My rational mind has abandoned me. I know that there is nothing there. And yet, I know that something is going to get me. Some unseen thing is going to snatch me away and make me a meal. I shiver, rub my arms, and walk a little faster. Just one more block, but that seems like miles.

I reach down and pat my back pocket, checking for the thousandth time for my phone. No one has passed me since I left the Lawson’s house, but I check again anyway.

The wind picks up; leaves scatter across the road. The sound is unsettling. I glance behind my back…twice just in case.

My mind wanders. A memory surfaces. An unwanted one. Two years ago, a girl walking home from a friend’s house, was attacked by a mountain lion. She didn’t survive. My breathing picks up. My pace picks up. I remember so thing else. When I was five I was playing four square in the driveway and a stray pit bull came up to me. I started to run away and it chased me down. Dogs chase when people run. I slowed down.

I look up at the black sky. Well not quite black. More navy blue, with little white stars. It’s pretty I’ll admit, but my mind is too focused on trying to get home.

“If I live,” I whisper to the dark, “I will burn all the witches at the stake.” I use an old promise that my mom used to say. She used to say the night time would let you live if you purged the evil of the world. Of course there were no such thing as witches, but I wanted to live the night. So hey, what are you gonna do?