Enchanter (8 page)

And tonight happens to feel as if I’m going to need it.

With my only weapon concealed in between my hand and my left
thigh, I continued my normal trek home while dreading that Saturday was just a
few hours away and my appointment with Brandon was to take place soon. My
concerns over how that would go seemed to grow as each minute ticked by. Being
alone with Brandon at the foot of the campus’s staircase was one thing, but
sharing a space with him while there were no witnesses nearby was another,
entirely different scenario.

True, Brandon had never physically hurt anyone that I knew
of. Not even when he outgrew his bullies. There was only one time that I could
recall him turning his hands into fists and staring at Mitch, Donald, and Eli
as if wishing he could fight back, but even then he decided to be the bigger
man and walked away instead. That had been the closest thing to rage I ever saw
in his eyes. And although most accused him of being a coward, fear was not what
I detected in him. Brandon had not been scared, but he had held himself back.

Maybe the thought of being outnumbered three to one caused
him to hesitate. Perhaps he did not want to get in trouble. Or perhaps he just is
not the fighting type.

Realizing that my thoughts were traveling to Brandon more
and more each hour, I shook my head and focused on my walk.

Just a few more blocks and I’ll be home.

As I passed by a small, Victorian house on my right side,
Mrs. Schultz, who was a woman of about sixty-five, was sitting on the front
porch with her dog, Puffy. For the past three years since I had started working
at the restaurant, seeing Mrs. Schultz sitting on her wooden rocking chair
during the summer months was routine for me. And every night as I walked home
from work she greeted me and we engaged in a very brief conversation before I
continued on.

Over the years, I had been invited into her home a few times,
but tonight if she extended the invitation, I would definitely have to decline.
I was too tired to be openly friendly and there was a very big possibility that
I would end up falling asleep if she related another of her when-I-was-young
tales.

As soon as Mrs. Schultz saw me, she smiled and waved.

“How’s it going, Leah?” she asked from her rocking chair.

“Good.” I kept walking.

“Busy night?”

“Yep, the restaurant was packed tonight.”

She bobbed her head up and down a few times before replying,
“All right, dear, I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

I smiled and nodded.

Just beyond Mrs. Shultz’s was another house. This one had
been abandoned for years, so its yard resembled jungles more than. Beyond that
jungle was the all famous alleyway, which served as a divider between a local
bar/grill and the abandoned house some thirty or so feet away.

As I continued forward, aware that in order to get home I
would have to pass right by the alley’s entrance, I could not help the chills
that ran up my spine. The odd sensation that struck me as soon as I got off work
traveled its way up to my brain again. It literally felt as if the night itself
was trying to warn me about something, but I thought that to be extremely
ridiculous. There was nothing for me to be afraid of, yet the fear was still there.

Gripping the bottle of pepper spray securely in my hand, I
continued on, picking up my pace as the dark hole between the forest and the
bar came into full view. Unnerved to the point of wanting to take off running,
I refused to look at it as I approached.

What’s wrong with you, Leah? You’ve been walking through
here for years and nothing ever happened.

Yeah, but there’s always a first time for everything!

Trying to shake myself out of my unwarranted paranoia, I
conjured up some happy memories to keep my mind from drifting toward the
alleyway and why it was making me feel as uncomfortable as it was today.

It took a few seconds for me to finally reach the gaping
hole, which now resembled a funnel as I stared into it. As always, the alleyway
was empty. There were not even any city cats or rats running around, which I
could not help but expect in a place like this. Of course, the fact that the
owner of the bar/grill next door kept it clean and free of trash and clutter
probably helped ease away any undesired pests.

Relieved that I could not see anything or anyone within five
feet from the entrance, I continued on. By this point, a soft breeze had picked
up and, oddly enough, that served to put my mind at ease, and I finally relaxed
my tense limbs enough so that I no longer walked as if I had just been beaten.

As I walked by, I came within two feet of actually stepping
foot inside the alleyway. Because I was no longer experiencing any weird vibes,
I did not stop to think about my closeness to it until I felt someone grab the collar
of my uniform and pull me in with so much force, I had no time to react until I
opened my eyes to find myself lying on my back.

What the hell just happened?

For a few seconds I just lay there, unable to tell or
explained what happened, until the realization that I had been pulled into the
dark alleyway by someone hit me. Panic nearly overwhelmed me. It threatened to
get worse when I realized I no longer carried the bottle of pepper spray in my
hand and was lying there completely vulnerable to whatever predator was hunting
me down.

Scared out of my mind, I tried to sit up so that I could
have a better view of my surroundings, but stopped short when a wave of pain
assailed me. My back was burning from impacting against the hard asphalt, and
it took a few seconds for the sensation to die down enough to allow for me to
move more freely.

Whoever attacked me had to be one big and incredibly fast
SOB because I never even saw him coming. In fact, as I looked around me, I
noticed there was no one there that I could see, but it
was
a hand I had
felt at the back of my neck a few moments ago, I was sure of it.

Please don’t tell me this place is haunted. Ghosts? No,
that couldn’t be the answer to this, but what then? This had to be the work of
some sick bastard.

What caused my fear to boil over was the fact that there
were no objects around large enough to hide a person, so where could my
assailant be? There was no possible way my attacker was hiding in the shadows
because, even though it was dark, every time a car drove by its headlights provided
enough light for me to see if there was anyone standing within a few feet of
me. But I still could not see anyone.

This is wrong. Something is wrong. But what?

