Three

Serenity gasped awake, her heart thudding wildly in her chest. The sheet stuck to her clammy skin as it prickled with gooseflesh, sweat quickly cooling. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she scrambled to her feet and reached for the light switch.

Click click click.

“No, no, no…” Her stomach churned as icicles of fear stabbed into her. “Fuck!”

It had never been so strong—the sense of danger.

She’d always been able to pick it. Sometimes, it was a chill, or invisible eyes on her; but this was—violent. Invading every fiber of her being with dread.

Serenity shook, as another wave of fear raced through her and she fell to her knees, vomiting. Her dinner splashed on the floor, the sour scent lifting to her nose, and she spat out the last of the foul liquid. Struggling to her feet, she staggered through the apartment and threw on whatever clothing she could find in the dark.

An over-sized sweatshirt and ripped jeans. Forgoing her sneakers, she grabbed the bag near the front door, gripped the door’s handle and threw it open. Thudding down the hallway, away from the stairs, Serenity sagged against the window at the end with another wave of nausea, her fingers gripping the edge of the window frame and she started to lift it.

The fire escape was out there, she wouldn’t have to go past Joe’s—

“Serenity?”

She turned; eyes widening at the sight of her landlord.

Normally a heavy sleeper, the store owner was standing in the middle of the hallway, his pajamas rumpled. His hair was a nest of knots; nothing like the groomed man she’d come to know over the last month. 

Something about Joe standing in front of her felt… wrong.

“It is okay, Joe. I’m just going out. Go back to bed.”

She turned back to the window and lifted it again. Halfway open, a scent of roses wafted over her, and Joe’s voice floated to her ear. “Stop running, Serenity. Come join us…”

Serenity spun on her heel and gasped at the man who was now only a few inches from her. Something shone just under his skin. She could see every bone in his body, emitting an unnatural blue glow, which flared in his normal dark brown eyes.

“Joe…?”

“Come, Serenity. Come and join us. We know about your gift.”

Serenity stepped back, her shoulder connecting with the frame of the barely open window. She turned to look at it, gauging the gap.

“Come on. Skin Writer.”

Her head slowly turned back to Joe—or what was possessing her landlord. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew of the things which haunted the night. How else could she explain the gift she’d been given, if not for the supernatural. Right now, the man in front of her, was not the man she had spoken to only a few hours earlier, when he’d come to check on her, after the end of the workday.

Joe grinned and shot forward.

Serenity squealed and fell backward.

Legs flailing, her head cracked against the frame, as she tumbled back first, out the open window and onto the fire escape landing. Her bag dug into her spine, and she groaned, fighting control of her own breath. Rolling to the side, Serenity climbed to her feet, and ran down the stairs; as Joe screamed from inside the building, unable to follow through the same small gap.

Three floors were what kept her from the safety of the ground.

Those three flights of stairs were agonizingly long, her footsteps loud on the metal. The ground loomed and as her bare feet hit the tarmac, pain thudded up her legs.

Rain and sewage coated her skin, as she fell forward onto her hands and knees, her jeans soaking through with the fluid. Dry retching again, she lifted her head as her feet found purchase on the ground and she leapt forward.

Serenity’s mind spun in circles as she tried to figure out where she was going to go now. She’d never been found before. She’d sometimes hear, in the dark circles she ventured into, that she’d just been missed by hunters and was as lucky as they come.

But this time—This time, she’d stayed too long. Become too comfortable.