A Darkness The Light Can't Hide

She can only run so far...

She sat alone on the cold stone staircase, bringing her knees up to her chest in an attempt at warmth as well as comfort. The sun had fallen into its hiding place, and the moon, as well as the stars, had decided against showing themselves in the sky tonight, leaving the little girl alone in the shadows. The street lamps, however, provided light for the street and appeared as two large eyes in the middle of the road, a guardian protecting her from her fears.
    
     The building behind her had long been closed, no light shining from inside. The library, the place where she spent hours reading stories of heroes that beat up the bad guys and saved the day. It was truly captivating.
    
     This little girl was Audrey...and she was so cold.
    
     She shivered as the wind blew against her frail body, its cold pincers digging into her skin, mercilessly rattling her bones to the very marrow.
    
     Looking up from her dirty feet, Audrey looked again at the two lights in the street.
    
     How strange. There weren't usually people near the library at this time of night, except her.
    
     But this man didn't move. He simply stood there in the light.
    
     He was staring straight at her. Audrey knew he couldn't see her, not in the middle of the light, it was impossible.
    
     But he took a step. Then another step.
    
     Audrey stayed still, the paralysis that comes with fear keeping her from doing what her body was telling her to do.
    
     Run.
    
     Another step. Another step. He was taunting her, waiting for her to run.
    
     He was enjoying this.
    
     Audrey remembered the books she read, the ones about the superheroes, and wanted more than anything to be able to beat him up. But she was just a little girl.
    
     And she was alone in the dark...for now.
    
     Then it happened. Audrey experienced those thoughts that haunted her at the most inopportune times. She wanted to do things to this strange man that heroes would never think of doing. A part of her wanted to stay, to talk to the man, to see what happened. Audrey shook her head. Heroes would never think such things, and neither would she.
    
     Faster than she knew she could, Audrey pushed herself away from the approaching man and ran as fast as she could towards the library.
    
     Her thoughts became more and more rapid and intrusive, increasing with each thump of her heart, beating faster and faster in her chest, panic setting in.
    
     The door was locked, but Audrey continued to pull and pull against the handle anyway, tears welling in her eyes. She looked behind her at the man who was now at a brisk pace, not faulting in the slightest, completely confident in whatever he wanted with her.
    
     Audrey had heard stories of what people like him did with people like her. She pulled harder on the door.
    
     She froze, the sound of footsteps, crisp against the stone of the stairs, coming closer to her. She was too late.
   
     Her own thoughts were attacking her now, telling her horrible things. She covered her ears to try and block them out. A sob came out of her mouth but she couldn't hear it.
    
     She turned just in time to see the man standing over her with a knife in his hand, the blade shining in the darkness.
    
     With one swing, the knife came down, but Audrey refused to lay there and let it finish her. She messily rolled out of the way, unable to hear anything above the thoughts in her head, urging her to allow the awful man to finish her off. The thought crossed her mind.
    
     She could allow the man to kill her.
    
     It would be so quick.
    
     So easy.
    
     But she couldn't listen to these thoughts.

     They always lied to her, always led her the wrong way.
    
     With her hearing gone, she hadn't heard the sound of glass crashing. The man had put all his force into stabbing her, and the momentum of it had sent him right through the glass door. Now he was writhing on the ground in pain.
    
     Audrey was about to take off into the street and escape, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw three more mystery men in the lights that she'd previously thought as safe.
    
     Panic and adrenaline mixing into a cocktail inside her, Audrey blindly ran into the library, hoping she would be able to lose them, then escape out the back door.
    
     Unless there were more men there as well.
    
     She shuddered at the thought.
    
     Audrey ran and ran until she found herself deep into the large building, the books and shelves providing adequate cover.
    
     She covered her mouth, trying to keep her breath steady and quiet, those same clear footsteps audible from wherever these men were. Audrey leaned against the shelf, curling into a ball on the ground, her heart beating in her throat, her hands shaking, her face marked with tear stains. Her head was clear, the thoughts gone for now, as if they were now trying to hide from the men along with her.
    
     The footsteps continued to sound throughout the entire library. Who were these men? What was happening? Audrey hated this, hated her situation. How many people were sitting comfortably in their houses while she was fighting for her life?
    
     She had no idea where the other men had gone, but there was only one set of footsteps now, one man coming after her.
    
     Maybe she could make it after all.
    
     Audrey closed her eyes and begged any supernatural force in existence, any god she'd heard of in conversations. But nothing quieted the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to her.
    
     The thoughts came back in a wave of darkness and pressure. She had such a headache. Maybe she could let the man finish her off.
    
     Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
    
     Maybe she would be able to think straight.
    
     Maybe.
   
     Audrey opened her eyes again. She didn't hear the man's feet anymore.
    
     But she saw them. Slowly raising her head, Audrey looked up at the man hidden in the shadows, holding the knife comfortably in his hand.
    
     There was no restraint left in her anymore, no fight, so Audrey let the sobs come, let the pleas to spare her spill out of her mouth.
    
     Audrey looked down again, not caring how pathetic or cowardly she looked. She just wanted to live.
    
     Maybe he will, she thought. Maybe this isn't the end, but a revival.
    
     Audrey waited for the knife to come, but instead felt a hand on her shoulder. He wanted to look her in the eyes when he killed her.
    
     Well fine, Audrey would give that to him. She didn't care anymore.
    
     "Are you okay, darling?" said a womanly voice. Audrey looked up to see an older lady, a concerned look crossing her wrinkled features.
    
     Audrey didn't speak, instead looking around for the mysterious murderer that was after her.
  
     "My goodness, look at you! You're absolutely covered in scratches! What happened?" The glass door. Audrey looked down at her lacerated legs, her scratched up arms.
    
     She didn't feel it, not yet, not with the adrenaline still coursing through her veins. But the voices were gone, and that was a bigger relief than anything.
    
     "Let me call a doctor," said the librarian, getting up from her crouched position and walking quickly to wherever her desk was.
    
     Audrey listened as the footsteps faded. They weren't like the man's. They were soft and soothing to hear.
    
     Personally, Audrey didn't feel like going to a hospital and explaining the situation. They wouldn't believe her anyway. No one could see the man that attacked her, and they never would. He was just like the voices that only she could hear.
    
     That was why her parents kicked her out. No one wanted the daughter that had arguments with the air, that screamed in the middle of the night because of her dangerous visitor.
    
     So Audrey stood up from her spot and walked out of the library before the librarian caught up with her. She winced as she stepped over the broken glass that was once a door, the cuts reminding her why she shouldn't have crashed through it in the first place trying to escape from a murderer that didn't exist.
    
     Audrey Harris stepped out into the night, never to be seen again.