FALTER

CHAPTER 36: Tales after the scorched town (2)

As the years passed, the siblings grew accustomed to their life in the city and in return, the city grew more comfortable with them.

But there were whispers. Whispers that someone had started wandering the dark streets of Youth City at night, preying on those who walked the streets at night. It was still a bright city, and droves of people still stayed outside to enjoy the nightlife. But things had shifted, almost unnoticeably, but shifted regardless.

A group of young people came out of the club, laughing at their inebriated friend as they carried her out. She had thrown up inside, after a night of drinking, causing the whole friend to be kicked out.

"We have to drop her off. She's not far from here, I think," One of the girls said.

They all agreed and started walking down the road until they came to the dark alleyway. It had been their shortcut for years; it cut directly across the row of houses into the street that lead directly to their friends' house, from which they all took a cab. It was lightless tonight, as it was on most nights, illuminated only by the surroundings and the moon and they were about to start walking into it when their drunk friend suddenly pushed them away.

"No... not in there...."

The group looked at each other inquisitively. This wasn't exactly a safe area, but it wasn't unsafe. Not to mention they all carried bear spray, as most citizens of the city did.

"The demon... he's supposed to be in dark places, we can't... let's go around...."

The girl who was laughing flipped her blonde hair as she rolled her eyes. She reached out for her friend. "You seriously don't believe in that stuff?"

This easiness wasn't reciprocated as the drunk girl jumped back in fear, hugging herself. "N-no!" She burped lightly. "Please, I've he- I've heard things."

With a sigh, the blonde girl took her phone out and turned on the flashlight. She intended to shine it into the darkness to prove its safety. She turned around confidently, pointing her phone into the alley. All that was visible was the moist concretem dirty dumpsters and whirring AC units. She was about to say "I told you so," when one of the other people pointed at something at the end of the path. They couldn't see what it was, but it was red and shiny, and something about it made their heart beat out of their chest. But the shape didn't move, so she turned off the flashlight and said something about it being a soda can, and they all laughed. Their drunk friend whimpered.

 "This is the last- this is the last time. Next time we- we- we go around." They all laughed and carried her through the alley to her house. When they reached the soda can, the blonde girl kicked it, annoyed at it for scaring her. She kicked it all the way to the exit of the alley, but when it came into the light, she realized the can was black, not red. She didn't mention this to the rest of her friends as they walked out.

An old woman had forgotten to take her trash out, and she was doing so in the evening when she thought about these rumours. She had seen everything life had to offer and stories like this didn't scare her... usually. As she looked around at the quiet street, the flickering lamps and the parked cars, she felt a sudden chill. If there was any city that would host demons, it would be this. She shook her head to clear these thoughts and started walking back to the gate to her apartment complex. As she did, she looked back at the alleyway with the dumpsters in it. It was dark, impossibly dark and yet she could've sworn she saw a flash of red moving in the darkness.