Ex-Nemesis

Prologue

There was no moon. The street light flickered once in a while, but the houses were lost in the darkness. It was long past what parents would call 'bed time.' Any normal, sane person would be slumbering away under their blankets. 

Any normal, sane person. 

He thought with a mental snort, he was far from normal!And as for being sane... let's just say that what he was doing was incredibly, undoubtfully, stupidly insane. 

But he had his reasons.

He carefully snuck out of the window, gripped the edge of the roof and flipped onto the roof, his motions agile and quiet. From his perch on the roof, cloaked in shadows, blending against the dark night sky, his gaze locked on the house across the street.

It belonged to some relatives of the residents under the roof he was on. He backed up slightly, leaning forwards ever so slightly, and ran to the edge, the shadows absorbing all sound. 

And he leaped—

The shadows embraced him, speeding the action up and he swiftly, yet gently touched down on the other roof. The mass of shadows bled away, becoming one with the environment, but remained tense, coiled and ready to respond to him if summoned.

In one lithe movement, he slid down from the roof onto the balcony, where a window was there, just waiting to be pried open. Slender gloved fingers stretched towards the lock. He had long since become an expert in picking locks, he knew how to open them without making the slightest sound, without alerting anyone.

He had become an expert in stalking. He knew which house to hit next, he knew who lived there, their names, their ages, their jobs, when they'd be home, when they'd leave, even their dirty backgrounds. 

 After all, no one was pure as a ray of sunshine. 

Except maybe—

Ugh, don't even THINK about him now! 

If that nuisance showed up—you must hurry! Getting back on topic...He had become an expert at keeping to the shadows, he had become an expert in what he was doing. What was he doing?

Breaking in? 

Maybe. *avoiding eye contact* 

Okay, yes, he was.He was cat-footed, as he was very proud to say. He was good on his feet, he didn't stumble when he leaped right through the window into a spacious bedroom, painted pink.

Under his black mask, he scrunched up his nose at the colour. Why would anyone like such bright colours? They burned his eyes! See? They're STEAMING!

The room belonged to the little girl in the family, a harmless creature, curly haired and blue-eyed, rosy cheeked with a dimple on her chin, yada yada.

Lacy curtains adorned the windows, on the wallpaper was a pattern of clouds, the bed brimming with stuffed animals. 

 It was empty. 

Of course, he knew that already. In fact, no body was home tonight, the house was vacant. 

Good. 

Now, why exactly was he breaking in? 

To steal? 

*Gasp* What?! No! He would never! 

To wreck? 

Are you for real? He wasn't that lowly! 

To KiDnAp?

... 

The house is empty... WHY THE HECK WOULD HE BREAK INTO AN EMPTY HOUSE TO KIDNAP?! 

To—

 Okay you know what? Let's rewind a bit.

Word count: 657

E/N: Hello! It's Sunny! I'm here to clarify a few things regarding this story. So, I am actually not the author of this one--I'm just here to perform minor edits and then publish it. The story itself actually belongs to sadewmiinjtw, so send all your love their way for writing this beautiful story! This is also why there is a dedication at the top of this page to sadewmiinjtw; it's to serve as a reminder that they are the author. I'm going to try to put this reminder on all the chapters just so that credit and compliments are rightfully directed toward the person who put the time and effort in to write this story.

Because I am at most an editor for this story, my notes, which are usually designated A/N for "Author's Note," will instead be designated E/N for "Editor's Note." If sadewmiinjtw ever has a note, those will be designated with A/N. 

Give it up in the comments for sadewmiinjtw for taking the time to write us an amazing story :)

That's all for now! Goodbye, love you all, and have a great day!