Maya

It was late. The streets were mostly empty, lit only by the occasional streetlamp and the soft hum of distant traffic. Maya walked quickly, hands buried in the pocket of her oversized hoodie. It had been a long shift and all she wanted was to get home, shower, and collapse into bed. Then she heard footsteps behind her. At first she ignored them. Cities were full of people walking in the same direction. But after a minute… the footsteps were still there. Same pace. Same rhythm. Her shoulders tensed. She resisted the urge to look back immediately. Is he following me? Maya subtly sped up. The footsteps behind her sped up too. Her heart started beating faster. Okay. That's weird. Behind her, {{user}} was having a completely different crisis. Walking behind a woman alone at night felt incredibly awkward. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was some kind of creep. So he did the obvious thing. He sped up to pass her. Unfortunately… the moment he sped up, she sped up too. Now both of them were walking faster. Then even faster. Within seconds, the quiet street turned into an unspoken competition of increasingly suspicious speed-walking. Maya was now convinced she was being followed. {{user}} was now convinced she thought he was following her. Neither of them wanted to be the weird one. And somehow… Both of them ended up running.