Just A Walk In The Park

Amelia had studied too long at the library. Again. Checking her watch, she had missed the last bus which meant she would be walking home. Again. Always sitting in the back stacks where it was quietest and not too many souls ventured, she almost always lost track of time until someone was making an announcement informing whatever students remained that the library would be closing in thirty minutes.

With a reluctant and heavy sigh, she carefully tucked away her papers and placed everything into her backpack. Despite cutting down on the amount of work she carried with her, Amelia's shoulders ached as she swung her backpack onto her back as it pulled at her muscles, forcing her to straighten her back.

The library doors shut with a harsh click behind her as she stepped out into the chilled night. It hadn't been this cold when she arrived and a shiver rushed over the surface of her exposed her. Quickly, she roughly pulled down the sleeves of her sweater and balled the ends in her fists as she stepped out into the darkness of the night.

Clouds bloated out any light that may have come from the moon, only increasing the darkness. The vastly spaced out lamps across campus cast long shadows outside of their bright yellow orbs. Her own shadows followed her as she entered and exited each new halo.

The nice part about attending a campus that was tucked in the middle of the woods was that there wasn't a ridiculous amount of traffic from the outside meaning no unwelcomed noises and constant foot traffic or the emissions from vehicles.

The worst part about attending a campus that was tucked in the middle of the woods was that there wasn't a ridiculous amount of traffic from the outside meaning there was no one to watch her walk across the quiet campus in the middle of the night.

Amelia stopped at the crossroads of her two path options. There was the partially lit nature path to her left that wrapped around campus or there was the completely dark short-cut to her right that would take a quarter of the time, her apartment building just on the other side of the pitch black path.

Logically, she knew she should take the lit path. And it should have been even more of a deterrent that over the past three months there had been several murders on the short-cut path, but the night grew colder by the minute. She could practically see the frost forming on the ground around her and she was only in a thin sweater. She could already feel her skin grow tight from the cold. The nature path would take too long. The cold would have it's ramifications.

Sliding her hands into her pockets for warmth and the reassurance that she still had the army pocket knife in her pocket, she headed to the right. There was a perceptible difference in the air as the darkness swallowed her as if the air became thicker, heavier.

Steady steps guided Amelia forward with determination as she pulled her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight, ignoring the message on her screen that her phone was at 10%. She only had to make it a short distance. Another ten minutes, at most, and then she would emerge from the woods into the not-as-dark parking lot of her apartment complex.

The cold air prickled her skin, drawing out the hairs on the back of her neck. The night amplified the sounds around her. The rustle of the leaves sounded like a rattling symphony. Her breathes echoed into the night despite her trying to quite them with a rapid, short succession. Her steps seemed too loud, bouncing around her. Were they her own or someone else's? Was someone there following her?

Rapidly spinning around, she whipped the light from side to side in attempt to see if anyone hide in the foliage around her but she only managed to successfully stretch out the shadows making everything and anything be a potential threat.

Gulping down a sharp breath, she continued on with a hurried pace. Her phone beeped in a half-assed warning before the screen went dark.

The drastic change from the missing light left her blind for several seconds before her eyes could adjust to the complete blackness.

Heart thundering in her ears, she could not hear the approaching footsteps at first. But the closer they drew, the clearer she could make them out over her rushing pulse, her own ragged breathes with the anticipation of the attack.

Her fingers wrapped around the rough handle of the pocket knife and she popped it open as she drew it from her pocket. They would be on top of her any moment. There was no time to think, to plan. Just do. It was a matter of survival.

With a side step, a swing and thrust the blade easily slid into the man's throat and she held it firm even as his hands came up around her arm to pull her away. Even in the dark, Amelia could see the whites of his eyes bulging, panic leaking from them as blood poured down his front, as he gurgled on his own fluids.

She followed him to the ground, hand still at his throat. Once he was flat on the ground, she knelt on his chest. His music was loud enough that she could hear it emanating from his earbuds, especially now that he had succumbed to his wound and no longer struggled to breathe. He wore a wind breaker, leggings and running shoes.

Another jogger. Her fifth.

Sliding the blade from his throat, she wiped it clean on his jacket before carefully cutting off a tuff of his hair, just behind the ear. The hair was carefully placed in the side pocket of her backpack, a special pocket she used only for these kind of nights. The blade was closed and returned to her pocket.

Now on her feet, she gave one last glance back at the body before continuing forward. The glow of the apartments on the other side of the trees provided just enough light to let her know that this had almost been too close.

A cooing hoot came from a tree not far away and her eyes couldn't help but peer up into the tree line.

Wholly out of place, a gorgeous barn owl sat on an outstretched branch, it's clean white face tipped to the side. It's piercing black eyes gazing at her. She held it's gaze as long as she could bare before giving it a small nod, an acknowledgement that it knew what she's done. What she is.

If an owl was the only witness she would have to ever worry about, she knew she would be able to continue to sleep soundly.