Prey

“They’re coming for you. Run!”

I awoke with a scream, heart pounding in my ears to the roar of a thunderstorm crashing outside my window, the nightlight at my bedside table casting shadows of all shapes and sizes throughout my little bedroom. I took deep breaths to calm myself down. I turned on the light beside my bed, filling the room with a bright yellow glow. Glancing around everywhere uneasily, I began to breathe a little easier.

There is nothing here. You’re just getting spooked over nothing.

I lay down and stared at the ceiling recalling the events from three days ago. I thought about the day that I saw something I was not meant to see.

I’d been walking to work as usual, with a stopover at my favourite coffee shop for a cappuccino and a sandwich. As I joined the queue, I was roughly pushed aside by someone running past me. Angrily I whirled to give that person a piece of my mind and I gazed into the face of one of the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. They say your heart stops when you’ve met the right one. Mine went crazy. He stared at me for a few seconds before glancing over his shoulder and running away across the street. Seconds later, two men in black suits came running into the shop, panting heavily.  

“You, girl!” one of them pointed a finger at me. “Where did he go?” My brain was a fog. I remembered the look of terror on the man’s face before he had run off. But who was he? Was he running away from trouble? Or was he the trouble? A part of me yearned to find out. To this day, I don’t know why I made this decision but I pointed at a back alleyway nearby. The men nodded and took off in that direction. I heaved a sigh and left the shop with my purchase. As I continued the walk down the street, a hand grabbed my elbows and pulled me towards a small drugstore. My eyes widened when I realised it was the man I’d met previously.

He smiled nervously, releasing my elbow.

“I’m so sorry. I… I just wanted to thank you. You have no idea how long I’ve been running from those guys. My name is Andy. Thank you, miss,” he said. Even his voice sounded incredible. I was incapable of coherent speech so I just continued to stare at him.

“May I have the name of the woman who saved me?” he asked with a grin. I stammered out my name; Pat. His deep brown eyes stared into mine.

“A name is a dangerous thing, Pat.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Those men chasing me. They’re from a cult. They are very powerful and have a large number of influential members. All they ever need is a name. They ALWAYS get their target”, he said.

“But why are they targeting you?”

I heard the sound of running footsteps approaching. The man looked at me in desperation.

“No time to explain. Can you look after this for me? I’ll be back for you,” he said. Shoving something into my hands, he turned and ran.

Somehow his last sentence sent a chill down my spine. I should have dropped the item. Instead, I had accepted it. The two men ran past me as if they had not seen me, intent on their prey. I looked down at my hands at the package. It was wrapped in brown paper with no writing of any sort on it. I shook it lightly and something inside rattled. The package was small and could fit in the palm of my hand. Noticing that I was late for work, I stuffed it into my bag and continued on my walk.

As I reached the office, I caught sight of Andy again. He was dodging his way through the crowd with the men hot at his heels. What happened next was something I would never expect. He ducked behind an old man in a wheelchair and ran across the main road towards the side that I was on. I heard the squeal of tires. In horror, I met his eyes just before he was slammed into by a huge lorry that had been driving too fast for him to brake in time. His head knocked on the ground with a sickening crack and his body lay on the ground motionless. There was no way he could have survived the crash. Onlookers had crowded the scene and the two men melted into the shadows.

As there were already too many people at the scene I ducked through the doors of my office and went to my desk. It took me a good hour before I could begin my work but my thoughts constantly went back to the events of the morning. I wondered if I should try to find out which hospital he’d been taken to. However, the afternoon news had something that would change my mind. The news reporter spoke about a freak accident that had happened at the street my office was on.

“The man, identified as Andy White, did not survive the accident…”

I heard nothing else beyond this line as I sat there in shock. My thoughts went to the brown package in my bag. I debated going to the hospital anyway as I might find his family or next-of-kin so that I could pass on the package to them.

“He left no family behind…”

Well, there goes my plan.

Somehow the last thing he said kept playing over and over in my mind. “I’ll be back for you.” Something about the sentence seemed weird.

That evening when I got home, I decided to inspect the package again. To my surprise, I noticed that a part of it had been opened. I figured it must have been due to the package moving around in my bag so I thought nothing of it.

Finally plucking up my courage I decided to see what it was. This was probably tampering with evidence that I should have handed in to the police but something told me I had to see this before I handed it over.

Removing the packaging, I unearthed a beautifully carved wooden box. It was made out of oak and was truly a beauty to behold. Turning it over, I glanced at the top of the box and froze. There was a name on the box, carved in the centre with a border of roses around it. It was my name. Patricia James. I dropped the box with a shriek and stood frozen in horror.

I almost didn’t want to open the box but I knew I had to see what was inside. With trembling fingers, I picked up the box and lifted the catch to open it. The box opened with a soft creak. Nestled on a piece of red silk cloth was a delicate silver charm bracelet and a note on a small card. There were only two words on the card which read, “Good luck.” A chill went down my spine again. I closed the box and wrapped it in its packaging, setting it on the counter in my living room.

After a few hours of thinking, I decided to adopt a watch and wait approach. It was probably just a coincidence that the box had my name on it. Patricia James is not an uncommon name. I would give this a rest for a few days and if nothing happened, I’d dispose of the box or hand it over to the police saying that I’d found it with them being none-the-wiser.

Flash forward three days later from a recurring nightmare I’d been having. I was being chased by the men in black suits. The dream would then switch to the bracelet hovering in the air with drops of blood falling on it; my blood. An eerie voice in my head whispered, “They’re coming for you.”

I finally managed to go back to sleep. The next day I got ready for work and stepped outside my house. As I threw the trash into the trash can, I looked up across the street and froze. It was him. Andy. He was smiling at me as he stood in front of me.

“Why aren’t you wearing your gift? Didn’t you like it?” he asked.

A horrible realization began to dawn on me. Nothing that had happened had been coincidental. I had just been too naïve to see it. I began to walk backwards towards my door, my hand reaching in to my bag for my cell phone.

“Why do you look so shocked? I promised you, didn’t I?” Andy was moving closer as he spoke.

“I told you I’d be back for you.” He smiled before the world around me went black.