Prologue
The late night hours zipped by feeling more like minutes during the dinner rush. It was always like that when business was booming and that was a common occurrence while working at the only pizza shop, Rachel’s Pizza, in town on a Friday night. The final hour had slowed to a crawl as the last few stragglers wanting their food faded from sight beyond the glass window pane of the door, the smells of pizza wafting out pleasantly after them. Sammy and Jenna, two of the younger employees, hit the clock, hanging up their visors and aprons on the hooks in the hall set up for employees. The closing manager, Paul, waved them out, keeping watch as he stood in the doorway, waiting for the two girls to get into their vehicles safely. As Paul pulled the door closed, he locked it and flipped the sign over to indicate the business was closed for the night. His wide frame was pleasing to the eye, but muscular enough to discourage intruders from trying anything suspicious.
“We’re closed, Dawn!” Paul shouted toward the back of the kitchen as he ran his hands through his dust-colored hair, exhausted from his day. Those were always the happiest words of the night. Busy hands from the girl in the back worked to switch off the ovens and unstack the makeline that housed all of the pizza toppings. Dawn had this down to a system: unstack the containers, place the lids back on them, tuck them away in the cooler doors below, rotate the dates, gather the dishes; her mental checklist kept her moving at a steady pace each night and, as such, she was always the preferred person to close with, according to what all of the managers told her, anyway. While Paul stood at the front, counting cash, readying the deposit and taking care of the safe, Dawn finished up her work by wiping down all of the surface areas and prepping the kitchen area for the morning crew. She was familiar with all the roles of her job and often worked just as many mornings as she did nights, so she was especially considerate in the ways she left her work area for the next person.
The evenly paced thudding of her work boots grew closer to the front of the store and stopped at the registers. Paul looked up from the safe as he finished his own duties of the night, finding Dawn leaning her back against the surface of the counters, her legs extended out as she took a moment to relax for the first time in hours. Paul’s eyes lingered on her slender frame fondly, noting how her khaki pants and orange collared shirt hugged her curves in all the right ways before turning back to his efforts, though Dawn seemed oblivious to his stares. She exhaled deeply, followed by a drawn out yawn that caused her to stretch and arch her back against the countertop. Again, Paul’s gaze found her.
“Almost ready?” she asked him, her eyes meeting his then. He nodded in response. It was regulation for the last two people to leave together to keep the place honest, so she was stuck there until he finished counting. She could have completed that task faster than him, but it wasn’t her place to say. Rubbing one of her pale blue eyes with the heel of her palm, she looked down at her flour and sauce spotted apron. Her hands reached at the ties hidden beneath the apron around her stomach, tugging them loose to lift it up from around her neck, then bundled it up in a ball. It was much too soiled to hang up with the other aprons. Removing the visor from her head, she freed her fiery hair from its containment and let it down for the night. The smell of coconut filled her nostrils just a little more than the overwhelming smell of pizza, though she was fond of both smells in their own way.
“Alright, let’s go,” Paul said after the loud clanking of the safe door shutting sounded. Dawn straightened and grabbed her balled up apron and visor, finding her keys lying on a cluttered desk beside a boxy computer monitor. She pushed a few papers around in the process, though she didn’t mean to, flipped the light switches off, leaving the store nearly dark except the random light panels that never shut off, then hurried out the door as Paul locked it once again.
“I’ll walk you to your car.” Paul said to her, though his tone left her no chance to interject. She nodded with half a forced smile at him, then followed after him. “Yeah, thanks, Paul.” she said. She wasn’t entirely sure if Paul did this with any of the other employees he closed shop with, or if it was just her. She considered the idea of dating such a man because of his flirtations, or what she presumed were flirtations. His broad shoulders were pleasing, and his face was certainly handsome, too. But he was at least ten years older than she was, if she estimated his age around 35, which seemed accurate enough, at least. Dawn unlocked her car door with the turn of her key and Paul leaned in and opened the door for her before she had the chance. Chivalry was nice, but not as nice when he got so close to her just to do it. Dawn was literally right by the door.
“Thanks for coming in tonight, Dawn. I know it was your day off. Thomas keeps skipping out on us, I’m going to have to talk to Rachel about it tomorrow when I see her.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty rough.” Dawn said. She had one foot standing on the interior panel of the car, ready to get inside, but it was clear Paul wanted to keep her there and she didn’t want to seem rude.
Paul vented for a while longer and Dawn grew more anxious to leave. “So, I’ve got an early shift tomorrow,” she finally said, trying her best to hide any irritation from him. His eyes widened with understanding. “Oh, yeah, sorry. You get going home, now. I’ll probably see you tomorrow, then!”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, for a little bit!” she said, trying to echo his excitedness. Dawn was exhausted. She climbed into her car, tossing her things over into the other seat then started the engine, watching as Paul got onto his motorcycle. He stuck a helmet on his head then drove off. She wondered how much time he’d taken up after closing. Her hand reached to her pocket, but found nothing. Where was her cellphone? She shuffled around the cup-holders and passenger seat of the car, finding no sign of it. Had she dropped it? She could have sworn she grabbed everything.
Dawn hopped out of her car, letting the door swing shut behind her. She scanned the parking lot, walking all the way back up to the door of Rachel’s before sighing. She must have left it inside on the desk. How careless of her. Dawn’s shoulders dropped as she began to trudge back to her car. “Thanks, universe. That was my only source of alarm. Could have given me a heads up.” she complained. Dawn was a spiritual type of girl, and frequently spoke out to the universe as if they were close friends. She often felt a force that would pull her one way or another, and when she bothered to listen to it, wonderful things seemed to happen. She didn’t think it was luck, but it was certainly
something.
