Fan Fiction ❯ Footsteps in the Dark ❯ One-Shot ( One-Shot )

It was a cool, dark night. The air was heavy with the wetness of the snow that had melted earlier that day. The sidewalks were also wet from the afore mentioned melted snow. Clouds shrouded the waning moon, causing the shadows to become darker.

She was walking through the park by herself. She had no coat on, despite the cool air that surrounded her. She was only carrying a purse on her shoulder, which would occasionally slip lower down on her arm. In reaction to this, she'd grumble irritably and pull it back up, only to have it slip down once more minutes later.

Her shoes made soft scraping noises against the wet pavement of that path that wound itself through the park. It was the only sound that she could hear, other than the soft noise of the wind blowing through the bare tree branches that hung over her head menacingly. She shivered slightly against the gentle wind, but gave no other reaction to the moving air.

She coughed to herself and tugged her purse back up onto her shoulder, seeing as it had slipped down once more. She glanced around herself nervously, as if she heard someone, or something. Nothing appeared to her, and no other sound was made, yet she sped up ever so slightly.

click, clack

A soft noise sounded behind her. Like the heel of a high heeled shoe hitting the pavement of the path that she was on roughly. She picked up her pace to some degree.

click, clack

She glanced over her shoulder, half expecting to see someone behind her, yet half knowing that no one was there. Her gaze was suddenly jerked back to the path in front of her, considering that she had tripped over a stray twig on the path. She cursed under her breath as she caught herself before she was barely off balance.

click, clack

The noise behind her was getting louder, and was becoming progressively closer. Her pace, though, didn't falter. She didn't speed up, nor did she slow down. She seemed to hold herself straighter as she made her way down the darkened path. Possibly because the exit to the park was coming up quickly, and a streetlight cast dim light over the sidewalk and street that sat next to the park.

click, clack

She suddenly started running, and burst into the low light of the street lamp that now hung over her head. She grinned almost victoriously, and turned around, as if to face whatever had been behind her. When she saw nothing but shadows waving over the path, she seemed almost disappointed.

click, clack

Spinning around suddenly as the noise sounded once more, she started walking quickly in the opposite direction of the park she had just exited. Her purse commenced sliding down her arm once more, but she didn't bother to yank it back onto her shoulder again.

click, clack

Her fast gait began to turn into a slow jog as the noise loomed ever closer. Strands of hair that had loosened themselves from her ponytail began to undulate slightly around her face as she bounced slightly from her fast steps. Quick glances were cast behind her as goose bumps started to form on her skin.

click, clack

Her jog quickened as the sound seemed to echo through her mind. The soft scraping noises that her shoes had made while walking through the park had become louder as her pace had begun pick up. They were now smacking against the pavement, the sound reverberating off the walls of the buildings that sat next to the sidewalk she was running upon.

click, clack

She began to sprint down the sidewalk, breathing heavily. Her purse slipped down her arm to her wrist, and she shook it off of her. It hit the ground with a soft thump. Her dash was paused just long enough for her to jump slightly at the sound. Immediately after she realized it was simply her purse, she commenced sprinting once more.

click, clack

She turned a sharp right when she reached the end of the sidewalk. She lost her balance only for a second as she threw herself across the road. Her breath was coming in short gasps. Soft grunts escaped from her mouth as she threw herself down the vacant street. Glancing once more behind her, she tried to pick up speed, but found that she hadn't any more strength.

click, clack

She stood in the bathroom, her fingers wrapped around the edge of one of the sinks. Her head was hanging, her chin resting against her chest. She was panting loudly, and her mouth tasted of vomit. The sound had ceased.

She spun around and glared at the stalls that stood opposite of the sinks she was standing next to. She strutted over to the first stall, still breathing quite heavily. She slammed the heel of her hand against the door of the stall, and watched as it swung open.

No one was occupying the stall. She grinned madly at the sight of this. She moved onto the next stall, repeating the act. Onto the next stall. Repeating it once more. Her grin turned bitter as she saw that no one was in any of the stalls.

drip, drip

The sink behind her had suddenly began to drip. The tap had not been turned on in any way since she had entered the bathroom. She spun around to meet whatever might have been behind her. When met with nothing, she glared at her reflection in the mirror.

drip, drip

The sink had not ceased to drip. She turned her glare down to the sink where she presumed the dripping noise had come from, but saw nothing. No water had wetted the sink, and no handles had even been moved. Yet the noise sounded again.

drip, drip

"Who's doing this to me?" She suddenly screamed. Her hands raised themselves to her hair, and began tugging at it.

click, clack

drip, drip

The noises sounded together. She spun to face the door of the bathroom, inasmuch as the noises, both of them, had come from there. She glared at the door, and was preparing to fling herself at the inanimate object when a voice spoke to her.

"You are mine. You have no choice."

click, clack

drip, drip

A scream tore through the air. Then, all was quiet.

