Chapter 1: The End
I am walking down the street to my friend’s house; she’s a year older than me. She’s 18 years old and a senior in high school. We’ve been best friends since the first grade. She lives only a couple of blocks away so I normally walk over. Tonight is no different. I just left the house ten minutes ago and decided to take the short cut. The street I am on is brightly lit but soon I will cut into the alley where there are no windows and no lights. I used to be scared of the alley but now it is my safe zone. My friend and I have been hanging out in that alley and taking it as a short cut for so many years now; we can’t help but love it. I turned into the alley way. As always it isn’t lit well but the moonlight shining in gives enough light to guide my way. That’s when I see him, his shadowy outline. He’s tall, possibly six feet. As I get closer I find that his back is too me and his head is swinging to the left and then the right as if trying to decide which way to go. I realize that he’s at the end of the alley. He must have heard my footsteps because he turned around. His eyes are a blazing blue and his hair is ink black. His muscles are highly defined and he’s wearing a tight, black shirt that clearly shows his eight pack. He’s also wearing black jeans and black tennis shoes. Normally I would have thought he was a freak for wearing all black, I mean how depressing that is, but as it is he looks really good in black. I figure that’s why he wears so much of it and I can’t blame him. I always wear the colors that make me look good, why shouldn’t he?
“Are you lost?” he asks and I want to say yes because then I know he’ll help me find my way and I want to spend time with him but if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a liar.
“No.” I reply. He smiles a tiny embarrassed smile.
“Well it’s a good thing one of us isn’t.”
My heart beats a little faster. This clad black stranger makes me want to spend the rest of the night in this alley with him. “You’re lost?” I ask.
“Yes. I’m looking for Rosemund Street. Do you know where I can find it?”
That’s the street I live on. “You have to go back down the alley in the opposite direction and take a left when you reach the end.” I say sadly. I don’t want him to go.
“Would you walk with me? At least to the end of the alley? I have a hard time seeing in this light and I’d hate to get more lost.”
“Sure.” I reply.
We start walking towards the other end of the alley and even though it was silent it wasn’t awkward. He made me feel safe. I like him.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
“Emma.”
“Emma.” He replies. His voice is like the wind in the trees or the sun on my skin. It’s beautiful and the way he says my name makes my heart beat faster.
“What’s yours?”
He smiles a smile that could stop a heart. It was kind and forbidden. “Ethan.”
I smile back. He strokes my cheek with the back of his hand and I notice that we’ve stopped in the middle of the deserted alley. I don’t mind. I shiver a shiver of pleasure at his touch. His hand is warm and soft, his touch is gentle and forbidden. I get that feel in everything he does. That it’s forbidden, that he’s forbidden, and it only makes me want him more.
“Emma. Emma. So sweet, so young.” He whispers.
I can’t look away from him and that’s why I see it. I see that change in his features. His eyes turn hard; they’re ice, his hand slides down to hold one side of my neck. His touch is no longer gentle, it’s restraining and his smile is gone. I’m afraid for my life. He puts his lips to the other side of neck and whispers in a menacing voice. “This is the end.”
There’s pain but I can’t scream. It’s a pain like none I’ve ever felt. It feels like I’m being torn apart, like my brain and my other organs are slowly shutting down, failing to function. Then the pain is gone and everything goes black. Everything goes blank and my life is gone.