Hello. I don’t know how much time I have left before that thing racing me catches up to me, so I’ll try and tell this story quickly. Then again, I do have a tendency to go on about things, so maybe it will catch up to me.
Anyway, let’s start at the beginning of this whole affair. My name is Jennifer Chase and I’m a PE teacher at Blackthorne Middle School. Not to brag, but I consider myself one of the better teachers out there. I mean, you have to be a good teacher when Jillian Parkinson of all people likes you and has genuine talks with you and has never said a bad word about you. Jillian is one of those people who just hates all teachers by default and she’s only really open to her friends about anything. The other students like me too, of course.
Ugh. Look at me, rambling just like I said I would.
Anyway, my main hobby is biking. It’s a really therapeutic form of exercise, I do it every day, and it’s really enjoyable. I’m really fast and I’ve even competed in official races before. One time I got second place, and three times I got third. I also enjoy casually racing my friends, who love biking just as much as I do.
Which is ultimately what led me into this predicament.
I was having a late-night casual ride before I went home and went to bed, and I noticed someone wearing a full-head motorbike helmet riding near me, even thugh they were just riding a regular bike. “Hi!” I said as I passed them. They didn’t look up.
Eventually, I reached the end of my usual route, and was about to pack up and go home when the person I had noticed earlier came up to me. “You’re good.” they said. Their voice sounded slightly off, like they were speaking underwater. But I brushed it off, a lot of people’s voices can sound odd.
“Thanks.” I said.
“Wanna race?” they asked me. “I usually ride on this route too.”
I, unfortunately, figured I could go for one more round before I went home. “Sure.” I said.
We lined our bikes up together. “I’ll give you a head start.” they said. “Don’t let me catch up to you!”
I didn’t take them seriously. I thought it was just a way of speaking.
So I set off.
I pedaled for a while, passing familiar places like the entrance to the woods near the border of town, the mall, and the pizza place.
Eventually, I remembered seeing a bush a while back that looked oddly like the bush at the end of my route, but again, I brushed it off, this time as seeing things.
Then I began to get some serious deja vu as I passed the same old places again. The woods. The mall. The pizza place.
Eventually, I came to a bush that I legitimately recognized as the bush at the end of my route. I started panicking, but something inside me told me to keep cycling. So I did.
How long had I been cycling for? I couldn’t remember, and for the first time in my life I wanted to call it quits.
So I eventually stopped cycling and waited on the side of the road, having passed the same places 7 times and counting.
The other thing caught up to me. “I thought I told you not to let me catch up to you.” it said, its voice sounding more distorted now. But I was too tired to properly register that until later.
“Look.” I said. “Race’s over. You win. I’ve had a long night and I want to go home.”
“That’s not the way it works.” it said, and it took off its helmet.
The thing underneath the helmet…it’s rather difficult to describe. The closest I could say was that it looked something like a person, something like a spider and something like a stereotypical alien.
I screamed out loud.
“Consider yourself lucky.” said the thing. “I’ll forgive you this time, but let me remind you of what I said at the beginning of our race. Don’t let me catch up to you.”
I nodded and quickly took off again.
I’m hiding in the bush now. I stopped counting how many times I passed it a long time ago. I hope that thing doesn’t notice me in here, or notice my bike hidden behind the bush.
Because I’m not supposed to let it catch up to me.