Her Darkest Desire

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

The feeling was bone-chilling, and she couldn’t ignore it. Someone was watching her, or at least, that was how she felt. She had first noticed it when she came out of her sister’s office, but she had shrugged it off.

Raina adjusted the jacket she was wearing, thinking of how she should have worn the hoodie instead. She always felt less in the open that way. She just needed to get home and everything would be fine.

She hadn’t driven tonight. Her house was only a few blocks away, and after a long day, a walk would help her to clear her mind. The streets were quiet, unusually so, and that familiar feeling crept into her chest. Someone was watching her. She could feel it… the eyes boring into her back. She wasn’t imagining it.

Her pace slowed as she glanced over her shoulder.

Nothing. No one.

The street was empty, not almost, but empty, and that made her suspicious. It wasn’t all that late, even though this wasn’t unusual, but still. A slight chill ran down her spine, but she brushed it off. It wasn’t the first time she had felt like this, after all. Lately, it seemed to happen more often than she would like. She told herself it was paranoia… a side effect of the kind of work she did.

Raina was an investigative journalist, and her latest project had her unraveling something far darker than her usual assignments. Something that was darker than her grandmother’s sense of humor.

That was just extra, but her mind told her to not go there. She needed to stay on point, on the story she was working on. It was the kind of story that got people killed. The files she had locked away in her office were enough to ruin lives, maybe even end them. She had considered bringing them home tonight but decided against it. Bringing that danger to her doorstep wasn’t an option, not when the threat was so close.

She sighed, shaking her head as she rounded the corner that led to her quiet street.

She would be home soon, so no need to freak out just yet. She kept her head down, her steps soft against the sidewalk, lost in thought about the work that awaited her in the morning. She would have to be up early to get to the office and grab those files she had on RavenTech, before anyone else realized what she had.

Working on it day and night had helped her this far, and she had finally gotten something worth while. It wasn’t all she needed, but it was something.

Another glance behind her… still nothing. But the feeling wouldn’t leave her alone. Her breath quickened, her heart thudding a little harder in her chest. The shadows seemed to stretch further, swallowing the light as she pressed forward. The wind picked up, rustling the trees, but there was no other sound. No footsteps, no voices, just silence.

Suddenly, she heard it; a sharp, barely audible scrape of something behind her. She froze, her pulse spiking as her ears strained to pick up any more sounds. Slowly, she turned her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of movement, but when she turned fully, there was no one there. Panic welled up in her chest.

She wasn’t imagining it. Someone “was” there, even if she couldn’t see them, yet.

Her instincts screamed at her to move, to run, but her legs felt leaden. A split second of hesitation cost her. A figure lunged out from the shadows, their arm flashing out in the dim light, a glint of metal catching her eye.

Was that…?

Oh shit!

The knife swung toward her throat, and she barely managed to throw herself backward, the blade missing her by inches.

Her body hit the pavement hard, the impact jarring her bones, and it felt as if she was already defeated. The attacker, a man, she could tell now from his tangy aftershave smell, loomed over her, a dark silhouette against the streetlight.

Raina scrambled backward, her palms scraping against the rough ground as she kicked out desperately. The knife came down again, slicing through the air toward her face. She twisted, the blade grazing her arm, a hot sting spreading from the cut.

Whoever this was, he wasn’t coming at her just to mug her, he wanted to kill her, and probably make it look like a robbery gone wrong. She could just tell with the strength of desperation he was fighting her with.

But she wasn’t going down without a fight, never.

Blood oozed from the wound, but she barely registered it. She kicked harder, her foot connecting with the attacker’s shin, just enough to make them stumble backwards. That split second was all she needed.

Raina scrambled to her feet, adrenaline surging as she bolted down the street, her breath ragged and heavy, and heart pounding so fast she actually thought it might rip out of her chest.

She didn’t look back.

Actually, it was more like she couldn’t. Because, her life depended on whether or not she was able to escape from the man.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, the sound of footsteps thundering behind her. The attacker was fast, but Raina had one advantage… she knew these streets. She darted into an alleyway, narrowly avoiding a garbage bin as she veered sharply to the left.

The footsteps behind her faltered, and for a brief moment, she thought she had lost them.

She better had, or she was going to kill herself if the man caught up with her and killed her. Dark humor, well she knew that. It was one of the things she inherited from her Grandmother.

They were similar in more ways than she would love to admit.

Soon, her apartment building came into view, and relief washed over her. Just a few more steps, and she would be there. Her apartment building was a closed space, one where outsiders couldn’t get in.

A visitor had to be buzzed in by who they were looking for, and there was a security guard who came for the night shifts. She just had to get there.

She did, finally, allow herself to look over her shoulder and she saw no one was there. “Thank God.” She muttered as she buzzed herself into the small lobby where the elevator and the stairs was.

She stumbled up the stairs instead of the elevator. Her apartment was just on the first floor. She soon got to her door and she started to fumble with her keys, her fingers slick with sweat and blood. She shoved the door open and slammed it behind her, locking it with trembling hands.

For a moment, she stood there, her back pressed against the door, gasping for breath.

Safe.

She was safe.

But then she noticed it.

Someone had been in here.

Her heart sank as she took several steps forward, her eyes wide with disbelief. Her apartment was a wreck. Everything was messy with the furniture overturned, papers scattered across the floor, and drawers pulled out and emptied. Whoever had been after her tonight had already been here.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she stood frozen in the chaos, realizing just how close she had come to death.

It wasn’t over, she had to call her sister and her husband, they needed to help her, or she was going to die.