Bite Marks

Survive

My stitches had ended up coming out a lot sooner than I had expected. I was glad to be able to go back to waitressing. I had sorely missed my tips.

My first night back had been rough. It was a Friday night, and a little more crowded than usual.

While I was able to keep up with my tables fine I was officially exhausted. I climbed the dingy staircase up to my apartment, thankfully only on the second floor. I was pushing my key into the lock when I heard someone speaking.

I peeked over the railing to see a man leaning up against the faded wallpaper by the building door talking on his cell phone. It was pretty late, and I didn't remember ever having seen this guy around before. Maybe he just moved in.

"Yeah she just got home."

I froze at his words. Not daring to move or breathe I strained my ears trying to hear what he was saying.

"Don't worry, he will be taken care of tonight. I've narrowed his scent down. He's not far."

I knew the 'she' he was talking about had to be me. There was no one else even awake right now. It was no coincidence. What if that's the guy who attacked me. I needed to get a good look at him. As much as I wanted to run inside and call Aidan I had to make sure it was the same guy.

As silently as I could I eased my hand off the door knob, cursing when my keys jingled against one another. I tip-toed back over to the railing. I looked down just in time to catch the door swinging shut behind him.

My breath eased out in relief. As much as I wanted to see his face I wanted more to just be done with this whole situation. I decided to forget about it. There was no way the man who attacked me had hung around here, the police were looking all over the place for him.

I slithered into my apartment, slipping the chain closed and sliding home both deadbolts. A little bit of overkill, sure, but they made me feel safer. I toed off my converse at the door and headed down the dim hallway toward the bedroom. I fell into the fluffy duvet, the only luxury I had allowed myself here. Without bothering to undress I settled in, knowing tomorrow I would forget all about the mystery man.

Two days later I got a call from Aidan.

"Hey sweetheart, I know this is a lot to ask but we've picked up who we think was the man who attacked you. If you're not busy I'm gonna swing by and pick you up so you can identify him."

When I walked into the station I assumed I would be taken to the one way glass and be shown a lineup like you see in the movies. As we descended the stairs into the basement I realized that was not the case.

"Cassie this might be hard for you, but I'm going to need you to identify a body," Aidan said regretfully.

I blinked at him slowly. A body was not something I had come prepared for, and I realized that was most likely on purpose, allowing Aidan to gauge my reaction when he told me the news.

I couldn't decide if I was more upset at the prospect of seeing a dead body, or pissed that Aidan hadn't told me what was really going on. I wouldn't say that the two of us were serious, but we saw each other most days, even if it was just for a quick cup of coffee on lunch. I tried not to let my anger show.

"Yeah sure," I knew my tone was clipped, but I couldn't help feeling ambushed.

I had never really seen a dead body. The only person close to me that had died was my mother, but I had been so young no one had let me look into the coffin.

"I'm so sorry Cassie. I wanted to tell you, before we got here but the Chief knows I'm seeing you and he said if I didn't play it by the books he would take me off the case," Aidan rushed to explain.