The Follower
Allison and Nora woke up expecting to have a normal Morning jog.
        August 6th, 2017 5:00 a.m.; the dreary Monday morning caused Allison to roll out of bed slowly, but before her feet could even touch the ground the classic iPhone ringtone filled the silence.  The caller ID revealed it to be Nora,”Areeee weeee stilllll goingggg???” exclaimed Nora in a half asleep tone. “OF COURSE we’re still going what do you mean?!” said Allison with a slight tone of annoyance. Allison wobbled over towards her blinds and saw the un-forecasted fog hugging the trees and sky. “Stop being a baby and meet me at the old bus stop on Old Creek Drive in 10 minutes” exclaimed Allison.
        Allison and Nora meet three times a week to condition for cross country; they always meet up around 5:30--well most of the time 6:30-- in the morning. “What took you so long to get here it’s already 6:45 a.m.”, asked Allison. “I’m sorry! My dad hounded me about all the noise I made when I got ready” pleaded Nora. “No more excuses we need to be prepared for the upcoming meet--its crunch time”, exclaimed Allison.
        While running through the worn out path of old creek’s trails, Nora ran at a constant pace until she tripped and gashed her knee on a seemingly out of place log.  “Owww” yelped Nora in pain “That log literally came out of nowhere what the heck” continued Nora.  Allison stood motionless and completely ignored every word Nora was saying. “Hello earth to Allison “, said Nora as she slowly struggled to lift herself off the ground. Nora looked in the same direction as Allison, and saw a-large-bigfoot- looking-man staring straight at them through the thick fog. At that moment-- heart pounding-- Allison thought in her head “This is creepy and we should turn around”, but her lips physically couldn’t form the words. All of a sudden Allison realized her feet were already moving.
        Pulling on Allison’s arm Nora ran--well as best as she could-- toward the opposite direction of the stranger that was once motionless, but now running straight towards them. Allison finally snapped back into reality and started picking up the pace. Nora heavily exclaimed, “WHY is he chasing us?’’ Allison was lost for words, emotions and any sense of normalness; she just kept running.
        Several seconds later the tall stranger finally caught up to them; however, the man ran straight past them with his headphones in. Nora and Allison exploded out in laughter for being afraid of a morning jogger. “I feel so stupid right now I can’t believe he was just a jogger” said Allison--finally.  After they stopped laughing they went back on the trail to head home.” I think we had a good enough practice for today let's go home” said Allison. “I still can’t believe we thought that dude was following us”, said Nora.  After approaching the parking lot, Nora—all of a sudden-- burst out into laughter this caused Allison to start laughing also.  “Promise not to tell anyone about this exclaimed Allison that was so embarrassing”. “I promise”, said a deep masculine voice. Allison quickly swiveled around to see Nora’s body lying on the concrete floor. When Allison lifted her head up she saw the seemingly- harmless- jogger covering his hands over her mouth. As her words muffled by the covering of his hands all we heard her say“Dad?”