Irwin, and the threats stopped.

I lead a normal life for four years. I took on the name Dalia Day, finished high school, and got into acting. Over the years I had grown good at it. Every aspect of my life was acting. Dalia Day was just a character that I played every day of my life. I was Rebecca Irwin, but I couldn't let anyone know, and I didn't. After the incident, I never mentioned my real name again. Rebecca was gone. No one could bring her back.

Everything in Dalia's life was fine. I lived in an orphanage that I found, claiming that I could not remember my life before, and all I knew was that my name was Dalia Day. It wasn't the best life. There were always other annoying kids, but it was good enough. I had food and shelter, and more importantly, no one knew who I was before.

When I was eighteen, I moved out of the orphanage and began to create a name for myself in acting. I started in small commercials and productions, however I wasn't doing too poorly, especially considering I had never gone to school for acting.

It was when I moved into my new apartment that things started getting weird. I heard voices all through the night, but I assumed that it was just my neighbors or my overactive imagination.

Then, I was sitting in the forest, I had no home, and no safe place to go for a second time in my life. I was stranded in a forest, and I didn't know where. I lay on my back, and I stared up into the branches arching above my head, my eyes focused on a little gray squirrel. My throat was sore from the dehydration, and all I wanted was water. I heard something crashing through the leaves, coming in my direction. The sound got louder, but I didn't move. I couldn't move.

This is just a random idea for a story that I had, and I would like to make it as good as it can be. If you find any grammatical errors or inconsistencies, please leave a comment or message me so I can change it. I do proofread, but sometimes I read over my mistakes, and I like to be as accurate as possible. If you like this please vote and comment. Thank you!