Chapter 4: Figure

As if from a distance, I registered the scramble of Anton's footsteps. He was speaking to me, I think, but I couldn't process it. I just kept staring into the empty alleyway. Absently, I rubbed at my aching arm, the pain eventually drew me out of my state of shock. I looked around as if I had just come back to my body. The dark pressed in around the pool of lamp light. My purse's contents lay scattered about the circle. Mila was gone. There was nothing, just the empty alleyway that slowly took shape as my eyes adjusted to the light again. Behind me I heard footsteps and heavy breathing. When I turned around, Anton was booking it like his ass was on fire.

"Hey!" I shouted after him. "Where are you...? This isn't over!" I'm not sure what I meant by that, but I said it anyway.

I sagged heavily as he turned the corner. I was left alone again surrounded by darkness. And Mila was dead. And she was gone. I reached for my fallen phone, but the fingers on my hand twitched with pain from the dislocated shoulder. With a curse, I snatched it up with the good one.

I dialed the phone.

"911. What's your emergency?" The female voice asked in a formal tone.

I hesitated. The phone picked up so quickly, I hadn't had time to think about what to say. "My friend is... dead." My voice trembled.

"What's your location? I'll send an ambulance."

"She's gone. She's not here." I said in an empty voice. I wanted to say more, but I couldn't get the words out.

"What's your location?"

My eyes sought the darkness. There was nothing. "I'm under a street lamp."

"Ma'am, tell me what happened."

"I was running from it. I tripped over her. She was dead. Then it took her." I stumbled over the words. My tongue felt thick and my mind slow. I must have sounded like a moron.

"Who took her?"

"The darkness."

"Ma'am, it's a federal offense to prank call emergency services." The phone clicked.

I kept the phone held to my ear and blinked. She didn't believe me. Hell, I didn't believe me, but it was true. The darkness took her and Anton... he ran. They left me all alone in the dark. I looked around again. My fallen purse and its scattered contents across the ground were the only thing surrounding me. I looked back where Mila had disappeared. There was nothing, just empty space that led back to the alley.

I curled my knees up to my chin and held my legs with my good arm. Tears rolled down my face. I was alone. Mila was gone. And I was so fucking scared.

I shuttered at what I'd witnessed. I had seen the darkness move, like it was alive. It swirled. It moved. It devoured. I opened and closed my right hand remembering the pins and needles feeling that crept up it. It still felt strange, almost like a stinging sensation that twisted up my arm. I didn't dare move the other one. It felt wrong. Something was out of place. I could feel it crunch and separate as I shifted. A smear of red that looked dark grey in the lighting covered the denim of my jeans. My chin was still bleeding from my initial fall from my initial flight.

If I hadn't of looked, if I hadn't of run, maybe I would be home by now. But Mila would still be dead. I wasn't one of those people that connected with others well, at least not anymore, but my heart hurt for her. She didn't deserve to die. Someone else did, maybe even me, but not her. She was too young. She was too kind. Why couldn't someone bad die? Or someone that wouldn't be missed, someone inconsequential. Someone like me.

Tears started to streak my cheeks adding to the damp blood on my jeans. I wasn't a crier. Usually it was like one sob and it was all over, but they just kept coming. I couldn't stop them. They dripped down my face and rolled off my chin.

Mila's life was over. I didn't dare to think how that was going to change my life yet. I couldn't. It made her life feel cheap and made me feel selfish. Like how dare you die, now how am I supposed to pay rent? What a horrible thought. I pushed it aside. I would deal with that later. Right now, I needed to pay my respects. I needed to feel this grief, she deserved that much. I tucked my head into my knees and let the tears flood. As long as the light held steady, I wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere.

I woke with a sudden rush. My heart beat pulsed fast in my ears. I must have drifted off at some point in my pity fest. Now, I was acutely aware of a presence. Someone, or something, was here watching me. I wondered how long I had been here. It was still dark, but my legs felt cramped. I strained my ears. I didn't hear breathing or footsteps, or even scuffling for that matter, but I knew someone was there. Fear didn't threaten to overwhelm me this time. So what was it?

Very slowly, I lifted my head. My eyes shifted over the darkness lining my safe little street light. After a careful search, I spotted a figure leaning against the brick wall across the alley. Maybe it was a figment of my imagination. My eyes narrowed as I strained to see it more clearly. Was it a person, or was it just some trash? The more I looked the more the lump seemed to form a person.

A faint glow, like that of a burning cigarette formed around the figure. Now I was sure it was a person. What must they see when they look at me? A sad, pathetic lump of a human balling her eyes out in a pool of shallow light? I brushed the salt from my dried tears off my cheeks with the palm of my good hand. I kept my eyes on the burning cigarette butt as I stretched my legs. I was wary of the figure, but not afraid. Things I could see were less scary than things I couldn't even though they were potentially more dangerous. They were actually real.

I looked down as the dried blood pulled the skin on my knees as I straightened them. When I looked up, the figure was gone. What they hell? I only glanced down. Maybe it was just a figment of my imagination the whole time.

I searched the blackness again. This time the figure was closer. As I stared, the figure became more defined as a person. The burning cigarette appeared again. That was strange. My heart started to beat faster. Maybe I was losing my mind. I kept my eyes on the person this time. Slowly, my hand crept around me, gathering my fallen contents into a pile next to me. My fingernail scuffed the pavement painfully. My hand jerked and I lost eye contact as fresh blood sprung to the surface. When I looked up the figure was gone again, the darkness outside my circle was as empty as before. I must really be losing it.