Other Side Tales - The Fifth Turn

Other Side Tales - 5th Turn
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An alarm clock beeped incessantly until a hand shot out and knocked it off the small bedside table. 

The figure on the bed groaned and rolled over to the other side of the bed until a second alarm clock went off a minute later. 

The figure moaned to herself and sat up blinking.

Susan Adams looked around her tiny room blearily then looked down at her hands. They were sticky with dried blood, she had even managed to bloody the blanket she usually slept on.

She turned and put her feet on the floor not moving for a few minutes as the events of the previous night played through her mind. 

After she stared at her boots still on her feet Susan levered herself up and dragged off the ratty t-shirt she had been wearing. Looking at it she tossed it into the corner of the room where a small pile of clothing had started to accumulate. 

She finished undressing and stumbled to the shower turning it on until the water was the right temperature. She stood under the water for 20 minutes not moving much until the hot water started getting cold.

She showered and got herself dressed for work. 

A simple Metallica t-shirt she had bought at a thrift store, jeans and her steel toed boots.

As she passed the mirror hanging on the wall opposite the bed she looked at herself in the mirror. 

Her hair was no longer black but now auburn with streaks of red in it, since her father’s death the hair colouring was something she had not been able to shake.

She picked up the Tibetan prayer beads from the table under the mirror, sheathed her skinning knife at her waist. 

Then put a long bladed dagger in her boot and finally picked up a switchblade which she held in her left hand as she picked her scuffed leather jacket up from the floor. 

Putting it on Susan secreted the switchblade up her left sleeve.

“Not many people expect a left-handed weapon when you’ve shown them you’re a righty,” her father’s voice said to her as she finished securing the blade in its special sheath.

Susan looked at herself in the mirror again and sighed. 

It had been two years to the day since she had killed the man in the parking lot, the police were still hunting her. 

But now she also hunted whoever or whatever was after her. 

She also went after whatever monsters she could find, moving from town to town, city to city, not staying put for long.

Since starting her crusade she had collected a few new scars to go with the three on her thigh where the bandersnatch had clawed her all those years ago.

Susan grabbed her car keys off the table and left her small room, slamming the door as she left.

She walked by the front desk and looked in, the manger was sitting at his desk filling in a crossword. Susan knocked on the door frame and as he looked up she threw him a wad of cash rolled up with an elastic band.

“Another month’s rent, seems I’m staying longer,” she said and walked out.

The manager awkwardly caught the money and looked up but Susan was gone. Shaking his head at the strange woman he counted the money and found there was more than what was needed. 

As he stood up to catch Susan he heard her truck start up, it was an old Dodge pickup that roared as Susan put her foot down racing out of the parking lot. Grumbling to himself the manager sat back down and picked up his crossword puzzle again.

Susan had about two hours before she had to actually be at work but there was another job she had to finish first. It seemed that another monster was having fun with local college girls at a club. Strange stories of the girls disappearing after going club hopping, so the young woman had asked around and two places kept on coming up.The Verge was one place and Club NOH3 was another.

So Susan had staked out Verge the previous night and had found a man that drained people of their very life force. 

She had managed to get the drop on the strange creature and cut off his head which she had buried outside of town leaving the body in the alley way.

So far it seemed it had not been found since no news report mentioned any headless body.

Susan had to make sure so she sat in her truck watching the club. 

She glanced at the clock on her dashboard and saw that she would have to leave soon, if she was late for her regular job people might start asking questions and she did not want to leave just yet.

Just as she was about to start her truck a man in a suit exited the club via the back entrance and walked down the service alley, Susan ducked down and watched the man. 

He glanced at the watch on his wrist and took out a cellular phone from his pocket and dialled a number. Susan watched as the phone on the seat next to her lit up. 

After a minute the man in the suit hung up and the cell next to Susan stopped buzzing.

“Gotcha,” muttered Susan to herself and exited the truck.

She reached into the back of the truck and removed an iron pry bar that had been resting there. 

Calmly she walked across the road hiding the pry bar inside her jacket watching the man in the suit look at his watch one more time. 

Clearly frustrated the man turned around in surprise as the young woman slid the pry bar free.

“Hey,” she said and swung as hard as she could.

The man whirled around and stopped the pry bar a few centimetres from his head, his hand started smoking as the iron ate at his hand.

