The night sky was shrouded as I descended the stairwell and pushed open the front door. The summer breeze felt warm on my skin and the air smelled earthy and fresh as it often did after rainfall. I hadn’t been able to sleep. Uninvited thoughts kept whirling round and round in my brain, causing me to toss and turn restlessly, much to the frustration of my husband.
“Can you cut it out?” he groaned, after I slammed my head on the pillow for the fiftieth time, “I have work in the morning.”
But I knew I wasn’t going to fall asleep that night. I had too much energy. It’s funny how powerful emotions can really be. A single thought can impact one’s entire being and push them to do things beyond their normal limits. That night, I was feeling particularly frisky, and brushing potential dangers aside, decided to go roller-skating. I’d never been out so late before on my own, which made the entire ordeal even more enticing.
“I’m going outside to roller-skate,” I whispered to my husband, while tossing away the covers and getting out of bed. He grumbled something in his sleep. I knew he wouldn’t approve of me going out. Our part of the city wasn’t exactly dangerous, in fact, it was generally considered to be the safest. However, I knew the thought of me out and about in the dead of night would be enough to make him queasy. I remember staring at him just before heading out the door and admiring how peaceful he looked. I kissed his forehead and listened to his soft breathing, “I’ll be back soon.”
As soon as my feet touched the pavement, I plopped down on it to pull on my skates. The ground was still warm, and the heat from the previous day seemed to permeate the air. Somewhere in the distance, a rumble of thunder foreshadowed rain.
The street was empty, aside from a stray cat loitering in front of the dumpster. The trees whispered in the wind, and somewhere far away a siren pierced the air. I stood up, my bare knees prickling with anticipation, and started along the street leading to the main road. In the quiet of the night, the sound of my wheels against the asphalt was almost thunderous, making me giddy with excitement.
During the day, this place was always bustling with life. Cars honked, dogs barked, and babies cried. The night had washed all of it away. It was radiant, heavenly, the most beautiful feeling I’d ever experienced. Why on Earth did people not think to do this? Why were they so enamoured with their fickle lives to even consider it? They had no idea such a thrill even existed, or if they did, they didn’t care.
Elated by my own little secret, I swept onto the main road. A few dingy street lamps provided just enough light for me to see, but most of the street was lost to darkness. Sight wasn’t a sense I was too concerned about that night. I was absolutely basking in the thrill, electricity soaring through my body, battling the overwhelming urge to leap up and fly. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and the short, ragged breaths I was managing, barely seemed like enough.
Oblivious to my surroundings, I didn’t even notice the sound coming from behind me.
Wheels.
My own wheels were hard against the ground, going a million miles per hour. As I listened to their drumming beat, I realized there was something amiss. It sounded almost like…instead of one set of roller skates, there were two. I gulped, wondering if my mind was starting to play tricks on me due to the lack of sleep. I eased my pace and listened closely. As my own steps slowed, the sound of wheels behind me became even more prominent. There was no doubt about it. I wasn’t alone.
I latched onto a nearby drainpipe and came to a halt. As I did so, the sound abruptly stopped. My heart was hammering in my chest, but the excitement I had felt a few seconds ago was fading fast. I glanced back at the dark street, praying the mysterious sound was only a product of my weary mind. The road looked as desolate as ever, and the only movement I could see were the trees in the distance, waving their long, skinny arms to the rhythm of the wind. Still, I held on, trying to catch my breath and snap myself out of it. My bare skin was covered in goosebumps, and I scolded myself for being so careless.
I looked over the road one more time, half-expecting to see someone hiding in between dustbins, or peeking from around the corner, but there was no one in sight. ‘It’s all in your mind,’ I told myself, before turning around warily and continuing along the sidewalk.
Except… it wasn’t. I didn’t get very far before the sound started up again. Louder this time, and somehow more sinister. My wheels clacked against the pavement, instinctively going faster and faster, with the ominous entity on my heels. My heart was practically leaping out of my throat as I turned my head to look around again.
Nothing.
The street was empty, yet I could clearly hear the sound of roller skates behind me. My heart was racing at a thousand beats per minute as I ran out of pavement and fled into the road.
Crack.
Suddenly, I was on the ground, blood seeping from the cuts on my legs, staining the thin fabric of my dress. The world around me had gone quiet, aside from a shrill ringing in my ears, but I recalled the last sound I had heard. Something had cracked. I shifted around clumsily, searching for the source, when I noticed one of my legs.
A deep gash had opened just below my right knee. Blood was spilling freely onto the white stripe of the crosswalk, dyeing it a deep shade of red. A clear outline of white bone shone through the blood, and I draped it over with the hem of my dress, my skin prickling. Not now. I had to get off the road.
I craned my neck in each direction until I felt lightheaded, but the mysterious entity seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The street was deserted. A single traffic light flickered idly above my head.
The blood from my leg was forming a puddle on the ground next to me. I swallowed, clenching my fists. I’d left my phone at home, so I couldn’t text my husband or call for an ambulance. How could I have been so foolish? There I was, in the dead of night, bleeding out on the pedestrian crossing.
Slowly, I undid the laces of my roller skates and attempted to wiggle my feet out. The left came off without trouble, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t free myself from the right. There was no chance I’d be able to get back up in the state I was in, but if I tugged harder, my already open knee burst at the seams.
An engine revved in the distance, followed by a flash of bright lights. A car. Hope filled my lungs and I let out an involuntary whimper. Surely, they would stop to help me. Surely, they’d call an ambulance. The car was getting closer, its engine sputtering as it accelerated.
What if- a voice piped up in my head, what if they didn’t stop? The only streetlights were far apart, and I wasn’t sure if the overhead traffic light illuminated the road enough to see someone from a distance. And what if the driver wasn’t paying attention?
I started inching my body towards the sidewalk, but I was moving at a snail’s pace. I cried out in pain and frustration, raising my arms above my head and desperately signalling for the driver to stop. Then, I heard roller-skates behind me. I jerked my head and squinted to see, but the street was unchanged. The sound of wheels was echoing over the houses and somehow matched the intensity of the incoming car engine. The headlights were only a few dozen feet away, and I hunched over in preparation for the inevitable slam.
There was a screech of tires and I felt two steady hands wrapping around my waist and pulling me up into the air. I didn’t understand what was happening at first and kept my eyes shut, lest I should see my bones strewn across the road.
I have no idea how long I stayed like this, hunched over, palms over my face. When I finally dared to crack my eyes open, I found myself on the sidewalk, on the right side of the road. The first thing I saw was a large bloodstain imprinted with tire tracks on the crosswalk. My previously white dress was now a sickly purple color, and my right leg was congested to the point I couldn’t even feel it.
The first glimmers of sunlight peeked through over the horizon, and I knew I was running out of time. How long had I been there? How much blood could a human lose before losing consciousness? I stared at the blue-black sky thinking about the pain my husband would feel when he found out. He’d never forgive himself.
I laid down on the pavement and wept, knuckling my eyes, my tears soaking into the ground. I listened to the birds chirping their morning song and gusts of wind tickling the tree branches. The world was so beautiful and so… quiet. Sirens started up in the distance, mercilessly piercing the peaceful morning, but I could barely hear them. I could barely hear anything.
They told me I’d been frozen when they found me. They said I kept drifting in and out of consciousness. They assured me they’d sent someone to clean up the scene before the morning traffic began. They told me I was lucky to be alive. And when I asked how they had found me, they said they had received an anonymous tip.
And then they told me my husband had passed away the previous night. They said he’d died peacefully, in his sleep.