I could not shake the feeling that I was not alone. That
there was someone standing there somewhere, but I just could not see him. Maybe
I was wrong and he, whoever
he
may be, was waiting beyond the invisible
line in which light from the nearby street could not reveal his presence. Just
to be sure, I took advantage of the fact that I was being left alone for the
time being to take my cell phone out of my front pocket and press the green
send button. The light from my phone did not reach very far, but at least I was
able to verify that there was no one standing anywhere near me.

The fact that I was alone did little to calm my nerves
because there still was no obvious explanation for what had happened, and I was
completely dumbfounded by this.

Did I trip and fall, stupidly mistaking that for a hand
pulling me in? Was I so terrified that my mind played tricks on me? Am I going
crazy here?

Unable to detect any movements near me, I spread my hands
out on the ground so that I could push myself up. As I was doing that, my knee
bumped against something and I looked down to see the bottle of pepper spray
lying right next to me. Relieved by having found it without any effort, I
grabbed it and started to rise when a flash of white light caught my attention.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, so fast
that I could not tell what it was until I glanced up and saw this incredibly
thin man standing right in front of me.

This bastard was waiting for me to run before coming out
of his hiding place. He’s actually playing a game of cat and mouse with me!

This man looked like something straight from some sci-fi
movie. He was tall, with long, white hair, unnaturally pale skin, and eyes that
seemed to have no irises at all. The fact that he appeared to be emaciated
scared me perhaps more than it should have. Like Brandon, this man wore dark
clothing, and like Brandon, the clothing seemed to make this creature very
menacing.

This man certainly did not look like he was a healthy
individual, and I was very aware of the fact that I was completely alone with
him.

What does this psycho want?

To make matters worse, the man never moved. He just stood
there as still as a statue, his dark orbs never leaving my face. And they
appeared hungry – starving – as they observed me.

“Are you drunk?” I asked as I got on my knees and pushed
myself into a standing position.

As soon as I was facing him I noticed he was not very tall,
perhaps four or five inches taller than me. Even though he resembled a decrepit
corpse, I had the feeling that he was the one responsible for attacking me. And
if that was the case, I was in serious trouble. Because if he could toss me a
good four or five feet from the entrance of the alleyway in a matter of seconds,
what else could he do?

Whether he understood my question or simply decided to
ignore it, I will never know. His only response was to hiss, and hiss unlike
anything I had ever heard before. It was some strange mixture between the
hissing of a snake and a growl from a cat. The strangeness of the sound caused
a yelp of surprise to escape my lips and I reacted by lifting the can of pepper
spray, squeezing the trigger, and releasing a shower of foul-smelling liquid
into his dark eyes.

The man shrieked in agony and backed off, rotating in
circles while bringing both hands up to his face. His movements seemed to take
place at a speed far beyond a human’s capabilities.

Are those claws protruding from his fingers?

He swayed sideways and bumped into a small trash can,
forcing it to topple over. The loud clanking noise startled him enough that he
actually took off running deeper into the alleyway and then disappeared within
seconds. Having seen enough myself, I took off toward the sidewalk and ran all
the way home.

Such was my hurry to arrive and feel secure again that I took
no consideration to whomever I happened to bump against while I fled the scene
of my attack. Never in my life had I given much thought to how fast I could run,
but I was scared enough by the absurdity of what I had just witnessed that I could
safely say it took less than two minutes for me to run the two blocks that took
me directly home.

When I got to the apartment building, I did not even bother
with the elevator because it was usually full and I wanted to avoid any contact
with people I did not know. I ran all the way up the stairs to the third floor
and continued on until the door of the two-bedroom apartment I shared with Matt
came into view.

In less than three seconds flat, I had the door unlocked and
was rushing in, nearly bumping into Matt as I bolted inside.

“Geez, Leah, what’s wrong?”

I slammed the door shut and locked it.

“Leah!”

“Someone attacked me.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“Yes… I… he… I’m okay.”

 Matt reached out for me and pulled me toward the living
room. It was then I saw Xavier, Matt’s boyfriend of eighteen months, sitting on
the couch. By the looks of them, it was obvious they had been ready to go out
somewhere.

“Leah,” Xavier’s eyes were as wide as Matt’s were, “you
don’t look like you’re okay.”

“I wasn’t hurt, just scared.” Although, by the way my body
shook, it was no wonder they were worried.

“Sit,” Matt ordered.

“I’ll get her some water.” Xavier hurried to the kitchen.

“Tell me what happened.” Matt took the pepper spray out of
my hand and placed it on top of the coffee table. “You used it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“And?”

“He took off running.”

Matt nodded, relief showing on his face.

“Here.” Xavier came back with a bottle of water and handed
it to me. “I told you the pepper spray would come in handy,” he said.

“You were right, thanks,” I muttered, unable to keep the
shakiness out of my voice.

“Details, Leah,” Matt demanded, although his tone was more
out of concern than anything else.

I went on to describe the incident down to the last detail,
which forced Matt into a highly graphic cursing session. He was understandably
pissed about what happened. Had I not been so terrified, I probably would have been,
too.

After I agreed to call the police, Matt calmed down some,
but Xavier kept close watch on him just to make sure he would not run off to
look for my attacker while we were distracted. Having to go to the police
station to file a report was not exactly a picnic for any of us, but the police
officer insisted I go. Fortunately, Matt and Xavier stayed with me the entire
time.

After everything was said and done, we headed back home.
Once I had showered and changed into my pajamas, I found myself lying in bed
with Matt and Xavier keeping me company.

“Guys, I appreciate the help, but I think I’m okay now.”

“We’re not going anywhere.” I knew Matt well enough not to
argue.

Xavier, who up to that moment had been tossing popcorn up in
the air and catching them in his mouth, stopped his activities long enough to
look at me and say, “The Blood Raven nightclub will be there tomorrow. We can
always make plans to go another night.”