“Bitch, I knew someone was hunting us,” he spat at Susan.

Susan looked him in the eye and spat an iron nail into his face, the nail seared his flesh as the man let go of the pry bar falling backwards. 

Susan dropped the bar and pulled her skinning knife free, which she swung in a low arc gutting the man.

With a look of surprise he fell to his knees, “This won’t stop me.”

Susan picked up the iron pry bar and said “I know” before she swung it at his head as hard as she could.

The man went down and Susan kept on hammering away until she heard his skull crack. Quickly she used her knife to remove the man’s eyes grimacing at the messy job.

With the orbs clear she put them into a jar filled with iron shavings and sealed it.

“Ugh, one energy vampire and one faerie dead,” she said to herself pocketing the jar.

Susan felt around the dead faerie’s body and removed his wallet and cellular phone, after a minute she removed his watch as well. 

From the wallet she took all the cash he had, which was a substantial amount and threw it back down pocketing the rest of the items.

Looking around one more time Susan walked away from the body and out of the alley and slowly got into her truck, after a minute she drove off.

Susan’s regular job was at a butcher cutting and carving large joints of meat into customer sized steaks and various other packaged meat goods.

As it was she arrived ten minutes late but was luckily not seen by her boss, so she shrugged of her jacket and put on her apron, her hands still sticky from her earlier kill. 

She washed her hands at the nearby sink looking around for anyone that could see her but the shop was quiet and her boss was in the back room.

So Susan quickly unpacked a large joint of meat and set about carving it up with the butcher’s sharp knives. 

She liked the job as it was easy and she could let her mind drift while she concentrated on the job, she almost entered a meditative state and could forget all her troubles for a little while.

The day passed swiftly as the store got busy then emptied in the early evening. Her boss said that she could leave early so the young woman hung up her apron and was in the back room putting on her jacket when she heard the door bell chime.

Frowning she went to the door and was about to open it when she heard her boss talking, “Sorry but we’re closed.”

“… I am looking … For someone.”

To Susan the voice was strange, it had a stop in the middle as if the speaker was not sure how to use words.

“Well it’s only me here, so I don’t think I can help,” said the butcher, his voice firm and steady.

“He will be alright,” said Susan to herself, “He’s big guy who knows how to use a knife.”

The strange voice spoke up again “I know Susan was… Here… I can smell… Her.”

“There’s no one by that name… Sir I think you should leave before I call the police.”

Susan eased the door open quietly looking through the crack and saw a tall, pale man with lank black hair staring at the man.
“Oh crap, oh no,” whispered Susan, she knew what it was.

She closed the door and backed away to the other door. 

As her hand touched the door handle she heard a sudden snarl and a scream that was cut off too quickly.

She jerked open the door and ran out into the night not caring to be quiet any longer. The door she had closed moments before banged open and the tall man burst into the back room, blood covering his mouth and hands but the room was empty.

Sniffing the air he growled and went back to his kill, he needed to feed and the hunt was on.

Susan drove as fast as she could to her small motel room and quickly gathered her belongings, she had got used to keeping everything mostly packed or easily replaceable. The young woman grabbed another backpack already full of clothes and items and grabbed a few things from the bathroom cabinet. That done she ran back out to her truck and threw everything inside.

The manager came outside “What’s this noise?”

Susan looked at him and said hurriedly “Family very sick, must go.”

With that she jumped into her truck and started the engine as the manager looked perplexed saying “Oh… Have a safe trip?”

Susan backed her truck out of the parking lot and raced away from the small apartment complex as the manager realised that she had paid for an entire month upfront, with a shrug he walked back inside. As he sat down he found himself rather worried for the young woman, he did not know why but he was scared for her sake.

Susan drove as fast as she could but knew that too fast and she would attract attention, so gritting her teeth in frustration she drove just above the speed limit hoping that the town’s sheriff would not catch her.

She managed to exit the town without any incident and breathed a sigh as she spied the bridge that crossed the river out of town.

She slowed the truck down to drive over the old bridge when the strange man from the store landed heavily on the car’s bonnet, denting the metal. 

Susan whipped the wheel left and right in an effort to dislodge the man but he simply punched a hand through the bonnet and held on.

The truck crashed into the railing, one wheel hanging over the edge. Susan swore and looked up at the man who had raised his free fist. 

