The scream

The scream broke my concentration and pulled me out of my writing daze. Startled into action by the raw terror and hopelessness I heard in the voice I raced to the door and ran outside, fully expecting to see a woman lying on the ground in distress.

For it had most certainly been a woman’s voice I heard, screaming the question,  “Anybody?”

I didn’t know if she meant “Will anybody help me?”, “Does anybody hear me?”, or even “Does anybody care?” I just knew she needed help.

But even though I did as thorough of a search as I could without breaking any laws, I saw no one.

I spent a full five minutes looking for anything out of place and listening for further cries for help.
A very tense five minutes.

But there was nothing.

Finally a neighbor stepped outside to water her front yard. It only took a moment to find out that she had heard nothing.

Which disturbed me even more.

Because that scream was too real to be a product of my imagination.

Where had it come from, and why did no one else hear it?