A Hazel Haven

Chapter 3

Someone was behind her.

Abruptly, Uche spun around, jogging backwards while her eyes searched the darkness. It was still a couple of hours before daybreak, and the cavernous darkness stared back in silence.

Ears attuned to the surroundings, she listened intently, and when nothing out of the ordinary reached her hearing, Uche whirled back around and continued her run at quicker pace, the tail of her hair whipping.

Up ahead, towering next to a nursery school, a streetlight shone, and she trotted to a stop under its golden light, bending over and panting heavily. Perspiration drenched her sweatshirt and dripped down her face, and as she blinked sweat trickled into her eyes, stinging, while she dabbed her forehead with a sleeve.

Except for the croaking of frogs, her ragged breathing, the jingling of the keys in her pocket when she moved, it was absolutely quiet. As she stood on rubbery legs, the cold, humid air expelling through her parted lips in puffs, she thought about how risky it was being alone at this ungodly hour in the morning, especially for a woman.

But she had done it, despite her better judgment, because for the first time in a long time she was restless. And restlessness made her reckless, made her impulsive.

Had she imagined the footsteps? Although the area was enveloped in the night, the light only illuminating a remote space, she remained vigilant, her watchful gaze flicking around at the slightest noise.

There was a snap, like a stick had been trampled upon. Uche stilled, her already taxed heart drumming a new rhythm.

Then she heard it, footsteps approaching with urgency, and without a moment's thought, her body reinvigorated, she hightailed to the main road, propelling her body forward as fast as she could on protesting legs.

It wasn't long before she was on the path that led to the restaurant, running at full speed, the keys in her pocket tugging at her slacks, causing them to slip below her waist, and she wrenched it up, her pace never faltering.

The restaurant was located just along the road and Uche was comforted by the sight of buses, cars zooming by, and headlights glaring. At the gate, she fumbled with the keys, her laboured breathing in her ears.

"C'mon!" She urged her shaking hands, glancing warily over her shoulder.

When the lock finally jerked open, she removed the securing chains, pushing the gate open a crack and slipping in. Uche abandoned both lock and chain on the ground, her mind solely on making it through the doors she was scuttling towards.

It was only when she was inside with the doors locked, her forehead pressed to it, her breath fogging the glass, that she let herself relax to think rationally.

What if the person was on a routine run? She peered through the glass, seeing no one, just cars and buses that occasionally passed by.

Uche groaned in the darkness.

Leaning away from the doors, she whirled around and hurled the keys in her hand into the dark. It jingled as it hit a wall and dropped to the floor.

She ripped off the band holding her hair in a ponytail so that the hair fell down her shoulders, and digging her fingers into it, she pulled painfully and began to pace, her face tilted up and her eyes squeezed shut. She made a strangled noise deep in her throat.

"Okay," she meditated, expelling a deep breath. "You just need something to drink." She flipped on the light switch closest to the door and sighed when the place remained dark-the power was out. Groping her way into the kitchen, she felt for the disposable cups in the cabinet, grabbed a stack and pulled out one, which she then placed under the tap to fill with water.