It Never Got That Close

I don’t know what it is, but it is always somewhere in the background, whether it be in a dream or a thought. It’s always there. I may be thinking of an exam, it is always walking there, in the exam hall. If I’m having a nice and pleasant dream, it’s there. Always there. I close my eyes, there! I’m on a street walking back home, there!

It wear’s a large trench coat that goes up to its knees and this creature is so dark, even in light. You can only see the outline of it.

It never gets close to you, it is always far away somewhere, just walking there, like it is a normal human being going somewhere. But I can’t understand two things, why can’t anyone else see it and why is it always far away from you?

I always think I am safe from it because it is so far away all the time. That changed one night. I was dreaming, just enjoying this dream. Until I landed in an alley way. I saw him coming. I thought it was going to stop, it didn’t. It just kept on going. I tried to run, but the paralysing fear made me stay in one place, a few words in my head kept on repeating. It never got that close, it never got that close, it never got that close.

I suddenly woke up from my dream, sweating and breathing heavily. “Holy s**t!” I said to myself loudly.

I stood up to get a glass of water for myself, so I can relax a little. I looked outside my kitchen window. My heart jumped out from my throat. My neighbors stood in a line outside my door. They turned to face me and began chanting, “It never got that close, It never got that close, It never got that close,” over and over. I called the police, but they were doing the same thing chanting these words, “It never got that close, It never got that close, It never got that close.” I called my parents, same thing. I called my friend, same thing.

But I noticed one thing different about how many contacts I had. I had seven, not eight. I went to the last phone number. I clicked on it. Silence.

“Hi there, remember me from your dream?”

“Ye… yes?”

“Great! Now listen up. What does my phone number say?”

“Wh… what?”

“WHAT DOES IT SAY?!”

“He… never got that close…”

“Why don’t you read phone numbers before you call them?”

“Please stop this!”

“Well, maybe next time don’t drink and drive and hit random people and then just bury them in the forest.”

“Who are you?!”

“The person you killed twelve years ago, Jacob.”

I hung up. Was it really him after all this time? I didn’t mean to hit him! That was an accident!

“I’M SO SORRY!” I shout the top of my lungs. But I know it’s too late to be sorry.

  • Terri-Ann Bertram

    Similar to ‘I know what you did last summer’ story line? Awesome writing! Very engaging at the beginning but, a little rushed towards the end.

  • Haleigh Benson

    Oops