Sanguine Addiction
It was a fall morning when Misty first saw him. He walked with a sway, an awe expression on his face, he stopped slightly when he saw her. His black hair speckled with grey gleamed in the morning sun. Across his neck hung a red oval gem, a cabochon. His sunburnt tan had faded to a dark brown complexion kept hidden by his cap. The Shady Acres Apartment complex had been pretty quiet until she met him. He smiled, beamed in Misty's direction and she knew she had to meet him. Misty didn't know when or even how this would happen, with the dogs, school, and her nosy neighbor popping around every doorstep she would have to be careful, timely, and quick if she introduced herself.
That night was a cold one. Misty agonized over what she would say to him the next week. It seemed hopeless to come up with anything clever, quick, or charming. She listened to the wind, it whipped through the trees at night, it seemed to whisper to her "Together in time". She awoke to heavy rain The words still lingered in her head, in the black nothingness of night Misty crept out of her bed, hoping not to wake Gunther her chocolate lab. He snoozed on. She walked in a sleepy trance out the front door to the small concrete porch where Misty saw a dark figure in the distance, the rain poured around her. "Together in Time'' played on and on in her mind, a sweet carousel of trinkets. Misty reached out her hand, the rain danced on her skin. In the dark the figure crept closer she looked into his eyes, they were a fierce green, and his skin whiter than snow. He was now walking much quicker towards her. A crash of lightning woke Misty. She screamed as the figure jumped and disappeared above her. She realized she was soaking wet. Not remembering how she got outside Misty spun around to get back to safety.
She was stopped by a hulking chest, at first she didn't think it was human from the gruff sounds of it huffing up and down. Terrified by its size and closeness Misty leaped back out into the rain, screaming. The street lamps that were always on when it got dusk, flickered turning off one by one as she ran down the street. Locked doors were deaf to her shrieks. Misty looked behind her only to realize the figure with the emerald eyes was no longer behind her. She ran to hide in a doorway and peered out. If I could get to my phone I could call for help Misty thought. She closed her eyes and thought of the man she saw. She had given him an imaginary name, Joel. It seemed silly to think of now but it comforted Misty to think of seeing Joel again and how beautiful his smile was, Misty knew she had to keep going to see Joel again.
She darted in and out of the bushes that grew beside The Shady Acres Apartments, Misty tried hard to remember what Joel did to make her fall in "like" with him. He actually hadn't done anything. Misty had been living at the apartment for five months and had never seen him. She remembered the maintenance men and the gardeners but not the man with the red pendant around his neck. She would have remembered that. Misty waited in the bushes for a sign that the coast was clear of any creeps. She heard silence, slowly she moved towards the gates enclosing the apartment complex. At the front near the road, she could see headlights. Misty ran to the gate, which was opened by way of motion sensors. Suddenly she felt a cold hand on her shoulder yanking her around. "Get away from me" She shrieked. She opened her eyes to see a pale white mouth open wide. An overwhelming aroma of decayed composite made her gag. Two long white fangs grew out of the wide mouth. Misty grabbed hold of the ground she felt a large rock, "Eat gravel, you beast"! The rock flew through the air striking the ghastly man. He fell to the ground, lying still.
Misty crept close to him. Moving Inch by inch her heart rate began beating harder and harder. Just then a car passing by blared its horn to the driver in front of it. They flashed their high beams, causing the light to cascade everything around it. Misty saw something glimmer beneath the odd-looking frumpy clothes, the man was wearing. She bent down and pulled out a red pendant necklace. It was just like the one she had seen Joel wearing. Gasping Misty drew back. Joel was here, lying on the ground.
Since she didn't know Joel's real name Misty decided to take the necklace with her. Maybe it had his initials on it. As she pocketed the necklace, a groan came from "Joel". "Ugh, What Happened"? sitting up, the man revealed once again his handsome features. Running a hand through his dark black hair he gazed up at Misty. "Hey," she said, frozen Misty could think of nothing else to say. "Hey yourself, what is going on"? He asked. "Well, you attacked me". "Joel" lept to his feet. "What"? "I was outside and.." "How did I even get here"? "Um, I don't know but hello you attacked me" Misty sighed frustrated. "Listen, lady I am sorry but I don't know who you are and I hey...." Misty frowned eyeing the once frightening stranger. "Don't you work here"? she interrupted. "No"! He protested and went towards the entrance of opening to the main road. "I am sorry if I scared you, I'm just really confused and my head hurts and I want to go home" Just at that moment, a strong gust of wind blew Misty and "Joel" to the ground. A black-laced figure swept down and scooped "Joel" up taking him off into the night.
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