Caroline
studied the old man carefully. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but
something about him reminded her of someone else. But who? She knew for sure
that she had in fact seen him somewhere before. Did they cross paths at some
point, or has she seen him in the area before and just didn’t take the time to
really look at him until now? Caroline’s mind almost went into overdrive as she
began to follow the mysterious character. Curiosity gnawed at her while she
strained her eyes to keep track of the man as he silently darted through the
people on the streets ,hunched over and head bent down. This feeling was similar to Deja Vu, yet stronger. She cut over until she
was directly behind him and only a few people away. Just as she was starting to
catch up, the man looked over his shoulder and spotted her weaving her way
through the crowd, not too far from where he was. Now knowing that she was in
pursuit of him, he turned and began running.
“Wait!”
Caroline shouted as she too began to run. “Please, wait! I have to ask you
something!” She extended her hand out, reaching in his direction while her
heels clicked loudly on the sidewalk’s pavement. The man didn’t stop to react
to her words; he needed to get away before she caught up to him. However,
Caroline was fiercely determined to discover the identity of this person, no
matter what it took. She wasn’t sure what was driving her to pursue him, but something
inside of her mind told her to keep going. “Don’t lose track of him,” it told
her, “He can’t get away this time!”
At this
point, people in the crowd began to stop and move out of the way of the chase.
A few people tried to grab the man, thinking that perhaps he had stolen
something from the woman hot on his trail. He wouldn’t give in though. The
mysterious figure began to shove people out of his way in hopes of making a
faster retreat. However, this just drew more attention to himself, something he
was obviously trying to avoid. He moved even faster now, needing to get out of
the area as soon as possible or at least to somewhere where he could get away
without any spectators. At this rate, he would stir up too much of a crowd and
Caroline would catch him for sure. The man spotted a turn in the side of a
brick building that led to a narrow alley. There, he needed to get there! No
one would see him that way.
Just as
the figure made a turn into the alleyway, he felt a firm tug on his black coat
jacket. “Please sir, just give me a minute!” It was Caroline again. The man
failed to notice how close Caroline had gotten when he was searching for
somewhere to hide. He would have no choice now, he had to break the promise he
had made to her. “I’m sorry, but for some reason,” Caroline began to speak, but
slowly stopped as she saw the man turn to her. Her words fell out of her mouth.
The two stared each other dead in the eyes, matching baby blue orbs reflecting
each other.
For
just a second the two stood still, looking at each other with mixed emotions.
The man breathed out a quick, “I’m sorry.” Pain suddenly shot through Caroline’s
head and she let out a small yelp in pain. She bent over, the palms of her
hands pressing into her strained forehead. She stayed that way for a few
moments until the pain began to die down. Standing up straight with a hand to
her head, Caroline studied her environment. Confusion quickly found its way
into her brain. Why was she in an empty alleyway? Last time she remembered,
Caroline was just exiting a coffee shop on the other side of town. Stumbling a
little, Caroline made her way out of the alley and back onto the streets, her
fingers still pressed into her temple. Soon enough, a young couple approached
Caroline and asked if she was alright. Caroline told them that she was fine,
but wasn’t sure what she was doing or how and why she ended up where she did. The
couple nodded and decided to escort her back to her car to be sure that she
wouldn’t get into any more trouble on the way. Caroline didn’t mind, so she let
the two young adults lead her back downtown. As Caroline walked down the
pavement, a silent, forgotten memory sighed in the back of her mind. “You let
him get away again.”
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