5th September, Present Day:
The chilly wind of the night swept across his face, letting it know just how biting it could be. The boy walked on, gritting his teeth, pulling his scarf over his nose to keep it from falling prey to the cruelties of this strange weather. It nearing the fall break but never had this town experienced such an unforgiving cold so early.

The boy was returning from dropping off his cousin, all the way at the edge of his town. He looked up at the sign above him, dimly lot by the streetlight.

Miller's Street, it read. He sighed. He had about another twenty minutes of walking left to reach his house. He trudged on, dragging his bicycle as he walked. The confounded brakes were broken, and he knew better than to ride the thing at night without brakes. He'd been walking for an hour, now, and his legs felt as though the would melt right through his shoes.

The boy was a bit of a strange sight. Wrapped up in a hoodie and dark jeans, he would've passed normally had it not been for the bright pink scarf around his face. He'd initially been hesitant in taking his cousin's scarf (she was only eight, after all), but in this weather, he'd thrown fashion to the wind. Whatever bits of his face would've been visible were obscured even further by his dirty blond bangs, which swept across his forehead, now matted to his face in the sweat he'd managed to work up, despite the cold.

In the distance, the sounds of a party came to his ears. He craned his head to see the source and found it in a house not too far from him. It clearly belonged to one of the rich kids at his school. He stood there for a moment, gazing at the unfamiliar sounds of hyped screaming and blaring music. It sounded soft to him, being so far away, but he'd seen what went on in those parties. He'd walked by a lot of them.

He was about to move n when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

And it wasn't because of the cold.

He looked back to nothing but emptiness. But he wasn't mistaken. He could've sworn he'd heard it. The distinct sound of footsteps, and ragged breathing behind him.

"Who's there?" He called out, almost immediately chiding himself for sounding like the victims in horror movie. He heard no response. He knew he'd heard something, but there seemed no point in investigating. He turned back around and kept walking, picking up his pace from before.

There it was again. The distinct sound of footprints, heavy, as though they were of a large man or woman. This time the boy didn't look back. He walked faster, the whirring of his bike getting louder as he did.

The footsteps began dying down, but the boy knew better than to stop. He kept walking, the road seems to stretch on forever.

As he walked on, though, the temptation to look back grew too large. He wanted to make sure the follower was gone, whoever they were.

Giving in, finally, he stopped. Steeling his nerves, he looked back slowly, not entirely sure what he was expecting.

At first, he saw nothing. It seemed just like the street he'd been walking on for so long.

Then slowly, like the drizzling start of a shower, he heard the sounds of footsteps growing louder. He peered in front of him, seeing nothing but the night sky. But the footsteps kept coming. Instinctively, he looked at the ground, and his heart jumped o his throat.

There were footsteps, alright. But they weren't making an impression in the ground. Or even a shadow.

They rose out of the ground.

The direction of the feet was still pointing towards him, but it was as the someone upside down was pressing the cement up with their feet, making it rise in that form.

And it kept coming closer.

"What the HECK!?" He called out as he promptly turned around and started running with his bike, the vehicle bounced up and down in sync with his erratic pace. He cussed loudly under his breath, fear and confusion creeping onto him like those strange footsteps. He didn't dare look back again, but he kept his ears open,  in case they got too close.

Don't lose your cool, he reminded himself. He didn't need to relive what happened if he lost his temper.

The sounds were getting louder now, and…
stronger?

In spite of himself, he couldn't help but stop again, and look back, this time to have his heart completely freeze.

There were hundreds of footprints, clustering the sidewalk as far as his eyes could see, all moving closer by the second.

But that wasn't all of it.

Because by sheer accident, the sign above the street caught his eye, and he turned his gaze to it.

Miller's street, it read.

He was back where he'd started.

The boy could feel his blood turn to ice, as he let out a scream. There was no way he was going in circles. He knew this street, and it only went straight ahead.

He turned on his heels and ran again, his heart pounding. The fear was now taking hold of him, turning his legs to jelly. His vision was getting blurrier by the second. He was running, now, at full pace. He looked to see the dim light of the street lamp above the sign fade away. He turned his attention back to the road, still aware of the footsteps.

