He chased her down the staircase to the tunnel at the end of the street. It was pitch black, not even the end gave any sort of glow. But it was this or him. She started to run into the blinding void, with her arms out in front of her to feel around where she was going.
She could only see behind her, with him still running towards her. She had a choice, and it was a hard one to make. It took every ounce of courage mustered together inside of her. She continued to run without sight, the light behind her getting further until there was no light, and she felt like she was drowning in the dark. She continued on ahead even though she felt nothing, and knew nothing of what surrounded her from all around. But she continued and hoped that she would eventually see the light.
She continued on through the night, and still no light in sight. The night blanketed any remainder of the day. But she continued on, not knowing where she was going and not knowing how far he was behind her. She continued on.
As she became restless in thought and felt she had no more in her, she looked ahead and saw the light. She began to run faster and faster to gain distance between what was behind her and what lay before her. She ran and ran and continued even more, even faster than before.
And when she reached the opening of the tunnel, she looked back and felt the weight lifted off of her. She was no longer in danger; he must have dropped off sometime last night during the journey. She looked over to the horizon and there stood her brother.
“I knew I would find you down here. I always do, every Saturday at this time,” he said.
"Every Saturday? Wait, what do you mean?" she questioned.
“Every Saturday, you come here as a reminder, and then your memories are triggered, and that part of you running away from him plays all over again. And now I wait at the clearing, like the doctor said. One day, you’ll find peace from this that will last forever, and for now, the peace only lasts for a week until you head down here next week to relive it all over again. The doctor said not to stop you and that you would eventually stop on your own, just to support you in this journey,” he explained to her gently, comforting her.
"Thank you, thank you for always being there," she replied.
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