IN HOT PURSUIT

At first, there was no indication. Later, an inkling- call it a woman's intuition. Then I told myself my brain was playing tricks on me. But on that fateful morning, I awoke with the confidence of knowing. No longer a vague impression but a distinct awareness, I was being shadowed; unaware by whom or by what but without a doubt they were on my tail and closing in. Not a human. Some entity? Unsure. More than one? Maybe. What I did know was: the waiting was over, and the cat and mouse game was just beginning.

Unable to see the forest from the trees. I was like an animal in the wild, sensing its predator nearby, searching me out, detecting my vulnerability, lurking beneath the undergrowth, waiting to pounce, to ambush me. I ducked, dived, and dodged but any reprieve was short-lived, without relief. The odds were against me, I knew to escape the bear I’d only fall to the lion. The long and the short of it was there was no retreat from my tireless pursuers and I was backed into a tight corner, coming face to face with my impending defeat. On my knees, hands up, begging for mercy, I surrendered.
 
There was hell to pay. I was bound in chains by time itself and a captive to regret. They intertwined their evil putting a chokehold on my soul and no amount of twisting or twirling would loosen their grip. My torturers were defiant and unrelenting. There would be no appeal to a higher court or a commuted sentence for good behavior, and I mislaid my get out of jail free card.
 
Bound by my shackles. I cried out a requiem for lost possibilities, lost time, and lost hope: what might have been, could have been, should have been. If only if.