Short Stories

Moonlight

Moonlight

It is the coldest night of the year. The moon is out, crescent shape and bright and there are almost no clouds. There is a lone teenager, a girl, standing underneath a broken street light. She is texting, tears falling and freezing to her bright red cheeks, headphones plugged into her ears. She is shaking, whether it is from the cold or not, you do not know or care. There is not a sound but her shallow breathing and the very faint thump of the bass line of what she is listening to. You want to see what she is texting, to know what has made the tears fall down her cheeks.

She taps the phones screen, again and again, her breathing becoming more ragged and strained. Her phone is a touch screen, heat sensitive, and her fingers are too cold. A small sob breaks from her lips and a manic grin spreads across your face. You will enjoy this.

A lone cloud floats across the moon's light and the street light flickers on, an orange glow falling on the girl. She looks up, pulling the earplugs out of her bright red ears and you get to see her face again, the earphones hanging loosely in her right hand.

You have missed it, even though you had seen it all day, have been following her all day. She looks at the light surprised, confused as to why it went on. The tears have yet to stop. You don't like it - not knowing why they were they. Not knowing something irritates you. You want to stop them, the tears, and then make them start again as she screams and cries in terror, in pain. You want to laugh, throw your head back and cackle into the night air at the thought of the teenager screaming for mercy. But you can't, you can't give away where you are, your hiding place.

The cloud moves on and the moon's bright, pure white light shines through the deserted street again.

The girl glances around, the street light flickering off again and throwing her into darkness again.

She shoves her headphones into her jeans pocket and starts to blow into her hands, trying to warm them and her phone up and at the same time wiping away the last of the tears she had finally managed to stem. She looks at the spot you where are hiding, but does nothing; instead she looks back down at her phone, the pale light showing her face.

Pale face with rosy cheeks - paler from the weak light from the phone - blood red lips - lipstick, you saw her put it on - and large bottle green eyes, surrounded by thick, fake lashes and a whole lot of mascara. She was ready for a night out on the town.

She looks perfect, all the girls you choose do. You weren't going to touch anything that wasn't perfection, you had standards. You can never get over the thrill of this, adrenaline pumping through your body as you hunt, stalk, follow your prey, a girl. You stand up, your legs and feet numb from crouching so long in the cold. You grunt quietly as your knees click, your breath rising in front of you, swirling away in an intricate pattern like smoke.

The girl spins around, dropping her phone, and stares ahead of her, unable to see you - the moon's light doesn't reach you from under the trees you have hidden in.

"Hello?" She calls, her voice shaking and the tears back. "Stay away!" You snigger, staring at her petrified face.

You start to walk forward, stepping on twigs and leaves making them crunch and snap underfoot.

"You stay away from me!" She screams her eyes moving from side to side, up and down, searching. "You can't touch me!"

"I'm not touching you. Yet." Your voice is low, calm and steady. Your voice is attractive, alluring, purring like a cat.

You step forward, into the full glare of the moon and laugh, something you have been restraining yourself from doing for over an hour.

"You are pretty. Where are you off too, all dressed up like that?" You take another step forward and the girl stares at you, fear oozing from her body.

"Nothing to do with you. Leave me alone." Her voice is no more than a whisper yet it carries over to you in the deadly silent night.

"Why so scared?" Long legs are an advantage and at 6 foot 3, your legs are very long.

You stride across to the girl, standing underneath the broken street light. "It will be over soon."

(([//A/N. The song was really only up to about 1.48 then the mood is kind of lost. Thanks for reading.//])