What Is Love?

Chapter Eight

Danny Dare

I thought about him the rest of my shift - Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. What where the odds that a man like THAT would walk into this little store? And what were the odds that I would be stupid enough to not even ask him his name?

'It wouldn't have mattered Danny. A man like him wouldn't look twice at a girl like you,' I thought to myself sourly. It was true. I was nothing special. Why would he find anything interesting about me? I sighed. Hey, a girl could at least fantasize, couldn't she? I wondered if I'd ever see him again, but decided quickly it was a long shot. Even though he hadn't answered my question, I was still pretty sure he wasn't from around here. Probably just a business man passing through...

The rest of the day continued at the slow pace it had been at before Mr. TDH had shown up. An hour before my shift ended I glanced up at the sharp crack of thunder outside.

My face fell as I took in the rain splattering against the windows. On the other side of the road the waves were crashing angrily against the sandy beach. I had walked to work today. I was going to have to walk home in THIS? Lovely.

That soured my mood. Instead of thinking about Mr. TDH anymore, I brooded about the weather. Knowing my luck, I'd get sick walking home in the torrential downpour and be bed ridden for the rest of the week. How would I fight Slender man and his proxies off then?

Oh crap, I'd forgotten about them for a while. Great. That helped my mood a ton remembering that I was being stalked by a monster and his freaks.

So lost in my suddenly onset depression when I left work a little while later and started trudging through the rain, I didn't notice at first the dark Corvette pull along beside me as I left the parking lot.

The driver's side window rolled down. "Would you like a ride?" A deep, musical voice asked from inside the car.

I nearly had a stroke.

__________________________

The Slender Man

Why was I doing this? My actions didn't make sense! It was illogical and foolish, and yet here I was, driving down the highway towards the little grocery store. The rain splattering my windshield was the whole reason for this mad adventure - I knew that she had walked to work today.

Why did it matter that she had walked. Why did I care? It was water - nothing more! Water wouldn't harm the girl.

A flash of lightning lit the sky and was followed closely by the resounding crack of the electricity splitting the air. Yes, the lightning was bad for her to walk home in. With the flat expanse of the beach and ocean stretching for miles with no high point for lightning to strike, the chances of her getting hit in this area were particularly higher. That was a good reason for me to be doing this, I told myself. And yet that still left the question of why I cared in the first place unanswered.

'She is MY victim. I, and I alone will be the death of her. I will not loose my quarry to something as insignificant as an electrical storm!' I thought, growling and trying to explain my own thought process to myself.

I pulled up in front of the store and saw her just as she was walking across the parking lot. The poor creature's shoulders were hunched against the rain and her head bowed. Already her clothing clung to her thin frame and her hair was plastered to her head.

I turned the car down the side road she had started down and pulled along side her. She didn't seem to notice me and I rolled down the window, a little peeved that this allowed the rain to get in. This was a brand new car. "Would you like a ride?" I asked, questioning my sanity.