The young woman scrambled to get out of the truck frantically pulling at her door. It popped open and she fell out of the truck on her side just as the man’s fist smashed through the windshield.

Susan started crawling away struggling to get her feet under her, she needed distance to figure out what to do.

Behind her she heard a popping sound, looking back she saw that the man knelt on the bonnet. His body was changing.

His bones popped and his ligaments rearranged themselves until the strange pale man was gone, in his place stood a huge hound-like creature.

Susan gulped, this bandersnatch was even bigger than the last.

Drawing her skinning knife she presented it blade first to the creature while she drew her other knife with her left hand from her boot, this blade she flipped into a underhand grip.

“Well come on fugly, I don’t have all night,” shouted Susan at the beast.

It growled and sprang off the car, its landing caused the bridge to shake. Pacing towards Susan, the beast had an evil light in its eyes.

Susan let out a growl of her own and crouched into a fighting stance.

The beast howled once and sprang at her. Susan waited for a moment and dodged to the side throwing herself out of the beast’s path, it hit the opposite railing with a crack, the old wood nearly giving way completely.

Susan rolled and got her feet under her as the beast sprang at her again.

This time there was nowhere for the young woman to dodge to so she ducked under the beast and slashed out with the sharp skinning blade.

The beast landed on the bridge with an ugly growl blood streaming under it and while the blow had hurt it, it did not stop it. Susan faced the beast again and looked at her blade.

“Got you,” she said.

“Last blow counts for more,” replied the beast in a guttural voice.

The voice shocked Susan so that she nearly did not see the beast charge at her.

It came in low this time and Susan tried to dive to her right but the beast clipped her left hip with its claws. The young woman landed with a cry of pain as the shock of the wound did not allow her to land safely. 

The beast quickly ran over and put its snout under Susan flinging her into the cracked railing, it broke in two depositing Susan onto the hard wood.

She moaned as her ribs were bruised and the new wound on her hip was torn further. Dragging herself up Susan saw that the beast had shifted back into a man, torn bits of clothing hanging off his lanky frame.

He walked over to Susan and said calmly “You killed my friend all those years ago.”

“Yeah well fuck you,” growled Susan through the pain.

The man kicked Susan in the face nearly breaking her nose, she gagged as blood ran down her face then he simply kicked Susan hard in the ribs.

Susan gasped in pain and tried to roll herself into a ball to escape the pain, the man looked at her and said “Pity, they said that you were tough. Oh well, time for you to be frumiously dispatched.”

A siren sounded out in the dark and a police cruiser with its lights flashing stopped on the end of the bridge leading into town.

“We had reports of some kind of disturbance, y’all right here?” called a young voice.

“We are fine officer, you can go,” replied the lanky man.

“Y’all sure… Hey where ‘s your clothes mister?” asked a young police officer as he came closer.

His flashlight picking out first the lanky man who was almost entirely naked. His eyes caught Susan and the blood beneath her.

“What?” said the confused officer as he reached for his gun but the bandersnatch was faster.

It charged the man, teeth finding the officer’s jugular before the young officer even had a chance to draw his weapon.

He went down in a spray of blood as the bandersnatch devoured his throat.

Susan heard the creature feast for a few minutes and tried to drag herself up but she had lost too much blood. She fell back against the railing with a groan.

The creature looked up from his feast and stared at Susan for a moment. He stood and walked over to the injured woman.

“Well I will say this, you don’t give up easily.”

Susan rolled and pitched herself over the railing as the bandersnatch reached for hershouting as she fell.

The creature stood looking at where Susan had been lying for a long while before it got into the police officer’s car and drove off leaving the corpse on the bridge next to the damaged truck.

He knew that no person as injured as Susan could have survived the fall and he could report the success of the mission.  

A few miles down from the bridge a body of a young woman washed ashore at a bend in the river. Boots hurried over to the body and a hand felt for a pulse, hands lifted the woman up and moments later a car door slammed, tyres screeched off into the night.

Reading is a strange hobby

Reading is a strange hobby / past time. 

You are basically taking words, simple things and deriving enjoyment from them.

Stories themselves have power, they are alive and we the readers are their transmitting vector.

Kind of like a pathogen … I know that sounds very heavy.

But stories are alive, we read them then pass them on to others or tell them to others. They change and grow or subtract in the retelling. There are authors who have brought out different editions of their works.

