Miss Angelina [2024 Rewrite]

[1] Dalliance

It was too quiet.

Impossibly silent.

I could hear my own breathing; the air was so still. My heartbeat was pounding against my chest at a steady, but alarming rate.

Only now and again could I hear the faint whistle of the wind or a flutter of a bird's wing. I let out an almost exasperated noise, my eyes dragging over each fragment of the ground - looking for any trace.

"You can't run," I call into the dense woods that extend ahead of me, stepping forward into growing darkness. The moon had long settled into its place high in the sky. Amongst the hush of these woods, I could hear a muffled panic - a hand clasping over a mouth.

I hadn't had this soul in my grasp for very long. I had taken them, along with one other, from the local town in a moment of unscrupulous passion.

I disposed of the first of these two a few weeks ago. The months of toying with that boy had grown too tiresome. The scales had tipped, and the fun could no longer outweigh the effort. The second, however, I had held on to tightly; he lit a fiery fervour in me that I refused to let go. Unfortunately, that sentiment had made me ease up on him – a novice mistake.

He'd managed to flee into these woods. They were close to home but stretched out for miles - the young man could have escaped me if he had been slightly more careful with his breakout. If he had wanted to leave at all, that is.

I kneeled under a branch and could feel myself getting caught in some twigs higher up. My hair had knotted at the edges, with the thick blood of my first victim of the day seeping into the tips desperately. Over the past few days, I'd spent more and more time with this fleeing prey of mine, and that all too comfortable sensation of desire crept up behind me. The desire to kill.

I didn't want to be rid of such prey yet as looking into his eyes still thrilled me like they had on our first meeting. So instead I had ventured out to a local club and snatched up another man; this one I was more than happy to sink my teeth into. If I gave my prey the benefit of the doubt; perhaps he heard me bring that one home and this whole soiree was born of jealousy.

My prey had not given me time to revel in my actions, never mind clean the filth from me. I did enjoy having them in my hair though - it kept them alive that little while longer. I believed that they at least deserved that much, for the time I'd spent toying with them.

The old, auburn-coloured leaves danced in the wind around my feet as the weakening trees around me began to creak at the roughness of the blustery weather. The birds ceased to sing, and only a few crows were creating noises in the distance.

I could almost smell his fear. It was a mixture of sweat and blood that drifted through the trees. Fear has an aroma of death that follows quietly behind it. It looks over your shoulder, breathing slowly as your mind races. It was apparent to me that death was so occurring in these woods, from animals to people. You needn't look very far to witness teeth sinking into a neck. It only reminds me that I need this kill - that I crave the blood of this boy on my hands. It's like an obsession wrapped up in a sweet package, ready to be delivered to an unsuspecting victim.