An Empty Night

When she was out of her apartment complex, and on the streets, she was hit by the cold breeze, she didn't have time to pick up, a sweater, and now she was shivering in the cold, but she would rather she freezes to death than go back there, especially after what she said.

Sniffling, as her tears began to dry up, she could not help but curse herself in her mind 'Fuck, why was I so stupid, I knew there was a 5 percent chance he will find the stash of money through sheer luck, because I refuse to believe he went checking for the money in his own room.'

Lily had been saving her money the moment she began working all sorts of part-time jobs, and since there wasn't any place except her father's room to hide the money, she took that risk, and hid it there, but she made it her job to frequently check it. Her plan was genius as far as she knew.

'My only mistake was hiding all the money in the same place, I should have taken advantage of the owners kindness to help me hide my money, as opening a card wouldn't help me much unless I would have to carry the card with me everywhere I went, but there was always a risk.'

Sighing, she hugged herself to warm up a little. She might make up useless excuses but deep down Lily knew hiding money in plain sight was both a smart Idea, and also the most stupidest one she could have thought about at that time.

'It wasn't that I was not smart enough to figure out just how flawed my hiding place was, I just became too cocky when I was never found out for years.' she lamented. 

She looked around, and found she was still near her apartment complex, and thought 'I should find a place to stay in for the night, but where?' ever since she learned of her stupidity, Lily has been operating on autopilot, her eyes were blank, she had finally broke after years of staying strong.

Not knowing a exactly where to go, except one place, and although it's dangerous, and she has never once went there, when it was dark out. It was the only place, she could think of. It was the alley a couple of blocks away from her apartment complex. 

Since people in the neighbourhood are afraid of walking in secluded areas, for fear of getting mugged, killed or worse, they stay clear away from this place.

But to her it was a place of comfort when she needed an escape from her fucked up life, then when it got dark, she would return to reality, that's why she is reluctant to go there.

But as of now her flight or fight responses, were no longer responsive and she didn't account for the dangers that lay there.

Her legs began moving towards that place.

She walked past many sleaze bags, while they eyed her hungrily, but whenever they looked into her eyes, they stayed clear from her. 

They had seen many people with those eyes before, and although those kind of people were the easiest prey, but they were also the scariest as they had nothing else to live for.

A storm was brewing the clouds were angry, the wind was becoming colder, yet Lily became numb to it, rather than feel it more intensely. She finally reached the darkened alley, and she didn't hesitate, and went inside the abyssal pit, she walked until her shadow had merged with the darkness itself.

There were some sleaze bags, in a group of five who had been tailing her behind, not minding that she was already an empty vase, but when they saw her walking into the alley, that's when they knew, she was far too gone, and they went back where they came from without a second thought.

As she walked into the alley, Lily even in her autopilot state noticed that, the alley was a lot different than it is when it's daytime. The narrow space, that used to bring comfort like a warm blanket on a cold night, now felt suffocating, every step she took echoed with an eerie resonance.

If it weren't for her numbness, her chest would have felt constricted by the beating heart of a scared person, but in her current state, she can only analyse the darkened alley, in cold detachement.

She observed how the air hung heavy with the scent of dampness, and decay. Her eyes had to adjust to the darkness given that her only source of light was the moon, but it could only cast a dim light due to the clouds obscuring it's view.

She continued walking until, she suddenly stopped, and and looked around her, finding herself having gone deeper into the alley than she had initially planned. She was all alone, with no other sound except the roaring thunder sounds, alerting her of an incoming heavy rain.

The air was stifling cold, and here she was in the cold, without any source of warmth, barely recognising if she is alive. She was just wearing a comfortable knee high skirt, she always wears when she's cleaning the apartment, and a sleeveless t-shirts, since it was hot during the day.

And because of those choices there wasn't anything to cover her, and she was beginning to feel the cold and even her numbed state couldn't shield her. She tightly wrapped her hands around herself, and went to the alley's wall, and leaned on it with her back, as she slowly descended to the ground floor.

She wanted to weep, but no tears came out, she wanted to rage, but there wasn't any fighting fire in her anymore, she wanted to.. feel something other than the alley's isolation, as it seemed the whole world outside seemed distant and unreachable. 

Of all places she feared to end up, it never once crossed her mind it would be the only place during daytime felt like she belonged here, but now at night, it's a place that's full of uncertainty that lurks in every recess, leaving her feeling empty, despite the daunting landscape of the unknown dangers.

While in thought, she suddenly heard approaching footsteps, and she could hear them clearly, because of the isolation of the alley, that her senses were more heightened to even the smallest of sounds.

The footsteps were slow, deliberate, measured, unhurried, and on a normal day this is the part were fear would have began creeping inside Lily's heart, but all she felt was an empty anticipation of who it might be.

The footsteps began to stop emitting any sound the closer he/her came, showcasing how he/her had been deliberate with how loud his/her footsteps had initially been, baffling Lily for a moment.

Lily was hugging her knees, and her eyes had never left the ground, and the only reason she knew that the mysterious person had finally reached for her, was because she saw his boots in her eye view, as he/her just stopped right there.

Then she heard a throaty chuckle, before the mysterious person said "Isn't it the part where the little lamb began to run, from the big bad wolf!"