Chapter Song Rec: Moonlight by Kali Uchis
___________________________________
The streetlights flickered suddenly, flashes of bright white flooding your sights time and time again as you quietly walked down the street, hood over your head and hand shoved deep into the warm pockets of your black, oversized jacket. The chilling wind sent shivers down your spine, the many layers you had on doing almost nothing to protect you from the crisp draft slamming against you as you walked, quickly but quietly.
You'd been at a friend's house, working on the science project that Ms. Anderson had assigned three classes ago. It had taken the two of you multiple hours, but you'd finally gotten close to finishing the model, and had decided to give it a break. It was the weekend after all, you could always work on it tomorrow.
She'd offered to give you a ride home, but being the overly polite girl you were, you'd gently turned it down and decided to walk home yourself. A huge mistake.
You flinched as a car sped past you, zooming through a puddle and sending a spray of dirty water right in front of you. Luckily, you hadn't gotten wet. You shuddered at the thought of being drenched in this cold. It sounded terrible.
How much farther?
You checked google maps to see how much farther you'd have to walk and a groan escaped your lips. 15 more minutes. You didn't know if you'd be able to survive another quarter-hour in this freezing cold.
"There's gotta be some other route..." You said under your breath, pinching the screen and zooming in on the area surrounding you, searching for a faster way to get home. The moonlight shined down upon you as you stood there on the middle of the sidewalk for a moment, lips pursed while your eyes scanned your screen, flitting over the different streets. Your gaze eventually landed on a series of tiny alleyways that looked like they might be able to lead you home.
You screenshotted the page, then used the edit tool to draw your path out on the screen. "This should work" you whispered to yourself, keeping the phone in your hand as you walked toward the first of the three alleys you'd have to make your way through.
As you entered the alleyway, it felt as if the entire world had quieted down. The sounds of the street felt muffled as your senses honed in on your surroundings, being as careful as possible. After all, this was Brooklyn. It wasn't safe for a girl of your age to be wandering the streets alone, especially at this time of the day.
Your lips pursed into a line, your fingers subconsciously fidgeting as you quietly made your way down the alley. You were nearing the end when a sudden noise caught your attention.
Crash!
You jumped at the noise and turned around, holding your phone out in front of you like a weapon, ready to smack whoever was there.
You looked down to see a nasty-looking rat staring up at you, beady black eyes hard as it nibbled on some random piece of trash. You let out a breath you didn't even realize you'd been holding and chuckled to yourself quietly. "Just a rat...just a rat."
To settle yourself down, you began to quietly hum to yourself, the lyrics of your favorite song playing in your mind as you made your way down the street. And now to the second alleyway.
This one was a bit wider, definitely not as creepy as the first one. It was brighter too, some streetlights on in the corners to light your path. You were feeling a little more sure of yourself now, posture a little straighter as you walked. You were still cautious of course, but you weren't as nervous. You looked back down at your phone to make sure you were taking the right path.
You zoomed in on the screen once more, checking the surrounding of the map to match them to what you saw. You were in the right place from the look of it, and you could definitely recognize the street ahead of you. You were getting closer to home. After this incredibly long alleyway, there would only be one left.
You looked back down at your phone to turn it off, still quietly humming to yourself. Suddenly, the streetlight flickered. Then it turned off. You looked up as you were engulfed in darkness, with nothing but the stars to light your way. You felt your heartbeat quicken.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Shhh, its okay. I'm fine. Its just a problem with the current, this happens all the time" you said under your breath, trying to calm yourself as you continued to walk. You took a few deep breaths, shoving your phone into your pocket as you walked. And then...you felt it.
Someone was watching you.
You snapped your head back, eyes darting from side to side as that eery feeling prompted goosebumps to prickle your skin. Your eyes squinted slightly to adjust to the darkness a little better, a drop of nervous sweat tickling your right brow. You couldn't see anyone.
For a second, you could've sworn you'd seen two large eyes peering at you from behind the trashcan, but when you blinked and squinted, they'd disappeared. Okay. This was getting creepy.
You decided to keep on going. After all, it would be safer to keep moving than to just stand there in the middle of the alley. You walked a little quicker this time, that same heart-dropping feeling still embedded in the pits of your stomach, the fear of being murdered, kidnapped, or worse overwhelming you. And then...you heard it.
Quiet footsteps approaching you, getting faster and faster, the patting just barely drowned out by the sound of the street ahead of you. You turned around, but were too late.
Two large hands came out from behind you and covered your mouth in some kind of cloth, forcing you to inhale through the fabric as you struggled against the person grabbing onto you. Instinctively, you elbowed them in the ribs, eliciting a loud groan from their lips. As they stumbled back, you pulled the cloth off your face and tried to throw a punch at the person. But to your horror, you felt your body growing heavy, your eyelids drooping and the next thing you knew, you were sitting on the floor, fighting to stay awake.
Chloroform. I thought that only happened in the movies...
