Her feet pounded the bitumen as she continued to run down the long, service alleyway. The backs of the tall, lifeless high-rise buildings passed her in a blur as she tried to pick up speed. Her hair, her clothes, were soaked from the downpour of cold rain which only added more weight to her body. If she could ditch them she would but this wasn't an option that was available to her. The sound of thunder grew louder as it growled overhead in the distance. The sudden storm that had blanketed the city was not going to disappear anytime soon.

She fought as panic threatened to take over her mind.

She clutched at her torso, her heart beating rapidly as if someone was playing it like a drum. She tried to take steady breaths but it was to no avail; sharp pain shot somewhere near her hips and she felt herself fall off her feet and onto the narrow road. The tiny stones dug their way into her skin and her hands automatically flew to her freshly grazed knee. The water stung and she cursed to herself.

Her stalker would well and truly catch her now. It was over.

Closing her eyes, sixteen year old Ellen raised her face towards the sliver of charcoal sky that was framed by the cold buildings that surrounded her. She felt each individual drop of rain fall onto her face and then trickle into her sodden blonde hair. Ellen omitted a barely audible sigh as she expelled a lungful of air. The pain was too much for her to push through; she wouldn't be able get back onto her feet in this form.

The voice whispering in her mind told her like it was, a straight-shooter as was she.

She was defeated.

For the first time in her life she found herself praying.

Who she was praying to, she didn't know. She hoped that someone - a higher, divine being - was listening to her desperate cries for help. She wanted to survive. She didn't want it to end this way.

She was young; she had her life ahead of her.

Opening her eyes, she looked up and down the alleyway searching for any signs of movement.

None. Not even the slightest twitch of a muscle.

She could hear the rain hitting the bitumen and the faint sound of city traffic coming from somewhere beyond the buildings. But there were no footsteps which she was so convinced that she would hear. The footsteps would have paralysed her with fear.

To this she was grateful.

Taking this as a good omen and feeling instant relief wash over her body, Ellen picked herself up onto her feet and limped ever-so-slowly down the narrow road in the opposite direction from which she came. The sound of cars grew more distinct with each step she took. The motor groans and grumbles were suddenly pierced with the wailing of emergency sirens - an ambulance perhaps?

The combination of rain, slick roads, cars, and human error was an accident just waiting to happen. It was as if the grim reaper was waiting in the darkness to claim yet another life to his growing number.

Another statistic in the accident and injury books and even more repairs that the city would have to pay for from crying tax payers coffers.

She turned the corner into yet another alleyway, this one narrower than the last, and she felt a smile break across her face. There was an opening at the end and she saw throngs of people huddled together. Her mind told her to push on, push through the pain that burdened her.

She could vanish into the crowd and no one would know she was there. She would become just another body making up the mass.

Most of all, she could be safe.

Breaking into a gander that was caught somewhere between a limp and a run, the newly identified safe haven began to loom in front of her. It seemed so close but yet, it remained so far. After what seemed like an eternity, she burst out from the mouth of the alleyway and into the bustling space where - by quick glance - at least two hundred people were gathered. They were pointing and gasping, excited about something which remained blocked out of Ellen's view. Feeling vulnerable, she jostled her way into the sea of people, taking care not to unintentionally elbow someone.

Handbags and umbrellas smacked her all over her body, and pointed corners pushed into her skin as if she was being tenderized for tonight's dinner. Rubbing the angry red patches that came to be on her forehead and arms, she emerged on the other side of the crowd.

Striped yellow-and-black barricades were placed in a makeshift ring to prevent onlookers from getting too close. But, like everyone knew, this didn't stop determined journalists from attempting to jump over them and grab a perfectly angled photograph. Attentive police officers, in the know of their tactics from experience, seized their arms and steered them back behind the barriers.

Do it again, they warned, and you will be taking photos from the inside of a police cruiser. Final warning buddy.

In this city, they were much like leeches. They were ruthless, ignorant, and had a blatant disregard for instructions if it meant that they got the best material out of all media outlets. Many of them had already cost innocent people's livelihoods and ruined countless reputations. This was all undeserved. It was only six months ago that a sorry excuse of a journalist was jailed for assaulting a child who had got in the way of unfolding news. The judges had bought the book down heavily on him for hitting the child with a camera.

Not only once.

Twice.

Several emergency vehicles - police, fire and paramedics - were parked strategically to try and block as much of the view from civilians as possible. The bodies of the vehicles guarded most of the scene, but not all of it. Their presence on site would explain the wailing sirens she heard earlier. These were now silenced although the flashing lights still danced in their clear plastic shells. Each officer on the scene seemed to take no notice of the rain as they were locked onto the situation at hand. They were not only great at their careers, but they were also passionate about their community.

Ellen shifted herself to the left by a few meters and then peered between the gap that was made by the bonnet of a cruiser and the back of emergency response paramedic SUV. There were two sedans, now fused together by what appeared to be a head-on collision. The airbags of each vehicle had deployed and from what she could see, the drivers had escaped or had been removed by the jaws-of-life. The hydraulic machine lay close by, having saved more lives. Oils were leaking from busted lines, colourful from reflecting the cloud-curtained sunlight.

She adjusted herself again slightly, eager to see more. She felt herself dry retching at the sight of what her eyes and mind were registering. There was someone jammed between the two cars that had collided, his body flayed in grotesque angles that were well outside of what a human, a contortionist even, was capable of achieving.

