Mikayla abruptly closed her newspaper, folded it away into the faux leather satchel tucked between her feet, and grabbed the bag by its strap before striding towards the door. Opening it, she glanced at the couple one last time (they were still lost in each other's eyes, of course) and slipped through.

What's so interesting about eyes, anyway? Everybody has them, so how can they just sit there oggling at them? She took a deep breath of the fresh evening air to calm herself down. They aren't even entertaining to watch when they are sat there staring at each other.

Beginning the long journey home, she looked down at the concrete floor. Her dark boots were scuffed, she noted, but that was to be expected, considering she had worn them every day since she bought them a couple of weeks ago. At least they didn't look brand new anymore; Mikayla disliked shiny shoes, as they were far too pretentious. Her boss, Ms Beeson, always wore a pair of nude heels that looked like they had come out of the box that very morning, and she did not want to be similar to Ms Beeson.

The concrete came to an end and she stepped off onto a gravelly trail which stretched into the treeline ahead. She knew that woods were supposed to be dangerous, but skirting around them added an extra half an hour to her journey, and she enjoyed the stroll through them, particularly on a bright, warm evening like today.

She had always felt at home in the woods, although she never knew why. Many would describe the tall trees as posts for monsters to hide behind, just waiting to jump out and grab a jogger, but Mikayla never thought of them like that. To her, they were barriers, protecting her from the outside world (including annoying young couples).

Tonight, however, she felt oddly uneasy when she first walked in to the shade. It was almost as if a crowd of eyes had just swivelled to watch her, but she couldn't see them back. There were eyes in the darkness, in the gnarled undergrowth, in the very earth itself, but none in the trees, the one place where she actually wanted them to be.

Daring a glance to her left, she frowned as she noticed that the trees were beginning to lose their leaves. The colors of autumn were normally a pleasing sight, but the leaves had lost their red sheen, no longer looking like burnt sienna and instead a charred blackness, as if they'd had their very life force stolen from them. She shuddered, pulling her long dark coat tighter around her. The trees weren't going to protect her tonight.

Stop it, she told herself, you're imagining things. There's nothing wrong with the leaves- that stupid couple must have got into your head and be messing with your mind, that's all. No matter how much she repeated it, tried to assure herself that she was imagining things and nothing was off and the shrubbery wasn't watching her, it didn't sink in. Something was wrong.

Pulling up her hood in an attempt to conceal herself, she hurried forwards, treading lightly. There was a clearing ahead, she knew, with no vegetation to watch her. If she could just get to there, she would be safe.

Safe? From what? The shrubs aren't going to reach out and grab you. Stop being silly.

As she bustled through, she took deep breaths and concentrated on her steps to calm her nerves. Left, right, left, right, left, right...

Why did she not bring her pepper spray to the town with her? Maybe if she had it, she would feel less nervous.

Left, right, left, right, left, right...

The glade was only a couple of minutes away now, yet she felt no less apprehensive. Sweaty palms buried themselves in deep pockets to keep them warm from the sudden chill which had swept through the woods, swept through her, and her heart seemed to have jumped into her head, banging a loud rhythm between her ears that she just couldn't get to stop.

Left, right, left, right, left, right...

One minute now. One minute until she was no longer enclosed, one minute until the thicket was no longer slowly shifting closer and closer to her. One minute.

Left, right, left, right, left, right...

She could do this.

Next update: Thursday 12th April 2018