I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t want to, but I still did it.

  I couldn’t take it anymore, stuck in the mass of people surrounding me. Their stares burrowed into my skin. I could feel the fluorescence of their glares no matter where I stood. As if an artificial spotlight was splayed upon me, so bright that I felt the burn of my eyes filling with tears. Guilt and shame retched through my mouth.

  They know. They all know.

  It was unrelenting, my body being warped and ogled by their disgusted gazes. I couldn’t handle it any more, I needed them to stop looking at me.

  So I ran, I had to get away. I rushed out the door, letting it slam behind me. My feet landed heavy along the pavement as I hurried away. A chill spiked through my body, they could still see me. I continued to run, no sense of where I was, I just needed to go. I ran and ran and ran until I could feel my muscles start to burn as my bones ached. The last bit of control I had over my legs gave away as I tumbled forward into the grass beneath me. The ground squelched under my body as I laid there, staring up at the darkness of the starry sky. I could feel myself sinking, mud staining my clothes. I close my eyes and listen to the silence of the night. No one had followed me.

  I am safe. It’s cold, but I am alone.

  I can’t go back. I couldn’t go back. They all saw, everyone saw.

  I continued to lay when a source of light hazes into existence. The moon? No. A clock. It towers up into the sky. I could hear it now, the hands on the clock ticking away.

  Tick, tick, tick.

  The clock casts shadow over where I lay.

  Tick, tick.

  The face of the clock is watching me?

  Tick.

  No.

  Tick.

  It knows.

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  My breath turns heavy as the ticking persists.

  It sees me.

  I scramble back upon my feet and run. It knows, it knows.

  My lungs begin to throb as the taste of metal sits itself on the back of my tongue. I ran, my gaze hazy as all my senses just stopped.

  I found myself under a tree, resting my back along its trunk. Finally away. I close my eyes as I take in a few breaths. Feeling my arms curl around my shins as I rest my head upon my knees. The blood on my hands spread onto my mud soaked jeans. There was so much blood and everyone saw. I look up at the sky and realize that I am sick. I am corrupted.

  I could feel my legs begin to twitch and shake in a way that I couldn't stop. The leaves from the tree I am sitting under grant me a blanket of darkness in this never ending night. The leaves tremble in the wind.

  Are they - no, they are mocking me.

  I can feel them mocking me.

  I stand in resentment as it mimics my previous movements. The tree knows.

  How does it know?

  I make a break from the tree, pushing my body past its very limit. I need to get away.

  The air scratches against me as I run, it knows and it’s taking revenge.

  I deserve it.

  The tang of metal and bile rushes farther up into my mouth causing me to stumble and gag. I heave into a bush as it starts to tremble. Not only the tree, but the plants around me know. I rush past them, trying to break out of their stares as they continue to watch and mock my very being.

  Tick, tick, tick.

  The clock is back.

  Tick, tick, tick.

  It’s constant jeering pounds into my ears.

  Tick, tick, tick.

  Everywhere I go, I am surrounded. I am surrounded by their gazes.

  Tick.

  I am rotten.

  Tick.

  I am perverted.

  Tick.

  I am unclean.

  I freeze and place my hands over my ears, trying to cancel out the taunts. I scream into the nothingness. Dread borders itself into my hands. The blood has transferred onto my face. I fall to the ground, continuing to scream. I need them to stop watching. My tears leave sickly trails over my face.

  There is no escape.

  Everything knows.