BLUE BIRD ( PART ONE )

There was a cold chill in the air, the walls were
damp with moisture causing the wallpaper to strip
away, infact the house had never felt so cold as it
did right now.

Kate paced up and down the living room shivering,
she folded her arms, hands clenching the tops of
her arms, rubbing fast so as to cause some warmth,
perhaps a little heat came, but again she shivered
and kept moving.

She had bitten her nails down so far, they had bled. "Ouch!" she trod on something sharp, her bare
foot now bled aswell. She looked at her bare feet
almost blue with cold.
"I must put my trainers on," she thought hobbling
to the shoe rack in the hallway. She found her
trainers, sat on the stairs and slipped them on,
then she went back into the living room.

"Why doesn't the damn heating work?" Kate thought
as she started to pace the floor again. Suddenly
she stopped in her tracks, she heard the knocking
on the conservatory door, quietly to begin with
then getting louder, she knew it was him. Kate
leant up against the cold, damp wall, her heart
beating fast, edging slowly along the wall she
was shaking, she peeked around the corner,
"yes it was him alright," she froze, thinking
quickly she knew she had to get out of the house
and quick.

Kate made her way to the front door, her heart
still beating fast, she opened the door and ran
out quickly, not even thinking to close it behind
her. She ran up the garden path and out into the
street, nobody was around, it was really eerie.
As she ran down the street, she glanced back over
her shoulder, he was following.

When she got to the end of the road, she turned
right, she knew he would catch her if she didn't
run faster, so she increased her pace as she
turned right up another road.
"I know!" she thought to herself.
"I'll run through a neighbours garden, hopefully
he'll carry on up the road and I'll loose him."
Kate ran up the neighbours garden path, then around the side of the house, she was breathing
hard now.

At the end of the back garden was a gate leading
to some woods, she went to open the gate, but it
was stuck, turning around she couldn't believe her eyes, he was still coming.
"How did he know I would come this way?" she
thought.

With no time to think, she jumped the gate, then
continued running, the trees high above seemed
claustrophobic, Kate found herself scrambling
through the undergrowth. Finally the wood started
to slope upwards, which was her biggest fear.

"Oh no!" she stared back out of breath, he was
still coming after her. Kate was so tired of
running, all she wanted to do was rest awhile, but that was not possible, he would be on her if she
stopped now.

She started to climb, struggling each step seemed
no closer to the top, she was now on her hands and knees clawing at the earth, trying to get a grip,
tears started to fill her eyes.
"I can't do this anymore," she cried desperately,
"please don't hurt me, help!"
Suddenly he was upon her, she could feel his body
weight bearing down on her own body, she screamed, her screams echoing all around her.

She closed her eyes waiting for the worst to happen, "help! get off me I can't breathe," she
cried. Struggling she opened her eyes, it was dark,
"help!" she screamed crawling through the dark,
suddenly into the light, she realised she was
crawling under the quilt on her bed. Kate threw the
quilt off sweating, she took some deep breathes and
lay there awhile in a sweat, it had been that awful
nightmare again.
"Why do I keep getting these nightmares?" she asked
herself.

Once Kate had recovered, she made her way to the
bathroom. After relieving herself, she then turned
on the shower, the sound of the running water was
very inviting. Kate quickly stripped off and stepped into the warm water, the nightmare seemed to wash away once again.

"Thank god it's Sunday, I couldn't face work today," she pondered. It had been a late night last
night, Kate had gone out clubing with some friends,
she knew she'd had far to much to drink and was
starting to feel the effects of a hangover.

After her shower she got dressed, then she went
downstairs to the kitchen and put the kettle on,
"ah!" she sighed, that wonderful first cup of
coffee of the day. She was sitting contemplating
on what she would do with the rest of the day, when
the doorbell rang.
"Who can that be on a Sunday, I'm not expecting
anyone?" she said to herself. Kate got up and looked out of the window, she couldn't believe her
eyes, she ran to open the door.

To be continued ..........