The Red Room: A Narrative Fiction

I have this uneasy feeling inside of me. It’s hard to place (cryptic?), but it almost feels as if I’m being watched. Like at any moment someone could emerge from the shadows. Feeling apprehensive I scan the snow covered street. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. What I do notice is that almost every storefront is attired with some type of Christmas decoration.

Chilled to the bone by the cold, December air I hurry on my way. The cheerful sound of Christmas carols calm my frayed nerves. Suddenly, the music is interrupted by the sound of ice cracking as my body plummets to the ground. “Ouch.” I groan as I struggle to get up.

“ Are you okay?” asks a pedestrian, who saw the whole thing happen.

“Yeah, I guess. At least my winter jacket

She turns to leave and I start to walk again, careful to watch for any black ice. As I continue to watch the ground, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

“Excuse me, I think you dropped this.” says a young man.

As I look at his face, I’m startled by its familiarity. The blue eyes, brown hair, and freckles that dotted the tip of his nose have me searching for his name. Where had I seen his face? His name is at the tip of my tongue. Oh well, maybe I was mistaken. I say to myself. “Thank you.” I say taking the red scarf I had dropped, then turn to leave.

Still perplexed by the familiarity of him I turn around to ask his name. When I turn around, I find that he is nowhere to be seen. That’s strange. As I continue on my way, I continue to notice the figure in my peripheral vision, but every time I look back no one is there. Maybe I hit my head a little too hard when I fell. Then once again I see the figure, I whip my head around to try and catch them but I only catch a glimpse of his face. A glimpse is all I needed because immediately I know it’s the young man that gave me a scarf. A million thoughts run through my head, but one though surfaces the ocean of chaos,

Looking back, I see the enmity permeating from him. I turn into an alley and crouch behind a dumpster, I almost throw up from fear and the stench of garbage. Did I lose him? Is he gone? Suddenly, I see him in the entryway of the alley. He pauses, takes a breath, then looks around. At first, I think I’m in the clear, but all of a sudden he is slowly walking towards the dumpster. A million scenarios run through my head of how to escape. What I need is a distraction, to give me time to climb the fence. I look around and notice a can besides me. I pick it up and throw it behind the dumpster. The clink it makes breaks the tense silence that had settled over the alley. As soon as he turns around, I break for the fence. Just as I make it to the top he pounces for my feet, he misses by only an inch.

I fall towards the hard cement for the second time today. Once again, my coat cushions the hard fall and I stand up unscathed. The stranger has already started to climb the fence, and I start to run as fast as my feet will take