Disturbing Night.

The warm air felt good after being inside the freezing store all day. As I shut the giant metal door behind me I heard the sound of an engine rush by at full speed. That would be my fellow-closer. She had managed to weasel out as fast as she could because she had somewhere "important" to be. I turned just in time to see the silver car disappear behind the neighboring building. Gol-lee!

I made my way to the old Buick on the other side of the parking lot. As I was walking I shoved my hand in my purse and dug around for my keys. Somehow they always managed to be at the very bottom! While my fingers brushed against everything but my keys I let my eyes wander around. I typically wasn't afraid of being out so late in a big city. This wasn't the first time I had closed -or in this case -walked outside at ten-thirty by myself. I had closed dozens of times and nothing bad ever happened. Why should I be scared? Still, I managed to jump as I heard the loud squeal of a car.

My eyes jumped to the restaurant next door, across the street. I saw the puff of black smoke roll from under a giant red truck as it shot out of the parking lot. I glanced around for a minute trying to calm my nerves and tell myself that it was nothing. It was then when I noticed the man standing right where the truck had been only seconds before. The man was bent over, staggering along the practically empty lot. It was obvious that he was drunk. Drunk and probably everything that goes with it. I watched him struggle to stand upward again, and then gasped when he managed to right himself. I knew this man. His bald head and refrigerator like build was unmistakable. It was my boss. My body tensed when he met my gaze. I knew my boss was the drinking type, but I didn't know how he acted when he was drunk. I had heard stories of how he had become violent and even threatened one of his own employees- his best friend, as a matter of fact -when he was in such a state. To be honest I was scared out of my mind. It was then that I noticed that I had only taken a few steps away from the building. My car was still at the opposite end of the parking lot. The distance seemed horrifying.

I was frozen where I was, scared stiff. He was still looking at me. No, he was glaring at me. Whatever happened just now definitely hadn't happened in his favor. He was angry. The shiver that ran down my spine seemed to shake through my entire body and I was again able to move. I walked slowly to my car, slowly as if this man were a giant grizzly that I didn't want to startle. My legs pushed faster as the man started towards me. I tried to ignore him as he began spitting words out as fast as he could. Nearly all of what he said was slurred or random. I hadn't the slightest idea what he was saying. When he was half way across the street, halfway to the store, my legs kicked into a full run. A surge of adrenaline seemed to have set off in him as well and he ran toward me just as fast.

I raced to my car and slammed against the drivers side, unable to stop myself properly. I slipped my fingers under the handle and wedge it upward. To my horror I heard the faint click that meant the door was still locked. The search for my keys had been forgotten and now it was too late to go digging again. He was getting closer. My car, as I have mentioned before, has some defects. First of all, it doesn't lock. Well, it does, it just doesn't stay locked. If I ever lock my keys in my car (which I have actually done before, only on purpose) all I have to do is click the door handle and it will eventually open. It usually takes about a good thirty seconds. I was aware of this, of course, but my nerves seemed to have forgotten and I started slamming my hands against the door.

"Please -please -please!" I hissed to my car as the man stormed across the street. He was already at the edge of the parking lot and it would only take seconds for him to close the space between us. To my relief the door clicked again and I was able to throw open the door, jump in and slam it again just in time. I jumped when the man -my boss -threw his weight against my car. My fingers fumbled around the door and smashed the lock down. I leaned over the passenger seat and managed to lock that one as well. I just hopped he would forget about the back doors that still remained unlocked. He was yelling now, hammering his fists against the hood of my car. I braced myself against the seat as the car began rocking back and forth. My heart was pounding and my entire body was shaking. I shoved my hand once again, into my purse and found my keys. Frantically, I tossed the keys between my fingers trying to find the right one. It took me a moment to find it and shove it into the slot. When I managed to make it fit, I stopped. The car was no longer moving. I could no longer hear the gruff voice of my manager. ...I looked up to see what had happened.

The man was walking toward the building, his back was all I could see. I sat up straight trying to figure out what he was doing. He leaned down and I could see by his arms that he had picked something up -something heavy- only, I couldn't see what it was. When he turned my heart stopped. In his hands was a large smooth brick. It was the one we always used to prop the back door open whenever we had a chance to take out the trash. It was the size of textbook and worked well to hold open the heavy door. My head spun in circles as I tried to think of what to do. The blood had drained from my face and I was sure that if I didn't inhale soon I was going to faint. I had forgotten how to breath.

Just then, I remembered a conversation that I had had with my cousins concerning these strange hypothetical situations where I would have to use self defense. I remember some of the moves that they had showed me, but right now those really wouldn't help me. Help. That was what I needed. I needed to get someones attention. I needed someone to hear me. "Just scream," my cousins had told me. "Someone will hear you."

I'm not the screaming type. When I get scared I usually just gasp. It's too much effort to have to have to inhale and then exhale at maximum volume. Maybe if I were a full soprano that would be different. My scream would sound better and perhaps carry a lot farther. But I'm no soprano. I don't scream. But I had to do something. I let the air rush into my lungs and I could feel the blood start to flow back into my head again. I didn't know how far my scream would carry from the inside of my car, but there was no way I was going to get out. So, I screamed. I didn't have to force it as the shadow of the man covered my entire window. I leaned back in my chair away from the window and braced my arms against the door and arm-rest. I continued to scream as the man lifted the brick over his head and sent it flying at the driver's side window. I stopped abruptly when the window smashed and the glass covered my lap. I shut my eyes and waited. My heart was pounding and I was breathing very fast. I waited. I don't know how long. I don't know what exactly I was waiting for, but I waited. And then... it happened.

I heard it. The loud piercing siren that sent my heart pounding at double the speed. I opened my eyes and reached for my pocket. I extracted my cell phone and flipped it open. It was six-thirty am, Sunday morning. I was lying on the floor in my sisters' room. I was at my parents house. Nothing had happened. It was all just a dream. A nightmare. I don't usually have nightmares, actually, I hardly remember my dreams at all!

But boy! What a night!