Long shadows stretched ominously across the rough pavement as Samantha Wilson sprinted down an unfamiliar street, her heart pounding. Her pulse quickening at the sound of echoing footsteps that sent chills racing down her spine. She glanced over her shoulder. Panic surged through her veins. Had she escaped her pursuer? Her legs seemed like they were moving in slow motion. She had to go faster to get away.
Sam scanned her surroundings in a frantic search for a way out. Ahead was an old hotel, and she turned to it as an escape. Years of abandonment and neglect left the once grand entrance deteriorated. Glass from the massive door lay in pieces on the floor. Stepping through the broken glass, she moved inside and felt the numbing chill of cold water soaking her feet.
When she glanced down, the reflection she saw was not her own face, but that of a stranger.
Sam stopped and whispered, “Who are you?”
Hearing footsteps and crunching glass behind her, she took a deep breath and hurried ahead through the shallow water. Reaching the other side, she darted up a stairway and crouched on a balcony. Her heart pounded as the dark stranger passed by below. The man looked up at the balcony where Sam was hiding. She soon realized the old building was not the sanctuary she had hoped for. All at once, she froze, caught in the icy stare of the man with the weathered face and a dark baseball cap staring up at her…
