The Watcher

I sit in the dark recesses of the shadows and watch as a dark figure exits a broken window frame. He leaves the corpse of a young girl in her bed, she is only twenty years of age. Her name was Cindy, an only child. I can see him as if it was day, but he cannot see me. I doubt there are many creatures alive these days that would be able to see me.

He walks away from the house and pretends like nothing happened, but it did. His body is still shaking from the intense high of the kill that goes through all their minds. I can sense his heart beating rapidly through his thick leather jacket. The sound is hypnotizing and calls for me. It begs me to follow. I could kill him before he even realizes he’s dead, but it’s not the right time. I let him think he’s safe for the time being. I’ll make it interesting for you.

Hours go by and the man leads me through the city with out stopping or slowing down. The lights of the residential street are dull and hardly light up the road. I move swiftly through the midnight shadows without making a sound. Like all the others, he leads the way into the very heart of the city. The bright lights of the downtown city reflect off the skin of my luminescent face. I pull my hood up over my brow to block the blinding light from my eyes. I follow him watching and waiting for the perfect moment. The moment of vengeance.

I could tell the high was beginning to wear off. He started walking a bit slower, started to sing to himself, and his heart started to slow down. He got away with what he did yet again. For this is not the first time this mortal has killed and raped. He has done it before and he keeps his score to himself, but since I’ve been watching, his score has reached double figures. But the bastard enjoys public places. Places I cannot confront him.

Still I do nothing.

I watch as he enters a convenience store. For a mere second I peer through the barred windows of the store. I see the man purchases a medium drink for a dollar twenty-six. In that one moment, I allow my pail silver face to be seen through the store window under bright lights of the store. Being in the dark for such a long time causes the light to hurt my silver eyes that help me to see perfectly in the dark. I return to the darkness that I love.

After leaving the store, comes the part that I love best. I let him feel my presence. I let him know that I am following him. He starts to run, but in comparison to me it’s like he’s crawling. I can feel his heart beat begin to race out of control. He remembers a distant dream he once had. A dream were he was running for his life but he couldn’t run, and the dark figure eventually caught up too him. The man in black always catches up. But that was only a dream, and this is real.

He throws the last drink he will ever have into the street and desperately tries to escape. He trips on the curb and hits his head on the pavement of the road. He looks up and sees me standing over top of him. Stumbling to his feet he runs through the traffic of the busy downtown street. I stand in a trance looking down at a puddle of blood on the pavement that came out of a deep gash in his forehead. I begin to lose control of my body. I kneel down and rub a finger through the dark red substance. I study it momentarily and then lick it off. My body shakes as I embrace the one of a kind taste of the kill. I can feel my own heart begin to beat faster and faster, and then I glide across the road after the fleeing man.

My body throbs for another taste of the essence of life.

I catch up to the man with ease by following the strong scent of sweat and blood. I find him covered in blood trying to catch his breath beside a dumpster holding the cut on his head. He thought he lost me, but I never lost him for a moment. I heard his short wheezing gasps for air blocks away. The smell of fear around him was so strong it made me sick. It was just like all the others before him. Disgusting.

Without hesitation, the murderer dashed into a nearby alley. His hopes for survival were cut short when he realized it was a dead end. Not like it would have mattered anyway. He scratched at a brick wall in vain ripping off his fingernails desperately hoping to scale the wall. As I walked around the corner, he sank with his back against the wall and started to cry. What a mess. Pitiful mortal.

“W-What ya gonna do wit me man?” Uttered the man beneath his tears. In the shadows I could feel a grin begin to form. The man stood up and stared at me as tears mixed with blood ran down his face. He ran his hand through his blood filled hair and leaned against the wall. He looked up at the night sky and muttered something inaudible.

I let out an ear-piercing laugh. Slowly and methodically I announced his undoing, “You have forsaken your god long ago, for now it is I who shall pass judgement upon thee.”

Using my teeth I ripped apart his throat and drank his blood until he was dead. I threw his body to the ground and closed my eyes as the feeling of the high passed through me. Every vein in my body was pulsing. It was euphoric.

I left the body in the alley and it was found the next day. I think they called it a wild animal attack, or something. They were half right, but they were very far off. As for myself, I slipped away through the shadows of the night back to my resting spot until the next night where I must find another to become my prey. I have not chosen this life, but it was a gift that was given to me long ago. Some say that the fates are cruel, but I’m crueller. So remember I am out there watching, and I do get very hungry.