I was running as fast as I could after a few seconds, sprinting down the stairs so fast I hardly had time to think about where my feet were going to land. They instinctively kept me erect as I had no concern in my mind, despite the darkness, the feeling of another presence about me, and the lack of support or rail anywhere around the steps, as if they were just floating, leading to a journey without a destination.
The sense of another presence among me was beating down on me as I ran. Like I was running from something, not a person, not an animal, but maybe a spirit… or a thought. As I bounded to whatever was coming, if anything was ever coming, I felt as though it was getting closer, closing in on me, pressuring me more every moment. I ran, without the feeling of danger, without any insistence, except maybe to get away, to run away from something I didn't quite understand but thought for sure I didn't want to find out.
Faster, faster, faster I ran away from my problem. Sprinting so fast down the steps, I barely noticed the edge-less blackness. There were only these rock stairs, my own companion, and my follower, chasing me, closing in on me. It didn't matter how fast I ran, I could not outrun the thought of being caught up by this strange presence.
It was closing in on me. I could feel it breathing down my neck. Practically consuming me. I had to get away. I tried to run faster but every effort was in vain. At this time I was practically falling down the steps. Running so fast I couldn't control my legs. Bounding down ever so quickly, until I'd had it. My legs could no longer keep me up and I missed a step. I came plummeting forward. My body leading as my legs followed and started closing in onto the ground. I was going to hit the stairs and fall off the side. I knew for sure I would and then what. Did the darkness end somewhere? Did it lead on forever? There was nothing I could do to avoid it.
My body smashed into the earthy rock beneath me. It came to a sudden halt. I wasn't falling, I was just there, on the ground, as flat as the earth itself. The sense of whatever it was that had been following me was gone. I was no longer being chased, I had no fear of what had just happened, it was over. I laid there, collecting myself, I didn't feel hurt. If anything it was a rebirth into another plane. But this one was different. I felt alone. I pulled myself up and looked around, what I saw was brown, rocky, dusty, but flat. I walked around a bit, looking back at where I had just came from and I could see the stairs. They led up but disappeared into the darkness a few steps up. I was standing on another platform. This one against a rock wall or cliff face, but it led inward. Narrowing as it went in but I could make out a passageway into the rock. Remembering what had been there, behind me, I was cautious. But as I waited for something to come at me there was nothing. It was as if I was really alone. I had no other option, so I started into the passageway.
That run left me breathless, but a childlike curiosity pushed me forward, into a tunnel where secrets whispered.