Darkness. It surrounded me. It embraced me. It was a part of me, a part of who I am, and a part of everyone else too. We don't give into it, because we choose not to, unfortunately some give into that evil counterpart everyday, especially when their brains aren't wired correctly. I saw that bleak canopy change as the sun set beneath the horizon, and dusk began to roll in. Its dark shroud eclipsed the sky slowly as the sun disappeared and night took over its helm. It was always in moments when my nightmares came each time I closed my eyes; the evil that was done to me shrouded in shadows where not even a speck of light would have shone through it. Light was the only way to escape evil, or so we're taught in movies and TV shows. The darkness pulsed with energy, as though it was almost alive in nature. The dark always whispered, it told me stories, fed me its evil, breathed new life into the twilighted shadows, my fight or flight instincts kicking in, telling me there's a malevolence here that wasn't here before. 

It was another rainy night in Padgate again, a quaint little village found in the town of Warrington, North West England. A fog swept through forming wispy, white silhouettes throughout the surrounding area. I couldn't make out much around here, including the dim, artificial glow emitting from the nearby lampposts, dotted hither and thither, up and down the streets where the only company I kept was the prolonged ache that never seemed to vanish within my chest for even one minute. I strolled aimlessly along in the perpetual night with only a back strapped to my back and no stars or moon to guide me. I felt lonely, hollowed out emotionally by the events of the day, and scared beyond all measure.  

Fear crept up even further along my nerves as the realisation set in that I had nowhere left to go, no destination in mind, just the spooky trails ahead of me and no friends or family in sight. I just tried my best to keep myself warm on this cold, wet empty night, and attempted to stay as calm as I could. The frigid icicles of my own anxiety spilled down my spine, the hairs on my body standing to attention in alert repose; maybe it was paranoia, but I kept seeing images dancing along my vision that someone was following me, however everywhere I looked there was no one who stood out to me, and brushed it off for the umpteenth time. Sweat and musty rainwater dampened my skin, and clothes, and I dragged my weary feet along to heaven knew where.

Birds cried out above me as they sought shelter from the foreboding bleakness of an incoming storm about to rage. I only wished I could too, but every single shop near me had closed by that point, and nobody was willing to provide shelter to a stranger unless it was for nefarious reasons. The drops immersed me even more mercilessly as the torrential downpour grew colder than a winter’s night, and pelted me until I was drenched through to the bone. The clouds overhead blotted out everything in its benevolent canopy and grew to become thick, bruised as though they would explode at any given minute. Smatterings of lamp posts, with their flickered gleam tried to fight against the bleak weather, they made an attempt to breathe life into their surroundings with their dim yellow glare, but as the fog grew thicker as they faded from my sight until I could only make out the glimmer of light casting off from them. Dusk was all but forgotten about as though the wind carried it away in its steely grasp, and twilight continued on as the environment around me darkened further. 

I'd been out here for hours with no hope of sleep, just cold, quiet dread, and feeling more and more apprehensive as time ebbed on. Ominous, swelling, dark mantles covered the sky, seemingly bigger than they were before, and I was but an ant amongst it all under their threatening glare. They menacingly blocked out the moon and stars from above me, turning the sky and the atmosphere around me into a sinister macabre of epic proportions. The storm raged at a breathtaking speed, as the wind blew so fast my feet swept off the ground by a few inches. I wandered down another side street, my legs began to ache, burning like a liquid inferno. I felt exhausted and could have slept where I stood, but I wanted to find somewhere I could find shelter from this rain storm, and wait until it died down first.

All of a sudden I heard haunting footsteps approaching me from behind, like a spectre in the night. I was made aware of the fact that my heartbeat had ticked up, like a broken clock it missed its timely beats, erratically crescendoing out of control, like a pendulum against my ribcage. Maybe I was just being paranoid, it wasn't that late after all, but I felt like this person was stalking me. There were still some people about, although they paid no heed to me as they rushed to get home and out of the raging storm tearing through the sky above us.

I turned my head slightly, and peered peripherally back at the creep, and couldn't fully make out who it was, but I think it might have been a man, a stranger perhaps. I began to up my pace, nearly jogging at this point as I carried on walking, faster than before, not daring to peek behind me again. 

He sped up, which ratcheted up my heart rate, so I begged every deity in existence to help me, but nobody responded back. In my panic I couldn't quite fathom a thought or action that was left to me other than running away. I propelled myself faster, and faster until my adrenaline flooded my system. My legs grew tired quickly, weak like a new born calf's from the strain of sprinting too hard, and for walking far longer than I imagined. My instinct told me not to stop though, and my intuition whispered to me that I should head to a particular place, so considering I was out of options anyway, I deduced that I should listen to my gut at least that one and only time, to trust myself, and what my instincts were telling me.

I went past the old post office, and headed down a side street, making a beeline for another street to enter the park near it. As I headed down the road; it occurred to me that I was near some houses, and should probably try to yell for help, but last time I tried nobody answered my plea, so this time I didn't bother to do it. The only person who could've helped me was myself unfortunately, and I'm not even strong enough physically to do it, not at 5ft 1, and certainly not when I weigh less than most men and women. It definitely wasn't a smart idea to head for a Park at night, but I didn't know where else to go, especially when I wouldn't or couldn't ask for help from others. He would definitely do me harm if he caught me, so what did I have to lose at this stage, other than my life that is? No matter where I went, he followed me, down every street, past every landmark, and there was nothing stopping him. He was here to hurt me, and he might even succeed considering I was losing stamina quickly. I made the turning onto the last street near the entrance to the park, I felt myself getting closer to my destination, and my endorphins rushed through my veins giving me back energy I thought I had lost already. Unexpectedly though, he grabbed me just as I went past the second house in the neighbourhood. It startled me at first, but I managed to shake him off somehow, and darted away again.