You helplessly watched as the man approached your struggling body, holding his side where you'd elbowed him, a malicious glint in his eyes. Your eyes darted down to his other hand, where you could see a gleam of metal protruding from his fist. A knife.
No no no no NO!
The word filled your mind as you groaned softly, trying to stand up, trying to crawl away, your back pressed up against the wall as the man quietly approached you, the knife becoming more and more visible with every single step.
No...this couldn't be the end.
Except...one moment the man was approaching you with that knife and the next...he was lying on the floor, knocked out.
Your mind couldn't process what had just happened, chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath and figure out how the man had given up so easily. And then you saw it.
A pool of blood was forming near the man's head, his body limp and the knife he'd been planning to use for God knows what on you lay at his side, no longer gleaming as brightly. His head was shiny with the substance coating his greasy hair, and you noticed a large gash across his skull. Where could it have come from??
"wh-wha-what?" you whispered, your breathy gasps for air becoming quieter and quieter as your body began to calm down. But you were still approaching unconsciousness, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
And then you heard footsteps. Your heartbeat raced once again, head struggling to turn to the side as you tried to see who was coming. Were they coming to save you? Or to do worse...
The figure kneeled down in front of you. They inspected you, scanning the way your eyes were slightly glazed over, the way you could barely move your body, and the way you were barely able to tell who he was. You could hear him sighing softly under his mask, but felt as though you were trapped in an unrelenting trance, your head feeling to heavy to tilt up in order to see him properly. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers in your face, effectively snapping you out of your trance. "Hey. You awake?"
Thats when you noticed his mask, somewhat digital with a purple base, bright white eyes and pink surrounding them. The man had braids falling out of his mask down to his shoulders, and his voice was morphed by some sort of voice-changer, making it sound almost electronic.
"huh?" You whispered out, still out of it.
"You awake?" He asked again, enunciating every syllable as an attempt to wake up up. He shook his head with an annoyed grunt before saying, "Never mind."
You watched as he put one arm around your waist other on your arm, trying to pull you up. His effort was a success until you fell against him, your legs feeling like jelly as you tried to stand up, a groan escaping your lips. Is this what a hangover felt like?
You hadn't inhaled enough chloroform to fully knock you out, but it was definitely still taking a toll on your body. "Who are you?" You asked, your voice slurred together as you looked up at the figure holding you, who, despite his face being covered with a mask, was obviously looking at you with a bit of disgust. He wasn't enjoying playing the part of the hero.
"Where do you live?" He asked stoically, arms around your waist in order to hold you up properly.
"Why do you want to know?"
He looked at you for a moment, as if rethinking his decision to help you. "Because I need to take you home?" His voice sounded less electronic and more annoyed, the eyes of his mask widening slightly as he spoke. He was probably rolling his eyes under there. "Uh-huh" You muttered, feeling yourself begin to fall again.
"N-" He quickly said, pulling you up again. He groaned under his breath. "Piece of-why do I always have to do this?" You watched with a dazed expression on your face as he pulled out some kind of thick string from his utility belt and wrapped it around your waist, hooking one side onto your belt loop of your jeans and the other onto his own. "This'll keep you from falling, but you still need to hold on tight."
"Hold on to what?" You asked quietly, feeling yourself tip over slightly again. This time he held you more firmly, taking your arms and pulling them around his neck, forcing you to latch on. "Where do you live?" He asked again, pulling his grappling hook off his belt. You murmured your address to him, resting your head against his chest as you did so. You felt so...so sleepy. You felt him nod and for a moment, neither of you moved. And then he was off.
It was freezing, the cold air crashing against the two of you as you swung past the buildings. He was skillful, shooting the grappling hook out at just the right moments to catch the edges of rails and roofs, using his boots to run across walls with one arm wrapped tightly around your waist to keep your from falling. The cold would've been unbearable if it wasn't for the warmth radiating from his body.
Eventually, the two of you arrived at your apartment and he unhooked you, removing your arms from around his neck and quietly walking you towards the door. "You live with anyone?" he asked, stopping in front of your door. "Yeah, my parents" you whispered, looking up into the eyes of his mask, eyes unfocused no matter how hard you tried to keep them straight.
"Then I guess this is where I leave you" he gently placed you against the wall, helping you lean against it. "Where are you going?" you asked quietly, trying to stand up by yourself. He stopped you, forcing you to lean back against the wall as to prevent you from falling over. "None of your business." He looked over the door and reached his hand out, finger hovering over the doorbell. He looked back at you for a moment, the eyes of his mask narrowing slightly. "Stay safe."
He pressed the doorbell and jumped out the window, leaving you there to wait for your parents to open the door. You couldn't do anything but watch as his figure swung past the window one last time before disappearing into the distance. You were able to croak out one last whisper that you could only hope he'd heard.
"Thanks"
A/N: Hi everyone, this is one of my first fanfictions, so I hope you all enjoyed it! Feedback is always welcomed, and thanks for reading! I'll try to update every week or so, but it'll be a little difficult with school. Sorry for any delays <3