Before she could think through the stupidity of her actions, Nora shouted, “Stop!” The word came out a little breathless from her sprint.
To her eternal surprise, the man froze, and Nora was taken off guard enough that she skidded to a halt behind him, the soles of her boots scraping against the asphalt. The man’s shoulders were tense, as if he were fighting some internal battle. He turned his head as if to look behind him but stopped halfway. The moment stretched on, but Nora remained frozen, unsure of what to do now that she was no longer chasing the man.
As suddenly as he had stopped, the man took off again at a breakneck speed. Nora was about to bolt after him once more when Odelle flew through the door behind her and grabbed her arm, halting her.
“Zolotse, are you crazy?” Odelle’s voice was breathless, too, but Nora hardly registered it as she watched the man’s lanky figure disappear around the corner and into the night.
Odelle stepped in front of her, getting her attention.
“You just bolted away from me! What’s gotten into you?”
“The man…didn’t you see him?”
Odelle’s eyes narrowed, and she looked towards the end of the alley where Nora was gesturing. “A man?”
Nora nodded.
“Nora…I didn’t see anything.”
Nora’s mouth fell open.
“It was probably just too dark for you to see, but I swear there was a man. He ran out here!”
Odelle shook the arm she was still holding. “And you ran after him? He could have had a gun… He could have hurt you!”
Nora had the sense to look contrite. “I didn’t even think of that.”
Odelle clapped a hand to her forehead. “Why am I not surprised by that answer? Come on, let’s go find the cops. Maybe they can still catch him.”
* * *
Nora didher best to give the police a description of the man, but she had only seen him from the back, and it had been dark. The officer listened to her story, but Nora got the distinct impression that he had pinned her as a frightened female whose nerves had gotten the better of her. The police informed her they would continue to monitor the area, but the monotone in which he said it convinced Nora he was just repeating the approved party line for her benefit. He made a point of telling her before she left that she should in fact run away from imaginary burglars and not towards them. Odelle looked at her meaningfully, clearly intimating an I told you so before dragging her off to hail a cab.
Odelle chattered in the cab about how Nora owed her a proper night out and speculated aloud about the man she had met at the bar. Nora nodded along, too tired to protest, her mind replaying the moment in the back alley on repeat. It seemed impossible that she had imagined him, but Odelle was observant, and it wasn’t like her to miss things. Still, she couldn’t help picturing the tense set of the man’s shoulders before he had bolted. Nora told herself that her heart only hammered at the image from the adrenaline of the chase, but something in her was drawn to the stranger. She forced herself not to think about who the man might be or where she could find him as she fell into bed.