"No…NO!" He let out a wail of frustration as he came upon a familiar sign yet again. The miller's street loomed over him, and the footsteps got louder by the second. Seeing no option, he left the sidewalk, heading right out into the road. He kept his pace as he ran. 

He looked back, this time without stopping his pace to see the footsteps and then looked back ahead, only to see the sign again.

The impact of the situation was enough to throw him off balance, as he toppled forward with the full momentum, crashing into the ground and taking his bike with him. He let out a cry of pain, but he was too focused on the objects rising out of the ground in the shapes of footprints.

They still approached him.

He scrambled back on all fours, tears making their way down his face at that point. The footsteps thudded in his ear now, as he watched them pass his fallen bike.

"NO, STOP!"

It wasn't to any avail. The boy's mind was barely functioning, terror gripped his whole being and grabbed the stick from his rational thought. He held out his hand. Somewhere, in the back of his head, he knew this was wrong, but he wasn't dwelling on that. His eyebrows scrunched up in anger and panic.

"I SAID STOP!"

He clenched his fist, and the whole sidewalk began to shake. He thrust his hand outward, opening his fist, and as though on cue, jagged cracks cut across the ground, disrupting the footprints. He stood up.

The boy swiped his whole hand in front of him, a raging scream ripping through his throat, and the sidewalk erupted, the cracks pushing themselves deeper, the whole structure splitting apart.

He was breathing hard, as the dust cleared. He looked ahead. There were no footprints. Only the jagged cracks of the ruined sidewalk.

"Hey, kid, you alright?" A voice called out behind him. He turned to look at a lady running towards him. Her hair was flying wildly, and she looked exhausted and baffled. The boy froze.

There was no way she'd seen what he'd done, was there?

She ran over to him and knelt beside him.

"What the hell happened here?" She asked, "I was just standing there when I heard you screaming and flailing about with your arms."

She looked at the wreckage of the sidewalk. "What even was that? Some sort of tremor or something?"

The boy knew he had to play along. "Yeah, I was just walking my bike home when I felt the rumble. Then suddenly, this," he gestured in front of him.

The lady held him arm and helped him up. "Man, the weirdest crap is going in in this town. You wouldn't believe what just happened to me," she laughed wryly.

"Why, did you feel like someone was following you?" The boy blurted out. He mentally slapped himself. So much for being inconspicuous. He'd already panicked and done the colossally stupid task of wrecking a whole sidewalk. He didn't need any more suspicion aroused.

The lady scrunched her face. "Following? No,  not following," she explained. "I'd parked my motorcycle there, it's my sister's really, and gone to that shop out there, and when I come back I see it being dragged away by these friggin' vine-like things."

The boy stared at where she pointed. There was a shop, with a railing which was on the perifery of the forest that lined their town.

"Ma'am, are you sure it was-"

"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but I ain't talkin' baloney. Those things were vines, alright. Some right nasty crap, that is. This whole town's jacked." She spat out.

"Because of the vines?"

"That, this tremor and the massacred sidewalk outta nowhere. Not to mention, all the talk that's been going around," she looked at his clueless expression.

"What, you ain't heard it? Freaky stuff's been happening around the neighborhood. Just yesterday my sister started screaming about how the ground turned to liquid under her feet or something. And she ain't the only one. Talks of this sorta stuff happenin' is all over the town."

The boy gulped. Something strange was going on, he could feel it. Footprints didn't rise out of the ground and paths didn't turn into loops.

"Tell ya' what, kid. I'm going to the police to report the bike, cause vines or not, I need that back. If your house is on the way, I can walk you there."

The boy considered it. After what had happened, he really didn't want to be alone. And he had no doubt this lady couldn't hurt him.

"My house is about ten minutes ahead of theation, but I can accompany you till then," he managed a feeble smile. He picked up his bike.

"C'mon, kid, let's get out of here," the lady urged.

The hooded boy was aware he was going along with a complete stranger at night. He looked back at the wreckage of the sidewalk. A sad smile tugged the corners of his lips. It didn't matter what happened.

He'd be able to take care of himself.

~•~•~•~•
A/N: Yeah, I know, it's kinda late... Sorry '^^. Blame the world cup. But how'd you guys like this? Yeah, I know I haven't said the name of the guy, but it'll come. Heehee. So whaddya think of what happened? I tried making it creepy. If it wasn't, there'll more to come :)