Insomnia

This lovely little short story was written mostly because I could. This content is © copyrighted to Ashley Langdon a.k.a. Eve Reaper 2004.

She walked on the wet, frozen concrete sidewalk, clutching her own arms to fight the bitter cold brought to the city by an early frost; or was it to fight the fear? Her hair was wet, dark and wavy and, though as frozen as the slick walkway, her eyes felt like they were on fire. With the fall of night, the usually populated streets were empty; not even the stray cats seemed to wander the endlessly dark alleys. She pressed her pale arms against her, tightening the leather corset's bond on her, in a vain attempt to ignore her own heartbeat. The usually soft grey fur lining the corset felt like small needles against her ice-bitten skin. The long, flowing skirt, shredded at various layers and lengths, waved wildly around her legs covered in fishnet stockings. The knee-high boots with their four-inch heel bounced off the slick pavement as she quickened her pace just a little more.

The night air was still thick with the smell of rain and ice. Hardly a sound echoed in the dead of night as though the ice had frozen the world in place. She rounded the corner onto what should've been a busy street. She paused, then tentatively crossed the dark hole of an alley entrance before continuing her upbeat walk. The street lights glared almost accusingly at her and not a car was in sight. Though not a single star gazed down upon her, the moon, a silver frown in the black web above, showered a dimlight onto the streets. Suddenly the wind ceased its constant, nipping breeze. She stopped. She could feel it in her chest then beneath her feet. A violent gust of hot air rushed up behind her and she had barely the time to turn before it came crashing out of the alleyway.

It looked away from her at first. It was like something she would have dreamed about as a child. A gigantic, amorphous beast with deep, abysmal holes for eyes, a hundred or more spider-like legs and claws and teeth as sharp as anyone could imagine. Just as it turned its ugly head her way, she had already begun walking and broke out into a slow run. It let out some sort of sound - whether it was a roar or a hiss or a shriek, she couldn't tell. With one mighty push of its powerful, overly-muscled forelegs, it rocketed toward her. She, however, had easily thrown it off by bolting into a full throttled run before its thrust could bring it within reach.

With a furious cry, it began to pursue her with incredible speed. Every spider leg moved after the other in perfect coordination while its lumbering forearms hung before it ready to grab her when she came in reach. She was not anything particularly special, she was human, but she had attained a level of awareness that was dangerous to them. With little effort, the scene around her began to blur as each foot hit a precise point and gave her more speed. She weaved her away through the alleys until it pounced forward. The impact of its bulky body sent her flying toward the sky. She landed cleanly on a rooftop and looked back briefly to see the creature emerge from the rubble like the ton of cement was merely dust. She took off running again, leaping the chasms between the buildings with ease. She was always the faster one, always more agile.

The creature kept in pursuit until finally it lost patience and leapt powerfully into the air in hopes to close the distance between them. As it slammed down into a building, she made a valiant effort to throw herself as far as possible. Aided by the explosion from the creature's impact once again, she soared through the air and spun to face her fear. Her eyes narrowed, teeth clenched, the power snaked through her like lightning. White-hot through her veins, sizzling from every pore, she let out a scream and forced it through her to the creature. The energy cut through the predator cleanly leaving a hole at first and then eating away at its flesh. It merely glanced at the wound as part of its body slopped off and disintergrated. It looked back at her with an expression she took for genuine disbelief.

She had landed on the sidewalk, hair waving in the wind, staring at it with an evil smirk. It wouldn't be subdued so easily but there was a kind of sweet satisfaction in seeing it melt away. Like red electricity, the energy crackled around her arms and then vanished again. She whipped around and led the creature through the city. As she followed the many sidewalks, turning left or right, with no particular purpose but knowing exactly where to go, the beast followed always three steps behind. A shadow was cast over the moon and she skidded to a stop. The creature had taken hold of a skyscraper and began to climb in its unearthly movement to the top. Wonderful, she smiled. It cried out, silhouetted by the moon, and the birds all around the city and further scattered at the sound.

With most of its left side gone, one large forearm left, it gazed down at her. Her smile broadened into a toothy grin and she bolted for a group of buildings parallel to the monster's perch. It watched her jump off the concrete walls, one after the other, gaining more and more height. It shined its overgrown fangs and leapt for her just as she did the same. With a thunderous noise, the two beings collided. The beast fell toward the buildings but didn't crash to the ground. She had weaved a web of energy right under its very nose. It roared in rage, fought against the bidings then fell quiet. It watched her as she hovered towards it, the outline of feathery red wings sprouting from her back in little electrical jumps. A calm smile saluted the beast and it stared back at her in contempt as it sunk into the earth's underbelly once more.

Stephen sauntered out of bed to get himself a cup of coffee. He could already smell the freshly brewed morning drink as he rounded the hall into the kitchen. She was sitting there with her cup between both hands reading the newspaper.

"Do you ever sleep?" He asked his roommate and she smiled without removing her eyes from the paper.

"Sleep when you lose, Stephen." He chuckled sleepily at her wayward remark as he poured himself a cup of coffee. She looked at him briefly as he turned his back to her to get the cream from the fridge. A crackle of red lightning enveloped her irises and decipated again.