Page 6 of Deck of Scarlets

“That blows.”

He tucked his phone away, fixed his hair from my assault, and readjusted his jacket. “Sorry this was cut short.”

“No worries,” I said, also readjusting myself, smoothing my hair and dress.

“Um…”

“Remi. My name is Remi,” I introduced myself.

“Right, Remi. Well, I’ll see you around.”

I sighed. “And the pattern continues.” I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms.

“Huh?”

“Every time I make out with a guy, he ‘forgets’ to give me his name.”

“You make out a lot?”

A sly smirk formed on my lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

His hazel eyes twinkled under the streetlight. “Maybe.”

My cheeks flushed. He stepped in front of me again, taking a strand of my blonde hair and twirling it with his pointer finger. “Kal. That’s my name.”

Chills formed on my arms. Kal. “Kal, huh?”

He smiled, a dimple forming on his cheek. “Yes.”

Another ring from his jeans pocket went off, his expression turning dark. “I’ll see you around.”

“The city is too big to collide again.”

He snorted. “You’re optimistic.”

“I’m realistic.”

Kal kissed me long and arduously one last time before collecting his belongings and heading toward the street, getting picked up by a black SUV with tinted windows. The car skidded hard around a corner, leaving smoke and a sense of sadness behind.

My palm lay flat on the brick wall for support, the psychedelic trip ebbing away at a snail’s pace. Colors were less vibrant, and objects remained in place, but the feelings lingered in my bones, and the heat of Kal’s lips stained me forever.

Or I’m so high I can’t tell the difference.

Completely unaware of what time it was—for all I knew, minutes could’ve passed though it felt more like hours—I gazed around, noticing the earlier crowd of smokers had dispersed. My lips felt swollen, my skin flushed from the way he touched my body, my nips tender and throbbing to be assaulted once more. Leaning my head back to gaze up at the sky where the city lights washed out the stars, I basked in the euphoria that invaded my senses. No strings attached, yet I wanted to see him again. The way he made me feel in just a short amount of time was a ride I didn’t want to get off; not yet.

Smiling to myself, I smoothed down my dress one last time when a black shadow whizzed out of the corner of my eye and the smell of rotting flesh stunned me back against the brick wall. The scent of death traveled through the streets, wafting up my nose and causing me to gag uncontrollably. Swallowing a hard, nervous lump, I craned my neck to get a better view, afraid to move too fast and disrupt whatever lurked in the shadows. Everything was the same; no trashcan or pile of cardboard boxes were out of sorts. The previous crowd of strangers were all inside or had gone home for the night. So, why couldn’t I shake the feeling of being watched? My vision was slightly obstructed, and I tried to squint in the distance when a strange figure emerged from the shadows on the opposite side of the street, hidden in another alleyway directly across from where I stood.

Its long fingers curled around the brick wall, dripping with an unknown black substance, staining the asphalt. With another step forward, part of its body began to show, wet with a foreign liquid. Black shoulders bulged just as the head poked around, its angular face smiling with rotten teeth. Three distinct points were rooted to the center of its forehead, and black goo dripped from the tips as an eerie hiss escaped its horrifying mouth, exposing its complete form. Tall, with skinny, crooked limbs, it started walking forward rather than crawling. I stumbled, taken off guard by its presence, one of my heels catching on something. I tumbled backward against the brick wall, scraping my arm down to my elbow.

The pain from the blow increased with each step I retreated. “I’m just hallucinating. This isn’t real.” The once vibrant colors turned to shades of gray and black, as if my mind could sense the creature’s reality as it began to morph and distort my happy trip.

Its head, long and pointed at the chin, twisted and turned, a clicking noise echoing with each step toward the crowded street. But nobody seemed to notice. My current state of mind tricked me into seeing such a disturbing creature. There’s no way in fucking hell this shit exists.

I was about to run for it when something red caught my eye from behind the gruesome creature. A piece of crimson fabric darted out, grabbing the attention of whatever lurked in the shadows, and attacked it with something shiny. The sound of it screaming with pain had me stumbling back as I quickly found my way inside, searching for the safety of my friends, when I suddenly collided with something hard.

“Whoa there,” he said, steadying my balance.

I looked up into the eyes of a familiar face. Josh. Why do I keep running into him tonight?