A Shadow In The Night

A Shadow In The Night

A short story by Tia Taylor 

Based on true events...

   It was late -passed 10- on a warm August night in 2017. I had just stepped out from my house on Fair Avenue for a walk to ease my mind from the frenetic energy that plagued my daily life at the time. I remember looking up at an almost full moon as I continued slowly making my way down the block, away from my house on an empty, dimly lit street. Once I got to the end where the stop sign was at the street corner, I paused to close my eyes, and I took a deep breath. Not a moment later, a shadow caught my eye from an adjacent sidewalk. Coming toward me, this shadow gradually began to come into my eye line, and paused as he took notice of me. In that moment, I considered turning back and going home as I could already tell that this shadow -belonging to a man- had sinister intentions, but I kept moving forward down the next block in hopes that I could lead him away from my home -where my baby nephew, older sister, and brother in-law were in bed-. I remember hearing his footsteps getting louder as he approached me from behind before he began walking beside me while muttering something in a different language as he pulled out a knife. I could smell the alcohol on him, absolute vodka, it smelled like. I began to walk faster, but he caught up to me, and then stepped in front of me in order to stop me. I asked him if I could help him hoping in the back of my mind that this was some kind of misunderstanding, to which he only replied that he wanted sex before grabbing my dress, and pulling me toward him while pressing the knife against my thigh. That was when I began to fully grasp the situation I was in and I wished that I would've turned around in the few seconds when I had that option. I pushed him away and told him to leave me alone trying to seem intrepid even though I was visibly shaking, but he only got more aggressive, grabbing me again, and pulling up my dress. The man tried to cut off my underwear, but I pushed him away and raised my voice for him to get away from me and screamed for help, though nobody responded. I was alone and I had sadly just realized that nobody was going to help me, I was my only chance of surviving. He glanced around and continued grabbing me as I struggled against him the best I could. I soon got my hands free and slapped him repeatedly, which only slowed him down as he seemed to not be affected much by it. When I realized that slapping and punching him wouldn't subdue his attempts to rape me, I tried to kick him, to which he responded by grabbing my leg, and trying to make me fall onto the sidewalk. I quickly caught my balance, pulled my leg from his calloused hands, and slapped his knife onto the ground before putting my own hands around his neck. He then began to choke me as I struggled to choke him. I quickly gave up and pushed him as hard as any seventeen year old girl could have before running toward my house. After that, all I really remember is thinking of getting home, getting to feel the warmth of my bed again, and getting to see all my loved ones. I can still hear the patter of his shoes as he chased me along the sidewalk back to my house until I finally made it home and locked the door behind me. I then went into the bathroom and began sobbing and laughing hysterically as I tried to pull myself together, a few minutes passed like that before I heard a knock at the door. The man had made his way to my house and was now at my front door, knocking, still trying to get me. I tiptoed passed the door and walked up the stairs before going to my sister's room and explaining what happened the best I could in such a state. My brother in law went out to fetch the things I dropped while I was being chased and told me that the man would surely see him and leave while my sister called the police. About ten minutes went by as my sister and I waited in silence with my eight month old nephew in her arms, until we heard a knock at the door. My sister went to leave the room, but I told her not to, that I knew it was the man, and he was back to get me. My sister assured me that it was only her husband, who must've locked the door on his way out before leaving me with my nephew. Every second that went by felt like an eternity before I finally just couldn't take it anymore. I took my nephew, grabbed a knife, and tucked it into my boot before walking downstairs where my sister was struggling to push the man out of the house and close the door. I quickly set my nephew down before helping her to get the door closed and locking it. She then turned to me, and informed me that the man was asking for me, and demanding me for sex. The man continued pounding on the door for almost fifteen whole minutes before my brother in law got back and scared the man away. The police arrived soon after and seemed at the most indifferent of what had occurred, and one even acted skeptical of my story. The man was never caught, and I never saw him again, but some nights, when the moon is almost full, my senses are consumed by the overwhelming stench of absolute vodka and the sounds of his unwavering footsteps. I will always be haunted by what was -at first glance- nothing more than a shadow in the night.

The End