Down By The River

5

𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕀 𝕤𝕚𝕥 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝔸 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕖𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕖

Charlotte was feeling restless when she was trying to sleep at night. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, but she just couldn't go to sleep and she didn't know why. After staring at the ceiling for a while she finally decided to get up and go for a walk. She'd have to sneak out for that, since her parents would never let her out of the house on her own while it was late at night. They didn't trust her enough and would accuse her of sneaking out to meet boys or something like that. Charlotte had no idea why they didn't believe she was just going for a walk.

But it didn't matter. They wouldn't know. Charlotte had gotten very good at sneaking out of her home. She quickly put on some warm clothes and took her jacket and her shoes, before climbing out of her window and onto the roof. She had to be quiet now, climbing down from the roof on her bare feet, but she was somewhat used to it. In the summer she would go on walks all the time. Sometimes she'd even meet Eugenia and they'd just talk to each other, down by the river. Mostly she was on her own, though. She liked how quiet and still everything was at night.

Charlotte was a little surprised at how cold it was, but autumn was coming and the nights were getting longer and colder. She'd be fine soon, when she was going to put her shoes on. But first she had to make her way down the roof without falling or making too much noise. It was a slow process, but finally Charlotte had made it all the way down, so she could jump from the roof without making too much noise. She quickly ran off to hide behind a tree, so no one would see her from the windows, and put on her shoes, before finally being able to take a breather.

She looked at her surroundings and took them in. They looked the same as always, but in the dark they just seemed much more mysterious, much creepier. Charlotte felt a shiver run down her spine, but it wasn't unpleasant. She liked to feel as if she was doing something forbidden, something she shouldn't be doing. And yes, she got that it could be dangerous, but that just made it that much more interesting to her. Besides, no one would really care all that much, if something happened to her. She'd rather do one of the few things she did enjoy and not be safe, than be safe all the time, but have no joy in her life. And midnight walks were definitely one of her favourite things to do. The world seemed different when everyone was asleep.

Charlotte made her way down the little road that led up to her home, walking down to the main road that meandered through the town. It was the only somewhat decent road in the whole town and everyone was hailing it as if it was the second coming of Christ. Charlotte never knew why everyone was so obsessed with it. She much preferred the unpaved roads. They seemed so much more natural and much wilder. But she knew that eventually they'd pave all the roads, especially if the city was growing. There was no way around it. Civilization wasn't going to spare anyone. Maybe tonight was the perfect time for Charlotte to run off and live in the forest.

She paused to think where she wanted to go. She could go into the town, walk the streets there for a bit and return back home. Or she could go down to the river, to the edge of the forest and just sit there for a while. She looked up into the sky - it was clear and the moon was half full. The stars were shining clearly and brightly. This night would be wasted in the town. With a smile Charlotte went on her way out of the town, towards the little path that would lead down to the banks of the river that came down from the mountains she could see in the distance and was flowing through the town.

A lot of people didn't like going to the river. It was where Grace Fletcher had died years and years ago. Apparently a whole lot of other people had died in that river, as well. Some people believed the river was cursed, others just didn't like being in the same place where a lot of people died. Charlotte didn't care. She liked being down by the river, because it was such a quiet and peaceful place. Especially in the summer she would go down there often and hold her feet into the water, cooling down her entire body like this. It was refreshing and made her feel much more alive than anything else she could be doing. She also used to swim in that river, but when her mother found out she had forbidden her from doing it. And wet hair wasn't exactly easy to hide.

Charlotte shivered a little from the cold as she was leaving the town and the houses in the town behind and made her way along the road, before turning to the right and following a small path that wasn't even a proper path. Her footsteps sounded louder than they usually did, because it was so quiet. The only sound around was the sound of the wind gently blowing through the trees and the sound of a few birds. There was a small veil of mist covering the ground, making everything seem eerie and ghostly. Charlotte liked it, even though it was making her feel a little scared. If anything was to happen to her out here, no one would hear her scream.

But what could possibly happen to her? There was no one else out here. Everyone else was fast asleep. Charlotte made her way down a small slope leading to the banks of the river. She was holding onto tree branches on her way down, so she wouldn't fall accidentally. If she fell and her clothes got dirty she'd be in so much trouble... if her parents found out that she had snuck out in the middle of the night she'd probably never be let out on her own again. She would definitely get the beating of a lifetime, that much was sure. And Charlotte would have preferred to avoid that.

She could finally hear the quiet sound of the river flowing. She was getting close to it, finally. It wasn't very easy to see anything with all those tall trees around, even though the moonlight was helping a lot with it. But soon she'd be down by the river and there wouldn't be any trees on the banks of the river and she could just sit down for a bit and watch the river flowing. And she'd be able to see more with more moonlight coming in. Charlotte walked faster, not even paying attention to her surroundings anymore. She was looking forward to getting to the river.

But when she got there she suddenly stopped in her tracks, letting out a loud gasp. She should have paid attention. She should have been more careful and been much quieter. There, on the banks of the river, was someone else. Charlotte could only make out the silhouette, but it was definitely the silhouette of a man. He was wearing dark clothes and she noticed some dark and curly hair. Charlotte's blood ran cold. Had he noticed her already? Who was he? Was he someone who was going to hurt her? What was he doing here in the middle of the night?

Charlotte was frozen where she was standing. She didn't know what to do. She knew she should go and turn back, but she was terrified to move. Terrified of making any sort of noise. At the same time she wasn't sure whether it was already too late to be hiding. She doubted that he hadn't noticed her yet. What if he just chose to ignore her? What if he was here for the same reason she was here? Charlotte didn't know. And she didn't know if she wanted to find out either.

But she didn't need to make a choice. While she was still standing there, trying to figure out what to do, the man turned around and looked at her, his mouth twisting into a smile. Charlotte felt her heart beating faster. She had seen him before. She had seen this man before, today. When she was walking home from church. Dark, curly hair. A handsome rugged face. Warm, brown eyes. It was the man that looked like Zachariah Wright... No, he was Zachariah Wright. His father had mentioned that he was in town again, that he had been at the pub... he was Zachariah Wright. The man who had killed his fiancee 13 years ago at this exact spot.