Page 6 of Cursed Love
“Well, I don’t see them. I feel them following me.”
“Please tell me your cross streets so I know where to send the ambulance that will transport you to the loony bin.”
Brandy shook her head free of the thoughts and reminded herself to pay attention. At the thought, a breeze lifted her hair off her neck, and chills ran down her spine. She stopped and spun on her heels, ready to strike whatever creep was there, but she only found air.
Her gaze shifted, and she noticed the tree across the street and how very still it was. Not one bird, squirrel, cricket… Nothing at all could be heard in the night. It scared her even more. Brandy’s eyes darted around but found no one. Instead of running like she’d planned, she stepped back and bounced off something hard.
She fell to the ground and looked up into glowing eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she gasped at the sight. She snapped out of it quickly and crawled backward, trying to distance herself from Mr. Suit.
He didn’t follow her. Standing still, he watched her with his strange eyes and tilted his head side to side. The way he observed her only freaked her out even more. He moved like a predator ready to play with his dinner.
“S-sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she murmured and scrambled to her feet. This man was on something, and she didn’t want anything to do with it.
Brandy walked backward as she got her bearings. She placed more space between the doped-up man and herself. When he didn’t follow her, she decided to take a different route home and ran.
She pumped her arms and legs, trying to put as much distance as she possibly could between her and the man. After a couple of minutes of sprinting down the empty streets, Brandy looked over her shoulder and slowed to a brisk walk after finding herself alone.
“There’s a logical explanation for all of this.” She panted, reaching new levels of crazy as she spoke to herself. “It’s dark, and my eyes are playing tricks on me.”
Reaching the end of the block, she slowed and peeked around the corner. Brandy looked back and verified no one was following her. With both directions clear, she turned and found herself bouncing off something hard once again.
This time, she was able to steady herself and not crumble to the ground. Confused as to what she walked into, she righted herself and realized she was facing Mr. Suit yet again.
“What in the hell?” she murmured. She did not know how this man had appeared out of thin air.
He sneered in response, and Brandy did the only think she could think of. She ran again.
She didn’t make it far, as his deep chuckle followed her. Her head whipped back, and tears stung at the force with which her long ponytail was yanked. He released her hair, and she fell hard onto her knees, her hands slapping the ground before she looked up.
“Tsk tsk, hag,” the man said and cracked his neck.
His voice was deeper than she remembered, and if she wasn’t sure about the glowing eyes before, she was now. Unlike their pitch black from the café, they were a strange amber color, at times red tinged. In the darkness, she could swear his face rippled as it changed shape.
Brandy’s brain couldn’t comprehend what was going on. She crawled backward, one arm and then one leg, her purse dragging along. Looking behind him, she wished someone would come along so she could get help, but no one was around.
“I’ll give you whatever money I have. Take it!” She tossed her purse in his direction. If he was on a high from some new synthetic drug, he could have what little cash she had and leave her alone.
He laughed, and his rotten teeth appeared. “Stupid hag, I don’t want your money.”
Brandy came off the ground, feeling a crazy sensation of hovering midair, before her back slammed against a building. Her mind reeled because the man had not laid a hand on her. She had been thrown by some unseen force. The pulse in her neck hammered away as adrenaline filled her body and thick fear paralyzed her. She must to be dreaming, because no man or woman could pin another against a wall without putting a finger on them.
This man was not human.
She shoved the possibility aside as fast as it entered her mind. He stepped closer, and unlike before, she noticed the smell of putrid skin. The light from the street illuminated his face, and Brandy screamed. From deep inside, she belted out, praying someone nearby would hear her.
Gone was the handsome face from the café, and in its place, was a creature unlike any horror film she’d seen. Two small horns stuck out from his head with no hair in sight. The raw flesh that took place of his skin moved in waves. When a face formed on his shoulder, she was done.
Brandy shut her eyes tightly, no longer able to face this new reality. Her skin pulsed to an uncomfortable beat. As his smell became stronger, she knew he was stepping closer to her. She needed to get off the wall, but she didn’t know how. Nothing held her up, except maybe the creature.
Big fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and she wondered what her body would look like when the police found her. The dream with the snapping teeth flashed into her mind before her mother’s face replaced it.
How Brandy was sure the woman was her mother she didn’t know. When she was a child, she had seen pictures of her mother. Her father had kept one in his bedroom, but she rarely went in. Over the years, they’d stopped asking their dad for the photo albums. Maybe the woman in the flowing white dress was merely an angel awaiting her soul. The fact her brothers would have to bury her, so soon after their father, pushed aside the garbled mess of her thoughts and images.
Anger and frustration swirled in her chest. “No!” she yelled. She couldn’t put them through that again.
Her eyes opened when a loud crash sounded, and she wished she’d kept them closed. The thing was a foot away, and his eyes met hers. Pure terror consumed her as she looked away before screaming again.
His laugh was more animalistic as he shed the remaining façade he wore. “Scream, hag. No one’s going to save you. I should take you to my den and take my time filet—”
