He's My Muse

Chapter I

The little red car zoomed down the empty road, destination P-town. Y/N was an artist and also a writer, she has recently been trying to finish a story, but found herself riddled with writer's block. She complained to one of her close friends about her lack of creativity and he informed her that he'd heard of people going to Provincetown for the winter and coming back with stacks of material and then becoming rich and famous. Her first reaction was to roll her eyes and dismiss it but then she did some research online and it was true. Y/N thought it couldn't hurt to just go and check it out, so she packed her bags and left oneThursday morning.

"Nine." She said out loud even though there was no one else with her.

She got a bit further down the road and spotted another, "ten." She began counting the roadkill because it was absurd how many she had passed. There weren't even any other cars on the road, how did they get hit?

Y/N decided to give up the counting, it was useless and confusing, so she turned the round knob of the stereo. Her music gradually got louder and she moved her head to the beat. All of the sudden, a deer ran directly across the street and her brakes screeched as she was thrusted forward at the abrupt reaction. She moved the hair out of her face that had been flung forward and she looked ahead to see if she hit the poor thing. The deer made it safely across the road into the woods on the opposite side. She exhaled with relief and then noticed something on the side the deer came from. A bald man in a long coat with large shoulder pads crept out of the woods and stared at Y/N for a moment. His shoulders moved oddly and strange noises came from his gaping mouth. Y/N locked her door and began to drive, completely weirded out and uncomfortable. Was that really what hunters up here look like? Where was his gun?

She couldn't help but feel like she was being watched ever since she crossed the city line. The paranoia was eating at her but she tried to silence it the best she could.

Y/N decided to grab a bite to eat before checking into her hotel. She looked up nearby places but it seemed there was only one restaurant in the whole town. This place was so weird. The car came to a stop as she pulled into a parking spot, doing a below-average job of parking neatly. She gathered her purse, phone, and keys and exited the small car. It was definitely colder than Florida, well, pretty much anywhere is colder than Florida. She walked up to the petite building branded as "The Muse" and pulled open the door making the bell above chime at her presence. She looked around and the population was sparse. She asked the hostess for a table for one and was quickly seated due to the far-from-capacity amount of people occupying the establishment.

She ordered just a plain coke to start as she glanced over the menu. While she was observing her choices, a man with blue eyes and blonde buzz cut waltzed over and leaned on her table.

"You're not from around here are ya?" He said more like a statement than a question.

Y/N flinched at his sudden appearance and set down her menu. "You can tell?" She laughed off.

"It's a small town, everybody knows everybody, ya know? Especially in the winter when everyone leaves, only a few people stick around." He explained.

"Oh, why's that? Why does everyone leave in the winter?" Her eyebrows pressed together.

The man shrugged, "too cold maybe."

That seemed like bullshit. "Oh."

He slid into the other side of the booth and rested his head in his hands. "What brings you to P-town?" He asked.

The confused look remained on Y/N's face, wondering why he invited himself to sit.

"Beat it Mickey, leave this sweet girl alone." The waitress returned with Y/N's drink and scolded the man.

He held up his hands in defense and stood up, "just bein' friendly." He walked away and sat down at the nearby bar.

Y/N thanked the waitress for her drink and ordered her meal.

"I'll be right back with that. Let me know if he bothers you again, those crackheads are out in full force this time of year." She huffed and shook her head before leaving.

Y/N stared into her drink wondering what the time of year had to do with so many things in this town.

A little while later, her food arrived and she ate her meal fairly quick considering it was all she had eaten today. The waitress took her clear plate away and refilled her drink. It was pretty dark outside and Y/N peered out the window next to her and noticed lots of the small homes had red lights on their porches that weren't on before. She took a napkin to the corners of her mouth as she observed the houses.

The squeal of a microphone interrupted her thoughts and she whipped her head around towards the unpleasant noise. An older woman that seemed a little too overdressed took the stage along with a younger brunette man. The lady had tall, grey hair and black lipstick, the man seemed about early 30s and he wore a striped suite and boots. Music began playing and Y/N turned her whole body towards the stage intrigued. She quickly recognized the song as "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Was it karaoke night or something?

The man started singing and his voice was like silk, he was amazing. Y/N listened in awe of his talent and watched him closely. The woman chimed in and she was great as well. The way their voices sounded together mingled beautifully.

The two finished their duet and gentle claps surrounded the room. Y/N clapped along and smiled at them. The man stepped off the stage and noticed Y/N, giving her a wink. She blushed and looked down at her lap to avoid any more eye contact.

The waitress brought her check and told her it was no rush. Y/N put her card into the leather folder and set some cash on the table as a tip.

The lady retrieved the check and brought back Y/N's card in no time. "Hey, be careful out there." She said as she tucked the tip away in her apron pocket.

Y/N flashed a small smile and nodded, "I will, thank you." She collected her things and headed towards the door. She walked down the little ramp that led up to the restaurant and looked both ways before crossing the road. With it being so cold, she wished she hadn't parked so far away. The paranoia set in again as she felt a million eyes on her.

Someone jumped out from behind some bushes and hissed aggressively at Y/N.

She gasped and backed up slowly.

Two other people approached her from down the road, they were all bald, pale, and wearing trench coats, just like the man she saw near the road on her way here.

Another one came from between two houses. They surrounded her making odd sounds and moving like contortionists. As they got closer, she could see they had pointy teeth and long, black fingernails.

"Please, what do you want?" Y/N whimpered.

An unintentional gap was made between two of the creatures and she decided to make a break for it. She successfully got passed them and ran as fast as her legs would allow. She looked back to see how close they were, but this caused her to trip and hit her head harshly on the cold pavement. Everything instantly went black as the creatures got closer.