"No!" The scream escaped her throat and her eyes shot open in an attempt to rid her mind of the horrifying image. The nightmare she just had felt terrifyingly real and she shuddered as the images came floating back to her mind. Wiping the beads of sweat off her face, she got up from her bed and decided to go out for a run to clear her mind.

 

She stepped out of her house and started to run, the wind blowing her hair away from her face and the ice-cold air biting her skin. Nobody else in the neighbourhood was awake except for the dogs down the street.

 

As she ran towards the neighbourhood park, the eerie silence of the night pressed against her ears. The only sound she could hear was of her breathing. The street lights were faint and she couldn’t see her own feet in the darkness. Her eyes strained towards the park that was beginning to loom in.

 

She had barely made it to the park when she felt it. Her heart started to thump loudly, and she realized it was not just because she was running. Instinct told her that something was off. She couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly it was. Then there was movement nearby. She thought she’d seen a shadow behind the bushes.

 

She shook her head and brushed it off. Maybe it was the nightmare. The images in her brain were still fresh and it made her queasy just thinking about it. She had to erase them from her mind.

 

She was about to enter the park to continue her run when all of a sudden, the dogs across the street began to bark. She stopped in her tracks. There were probably more than three homeless dogs in the dingy street two blocks down. She remembered feeding thema week ago. They stopped barking and began to howl just like a mother wailing for her lost child.

 

Were they trying to tell her something?

 

Their howls echoed piercingly through the deathly silence of the night. Chills ran down her body as the sound reached her ears. She stood rooted to the spot, her body going numb.

 

And then she heard something else. Something that terrified her even more than the wailing of the dogs. Slow and steady footsteps were approaching her from behind. Panic struck her so hard that she gasped.

 

Gathering all her courage, she swiftly turned back towards the sound of the footsteps. To her relief, she couldn't find anyone nearby. She brushed it away, again, convincing herself that she was imagining all of this. However, she turned back and ran towards her house with increased pace, her heart beating at what seemed like a thousand times a minute.

 

But she heard it again. This time there was no denying. The footsteps were back and were now getting louder by the minute. She didn’t dare look back. She ran faster, with no sense of direction whatsoever. She didn’t know or care where she was heading. She just wanted to get away from that place.

 

The dogs started barking hysterically, unable to control their rage. She was now very frightened. She was sure that the dogs knew something was off. She could hear her ragged breathing and feel the erratic beating of her heart. She wished she had never stepped out of her house.

 

Then, out of nowhere, a hand was pressed into her stomach and she was forced to stop running.

 

"You can never hide from me", said a malicious voice in her ear, and she was spun around by its cold hands.

 

To say she was shocked was an understatement. She couldn't believe hereyes when she looked at the figure standing before her. It was the same figure from her dream, face concealed under a hood and its cold, slimy hands pressed tightly against her stomach.

 

She couldn’t believe it. She was reliving her nightmare. Exactly as it had happened in her mind.

 

Nothing could've prepared her for what happened next. The moment the figure in front of her removed its hood, she couldn't keep it any longer. The blood-curdling screams that escaped her mouth were so deafening that the dogs stopped barking. Her body trembled with fear as she looked at the devil bearing down its teeth upon her.

 

The devil had its bloodshot eyes set on her. Blood dripped from every inch of its body and her clothes were soaked in it. But as she became aware of the knife clutched in its hand, she realized she wasn't scared of the impact that the knife was going to make.

 

She was afraid because the devil looked exactly like her.

 

She was angry that she couldn't stop the agony that took over her body when the knife was plunged into her stomach.

 

She was terrified because she couldn't stop killing herself.