She slipped her hand into her front pocket and pulled out a pencil.

“If there is anyone back there,” she began to calculate, “I shouldn’t stop to check it out”

She let the pencil fall through her fingers to the ground; it was the perfect cover for her to get a clearer look. As she bent down to pick it up she placed her hand flat to the sidewalk.

“This way, I can see them better,” she continued.

By touching the ground directly, without needing to ‘look’ through her shoes, she could pick up on the earth’s vibrations much more clearly. Upon contact with the pavement, the image at the back of her mind immediately cleared into a small car forty feet down the road under the large Norway maple tree. She closed her eyes to listen; the car was running.

Her first instinct was to run, but to start a chase so soon would not be wise. Without knowing what she was up against, she could either get away easy, or not at all. Unfortunately, she also couldn’t quite hide her curiosity about her pursuer’s identity.