Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.
She buckled and sank to the ground. She didn’t think she was going to last much longer. How could you live through your worst nightmare day after day? She shut her eyes, hoping to block out the memory.
The sudden smell caught in her nostrils and she felt herself falling.
She was back in the forest. Her face wet with sweat and rain. She felt the wind blowing through her hair. Once, she had loved that feeling. Now she felt the weight of the storm as it pushed against her. She tried moving faster, but it was impossible.
She swore under her breath. Her breathing was ragged, but didn’t dare look behind herself.
She knew he was still there all the same. Closing in on her. He was faster than her, she knew. She was never going to outrun him.
That’s when she’d found the empty shed. Perhaps he hadn’t been that close behind her after all.
She couldn’t even remember the police finding her, but they must have done.
She opened her eyes and blinked, pulling herself back from the memory. She had to stop reliving that day. It had been a year already.
But as her mind returned back to the present, she noticed the smell of the forest still lingering in her living room. Had she forgotten to close the window?
She swirled around, suddenly aware of a presence behind her.
“Welcome back,” he said with a grin on his face and she realized the nightmare from that day was never going to end.
© 2020
Photo from free photo stock pixabay.com
FELICIA HEILGENDORFF 
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