Tick Tock

two

TIME LEFT TO THE MURDER: 0

It wasn't a shrilling, high pitched scream that you would hear on a rollercoaster. It was an agonizing scream, let out by someone that was in a lot of pain. 

My eyes tried to focus in the darkness, my hand already clutching my phone tightly in case of an emergency. I almost released a scream of my own when I noticed someone pinning another person against the wall. It looked like a mugging was happening. 

My fingers fumbled my phone, trying to call the police as quickly as possible. I kept missing the numbers and fear was bubbling inside of me.

I heard a noise of impact and widened my eyes when I saw the man that was pinned, slumped onto the ground. Instincts kicked in and I started running when I saw the criminal running towards me. I desperately tried to focus on running and calling the police at the same time. 

A hand roughly pulled my shoulder back and my feet crossed, making me fall to the ground. My phone was snatched out of my grasp and thrown onto the ground. The screen shattered and the damage was done. I screamed as loudly as I could, knowing that I'll be the next target. "Be quiet, no one can hear you." The man ordered in a deep voice and I felt my body go rigid.  

I dared not look into his eyes, but subtly memorized his face and other details about him that I could use later to report to the police, if I made it out alive. 

"I know what you're thinking. You won't make it to the police alive." My body was starting to shake from all the fear that I was feeling. I thrust my handbag towards him, willing to offer my possessions in exchange for my life. I could get those back if I wanted to. "You can have it. Just don't kill me, please." I begged with all the energy I had left in me, but the response I got was unexpected. 

The man laughed humorlessly. There was a pause afterwards and in the empty night, all I could hear was my restless breathing. Is he going to hurt me? I don't want to die.

I thought about shouting for help again but in the silence, I couldn't imagine it was worth the possible consequences. "I'm letting you leave." Wait, what? My mind was so bewildered by the words, I didn't give a response. "I'll find you again. You will not say what you saw tonight." 

A threat.

I couldn't wrap my head around the words he just said, so I sat stagnant on the ground. His gaze zeroed in on me and before he could utter another word, I ran. 

I ran as fast as I could, back into the city lights. I gripped my handbag tightly as people looked at like I was crazy. Lucky. That's how I felt as I tried to find my way to my apartment and contain my emotions at the same time. I was never too good at multitasking, no matter how much I've tried in university.

I could feel my hands trembling still when I pulled out the key to unlock my door. Once I was safely inside, I collapsed onto the couch, trying to catch my breath. 

What just happened? How did I get out of that situation scratch free? What did he mean when he said he'll find me again? What about the man that got mugged? 

I was a mess. It was like my hands were tied behind my back, I simply could not find a way out of this sticky situation. What if I do go to the police and he finds me and kills me? It seemed like a very high possibility. Perhaps the police could protect me? But what if they didn't believe me? I doubted any evidence was left in the alleyway, which meant I didn't have anything to prove what I witnessed.

I closed my eyes, trying to block all the thoughts from entering my mind anymore. I allowed the cool air in my apartment calm me down, before I came to a conclusion.