His face was frozen and portrayed no emotion, not even pain.

His forehead was battered, bruised and bleeding from where it had intercepted with the car. Other parts of his body were mutilated almost beyond recognition. The rain diluted and washed away the leaking blood into a nearby gutter.

Two police officers were now unraveling a black piece of plastic and holding it up as two others were preparing to fasten it to make a temporary screen. For those that had seen it, it was too little, too late. This scene would be burned into the back of their minds and their eyes for the rest of their lives.

No one seemed to take notice of Ellen as she began to hyperventilate and sway on her feet. She watched as the floor beneath her began to move, and as heat and clamminess douse her body. She turned on her heel and started to push her way through the gathered, ever-curious swarm of people.

She felt herself bump into those around her, earning several threatening glares. Eyes stared at her as she continued to clumsily fight her way out of the crowd. They were much like a school of fish, all huddled together and facing one direction. Reaching the edge of the school, she spied an empty bench underneath one of the only remaining natural rain-trees along this specific road.

It was within the heart of the southern shopping and business district; a playground for professionals, shoppers, recreationalists and people looking to have a coffee with friends or even alone to people gaze and watch the world carry on. Usually it was a handsome setting - towering, modern high-rises looking down onto a well landscaped and traffic-calmed road which was shared by vehicles and pedestrians alike. In the best of days, it offered an interesting balance of nature meeting the city.

But today, it was the polar opposite of handsome. It was in a state of tragedy and the storm cast more darkness.

Ellen reached the wooden bench and sat down, dropping her face into her palms and letting her fingers run through her wet hair. Thoughts were speeding through her mind, none of them making any sense.

She recognised the man - indeed, he was the one that stalked, attacked and then gave chase to her. But why was he so adamant on catching her? She was but a sixteen year old girl with the same problems as everyone else had at that age.

She studied hard and put in nothing but the best effort at school. She always completed her homework on time and aspired to be a physiotherapist. A harmless physiotherapist so she could help people.

The biggest question she had was how did he go from being almost directly behind her to being pinned between two sedans?

Surely you had to have superhuman powers to be able to move that quickly. And everyone knew that superhumans were a fabrication of comic books; characters that were the figment of someone's imagination and put into ridiculous situations that were about as believable as the moon being made of cheddar cheese or a person coming back from the dead after being seriously maimed with countless witnesses.

She saw someone approach her from the corner of her eyes.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

A young police officer walked around the bench and kneed down to be eye-level to her. He clapped both hands onto the knee which wasn't bent to the ground. His warm, hazel eyes met hers and she saw tufts of chocolate brown hair plastered against his forehead. Water drops fell from his navy blue hat and onto his shoulders.

"You seem a bit pale."

Lost for words, Ellen nodded. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince him no matter how hard she tried or how well she could act.

"Are your parents here? Friends?"

She shook her head.

"Would you like a lift home?"

She felt tears brim around her eyelids as the ordeal finally caught up with her. She didn't bother wiping these away as the rain was already doing this for her.

"Come on." The young officer stood up and helped her to her feet. Keeping a hand hovering behind her, he guided her to a cruiser that was parked on a side street but within close distance to the accident.

He opened the door for her and helped her in before closing it and getting in the other side. He turned off the crackling radio in the car which was used to coordinate the services to handle the situation they left behind. Using barely audible instructions whispered by Ellen, they pulled into her driveway slowly fifteen minutes later. The gravel crunched as the tyres drove over them and eventually, the cruiser came to a halt. Her parents were already standing at the door, a look of shock on their faces.

Was their baby girl arrested? Of course not! She wouldn't do such a thing although their neighbours were probably having a field day - something interesting happening in the sleepy neighbourhood at last.

Seeing the look of devastation on their daughters face as she left the car, they stepped to the side and let her disappear up the stairs and into her bedroom with no words being exchanged. A young officer emerged from the driver's side, took off his hat, and held it underneath his armpit. He spoke in an ashen voice, careful so that the traumatised girl upstairs couldn't hear them.

"There's been a terrible accident downtown today. She saw the scene and..." he began.

"We saw it on the news," her Dad replied. He was a well-built man but lean and towered over the officer. He had a tender arm around his wife who bared striking resemblance to her daughter. "What happened?" The three adults stood huddled underneath the façade of the large home as the storm persisted. More thunder rumbled and lightning struck the ground in the distance.

"We can't give full details as of yet but a pedestrian was caught between a two motor vehicle collision. He seemed to have appeared almost out of thin air according to one of the witnesses. It was very...sudden. Quite eerie really. Given this weather though..."

Ellen's mother bowed her head at the thought of her daughter stumbling upon such a horrendous scene at her age.

As if reading her mind, the officer continued. "The city has services available for those that have experienced something so traumatic. I strongly urge you get in touch with any of the stations. They can provide you with any information you may be interested in." He placed his hat back onto his head and touched the brim of it.

"Sir. Ma'am."

He made his way back to his car but had the strong feeling that eyes were watching him. With a foot in the car, he turned around and peered up at a large, second-storey window that faced out onto the driveway. He saw the young girl staring down at him, her eyes wide open reminding him of an owl. He raised his hand in a small wave. She continued staring at him, unmoved by the small gesture.

A cold chill ran up his spine.

Something was quite eerie indeed.