500 Word Stories

Short Story 2

Unknown

Hood up. Meandering down a hill. their footsteps echo like a beating drum. The air is deathly silent. They sniff the slightly fresh air, bored out of their mind they continue their stroll cautiously. They live in a town with a good reputation, barely any crime. Fights are unheard of, they smile at the darkening black sky, they're at peace finally. 

A small town comes into view, the lampposts illuminating every inch of the pavement. Moths have a ball under the off yellow light whilst, cockroaches, spiders and slugs lurk in the shadows in jealousy. With each step, the jealous bugs engulfed the shadows more, meanwhile the gracious moths danced seductively begging to be noticed by this person. 

They continue their walk; through the minuscule town, down the street towards a little patch of woodland. Their boots crushed feeble leaves making them sink into the gooey mud below, branches of birch and oak trees lean and form an arch, intertwining and interlocking like hands. All they had was a stern perhaps focused look on their hard face, not realising the beauty around them. They follow the sticky mud path to a stone bridge now aged, chipped and mossy some people painted some of the bricks as a memory of some sort. 

On the other side of this bridge there's a medium sized village with a church and a rundown bar called 'bazooka'. They know this village very well, since they walk this path almost weekly. 

Their now hard face has softened into a small smile, it seems that they have a lot of good memories here. Their meander has now turned into an up-beat walk, lampposts and house lights become dimmer in their presence. Ally-ways show demons and unknown creatures hiding in fear from them.

They seem content with them self almost happy. Although, there's a large difference from this village from the town before; crime and very bad things happen here therefore, not many people live here. 

The harsh creature, sees some sort of shadow in a pitch black ally-way, a hint of fear in their face yet it's covered by an un-identifying emotion. They step into the ally-way and like the bugs he engulfs the shadows willingly. 

A scream is heard in the distance. But no one cares. 

Next Morning

"On today's news, late last night, there was a murder. The DNA of a woman called Stephanie Jones has been found at the crime scene. There was no sign of the body. If anyone has any information about this case please call the number below."

Coffee mug in hand, they stared at the static TV screen. No emotion, like a statue. They finished their coffee and continued their day as usual.

However, if you were to come in to their house and go to the spare bathroom, you'd be in for a big and very sickening surprise. A body of a woman, in a red blood stained dress with a smokey eye and dark red lipstick would be lying there, in the bathtub with several wounds and bruises. Her eyes wide with fear. 

The murderer continued their day thinking about who's next.