My heart pounded as I plunged into the masses that swarmed toward the carousel. The night would have been pitch black, a new moon in the sky, were it not for the blazing lights from the many booths that made up main street of the carnival. Before me lay the exit, and I hoped that I would make it there before he reached me. I was rebuffed by the current that streamed into the park. Try as I might, I could not pierce the line that was determined to keep me here. And at every moment, he drew nearer to me.

I finally repelled my attackers and pushed through the line. Then, I found myself out of breath, beside the exit, but I could not stop here. I put one foot forward, got one foot out of the park just as a hand closed around my arm and pulled me back. Caught off balance, I tumbled to the ground and felt him fall down on top of me.

His eyes pierced mine, barely slits now as they peered down into my soul. I felt my whole body start to convulse as he stared at me with his dead, black eyes. I was trapped under the immense weight of his body atop mine and I screamed for help, but could not make a sound. Still my body shook with shivers that would not stop. I could not tear my eyes away from his stare.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I felt my mind going blank. I forgot everything I had ever known… about anything. I released a moan of frustration and pain and then lay there silently. The stunned expression on my face was the last thing that he, or anyone, would see of me. And in that final moment, I realized that I was going to die here, a fugitive, surrounded by strangers. No one here would know that I was dying, but I would simply drift off into oblivion…

I drift above my body now, seeing, but unseen. Not a ghost as many would think, but a simple memory of myself being torn at last from my body. And now to everlasting darkness with me. As the blackness comes in around me, I watch my body convulsing one last time, my eyes wide open and looking into his. Then, I lay still and am no more. Now, there is nothing left for this memory. I fade away into darkness and disappear.