Edition one;

Author’s edition;

Special edition;

Anniversary edition;

 

And it can go on.

So stories are alive and they have very real power.

Stories move people, cause them to cry when they reach a revelation or a specific character dies. When a villain or character is written to the point where a reader truly dislikes said character (see GRR Martin’s King Joffrey in Game of Thrones).

Or characters we like no matter their affiliation or moral compass, they become lovable rogues or villainous characters we agree with even if their methods are extreme (RA Salvatore’s Jarlaxle character is seen as one of the best rogues in the Forgotten Realms setting).

Another aspect that is also strange is the power of the reader’s imagination on what they are reading.

Film gives a viewer a definitive and subjective view of a character or world. So what you see is what you get. The fluid world becomes concrete and fixed.

But an author will often give a description of a character or setting and the reader makes an image in their own mind.

A good example is Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, his one character is described as tall with red hair but both me and a fellow reader saw her as having black hair. It just happened to be how he wrote her, we did not see her having red hair.

At the same time you can also see the opposite when readers discuss the same book.

Characters become alive and different – this reader sees tall with long hair, that one sees medium height with shoulder length. Faces change, the characters morph and become malleable clay figurines. The world becomes different and personal to each reader.

Therein lies part of the magic of reading, the book now becomes personal to the reader, they receive the message intended for them through their own subjectivity.

I am not complaining about this facet, just merely stating its existence.

Though there is also a down side to this phenomenon.   

Readers can put in meaning and personalities not there.

There is a well know story of a South African poet who was part of a lecture and the students started asking how his traffic light went red in the poem and it represented the violence and bloodshed that was happening in the country at that time. He simply said that no the traffic light simply happened to be red when he got there.

Non-fiction books are also good things to read but they are influenced by ‘real’ (as real as the author remembers when writing) and concrete events. The image is influenced by the real world a person experiences.

Fiction is different, the reader has to suspend the real world for a short while and create the fantastic.

So yes, keep reading. Keep those stories alive and help them grow.

Another Musing

The thunder mutters outside and I sit staring at the laptop, wondering about this writing... thing.

I call it a thing because so far it is not a vocation or a career, though that is the aim of most writers - to be able to make some kind of monetary value out of the words thrown at the screen or piece of paper.

A flicker of light from the lightning outside and a moment later the thunder agrees with my internal dialogue.

Mumble, mumble, mutter.

Sometimes that is what words feel like, mumbles and muttering that are thrown out like a message in an empty rum bottle.
(But why is the rum gone?)

I have been unable to write for almost a month - call it writer's block, call it laziness... Hell call it simple "not wanting to-ness" which I know is not actually a real word though it does work.

The laptop hums and its small fan whirls into overtime as it updates its anti-virus.

The dog sits next to me on the bed, she does not like thunder storms, they irritate her. So I do not mind her sitting on the bed, plus the company is reassuring.

As I reassure her that the thunder is simply a noise and it will all be alright maybe I am reassuring myself of the same (not about the thunder gods) but that in the end it will also be alright.

Mumble, mumble, mutter.

That is what writing is about, throwing words at a page or screen and hoping the resulting splatter effect will make sense.

The thunder grumbles at me from outside and I wish I could join it.

Maybe it is trying to reassure me in its rough, low voice.

Mumble, mumble, mutter... It will be alright, listen to my voice for I have seen the world.

I should start listening to that mumble more often.

The Laughing Heart

This is a short but rather poignant poem by Charles Bukowski.

Some might find it difficult to follow because of the music that accompanies it.

Listen and enjoy:

This is UWP Radio two and you're listening to...

Tonight's music is brought to you by Dorothy

Right now it is:

This band is fast becoming some of my happy music, I love the whole blusey - rock n' roll vibe.

They have this really cool attitude in their music and plainly sound great.

And now a word from our sponsors:

Blue mind

Sometimes I find that music whether with words or simple instrumental songs doesn't really cut it when I am concentrating either on work or on writing.

So I find myself listening to simple ocean waves.

Call it hippy of you want but I find it works.

Plus the ocean holds a special place in my heart, it is one noise I will never tire of.

I guess it is easy to say that when, if I am lucky, I visit the beach once a year (this year was a miss -_-) but for me it is one of those places that is just beautiful and the sound of crashing waves is always soothing.

