Today I saw a unicorn. It was trotting down the pathway that leads to the village, it’s impossibly white mane floating in the air gracefully. It’s horn shone in the sun, blinding me slightly. It flicked its tail and stopped walking, I got chills as it looked towards me, it’s onyx eyes looked into mine, no, it’s onyx eyes looked through mine. And it smiled. I swear to god it smiled at me. It smiled at me and I could feel all the colour leave my face. I blinked and it was gone. I rubbed my eyes, but nothing happened._ Here one moment, gone the next. _

I was meeting my friends for coffee and didn’t mention a thing. Trick of the light. A really, really convincing trick of the light.

I brush my teeth by the bathroom sink like always, but today something feels off. I’ve felt like this all morning but I can’t pinpoint what feels weird. So I’m going to ignore it, I’m going to pretend everything feels normal. I did not see a unicorn yesterday and today everything is normal. Yes.

I spit out the toothpaste, leaning down to ensure it all goes into the sink, and when I look up at the mirror, two ghostly eyes stare into mine. I blink and then they’re gone. Like the unicorn. Here one moment, gone the next.

I don’t feel comfortable. I feel as though I’m being watched, “by whom?” The question appears in my mind unbidden, it’s not retorical, the question is expecting an answer. And I don’t have one, nor do I know how to get one.

I walk out to the path where I saw the unicorn, half expecting it to be right there, but there’s nothing. The only unusual thing about the path is the tall woman at the end of it. I frown, this path leads to my house, nowhere else. Unless you are coming to visit me, there is no point being down here. And I don’t recognise this woman. She’s wearing a dark purple dress with floral patterns that suits her brown skin nicely. Her black hair bobs just below her chin as she turns to face me. Her eyes, her eyes are the ones I saw in the mirror, and she smiles, exactly like the unicorn. I keep my eyes open staring at her slack jawed, and I feel my heart begin to pound and my blood rushing through my veins faster than usual. My head feels heavy, it feels so heavy. I feel my heart pounding and I think I’ve already mentioned that but I don’t care. And I can’t see straight I can’t think straight and then she’s gone. The woman disappears like everything. _Here one moment, gone the next. _

I fall to my knees and upend the meagre contents of my stomach onto the gravel beside me. But that doesn’t cut it. I shoot my hands out to keep me from falling as I vomit more and more out until I’m dry heaving, until I can’t breathe. Until I decide I can’t take it anymore. I feel sick, I feel so, so _sick. _I feel uncomfortable in my own house, I feel eyes watching me, I feel these eyes _judging _me and I can’t take it anymore. So I stand up and I run.

I run into the hills. I weave through the trees protecting our little village. I run until I feel my legs about to collapse, I run until I can’t breathe. I run until I can’t see the village behind us. But it feels like no matter how far I run I can’t seem to escape. I can’t escape what’s watching me.

So I walk. I walk until I can run, and when I can’t run I walk. I walk until the sky turns black, I walk until the sky turns blue again. I am a shell, devoid of emotion, with only one programme, walk. I walk until my legs give up on me. Until my body gives up on me. I walk until I reach a valley, surrounded the by the stars. _The stars, _I think, _are our real guardian angels. _I fall down to the wet grass, and I realise how cold I am. I am so, so cold. Maybe, maybe if I can fall asleep I won’t feel so cold. Or hungry, I realise. I’m so cold and so hungry, and I’m tired. I’m so damn tired. So yes, I think a sleep will help. And then I can wake up and run from the eyes. I can wake up and maybe everything will be fine. Maybe.

So I close my eyes and curl my knees to my chest. The cold cuts through me. So cold it stops feeling like cold, just a sensation, right on the edge of your consciousness. And then I don’t feel cold. I don’t feel tired or hungry. I feel nothing. And in my final moments I realise, I am nothing.

Here one moment, gone the next.