Tag: Jess Drops the Ball

**Trigger Warning: There is description of sexual assault that is stopped.
If that is something that would bother you, please don’t read further**

Hello, happy Wednesday, all!

It’s time for a Promptly Penned flash fic. The prompt, as always will be in bold within the story itself. Hope you enjoy!

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Amelia shivered as the bus pulled noisily away from the stop. She tugged her coat more closely around her and began walking toward her house. It was more than the cold affecting her, though she tried not to think about it. About how, for weeks, she’d felt eyes on her all the time. About the monsters in the shadows. The ones her mother had warned her about for as long as she could remember—the beasts that stalked relentlessly, that stole people away, people who were foolishly unaware of their surroundings.

Never be unaware, Amelia. Always keep your eyes open, know what is around you. Don’t let them ever take you by surprise, my girl. Never ever.

She’d thought her mother crazy, even as she nodded and promised to be careful and aware of her surroundings. But these past weeks…she wondered if, perhaps, her mother had been right about the monsters all along. Or maybe this was the beginning, the start of Amelia’s descent into madness.

“Mel!”

She jolted at the shout then quickened her pace. What was wrong with her? There were no monsters. Not the kind Mom believed in, at least. If Amelia had felt watched, he was the reason why.

“Mel, wait up! Please, just…just… Would you just listen to me?”

Trent McKay.

She’d made the colossal mistake of agreeing to go out with the man and hadn’t been able to shake him since. After one date, she had known they weren’t right for each other, but Trent obviously thought otherwise. He constantly called, texted, and emailed. He made a habit of posting on her social media pages, embarrassingly shoving his way into conversations. Even though she’d bumped into him a few times while out with friends, she comforted herself with the fact that he didn’t know where she lived. She’d insisted on meeting him at the restaurant for that first and only date. But now…now, in the darkening night on the nearly deserted street near her home, she feared that was no longer true. He’d been following her. Stalking her.

A large hand wrapped around her biceps and yanked her to a stop.

“Leave me alone,” she cried, struggling to pull free, but the grip holding her just tightened.

“Not until you listen!”

The world spun, and with a thud, he had her back against the wall of the building she’d been walking past. Heart racing, painful in her chest, Amelia stared into wide wild brown eyes.

“Trent, you need to leave me alone,” she said slowly, even as her voice trembled and a cold sweat broke out all over her body.

“No, no, no, you don’t understand,” he shouted, shaking her, knocking her head off the brick behind her.

“Stop it,” she cried, pain ricocheting through her skull, her vision wavering.

“You just don’t see it. But you will.”

“See what?” She pushed at him, again and again, as much as she could, given how he held her, but he didn’t budge.

“You and I belong together.” He grinned madly. “And I’m going to show you.”

Sour fear curdled on her tongue as Trent pressed closer, grinding his hardness against her hip.

“Stop fighting me, Mel. This is right; this is meant to be.”

“No.” She shook her aching head, pushing and hitting him as hard she could.

Suddenly, his weight pressed her to the wall hard, and one of his hands left her arm. Then, a glint of metal drew her attention. Her mouth went dry, and heart stuttering, she froze.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Mel,” he said, his mouth close to hers, breath sweeping hotly over her face. “But I will…I will if it will make you understand.”

Eyes glued to the knife he now held, Amelia asked, “Why? Why are you doing this?”

“Because I love you,” he said simply. “You belong to me.”

“We went on one date!” she cried.

“Yes,” he said, bringing the knife to her throat, reaching between them with his other hand. “That’s all it took for me to know.”

Her breathing quickened as his fingers fumbled with the button of her jeans. This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. Spots danced in her sight, and her fingers tingled. Shit, she was hyperventilating. But she couldn’t slow her breathing, couldn’t…

“That’s right,” Trent murmured, pulling down her zipper. “Don’t fight me.”

“Please don’t,” she whimpered, blackness edging out her vision.

“You’ll love me. You’ll see. You—”

Amelia legs gave out, and, as she slid to the ground, free of Trent’s oppressive weight, a scream echoing around her. Trent’s scream.

She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision, trying to see what the hell was happening. And then, she wished she hadn’t.

Monsters. Huge animals she couldn’t have imagined if she tried. Two of them hauled Trent away from her, their big muzzles clamped on his arms, teeth deep in his flesh, blood staining the fur around their mouths. The man kicked and screamed as they dragged him into the alley across the street. Suddenly, the screams stopped, and silence fell all around her.

Leaning heavily on the wall behind her, Amelia pushed to her feet. Stomach churning, she looked toward the alley, and bit back a scream of her own.

A man stood in a circle of light cast by one of the street lamps. He was huge—tall and broad—with dark messy hair, and his eyes… His eyes glowed red in the night as he stared at her. He held her gaze as he moved back, out of the light and into the shadows.

Amelia choked back a sob and stumbled forward. She had to get home. Away from Trent, away from the monsters. Quicker and quicker, she moved, tripping over her feet every time she looked back. She couldn’t help it, though. She could still feel eyes on her, watching her, following her.

She cried out in relief as she hurried up the short walk to her house. She fumbled the keys from her pocket, nearly dropping them before she could fit the right one in the lock. Shaking, she managed to unlock and push open the door. After stepping over the threshold, she stopped, and unable to help herself, she turned, knuckles whitening from her grip on the door.

There he was. The huge man with his glowing eyes. He stood across the street, feet braced apart, hands behind his back. Amelia blinked as her vision again blurred, then sharpened impossibly. The scents around her—the musty leaves on the ground, the trash in the cans at the curb, and him, all heat and fur?—swamped her senses. Her mouth watered, and her gums ached. Then, in an instant, all of that faded—as if it had never happened.

The man held her gaze as he bent forward in a small bow. And, as he straightened and grinned at her with impossibly sharp teeth, he once again melted back into the shadows.

Somehow, the fact he had followed her and knew where she lived didn’t matter. She felt an odd connection with him. She shook her head at the absurdity, but she couldn’t help it. Everything was different now. Her life was forever changed, now she’d learned the monsters were protecting her.

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Bronwyn Green | Gwendolyn Cease | Kris Norris | Siobhan Muir