-
-

This basic idea of the ocean is explored quite well in The Blue Mind by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Mind-Surprising-Healthier-Connected/dp/0316252115 

It basically connects the dots between the mind and water and the science between the two as well as the art. 

So try it, you don't have anything to really lose. 

 

Other Side Tales - The Fourth Turn

Susan turned flipping her black hair, the purple streak in it hanging in her face. She blew at it but the stubborn lock of hair stayed put.

“Welcome to John’s Coffee House, what can I get you?” she asked the man standing in front of the counter.
The man spent a few minutes staring at the menu before he ordered a special house coffee with hazelnut, cream and made it extra large.

Susan set about putting his order into the cash register and took his money, the machine printed out the receipts needed and she passed one to the barrister.

Outside students and lecturers streamed passed; some came into the coffee house, others simply walked by.

Susan watched them for a moment wondering if she would ever be that carefree again. The attack on her by the creature three years ago had more than just scarred her leg. It had left her with the knowledge that something was after her, she just never knew what.

Her only clue being a story by Lewis Carroll regarding the bandersnatch.

She had changed her degree from Law to one in the Humanities faculty, learning anything she could about ancient stories, old books and creatures found in bedtime stories.

So far her research had not helped much, she was not sure what she was looking for though every now and then she found some item that seemed promising.

But since the bandersnatch, that is what she had taken to calling the strange dog-like beast, nothing else had tried to attack her.

Her best friend, Janice, entered the coffee shop and walked behind the counter putting on an apron she bumped Susan with her hip lightly.

“How’s it going, girl?” she asked.

“Boring as usual,” replied Susan still watching the students outside the shop.

“What you looking at? Any cute guys out there?”

Since the attack Susan had barely gone out let alone tried to go on one of the many dates Janice had tried to set up.

“Susan?… Helloooo, earth to girl-purple…”

Girl purple was a nickname Janice had given Susan when she first dyed her hair black and purple, the university counsellor had said that it was a phase and Susan would grow out of it, so far Janice had not seen that happen.

“Huh? Oh… Yeah I guess,” mumbled Susan in reply.

“You know they said it was some rabid animal that got into the library, remember?” said Janice worriedly knowing that Susan often thought about the attack.

“Right, yes animal attack… Ugh sorry Janice, I’m not really here today.”

“I can see that, silly… Hey why don’t you come out with us tonight?”

Susan turned to look at Janice, one eyebrow raised, “I swear I’m not to trying to hook you up … after you nearly broke the last guy’s arm with your kung fu I won’t try that in a hurry.”
“It was Ju jitsu not kung fu… also I have school work to finish…” replied Susan in the same half-hearted voice.

“Nu-uh, you’re not getting off that that easy space-head. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

Janice pouted her lower lip out at Susan and opened her eyes to stare at Susan.
“Not the puppy dog eyes. You fight dirty,” laughed Susan, “Ok, ok, I’ll come out tonight.

“Yay!” exclaimed Janie and hugged Susan as a student walked in.

“Hey girl-on-girl action, yeah.”

“Mike!” said Janice and ran to hug her boyfriend, Susan simply nodded to him.

“Babes,” replied Mike picking Janice up, “You joining us tonight girl-purple?”

This last was directed at Susan who had started wiping down the counter, “Yeah sure, Janice asked nicely.”

“She made the face didn’t she?”

“Yup.”

Mike laughed and put his girlfriend down, he ordered himself a plain cup of coffee giving Janice a kiss who had pulled him into a deeper, more lingering kiss.

“Move it lover-boy, we have customers,” said Susan after a minute, not caring much for the public display of affection.

Mike broke the clinch first and kissed Janice on the nose before winking at Susan and leaving the shop.

The rest of the day passed by slowly and the two friends left just as the sun set. It had been a good day in tips none the less and Janice was excited about the evening.

“Ok so I’ll pick you up in two hours time?” asked Janice as she got into her car.

“Yeah, seven is fine.”
“You’ll enjoy it Suzy, don’t worry.”

Susan waved her friend off and walked to her apartment a block away from the university. Since turning twenty she had gained control of her inheritance.

Though her uncle had been sad to see her go, Susan knew that he was secretly relieved. He knew nothing of taking care of a teenage girl and still battled his own demons at the bottom of a bottle. So Susan had moved out soon after the attack, she knew that she needed her own space.

