Excerpt: Khalid

Chapter One

The lights were turned off. There wasn’t a person in sight. Snow was lightly falling. I got off the bus like I always did after my night shift in the hospital. I worked there cleaning the offices.

I don’t know how it happened. I was walking down the block and like I said before it was pitch black. Usually the lights were on but lately it was costing the government too much money to keep a street light on. I’m being sarcastic about that.

I heard footsteps behind me. I don’t like people walking behind me, so I stopped walking. When I didn’t hear footsteps I looked back and a guy was standing there. He had a knife in his hand as if he was ready to attack.

If I turned around he was going to kill me.

Alexandra froze. Her eyes looked deep into the eyes of the young man. He had a beard and by the look in his eyes he probably hadn’t slept in months. He was probably another homeless guy that had been killing anyone that had some money. Alexandra had just cashed her check; she was the perfect target.

There wasn’t a person in sight.  So, Alexandra took off running. The young man was running right behind her. Alexandra didn’t look back. Her father always said if you are running never look back, you’ll lose. Her apartment was just a few blocks away but there was no way the door would just magically open and let her in without the keys.

This guy was going to kill her. Alexandra couldn’t stop thinking about her parents. They were going to suffer so much knowing that their only daughter was gone. Her legs were tired and her throat was dry. Her heart was beating and she could feel it in her throat.

It didn’t matter how much her muscles ache, the lack of air, the pain on her chest, the beating of her heart or the horrible thoughts running through her mind, Alexandra was not going to stop running. If this guy wanted to kill her he would have to catch her first.

“You stupid bitch!” He threw himself on her and they both fell. The weight of his body was too heavy on her.  He had both of her arms down and she continued to fight him off. The knife was cutting her skin every time she moved. But she didn’t want to give up. Her screaming and yelling didn’t stop. It was slowly driving him insane thinking that someone could hear her.  “Shut up! Shut up!”

It wasn’t until he sat on her stomach that she stopped screaming. She could barely breathe. As long as she continued fighting him off however, he wasn’t going to stab her to death. Unfortunately, her struggling only meant he would put more weight on her body. Eventually she passed out.