Anger management

Anna ran as fast as she could and cursed the sun for going down so early in the winter. She had been on her work and she had to work over for a while to finish her report. But now she was finaly on her way home. Suddenly she stoped, gasping for air and had to make a choice. Either way she had to take the longer way where the cars drove and had lights all the way or she she could cross the dark wood and she'd be home in a couple of minutes.

   The night was comming in and she decided to run into the wood although her huge phobia against the dark, but she would at least be home in about a second.

   In the middle of the wood she got an eeire feeling, like a shiver in the spine, like something was following her but as she turned her head around nothing, or nobody was there.

    When she got out on the other side she felt relieved, but terrified.

Her hands were trembling while she picked up the bunch of keys from her bag, searched for the right key and tried to hit the keyhole. The keys were rattling against the lock as she opened the door, and the soft metallic noise echoed across the staircase. The apartment was pitching black as she entered and she walked slowly across the room and tried to find the light switch. The whole ritual was obligatory because of her extreme horror against the dark, only when all the lights were on could she calm down a bit.

   First the floor lamp in the hallway, then the small one with the brown lamp shade and at last the night light standing beside the bed. As the lights were all turned on she started to make herself at ease by turning on the stereo at full strength.

   She walked into the kitchen and noticed that the dirty dishes from today's breakfast were still lying around, not that it mattered very much; she hadn't washed the dishes by herself at all the past year. That's what becomes of some people who inherit money, they lose their ability to do things by themselves, and all she has to do now is to pay the cleaning lady who comes once a week.

   She lay down drowsy on the sofa, her eyelids were feeling really heavy, but as usual she always picked up her phone, and called some random people just to have a chat with someone. Before bedtime, it can get very lonely when you live all by yourself.

   While chatting she herd some strage sounds, as if someone lurked outside her front door. Her body froze to ice and she got wide awake.

"Wait a minute", she whispered in the phone and softly dropped it onto the sofa,

"Hey where did you go?" a soft scared voice called from the phone receiver.

   She picked up the phone and yelled at her friend.

"SHUT UP! I'm trying to concentrate here", in her anger she threw the phone at the wall, and then the only thing that was heard was a silent beep.

   Anna tried to focus on the front door, and in a sudden all the lights went out. All she could see now was the shadow of a narrow figure standing outside creeping in under the door.The only thing that she could hear was her own fast inhalations.

   A man was lurking outside a door. Who he was and what his business there was could nobody knew. He did not move very much, he just stood there as if he was waiting for something, perhaps the opportune moment, but for what?

   He had heard a young girl yell inside and a bang as she threw something against the wall, but he did not move, not an inch. He just stood there. The man was about middle age, maybe not even 30 but his pale face and the wrinkles on his forehead made him look old. His trousers were torn and the shirt he wore looked as if it used to be white, now all it resembled was something that had been found lying in a dumpster.

The man looked confused and nervous and he was constantly biting on his nails. Anna did almost not dare to move, the fear was so overwhelming that she almost fainted every time she tried to rise. What was she going to do? She looked around as if she was looking for something, then she started to crawl into the kitchen. She supported herself against the kitchen sink and stood up.