Finally back to her car, Dawn grabbed the handle and pulled, but the door didn’t budge. She stared at it in disbelief. Did she really lock her car door with the keys in the ignition? She walked around the car, trying all of the doors before kicking at the tire softly. “Damn it!” she cursed loudly. At least there was no one around to hear her foul mouth. “I guess I’m walking.” she groaned as she stared off in the direction of her house. Realistically it should be fine, Richard, another employee, walked to and from work every day and he lived further out than she did.
As she walked, Dawn noted how the sidewalks of her hometown were lit by dim street lights. They always seemed to flicker and die out whenever she went by them, then come back on whenever she was far enough away from them. She always joked with friends, back in high school, that she was haunted by a ghost, which seemed like an entertaining enough story, though she now wondered if it was true. “Okay, it’s dark, but don’t freak yourself out about it. Home is like… ten minutes away. That’s easy. I’ve already walked more than half the distance so, it’s fine. It’s fiiiiine!” she repeated, her voice louder than the first time. Dawn rounded a corner, the last long stretch of sidewalk leading to her apartment building was finally in her sight.
“Finally. See? This isn’t such an awful walk. I’ll just ask my roommate for the spare key to my car, and maybe a lift down to the parking lot and then… figure out something for an alarm,” she rambled to herself as she walked. This was the darkest part of her walk. The buildings were tall and the lights around her weren’t working, though again, that might have been from her weird “being haunted” theory. She paused for a moment, hearing a shuffling up ahead, though she wasn’t sure if it sounded like a rat, or something larger, maybe an animal? She looked with straining eyes toward the alleyway but was unable to see any figures, be them big or small.
“H-hello?” she called out nervously. She waited for a response, but heard nothing. With hesitation, Dawn took a few more steps closer toward home. She had gone too far to turn back. Maybe if she just ran for it, she’d be fine. Her heart thumped against her chest as if it might burst from her sudden rush of panic. All she needed to do was run. Just run.
Dawn’s feet started moving faster until she came sprinting up to the beginning of the alley, soon passing the wide center of it before reaching the other side. Relief filled her, albeit too soon. As her arm swung back, she felt a greasy but firm hand coil around her forearm and pull her with such strength that she swung against the hard brick wall. The jolt, as well as the force in which she slammed into the wall, knocked the air right out of her. Dawn gasped, looking frantically in the dark with shocked eyes, unable to discern what had attacked her in the dark. Before she could push away from the wall, a hand thrusted forward, wrapping around her throat while simultaneously smashing her head back against the wall again.
Standing almost over-top of Dawn was a crazed, dirty older man, looking to be in his mid to late 40s, with gray strands in his dark brown hair and beard, if he were in the proper lighting. The former was slick and greasy while the latter was unkempt and filthy, with scraps of old food and strands of saliva dripping just as it was seeping from his snarling, cracked lips. The strings of fluid caught just enough of the light coming from the other end of the alley to glisten as they tumbled through the twists of his facial hair. Around him billowed what may have once been nice clothes, but over time had worn down to tattered rags which reeked of decay and squalor.
“No...Not...Mine...Take…” were the only discernible words amongst the almost beast-like snarling from the ravening madman. Eyes, appearing to be as gray and dark as a thunderous sky and gleaming with all the chaos such storms brought, set upon little Dawn as his grip tightened around her throat. His strong palm dug into her windpipe, crushing it shut while greasy fingers were pressing against the veins which supplied precious oxygen to her brain. The sheer weight of him bearing down upon her was pushing her towards the ground, along with the weakening of her consciousness through his application of force.
Dawn’s mind couldn’t seem to catch up to what had happened. At first, completely paralyzed from the shock and utter pain at the back of her skull, she couldn’t even think to scream. However, as he tightened his grip on her and breath became scarce, her vision began to shift between sight and complete darkness. Her hands reached up to rip herself free from his hold. Her nails sunk into his flesh, tearing into his paper-like skin. When his hold didn’t falter, her arms flailed more toward his face, cutting and scratching his cheeks and nose. Her feet kicked against the wall, scraping as if she were trying to either stand or push off of it.
He screamed wildly in an almost maniacal fashion as Dawn’s nails gouged into his thin flesh, drawing small rivulets and drops of blood from him. Lips quivering with rage, he began to shout unintelligibly at her, spittle flying from his lips and spraying her face with his stinking breath. His hand tightened around her neck a little further, making it nearly impossible for breath to pass if it weren’t already. Meanwhile, his other hand had slid beneath his rags at his waist and a metallic gleam shone from his fingers as he drew a small knife from some hidden place. With suddenness, the blade found purchase in her abdomen with a sickening squelch as it plunged through her flesh as though it were butter. The blade was much sharper and more precise than one might expect a homeless man to be wielding. With a slight twist of his wrist the blade left her, allowing a gout of blood to release before it plunged back in, sending a new wave of pain radiating out close to the first wound. Again and again he stabbed, laughing and screaming as his cruel blade left its mark in her flesh.
Searing, cutting jabs ripped through her flesh and tore through her muscle with ease. With the lack of oxygen, it was hard for Dawn to understand what she was feeling at first. Her body felt as though it were being shocked with jolts of electricity, then a hot heat, burning as if there was a fire lit within her was spreading throughout her abdomen. Her scratching and tugging at the attacker’s arms grew weaker, and as her vision began to fade, she suddenly saw a silhouette behind her attacker that hadn’t been there before. There was something familiar about the presence she saw, or perhaps it was simply the life leaving her failing body, but with her last breaths, she reached forward, past the attacker, and grabbed at the outstretched hand of the figure behind him, connecting with the shadowy essence as if it were solid. Her lips mouthed the word ‘help’ though her ability to use her voice was far gone.
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