This week’s six-sentence story prompt by girlontheege was EDGE. I wrote about a woman walking home after dark, with the feeling she is being followed. Or alternative summary “you aren’t afraid of being alone in the dark, you are afraid of not being alone in the dark.”
She wasn’t a paranoid person, and she couldn’t explain it, but tonight as she walked down the empty street towards her house she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was not alone.
She stopped and started a few times, took a few detours, picked up her pace, but every time she surveyed the area she could see that there was no one else around.
She could feel them through, the eyes watching her, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up as every primal instinct told her that she was being hunted.
The area was residential, all the house lights off, and she had moved from a speed walk to a run when she she finally heard something scraping behind her, followed by a growl that reverberated down her spine as she was paralyzed by fear.
Then it was in front of her with the dim light of the street lamp glinting off the razor sharp edge of the teeth that were about to end her life and she had one final thought.
You aren’t paranoid if they are actually out to get you.
For those wondering about the title, we are in the dark nos sumus in tenebris
Anne McSommers' Writing Nook 
Love the alternative summary ” “you aren’t afraid of being alone in the dark, you are afraid of not being alone in the dark.”
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Thank you, that’s a line that I read somewhere once that stuck with me ever since
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Nice twist, Anne… I’m not sure nice twist is the right term, but it’s still a nice twist!
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Ya, not nice, but…interesting maybe.
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Well-crafted, Anne. I want to look over my shoulder, even though I’m sitting at my desk in broad daylight!
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Thank you, that is quite the compliment
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At least she’s not paranoid. I like how you built up the suspense making us think nothing was going to happen to her until the end.
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Thanks. I have made that walk before where it literally is all in your head, and I wanted it to be real for her
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very good with the twist.
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Thanks
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Agree with the others, Reena in particular; your observation, …“you aren’t afraid of being alone in the dark, you are afraid of not being alone in the dark.”
perfect
nineteen words that, combined, are arguably the heart of most suspense fiction
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Thank you
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Wonderful to see that truism of the seventies revived in this clever piece. ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.’
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I have no idea where that came from, my Dad used to say it all the time, and it stuck with me
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Very suspenseful and quite frightening!
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Ya, I creeped myself out a little at one point.
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Nice buildup that nails home the truth of that saying. Wow!
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Thank you, glad it paid off
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