Chapter 2

I hobbled down the street away from the ridiculing crowd until i was far enough away to call for a cab home.

Everyone was right, I was a freak! I didn't belong there and I knew it deep down.

I was cursed . It was time to stop pretending I would ever be normal because the truth is I'm far from it.

Not realizing how far I had ran, I stopped to gather my bearings. Looking to my left and then to my right for any indication on which way I had gone I couldn't help but notice the echoing silence and the empty streets. There wasn't a car or a trick-or-treater in sight and it was Halloween, surely not everyone was already tucked in for the night?

A sudden tingle slithered up my spine at the eerie sensation that I was being watched. My heart started to race as the ominous feeling washed over me like a tidal wave. Something didn't feel right and my instincts were now kicking into overdrive as I shakily pulled my phone out to call for a cab home.

"Great this is just like in the horror movies, how cliché" i muttered to myself as I walked briskly under the street lamps with my phone to my ear, impatiently waiting to connect to a taxi dispatcher.

A loud crash of empty tin banged around in a dark alleyway a few feet behind me, nervously fumbling with my phone I silently begged for the operator to answer. With every empty ring I could feel the static gathering in the air around me like moments before a thunderstorm.

"Hello yellow cab services can I get a name and pick up location please?" The nasally voice of the female dispatcher rung out from the other end of my phone.

"Hi yes can I get a cab to 1912 66st.." I spat out the address quickly before the hellish screech of a cat broke through the night like a sudden warning bell.

"Hello? Hello? Miss?" I yelled frantically into the phone only to be answered back with the dead buzz of the receiver.

Panicked I started running down the block, pumping my legs as fast as they would go too scared to turn around when the abrupt sound of laden footsteps joined to chase after me.

I ran and ran until I came to a four way intersection and could no longer breath without huffing excessively for air. The footsteps of whoever was pursuing me disappeared a block back but I still felt on edge. Something about tonight just wasn't right and I couldn't figure out why there seemed to be nobody around.

Standing on the open street corner I breathed in and out, trying to calming my shot nerves. My feet were screaming with pain in my attempt to sprint in broken heels, I was sticky and wet and tired. So far the night was chalking up to be horrible and I wasn't even home yet.

The bright green traffic lights looked brilliant against the cloudy black backdrop of the night sky, reminding me of the green eyed bar tender with his eyes practically glowing in the dark bar.

Could it be him who is chasing me? He said he was going to kill me didn't he? but he also said we used to have fun together as if he had known me?..

I spun around as the creeping feeling of danger wiggled its way back up my spine setting invisible sirens off in my head. I was being hunted like prey.

A low rumble echoed from the stygian alley beside me, too scared to turn my eyes away I stared into the darkness trying to locate the source of the sound. Even just a glimpse of a shadow.

Maybe it was just a dog? A very large, feral, man eating dog or maybe it was some punk kids who thought tricking was more fun than the treat?

The sharp honk of a horn startled me from my scattered reverie, saving me from the creature lurking in the shadow of the alleyway. Letting out a small shriek I jumped holding my hand to my thudding heart, relieved at the sight of a cab parked along the curb.

"phew at least they managed to find me" I sighed walking up to the car gratefully.

I opened the car door and got in the front seat, gracious I had just missed my impending doom by mere moments.

Thanking the driver I gave him my address and sat back against the worn red velvet seats comfortably as he pulled away from the corner.

"So how's your night going?" I asked the driver politely trying to fill the awkward silence that had enveloped car.

No answer, the driver didn't even turn his head to look my way in acknowledgment.

"How rude" i thought to myself as I listened to the quiet Italian opera playing on the radio.

Soon the soft pitter patter of rain joined the symphony of the Italian opera to meld together a eerie tune that filled the uncomfortable drive with something similar to melancholy. Feeling nervous I fiddled with the hem of skirt. Staring out the passenger window watching as the rain came down harder.

"Excuse me i don't recognize this area? Are you sure we are going the right way?" I asked noticing the house lined streets slowly give way to a more forested lined road. The come back soon sign for my little town passing by us hopelessly.

Again I was met with silence. The dull stare of the driver looking blankly out at the road in front of us almost as if he weren't really staring at the road at all.

"Hey sir! Stop this car and let me out!" I snapped as the sudden gravity of the situation set in.

He wasn't taking me home.

"Stop! Let me out !" I screamed grabbing the wheel and yanking it towards me in a panic.

The driver turned his head with an dazed smile, the left half of his face a dull yellow from the old worn down bone revealed beneath his missing flesh. A loud screech left my lips as I let go of the wheel and skittered back into my seat. The driver glanced out the window chuckling as the car swerved back and forth on the road, an ecstatic laugh of glee escaping his decaying mouth before muttering the words "mors reginae" a black tar like substance bubbled up from his throat and he slumped over in his seat, head lolling side to side like his cranium was suddenly too heavy for his neck to bare, his newly empty eyes gazed into mine as I screamed endlessly at the sight of his ashen complexion.

The man was dead.

My moment of sheer panic is all it took for me to lose total control of the vehicle as it swerved right and left before there was a blaring of a horn and bright white lights, before the horrific sound of screeching tires on wet pavement.

I felt a massive impact and I heard the sounds of glass shattering followed by a horn blaring before pain rippled through my body knocking the air from my lungs.

My brain couldn't comprehend what had happened as i slowly went into shock. Trying to make sense of what was reality. Everything was distorted and muffled as i felt my consciousness ebb away from me.

The constant ringing in my ears did nothing to aid the skull crushing pain in my head from smashing my scalp against the passenger side window.

The tires of the other car spun around and around in the air like a suspended Ferris wheel, the hood of the car crumpled up like a piece of wrinkled paper.

I blinked fighting to focus on the distorted image in front of me but the car alarms going off, resonated in my head. Turning my neck i looked over at the mangled driver hanging half out of the windshield his lifeless eyes staring back at me mockingly.

Disoriented I blinked again, slower this time desperately holding onto the consciousness that was slowly being ripped away from me.

i could let go and the screaming pain in my head would disappear, i could just end my own self suffering and do my parents a favour, ridding them of a cursed child. i could just let go and rid the town of me.

i let out a gurgled sigh as i coughed up crimson blood. The metallic taste coating my mouth and annexing all my other senses.

I gazed up at the silver moon with familiarity, her empyrean halo flooding me with a sense of tranquility as i slipped further away from reality.

The barely audible sound of boots crunching over broken glass pulled me momentarily from oblivion. A tall shadowy figure stood over my mangled form before gently pulling my body from the wreck and holding me tighter to their chest.

" I've got you now mi amore, donec mors ex parte." ( till death do us part) The voice hushed as i slowly slipped into the darkness.

Then there was nothing,