BEFORE HE FEELS by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

***

Cleo Colegrove was pretty sure there was someone following her.

One of the tricks she’d learned as a kid was to walk with soft feet…to almost tiptoe without appearing as if she was doing so. This allowed her to move along at a normal pace while also taking in her surroundings. When she’d got off of the bus, she’d done exactly that; she always did.

Within about five seconds, she’d heard several pairs of footsteps. This was nothing new, as at least seven other people got off at the same stop she disembarked from. But those footsteps usually all dispersed and went their own ways within a block or so.

But there was still one set of footfalls behind hers. Whoever it was, they were keeping their distance.

You’re being paranoid, Cleo, she thought. Who the hell would follow you, anyway? If it’s a mugger, they’ll be sorely disappointed. And it’s not a rapist; even though you can’t see yourself you know you’re not much to look at. Your mom made sure to tell you that over and over again when you were a kid.

Still not quite concerned, Cleo continued on her way. She had just come from a class on learning to type on a modified MacBook that had been specifically designed with the blind in mind. She typically caught on quickly to things like that and figured she’d have it down after another class or two. After that, she thought she would probably sign up for another music history class at the community college. She secretly wanted to learn to play piano and maybe one day, when she finally got over the embarrassment of being hindered by her blindness, she’d work up the courage to do so. The MacBook class was really just an excuse to ease herself into the water and—

The footsteps behind her were clearer now. She allowed herself a moment to stop and focus on her surroundings. She knew that she was standing between a little bakery called Rising Grains and an upscale travel agency. She knew these things because her caretaker had helped her with a voice-assisted map of the route she took almost every morning and afternoon from the college. Also, she could smell the phantom traces of the bread from the bakery even though it closed at 3:30 every day. Lastly, she could pinpoint her location with the slight echoes the tapping of her walking stick made as she clicked it against the sidewalk.

From her current location, she had about two more full blocks to walk before she’d reach her apartment. She could make it in less than five minutes, maybe a bit longer if she got caught at the crosswalk the next block ahead.

Another thought crept into her head and it was this one that made her feel real dread for the first time—a thought that turned a bothersome worry into real fear. It was the realization that the street around her was relatively quiet; there was a lull in traffic between people coming home from work and those who would venture out for dinner or drinks around 6:30 or 7:00.

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