Page 4 of Darkest Dawn

Stepping into the entryway, the heat of the mall hits me. October has been cooling down as days go by and the chill from fall is in full effect. I roll my shoulders, holding up my phone to track my prey.

It takes me a few minutes to track Dawn down, but when I do, I’m like a moth to a bright fiery flame. My eyes lock on to its target and I can’t seem to pull my eyes away. I realized I must look like a creep just standing here staring through the window, so I move to the store across the way.

When I enter the small shop, a perky bottle blonde straightens her back, shoving her tits up as her plain blue eyes widen for half a second before filling with desire. “Can I help you find anything today?” She bates her mascara clump lashes at me and I nearly roll my eyes at the implied anything. Disgust rolls through me as I hold back a gag. She places her dainty taloned hand on my bicep and steps closer into my personal space, making a wall of stench she must call perfume assaults my nostrils. I sneer down at the offending limb before looking up and glaring at the woman herself. This time her eyes widen in unease or maybe fear. I don’t care which. I’ve been told my glare could make grown men cry. The sales woman finally yanks her hand away before turning and scurrying off to the back of the store.

I finally get a look around the shop I entered and see it’s a sex shop that is currently filled with slutty Halloween outfits. The walls are lined with sex toys all in the Halloween spirit and a smile paints my lips as I think about tomorrow and the game I want to play.

I look back towards the shop Dawn was just in with her roommate and friend and see they are still shifting through racks of clothing. I decide to take a look around to see if I can find some inspiration for tomorrow. I head to the binding section with all the cuffs and multi-material rope. I find all shades, length, and thickness as I run my fingers across the material on display. When I feel the soft silk of one of the items, I stop, pulling it out to examine it. It’s blood red in color and shines under the dull lights above. Perfect. I think I should start easy on her, build up to my more wild fantasies.

I continue my shopping, every once in a while, glancing towards Dawn to make sure she is where I can see her when I wander towards the Halloween section. I shift through the variety of costumes, all with barely any fabric, wondering what my Little Sunshine will dress up as. Does she already have a costume? Does she even plan to go out? She needs to in order to have my plan work. But if she wore anything like this, I might have to kill every man who looked at what’s mine. Am I willing to become a serial killer this early in life for this woman? I think yes.

Laughter pulls me from my killing thoughts and I watch as Dawn and her friend leave the store they were just in, bags in hand. Her friend, Becca, I think her name is, turns toward the shop I’m in. My mind turns to tell me to run. That if she is close to us we will act too soon or that she will somehow know who we are, but at the last second, Dawn pulls Becca away.

“No. Coffee. You said I could get coffee before we do any more shopping.” Ah yes. My Dawn is a coffee addict.

“Fine but then I wanna come back here. I think I see some cute stuff for you.” Becca replies.

Over my dead body will Dawn dress like some common street whore. I have a feeling I might have to kill someone tomorrow if I don’t step in now. I decided to choose three outfits and have her pick one as a surprise. That way I know all her major bits will be covered, saving me from having to rampage tomorrow if anyone saw to much of my woman.

I’m about to go pay to follow the girls when something catches my eye at the back wall. I walk towards the wall of masks and grin wickedly as I focus on the perfect mask for our game tomorrow. A black and white skeleton mask, simple, but it will cover the entirety of my face and will prolong her knowing who I am under it.

The blonde from before is standing behind the counter, eyes still filled with desire but also worry. I lay the blood red silk ribbon on the counter along with the costumes I picked out and explain I need them wrapped and waiting for someone. She does as she is told before I show her a picture of Dawn, telling her to make her pick one at random. I then point to the wall behind her. “I’ll be taking that mask as well.” She looks over her shoulder and nods before grabbing said mask, then the silk ribbon and bagging everything up.

Oh, Little Sunshine. I can’t wait to play with you.

Chapter 5

Dawn

I’mrelievedwhenBeccafinds the “to die for perfect dress”. It’s only taken her about two but what feels like 100 stores to find it. Of course, she looks stunning in it as well. Becca is a knockout with her natural dirty blond hair, aquamarine blue eyes, long legs, and perfect complexion. Honestly, I don’t know how we are even friends. I mean I’m not an ugly duckling by any means, but I’m definitely not the thinnest girl on the team. Taco Tuesday is a legit thing, and this girl loves her some tacos.

She finally pays for the dress and my shoulders sag in relief. Finally, we can get coffee. I need a pick me up. I rarely go shopping, shit, most days I’m either in class, my room, the student union, or the library. This is a foreign territory and my skin is feeling itchy with all the peopling I’m doing.

It’s funny when I think about it. A cheerleader who hates being around people and is really not all that peppy on the inside. If the other girls knew what went through my mind on a daily basis, they would totally freak out. Ha. They couldn’t even imagine my dark and dirty mind.

Becca tugs on my arm in the opposite direction of the coffee, a frown creasing my lips. “No.” I halt the progress she was making. “Coffee.” I whine. I need more coffee if she plans to drag me into the colorful array of fabric in front of us. I take a closer look and release an annoyed sigh, of course, it’s a sex shop. Great. I’m going to be a hooker for Halloween. Mama would be proud. “You said I could get coffee before we do any more shopping.” And hopefully you will have forgotten about this store by the time we are done. I mentally add.

“Fine” She rolls her eyes but turns and heads towards the coffee shop at the other end of the mall. “But then I wanna come back here. I think I see some cute stuff for you.” Becca replies and I barely hold back my groan, turning to follow her to get me the drink of the gods. I pause for half a second when I think I see someone familiar but it’s only a side profile and I doubt he would be in a place like that, so I continue on in my quest for liquid gold.

As we are waiting in line for coffee, my phone vibrates in my back pocket, making a small smile lift my lips. I’m not popular by any mean, other than being a cheerleader, I really only talk to Becca and maybe Amber and Jamie, but that’s about it. Of course, I talk to my parents. Daddy dearest likes to remind me that my time here is limited, so I better enjoy it. Real dad of the year, but I know what he means. I accepted my fate when I agreed to my father’s deal.

Pulling out my phone, I see a text from the one person who probably knows me the best in this world. Which is sad since I still haven’t figured out who he is and I refuse to use certain resources and alert my family of him. They would probably overreact and go on a hunt or something. No, no one knows about my stalker, not even Becca, who I tell everything to. She would think I was crazy and needed some type of professional help, which may be partially true but not because of him. My family takes credit for that one.

Him: Wanna play a game tomorrow?

Me: What kind of game?

Me: Like hide and seek? Or like tag you’re it? *winky face emoji*

Him: I’ve always liked hide and seek and I’m superb at tag…

Him: So, let’s play both tomorrow.

Me: Do go on, I’m listening…

Him: Tomorrow I’ll hide, and you gotta find me by…

Him: Let’s say midnight.

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