Too Realistically Scary for Halloween!

 

Alone in the dark, bundled up tight in her woolen coat Angela turned her back to the wind.

“Hey lady, do you have the time?”

Angela inhaled a short gasp of freezing air.  The man’s sudden loud request was startling.  She had no idea he was so close behind her.  The way he painfully grabbed her on the shoulder frightened her the most.  He was a tall husky man.  By the way he looked at her; she knew he was up to no good.

“It’s eleven thirty,” she told him the time without looking at her watch.  This way she could avoid looking away and so keep her eye on him.  One of her friends taught her this trick if she ever found herself in such a situation.

“Come on pretty lady, don’t be so shy.  Give me a little smile.”

Angela turned and began jogging away.  Afraid to look back, she could not tell if the man was still following her.  After jogging a little further she stopped and turned to see that the man was there, watching her from a short distance behind.  When he saw her looking, he slowly walked in her direction.  Angela walked faster.

In this section of the park, there were fewer streetlights.  The ones that remained were spaced far apart.  After a while, the only light was from the dim gray sky.  Angela saw a shadow or blurry movement from the corner of her eye.

She stopped again to see if the man was still following her.  At first, there was no one in sight.  There was no sound of footsteps.  She feared he might be quietly stalking her from somewhere in the dark.

She left the park hoping it was safer out on the street. Then she saw some movement by a bush.  Then something moved behind a tree.  Then again, there was some movement next to a parked car.

Her heart raced.  She tried to make some sense out of what she saw.  Was more than one man following her or was it her imagination?  Maybe the man was gradually getting closer.  Angela quickly resumed her fast walk, breaking into a jog for a brief time then back into a walk.

Now the sound of footsteps coming from behind drove her to run faster.  Even then she doubted herself.  She wondered if she was only running away from the echo of her own footsteps.  She could not stop now.  The man might still be coming after her.

Angela stopped to catch her breath.  Again, she felt the man’s painful grasp on her shoulder.

“Let go of me.  What are you doing?”

“Don’t be bashful.  You know you want this as much as I do.”

She spun around to look at the man.  He had a tight grip on her shoulder.  She also saw something moving behind the man, but his head blocked the view.

The man turned his head to see what she was looking at.

“There’s no one there.  Don’t worry we’ll have our privacy.”

Angela tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong.  Then she tried to kick him in the groin, the way her father taught her, but the man anticipated her move and shifted in time to avoid her knee.

“Oh yeah I love it when they want a little rough foreplay,” he said in a tone which seemed to brag about his expertise in molesting women.

Before she could scream for help, his hand covered her mouth.  Before she could poke him in the eye, he turned his head away.  He was always one step ahead of her.  He withdrew his hand before she could bite him.  Then he punched her hard in the face.

Everything began spinning.  Her legs became too weak to hold her up.  She saw the filthy smirk on his face, the trees whirling, and the sidewalk coming up to her face.

As her date Tom reached them, she saw a dark shadow reach around and grab the man’s legs causing him to lose balance and fall.  At first, Tom was afraid, but his rage at someone trying to hurt Angela was too much to resist. With a heavy rock Tom smashed the man’s head repeatedly, unable to stop himself.  

When Angela awoke, she saw Tom.  She let out a sigh of relief when she realized she was okay.  Except for her terror, the pain from where the man punched her was her only injury.

"You're okay Angela.  I took care of him."

"How did you get here?  Were you following me?  Why didn't you catch up with me so we could walk together?  I'm glad you rescued me, but I don't understand."

"You were lucky I happened to be here in the park," Tom lied as he hugged her softly.

He did not tell her how good it felt to smash the mugger’s head with a heavy rock.  After repeated blows the man’s head cracked like an egg with blood and brain seeping out.

"Did you call 911?" she asked.

"We can't do that."

"Why not? Aren't we supposed to let someone know so he won't try it again?"

Tom looked away.  He was not sure he could trust her.

Angela became silent.

"Listen to me Angela.  I'm usually not like this.  I mean I never hurt anyone but when I saw what he was doing to you, I lost it.  I lost all control.  I don't even remember what I did.  I could not stop until he was still."

"Where is he?"

"I'm pretty sure I killed him, so I put the body behind the trees near the bushes."

"What?  You killed him?  This is just too much.  Why did you have to kill him?"

Tom hugged her tightly, hoping she would keep the murder quiet.

"You saved me.  I don't want to get you in trouble with the law. He got what he deserved.  If he's dead he won't be hurting anyone else," she said as she pulled away from him, trying to rationalize what he did to the man.  Maybe it was just an accident.

"That's the way I feel.  Why go through all that grief when nothing good can come of it?  It will be our secret," he said.

Little was said as Tom walked her home.  They did not hold hands.  Once at her apartment she gave him a brief hug before going inside and locking the door.

Tom knew she would need some time alone to sort things out.  He could not blame her for being a little distant.

This is from my novel The Reluctant Killer, A Thriller of Identity and Evil. It is for sale on amazon Kindle as an e-book.  

It's not selling much so I'm going to post it on my blog for free, a little at a time or all of it. It was challenging, but enjoyable to write.