Monstrous Love Bites Back - Short Story Anthology

THE GHOST OF VALENTINE PAST

written by darlacassic

Men are assholes. That's all I have to say.

I'm so done with them. Seriously, the best thing about them can be easily replaced by a battery-powered device—which, given my experience, is actually ten times better at it.

And yet, I still want one, like whoever I'll find won't become a burden, a man child who's mastered the weaponisation of incompetence, a poorly educated grown-ass boy who's only looking for a fuckable version of his mother.

It's not the first time I've thought about giving up on members of the opposite sex, but as I'm making my way through the dark campus, holding my heels in my hands and doing my best to mend my injured pride, I promise myself this time it's for real. Men aren't worth it.

A couple, all tangled up with their arms wrapped around each other, crosses my path, and I roll my eyes at the sight. Clearly, not everyone's Valentine's celebration was ruined by an asshole who decided to double book dates for the evening. The very idiot who messed it up by getting the times wrong, making date #2 (me) arrive while he was still balls deep into date #1.

More than ever, it's clear to me that the bar is on the floor, and men somehow can't even crawl their way over it.

"Charlie!" someone shouts from far behind me. The small hair on my neck rises, as if my body knows who it is before my brain even processes it. I turn around, only to confirm my intuition.

Does this idiot really think he can salvage this? After I caught him in the act, sleeping with another girl? Rage bubbles inside me, incandescent and white hot in my veins. I am not wasting another second of my time with this guy.

Determined to get away from him, I tighten my hold on my shoes and begin running.

"Char, wait up!"

"Leave me alone, Victor!" I shout back.

"We need to talk!"

"The fuck we don't!"

As much as I want to think I can get to my dorm room before he catches up, I know I'll fail. He runs tracks and I have the worst cardio I've ever seen on anyone. As I pass the old houses that surround campus, it becomes clear that I only have one option if I want Victor to return to date #1.

It's close enough, and he is too much of a wuss to follow me there.

He continues to beg me to stop, but I ignore him, dead set on my goal. When, finally, I reach the rusty gates that surround an overgrown garden full of dead leaves, I let out a long sigh. The chain holding the gates is loose enough for me to slip my way through them, and I then hop from one paved stone to another, all the way up the three steps that lead to the entrance of the abandoned house.

Everyone knows the story behind this place. It's become an urban legend at this point. I've never been here before, but a few people I know have. People who've been in there swear up and down that the stories are true: the house is haunted. For some reason, Victor is terrified of that, as if ghosts were a real thing.

The idiot reaches the gates right after I've made it to safety, and he shakes them with desperation. "Char, come back here!"

"I told you to leave me alone."

"We need to talk. Please. That girl, she means noth—"

"Oh please, spare me the cliche lies. I'm done with you."

With a frustrated grunt, he tries to find a way in. The chain isn't loose enough for his broad frame, but he seems to think he can climb over the fence. When he's halfway there, I begin to think that he might succeed. Ugh, I do not want to deal with him.