During the short walk she felt like she was being followed but no matter how much she tried she could not see anyone on her tail. Susan made her apartment door without incident letting herself in with a nod to her neighbour across the hallway. The girl waved at her and sorted through her post.

Inside Susan let her back drop onto the floor and collapsed into a couch face first, “You understand me couch… Let me just sleep.”

After ten minutes she levered herself out of the couch knowing that if she stayed she would fall asleep and Janice would not be pleased . Her friend would not let her hear the end of it, so in the end Susan shuffled to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich with a cup of tea.

Since working at John’s Coffee House she had gone off coffee even the instant kind. So she stuck to her tea and rather enjoyed it.

Half an hour later she walked into her room and removed her clothes throwing them onto the floor, she would clean it up in the morning.

Looking down at her left thigh she ran her fingers across the three scars there.

Three years and she still felt anger at the attack, no one had believed her when she had said that the beast was not normal and that it had been a person before changing.

The doctors said that misplaced memories were common in such a trauma, and that the student she had seen had probably been in the library when the animal attack happened. She would heal in time, but Susan knew what had attacked her.

So far all she knew was that the Pied Piper, jabberwocky and bandersnatch were real in one form or another.

“All I need now is for vampires to sparkle,” Susan chuckled to herself and walked to the bathroom to shower.

An hour and a half later she heard hooting and looked out her window where Janice waved at her, she waved back and picked up her bag.

She also strapped a knife to her waist which she hid under her shirt and another long bladed knife to the inside of her boot.

She caught her reflection in a mirror and looked into her own eyes, "What? I'm not crazy."

Ready she exited her apartment and made her way downstairs.

Twenty minutes later she was at a local bar as Janice ordered them a round of drinks, and shots. Eyeing her friend she said nothing as a few minutes later the waitress brought them a tray of tequila shots.

“Wooow!” shouted Janice as the first round of shots was finished, “Ugh, that tastes terrible.”

Susan shuddered as the warm alcohol wormed its way down her system, looking at Janice and mike she asked “Then why order it?”

“’Cause,” was the reply.

Susan shook her head and took a sip of her drink, luckily the next day was Saturday and they were both off from work, it looked like it would be a long night.

The night wore on as they drank more and told stories, even Susan felt herself relaxing as the fifth round of tequila shots was finished.

“This… This tastes like ass,” she said as the empty shot glasses were tapped on the table.

“A Mexican’s ass!” called Mike next to Janice as he ordered another round of drinks.

“So where’s that stick up your butt tonight?” asked Janice nudging Susan.

“Dunno, guess it’s in for repairs shop,” said Susan straight faced before she descended into peals of laughter Janice leaning on top of her laughing away.

“You know, you need to come out more, girl-purple. Live a little,” said Janice still leaning on her friend.

“Yeah, guess it’s just been a crappy few years,”

“Yeah but you’re no victim,”

“Nu-uh, we ain't starting the 2AM philosophy until…” Susan squinted at her watch and squealed in laughter as Janice grabbed her arm to look at the watch.

“In three hours, fine, 2AM philosophy here we come!”

The three friends finished the last round of shots and Susan excused herself from the table as Mike called out “Where you going Suzy?”

“To find some girl on girl action, Mike!” she called after him, he whooped as a few other people around the bar heard her and cheered after her as well.

Susan stumbled and dodged a few dancers as she made her way into the women’s bathroom.

Sitting down she closed the stall door and breathed for a few minutes as she got her bearings back.

“Ok Suzy, don’t puke… Don’t puke,” she murmured to herself putting her head in her hands.

 The nauseous feeling in her stomach soon faded and Susan slowly stood up feeling the room spin a little.

“Whoa, a little too much alcohol girl-purple,” she said and staggered out of the bathroom.

As she exited the bathroom she bumped into a man who had been standing near the entrance, he grabbed her arms as she nearly fell.

“Sorry, she half-shouted over the loud music looking up and instantly recoiled.

The man in front of her had no eyes to speak of, just black pits where they should have been.

“No, no, no, no…  Not again… Not here,” she said trying to stumble backwards but the man held onto her.

She kicked him hard in the shin causing him to stumble, this allowed her to pull her arms from the man’s grasp.

Susan quickly tried to lose herself in the crowd of dancers as she made her way back to Janice and Mark, the adrenalin making her very sober.