Gabrielle hated walking alone at night. It always felt like someone was watching her, waiting to jump on her, and slit her throat. No wonder her friends called her paranoid.

click, clack, click, clack

Gabrielle's shoes were making so much noise that night. She cursed herself time and again for wearing her high heeled shoes. She'd always told herself, after she'd been wearing them for a day straight, that she'd never wear them again. They made too much noise, and they were terribly uncomfortable. Yet she always forgot this. And this morning was no exception.

click, clack, click, clack

Gabrielle sighed to herself. She was moving so quickly that it sounded like someone was repeatedly dropping heavy coins on the ground behind her. After this thought made it way through her head, she shivered, and glanced behind her back.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

Gabrielle began to move faster than before as a wave of paranoia captured her. She could have sworn that the bush on her right had a face in the middle of it. It was protecting a person that wanted to do something to her. She just knew it.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

Quickly deciding what to do to get away from the "person" behind her, Gabrielle turned left and pushed at the doors of the building nearest to her, which, much to her surprise and relief, opened. She jumped into the building, and whirled around to shut the door behind her, and to see if she could make out another person in the darkness. When she saw no one was outside, she reeled around to face the hall behind her. Her steps resumed once more as she decided where to go.

click, clack, click, clack

Thinking almost blindly, Gabrielle made her way through the maze of hallways until she found herself in front of a door marked "women." It took her a moment to realize that it was a bathroom, for she was worried that the echoes of her shoes on the floor weren't reverberations. She pushed the door open, prepared to find the bathroom empty.

click, clack, click-

Before Gabrielle had even taken three steps inside of the bathroom, she was jumped on by a shadow figure that had, apparently, been hiding behind the door. She opened her mouth to scream, but the person clamped her hand over Gabrielle's mouth, preventing her from doing so.

"What do you want with me?" The figure hissed into Gabrielle's ear. Gabrielle tried to speak, but the hand on her mouth only allowed her to make groaning noises behind it. Gabrielle tried to make her eyes pleading, so the figure might stop, but then remembered that the person couldn't see her eyes.

An unseen hand then grabbed at Gabrielle's purse, yanking it roughly off of her shoulder. The hand was heard fumbling inside of the purse, and the sound of Gabrielle's keys being pulled out rang in her ears. Gabrielle kept a penknife attached to the key ring, just in case she ever needed it to protect herself from some attacker. Gabrielle quivered, and mentally laughed. 'So much for protecting myself.'

Gabrielle was barely surprised when she heard the knife being opened, and even less surprised when it was pressed against her neck.

"I'll give you one last chance. What do you want with me?" And before Gabrielle even had a chance to begin to try to respond, the knife had been dragged across her neck, slitting it from ear to ear. The person who had been holding her loosened her grip, and she fell to the ground. The knife embedded itself in the flesh of her neck as she slumped against the floor.

'So this is what it's like to be attacked...' Was Gabrielle's last thought before her world went black.

She looked down at the girl lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor. She smirked to herself as she knelt down next to the girl. Reaching out, as if to touch the blood on the floor, her hand, instead, made its way down towards the girl's shoes.

Yanking the girl's left shoe off, she examined the heel of it, and grinned victoriously. Straightening up, she held the shoe in her hand for a moment before tossing it to the side. She walked past the girl's body, careful not to step in the blood.

"I don't know who you are, girl, or why you did that to me, but you're gone now." She said, shrugging to herself, and poking the girl's head with the toe of her shoe. She walked over to the sinks, and leaned against the same sink she had leaned against before.

click, clack

Her head snapped up, and she narrowed her eyes at the girl on the floor. The girl hadn't appeared to move, but she knew that she was behind this again. She must have been.

click, clack

Screaming in frustration, she ran over to the girl, and lifted her off the floor. The girl's face was covered in blood, and the penknife was still embedded in her throat. The girl was definitely dead, and couldn't have made the noises again, but she wasn't convinced.

click, clack

She was looking at the girl as she heard the sound. No, it wasn't her. It had to have been something else.

click, clack, click, clack

The steps were getting faster now. She looked around her, as if expected to see someone else in the bathroom with her. Yet no one else was in there with her, save the girl that she was holding upright. Noticing, for what looked like the first time, that she was still holding up the girl, she dropped her to the floor in disgust. The girl hit the floor with a wet smack.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

"Oh, no, you don't!" She yelled. Her cry cut through the silent air, and bounced off the walls, coming back to her. Reaching towards the girl once more, she yanked the knife from the girl's flesh, and stabbed it into her stomach in one fluent movement.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

She doubled over in pain, but laughed triumphantly. "Ha! Now you can't get me!" She yelled into the air once more, listening to the echoes. Falling to her knees, blood began to gush out of the wound in her stomach.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

"I won..." She moaned out before she hit the floor next to the girl. A smile formed on her face before she died.

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack

A woman entered the bathroom, and surveyed what was on the floor. "Two girls..." She murmured to herself. She pulled a list from her pocket, along with a pen, and looked up and down the list. Opening the pen, she reached in and made two swift checks. Smiling down at the two bodies on the floor, she twirled around, and was out the door.

"Good job, you two..."

click, clack, click, clack, click, clack...

A/N: Well, there it is. I don't know what to say about it...if anyone doesn't understand it, don't ask me. I'm not that sure either... Please review!