Crepsucular Lights

midnight is never a good time to walk in the park...

Midnight is never a good time to wander in the woods. It's gloomy and the walkways are unlit. The main passage cuts a curved path towards the centre of the woods, far from the well lit suburban road. If you twisted your ankle or broke your leg out here, it would be the morning dog-walkers who would be your salvation and that is a long wait. And beside's there are other dangers.

 

Maybe it was the full moon hanging gracefully in the dark sky or the scorching summer heat of the previous three weeks, that made him want to get out of his tiny house and go for a stroll. Maybe he just wanted sometime alone. Whatever his reason; it was an incredibly bad decision.

I smelt his repugnant stench before I saw him, his smell was nauseating, a putrid mix of alcohol sweat and tobacco. When he came into view over I could see him with perfect clarity. He was a teenager, quite small and dumpy with major acne and a bright tuft of bright orange hair. He was as ugly as sin; he was holding a cigarette in one hand and a can of red bull in the other. I watched him from a distance as he meandered. His copper hair very visible.

He didn’t see me of course. People rarely do.

But they saw him. Five of them boozed up, smelling of a mixture of Jack Daniels and Pot. They were in the state that they were completely unafraid of anything and all of them were carrying bats and crowbars. They called out to him from the gloom; I couldn't make out what they were saying. He ignored it, but sped up a bit. Then I smelt it.

FEAR

The faintest whiff of it but I knew what it was. I could sense it and so could they, and that was the only excuse I needed. The chase began. The men were quick and even in their inebriated state they were quick. The boy glanced behind him with a slight turn of the head and took off as fast he could, which wasn’t really that fast. But he was nimble, ducking branches, jumping roots, zigzagging instinctively. He glanced back for a second; the men were still chasing him. He tried to speed up but he was beginning to tire. I could smell his body become hot and flushed and he was sweating buckets. The gang of drunkards was closer now and getting nearer every second. The boy shouted hoarsely but there was no one to hear it. He didn’t look back he must have sensed that one was right behind him. The man was almost in reach to bring him down and the other four weren’t far behind.

He began to slow. And the man rugby tackled him to the ground. He gasped out. But the man kept him there till his friends arrived.

"Where did you think you were off to? You dirty orang-utan." the man slurred, barely out of breath. The boy's reply came in the form of a head butt

"Son of a ..." he screamed but his last word was cut off by a knee in the crotch. He would have gotten away if the guy was alone but as soon as he stood up he was surrounded by the rest of them still holding their bats and crow bars. One of the men held the bat to his face with its caromed aluminium surface sparkling iridescently in the moonlight.

"You understand what this means right?" he grinned at the boy who looked around and nodded whimpering.

"Ok, so long as you do what we say we won’t hurt you. Now get up."  He got up but he looked wobbly after being tackled and there was a gash down the side of his face where he'd fallen.

"Where’s James?" one asked.
"I’m right here you d****e." came a pained voice from further down the trail. He walked up to them with a bloody nose holding his groin.

"Where is he? I’m gunna kill him!" James screamed.

When he saw the boy he charged at him and hit him in the chest with his bat and his breath whooshed out of him. The next swing I heard a rib crack. I began to move forward slowly hopping from tree to tree. The air was still but the leaves muffled the minute sounds that I made as I moved. They were laughing now urging James on. Then they heard a twig snap. In the darkness one looked up towards the trees but didn’t see anything, he shrugged and I breathed out as he returned his attention to the beating.

That made me angry. I couldn't control it any longer. The sound came from a place deep inside me. A low feral growl, I felt my eyes narrow and my body tensed.

"What was that?" whispered the one who heard the twig snap. James looked up at him irritated and motion for him to check it out.

He stumbled through the grass towards the tree I was perched in. I leaned against the trunk of the tree and the leaves rustled gently.

"Who’s there?" he whispered. I said nothing but I broke some bark off the tree. He heard it.

"Man, this aunt funny! Who’s there?" he steadied his bat in his hand. He moved closer "I’m not messing around who's there?"

I was crouched low, my muscles as taunt as a bow string. He stared madly around "man this is bull" he said finally and turned to walk back to the others. I dropped out of the tree. He was right below me so I took him out on my way down. He fell heavily because of my momentum and his bat rolled off into the darkness. His face was wide eyed and his mouth open.

"N-n-no! Get away from me." he cried as he tried to back away from me.

I sprang and ripped him in half then threw his body into the trees where to soft thuds and load creaking noises that his body had hit a group of trees. I turned to face the others blood dripping from my hands with a wild grin on my face. They were coming my way after hearing the commotion. They fanned out trying to surround me, I growled with excitement. I could still taste the scent of my first kill which clogged my nostrils filled my brain with a red fog. The hunt was on.

I sat there on my haunches waiting my eyes gleaming crimson and hands soaked in blood.

"Jesus, what is that?" one said half-to-himself.

"Just keep him busy man. Don’t let him get behind you." another ordered.

I was watching all of them as they came towards me and a low roar escaped from my lips. My eyes darted around and my body tensed as a cheetah tenses as he is about to pounce. They kept coming towards me. Then I sprang, the first one swung his bat at me, I ducked it then uppercut him so his head severed cleanly from the spine, snapping his spinal cord and killing him instantly.

The other one swung a crow bar which I caught as it swung and snapped it in two. Then I stabbed one into his Adam’s apple and the other through his chest. The third enraged by his friend’s deaths went into a frenzied attack, swinging and splashing trying to force me back but I stood my ground following the pattern of his attack. Then hit him in the chest quite literally breaking his heart. The final one turned and ran as fast as he could. I followed him slowly. I was going to enjoy this one. He ran into the thickest part of the woods and I followed him silently, gliding along the moist earth, jumping over small streams, never making a sound while just ahead of me the man blundered tripping over logs and hitting branches.

I jumped up into the trees and followed him from above until he came into a circular clearing that's when I dropped on him. The look on his face was pure terror like a cat looking into the headlights of an oncoming lorry. I grinned at him then in the blink of an eye picked him up and threw him at a tree impaling him on a branch. I left his body up there the police would find him eventually. And made my way back to the path. The boy was gone, probably to change his underwear. I left the bodies were they were, the early morning dog walkers were going to have a shock, I grinned to myself. I walked out of the park with the moon above me. Looking like the god of death I truly was.

Reviews

[jloughney]

thanks i just couldnt think of a good metaphor or similie to put their its just a first draft though

[AnonWriter]

I think it's good but the description 'like a sweaty gorilla who had found a can of lynx and sprayed the whole can all over his body' seems out of place as the language that you have used before and after is a lot more intellectual. But at the same time it seems as though you are putting in long words to make yourself seem clever. But these are just the negatives, there are a lot of positives though :)

[seanmcc]

Not bad Jack :D Apart from a few grammatical mistakes its good :)
I liked the story :) Especially the ginger ;)