Shattered Serenity

     The cell phone rang.

     It cut the silence of the serenity that lay in Adam’s mind, which was shattered by that one call.

     “Hey Adam, we need to talk.” It was his girlfriend, Ashley.

     “Yes.” His voice was a diminutive murmur from somewhere in his throat. He didn’t know if it was due to the dry summer afternoon, or the fear that pinched his vocal chords.

      “Adam, it’s over between us.” Her once-pleasant voice now seemed to transform, as if someone sinister lay just underneath the surface.

      Adam fell down to his knees on the dirt ground, still listening to her shattering words. He looked at the rocks, studying how the sharp edges mimicked the sharpness of her voice. The once-verdant green leaves turned a shade of grey, as unattached to the tree as was his heart to this woman.

      He grew angry with the cheerful environment around him. As if nature came and split him in two. He felt barren despite the chirping of the birds surrounding him, mocking him. The sun gleamed, but his soul lacked any luster.

      After Ashley’s cutting words had sliced him, and the two minutes of agony were over, he heard the severe sound of a dial tone. He now looked at his cell phone as if it were an enemy, a foreign object only fit to break the serenity of his afternoon walk.

     Adam knew it was coming. He predicted this, as a weatherman forecasts the chance of rain by raising his finger in the stillness of the air. Now stillness crept over his body, a thunderstorm lay upon him.

     He saw the man’s green eyes sharply in his mind. They bore into him like lasers. The memory of the other man weakened his body, a form of kryptonite. Just five minutes ago he was agile, running across the uninhabited dirt path. Now all his physical agility had melted to the ground like wax.

     He fixated on the other man, as if a portal opened up in the middle of the woods, one where the man lay tied up, while the intensity of thoughts made incisions across his bare chest.

     But it was just fantasy. So far away. And Ashley was so far away.

     His hands balled into fists, he grinded his teeth, and looked forward. As if he were a regenerator, he felt his strength rebuild. Then he took off, running across the dirt path at a dangerous speed. He dodged rocks and tree branches and logs. The smell of pine and fresh dirt and moss were replaced by the smell of fear.

     The other man’s fear. Which he could smell from a mile away. He was a rabid wolf hunting down his victim.

     It was going to end.

     He would get his love back.

     And nothing was going to stop him…