She stopped at the table and leaned into Janice saying “Can we leave? I don’t feel too good.”

Janice looked at her smiling, the smile fading as she looked into Susan’s ashen face “Honey? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just feel kind of sick.”

“Ok, let me just get my things, alright?” she replied worrying about her friend.

Susan bounced up and down on her heels anxious to leave, she kept on looking around as Janice explained the situation to her boyfriend.

As her friend got up from the table Susan looked around one last time making sure the strange man was not around, she began hoping that maybe she had lost him and there would be no incident this time.

Checking her watch Susan saw that it was after 12:00AM, she was officially twenty three years old. Fear gripped her and she nearly snapped at Janice to move but managed to keep her mouth closed. Alarming her friend would not help the situation.

The two friends left the bar and made their way to Janice’s parked car.

Susan looked back one last time as Janice said “What’s this really about? You have been on edge since you came back.”

Susan looked at her friend and sighed “Some creep tried to come onto me and I just feel uncomfortable and want to go home.”

Janice looked at her for a moment and simply unlocked the car not saying a word.

“Sorry if I ruined your night,” mumbled Susan as Janice got into the car, the young woman opened the car door opposite and stopped.

“Get in the car already,” said Janice but stopped as Susan closed the door and walked away from the car.

The man was standing a few feet away simply watching the two women, Susan slowly approached stopping a meter away. Janice looked at Susan and then at the man. To her eyes the man did not look right, it was as if he had no fear. Susan on the other hand looked terrified yet in control at the same time.

“Suzy? What’s going on?”

“Janice… Go back inside.”

“What do you mean go back inside? Is this the creepo you told me about?”

“Janice,” Susan was almost shouting now, “Just go back inside.”

The man looked at Janice then disregarded her, his gaze fixing on Susan.

“Well? What do you want this time?” called Susan to the man, “I’m getting tired of all this bullshit on my birthday.”

Janice struggled with her seatbelt as she heard Susan talk to the man, she was confused by her friend’s comment and was now feeling scared. She had to get inside and find Mark.

Finally getting her seatbelt off Janice half stumbled out of the car and looked at her best friend. Susan looked small close to the man. It was not that he was big, in fact he was rather average. He just radiated a palpable sense of fear and a wrongness that Janice could not put her finger on.

“Suzy?” she called again in a quiet voice but Susan did not seem to hear her.

“I’m going to get help!” Janice called in a louder voice and ran as fast as she could to the bar to fetch Mark, Susan barely acknowledged her friend glad that Janice was now gone.

“Alright you bastard, let’s get this over with,” growled Susan as she fell into a fighting stance.

The strange man took a step forward and was abruptly gone, Susan gulped as she felt a hand grab her jacket.

The young woman twisted out of the grip slipping from her jacket and took three steps backwards but the man was next to her again, this time swinging a haymaker for her head.

Susan ducked and drove the palm of her hand into the man’s chin staggering him. She waded in and grabbed his one flailing arm and with a heave threw the man over her shoulder using her own leg for leverage.

The man slammed into the concrete and simply stood up throwing two wild punches at Susan. The woman ducked under the blows and lashed out with a foot hearing the man’s knee crunch but he kept on coming, this time his punch caught Susan on the side of the chin. The young woman went down seeing stars.

The strange man walked in not uttering a word and raised his boot to hammer it into Susan but the young woman drew the long knife from her boot and stabbed upwards with a savage thrust. The blade entered easily, parting flesh until it hooked on the man’s sternum. Susan gave it a twist as she pulled it free.

The man looked at Susan with an expression of surprise on his face and toppled over onto the ground dead.

Susan stood wincing as she felt the bruise forming on her jaw. Looking over to the bar she saw Janice standing just outside the entrance, her hands over her mouth. Susan looked at the blood on her hands and at the knife on the floor. Dropping it in horror Susan looked again at her friend, climbed into Janice’s car and drove off.

A few minutes later Susan was in her apartment throwing clothes into a backpack along with a few personal items. As she turned to exit she spied her Tibetan prayer beads on the entrance table. She picked them up and stared at them for a moment before she stuffed them into her pocket.

She had murdered a man but it was also not a man. The police would not understand, Janice would not understand, so Susan did what she thought was best.

She ran.

Out into the world she ran and disappeared into the night leaving behind the only life she had ever known.