September 2006 Issue The Horror Library, your Haunted Home for Horror Fiction, Dark Art, Horror Games, Movie Reviews, Book Reviews, Non-Fiction, Alternative Music, Horror Authors, Horror Short Fiction and featuring The Terrible Twelve - RJ Cavender, Bailey Hunter, Boyd E Harris, Megg Roper, Jason Beirens, CJ Hurtt, Eric Stark, Cordelia Snow, Chris Perridas, Curt Mahr, Stephen Sommerville, M Louis Dixon, Kerry Drummond
The storm was fierce. The ground was drenched, lawns were soaked, colonies of ants streamed to cement walks ninety percent dead. Trees were toppled, branches were scattered over the campus of Darkwater University. Classes in session when the storm started were held in, and classes about to start were cancelled, the rain came down to hard, the wind howled like angry spirits. No one wanted to leave the shelter they had, even if, like Joe Hall it was only a bus stop. He was there alone, as he could often be found. The bus was late, he wanted to think it was the rain, but he knew it was him, if someone else, anyone else was at the bus stop alone, or with him, the bus would be on time, or even early. Joe's bottom lip quivered. His legs from the knees down were soaked through. He shivered holding his back pack in front of his face, shielding his eyes from the relentless rain. The sound of the rain coming down on the metal roof of the bus stop was deafening, painfully so. A branch broke off from a nearby tree and smashed against the back of the shelter and startled Joe enough to cause him to jump into the rain. His bag fell into a puddle, but it didn't need to, the rain alone was enough to soak through to the contents. The puddle seemed to be just to aggravate him more. He looked up into the battleship grey clouds, his eyes squinting, his chest heaving, he screamed.
###
Joe was not a stalker, but he felt like one. He had been following her for a few days. 'Like a detective' he tried to tell himself. She was a mark, he had to study her, to find her quirks, her habits. Joe wanted to know everything about her before he attempted to approach her, Eve.
After five days of following, he realized she was more alone then he was. He never saw her on the phone, she never really spoke to anyone for more than a minute or two. She was so beautiful, she had to choose to isolate herself. Often she dressed down, sweat pants and a baggy shirt, other times she would dress nicely. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to her life. She attended her classes fairly regular. It might only be because finals were approaching. It was now the middle of dead week. Most classes were only reviewing for next weeks finals, so maybe that is why she was so lax about them. She seemed smart. In the time Joe had been following her she had read four books, she was in the middle of Morrsion's Beloved when it happened. The day of the storm.
His non-stalking had become more a surveillance of sadness by the time of the incident in the eatery on campus. The storm had broken a hour or so before. It stopped as suddenly as it had started. The sky was attempting to sweep the clouds away and the bluest blue was breaking through. Eve sat a few tables away, reading her book, Joe sat and watched trying to seem like he was occupied with other things. His fries sat untouched and his film theory book sat opened and ignored. He turned a page to help with the illusion, and when he looked back up he noticed him, the jock standing over Eve. She was unaware of his presence for a few seconds, then a cloud moved and allowed the sun to cast his shadow over her. She shivered then, it was slight, but Joe noticed. She was disturbed, not quite afraid it seemed, just disturbed by the jocks presence.
Most everyone realized what was happening, but simply ignored it. He was a popular football player, he never went to class, he was taken care off by the school, Bryan Branch. Eve never looked up at him, she simply turned a page and took a sip from her soda.
"You're pretty." Bryan said.
She did not answer.
"Hey, I said you're pretty." She did not move, 'Wanna go back to my apartment?"
Eve began to shift in her seat. Joe watched, seeing if he could do anything, maybe he could distract the jock, who was now obviously swaying, drunk at four in the afternoon. Eve put her hand in her purse, one hand held the book, blocking Bryan's view of her other.
"I said, d'ya wanna go back to my place." He smiled wide and grabbed her arm. Eve grimaced. The jock didn't know his own strength.
Then Joe saw what Eve was digging for.
###
"How did you and Mindy get together?" asked Joe. His roommate sat on his bed and played with his PSP.
"Yes! Touchdown!" Brad puts his hand in the air, waiting for a high five.
Joe reluctantly gives in.
"C'mon Brad answer my question."
"You are such a whiner." Brad flipped off the machine and slapped it on the bed, "The Eatery was full, Mindy was with friends and they had an empty seat so I took it. We hit it off."
"Why can't my life be that easy?"
"Because instead off taking the table you would just eat standing up in the corner. Just ask this girl out." Brad got up and stretched, "What's her name?"
"Eve."
"Eve what?"
Joe didn't answer.
"You haven't even spoke to her yet have you? Man, you are useless. Just go be a monk or a priest or something."
Joe left, his eyes tearing up, his bottom lip quivering.
"C'mon, don't be like that. You can come to the park with me and Mindy in an hour or so. C'mon."
Joe knew what to do, he would find Eve and learn everything about her, then he would have something to talk to her about.
###
Eve pulled the taser out of her purse.
Bryan tightened his grip on her arm, it was turning noticeably pale.
"Let go." she demanded.
"Or what?" He breathed on her, Eve's eyes began to water.
Joe began to get up. No one else moved. Eve shoved the taser into Bryan's groin and pulled the trigger.
Joe never knew someone as big as Bryan could fly over two tables, you learn something new everyday. Bryan landed with a crash on top of trash can. Eve grabbed her things and ran. Everyone turned and looked at Bryan, unconscious, he had wet himself. Joe held back a laugh.
###
"Before or after she zapped him?" asked Brad
"He flew pretty far, so I think before. It might explain it."
"Bryan was drunk." Brad laughed and applied deodorant. "Are ya going after Eve 'cause she sounds awesome now."
"Yeah. I think I will. Have fun at the park. Maybe me and Eve can double date with you guys sometime."
"Wow, that is thinking positive."
###
When Joe noticed Bryan gathering his friends he knew something was wrong. He knew they were going after Eve.
He didn't expect the knife, or for the last thing he ever saw in life to be Eve exploding into a green flash behind Smith-Mossier Hall.
###
Joe slowly found his way to the bar through mist. It seemed out of a bad movie, nothing but smoke and grey, then a door. When he opened it, he saw Eve talking to the bartender who left her after a second, then Eve met his eye.