I saw the clearing of the shadowy canopy of trees, its field of water-logged grass, and brambled hedges, and saw that I was close to where I was headed. I ran past the fairy circle of giant rocks that shot out of the ground like weeds, and the small brook near it. I came to another copse of trees and bushes intermingled to create a burrowed clearing and sprinted through it to where I spent a lot of my teen years. I didn't know what I was thinking by coming here, or whether I made the right decision for my safety to be here this late, but I didn't really have anything left in me to run. My only option left at this point was to fight, and hopefully survive without getting hurt. As I hopped over the stones; I knew he would also follow me, because it's what freaks like him do afterall, they followed you until they got what they wanted. I noticed the creeper was gaining on me, as he neared ever closer to his prize, me. 

The energy and flow of the atmosphere around us changed suddenly, growing heavier, the entire area began to make a strange static sound as though it was woken up to the storm that had occurred only moments ago. The entire area around us began to emit bright shaded explosions all in different spectrums. Everywhere was suddenly alive with colour, it burst with an electric energy not felt in quite some time, and flooded the scene as the pressure built and the earth beneath us quaked in anticipation. Everything churned upwards it seemed as the earth turned on its axis until it floated beneath an ethereal shimmer, glittering with some hues unknown even to me, and reformed into a tornado of liquid heated mist. When it glanced off my skin, it held on, refusing to let go, sucking at me, thankfully it wasn't too warm, but it startled me when it happened. I began to slowly fall away, becoming one within this mystical prison.

The energy crackled in the air as though it's charged with something powerful. Things started to heat up, as the colours zapped, churning up the walls of colour filled clouds as though it was made up of substances unknown to me, and like it would've shocked me at any point. Even though I was snuffed out of the park by the watered down energy, and drifted through the lightly shimmered pool of sparkled brilliance, I didn't find myself entirely hating it oddly. 

I was transported through to gods knew where at an even more alarming rate than was previously known, which made me change my mind about finding this ride fascinating. I was thrown to the ground unceremoniously afterwards with an obscene amount of force, which seemed uncalled for. My body plummeted down moments on hard ground leaving me feeling battered and bruised, I groaned in pain, before slowly sitting up, taking in my surroundings to only establish that my bearings were gone due to feeling immensely light headed, and my equilibrium on its axis. When I recovered enough of my bearings to look around me, I realised that I recognised this place from somewhere, but not exactly sure how or the source of that knowledge because the name of the area seemed to escape my memory. It's like a place I dreamt or read about in a book somewhere maybe. I knew then with a quiet dread that I wasn't in Warrington anymore. My stalker had also appeared to have vanished, which was a relief within and of itself, but now I had a new problem. How did I get home from here? And where was here exactly?

It looked like Autumn here, the leaves were all changing to burnt out coloured shades of reds, yellows, and oranges. The smell of the season burning my nostrils, and something that I could taste, but couldn't put my finger on what it was. The birds that were flying above me seemed very strange, they were definitely of the otherworldly sort and the sounds they voiced were less irritating than the birds back home were to me at times. I didn't know that I could create made up birds in my dreams? That's quite a talented feat even for me. 

I started to trudge along the street, my withered and bruised body nothing but a bag of bones at this point. An inordinate amount of time passed, before I could hear the sound of the ocean as it came into view, and the smell on its calming breeze drew me in immediately. I walked further, went past alleyways, fields and abandoned places until I came to a crossroads, so I turned right, and headed away from there. 

Across from me appeared to be a row of some holiday cottages on one side of the street overlooking the beach across the road from them, decorated vividly with vined ropes of what looks like ivy upon their walls, but the colouring wasn't quite right. Each house was painted a different pastel tone, with porthole or crescent windows on some of them and square or arched ones on others, but just as beautiful as an abstract painting or still life portrait as I'd ever seen in my lifetime.

I sensed the beach across from the houses reaching out with its powerful lure, drawing me in, beckoning me closer. It wanted me to come to view it in all its splendour, to gaze upon its troves of treasures, ready to explore every mystery it owns at a moment's notice. The scent of the sea air beckoned to me, I could almost taste it on my tongue, and I couldn't resist its allure any longer. I took my shoes and socks off preparing to feel the sand between my toes, and to touch the salty sea water, feeling it caress my feet, to fully submerge myself in the majesty of the waves. My excitement trilled along my veins making me giddy and like I had bubbles fizzing through my chest and stomach. 

But, I never even made it onto the beach unfortunately, as 6 puffs of smoke materialised before me, a deep discomfort crept into my gut and twisted harshly as though my belly was angry over the lost opportunity of touching sand for the first time in a long while. The unsettled sensation grew heavier and the ambience with it as the 6 hooded figures stood before me. It became harder to breathe as my chest grew tighter, sweat perspired along my skin tickling down my skin at a slow pace, Every hair on my body was standing to attention as I tried to anticipate what would happen next. One of them manifested a wooden shillelagh with a knot at the top, a strange sigil design etched indelibly onto it. He lifted the stick and as he did the air around us seemed to take its final breath, as he slammed the base of the staff home towards the ground at our feet.