The Perfect Stranger

Ch 1 ~ What Does One Do With A Naked Person In Their Pool?

Lightning cracked and illuminated everything Castiel Novak's lamp didn't. His muscles jolted involuntarily as he was ripped from his literary adventure. Thunder clapped overhead, and Castiel felt the impact within his chest.

In a flash, his house was dark again, and he soothed his nerves. Tonight, the rain pelted against his bedroom window, and he could hear the fierce roar of the wind. It was a shit storm, indead. Living alone could be unsettling, and constantly reading horror/mysteries while it stormed didn't help. The twenty-six year old did his best to ignore his irrational fear, and he tried to read again.

If I can finish this last chapter, I can go to bed, Castiel promised himself.

Castiel read three paragraphs before another clasp of thunder interrupted him. He huffed in frustration as his focus was thwarted again.

Before he could even try to read again, a loud bang came from outside. It didn't sound like thunder to him. Castiel jolted forward in bed, and perked his ears. When nothing else happened, he slowly eased against the headboard and looked at his book.

Then a dog started barking.

At first, fear and caution made Castiel tense. Then he was annoyed again. Probably the neighbor's dog wanting in, he tried to rationalize. That's why I shouldn't have moved to town. Then again... Better in town than in the middle of the boonies where the nearest neighbor is an axe wielding murderer.

He tried to ignore the dog, but he couldn't. There was something about the barking. It was ice-chilling, and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Something didn't seem right, that much Castiel could feel in his gut.

Castiel closed his book and set it on his bedside table. He lifted the heavy comforter and eased out of bed. His feet glided across the carpet of his bedroom floor as he crept to the kitchen. The pant legs of his pajama bottoms drug across the floor, and his oversized t-shirt hung loosely off his shoulders.

Castiel hugged himself. He shook from fear, but he told himself that it was from the cold; the loose clothes doing little to keep me warm.

When he made it to the kitchen, he walked up to the sink and peered out the giant windows. There was no use trying to see into the backyard; it was raining to hard.

Castiel unfurled his arms and grabbed the sink. He listened as the dog continued to bark. He gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his thick, raven-black hair. When he craned his neck, he read the stovetop; 1:07 a.m.

I shouldn't even be awake, he reprimanded. But what else are you going to do when you have a great book?

Castiel gave one last look through the window. He contemplated on whether or not he should get a glass of water. His thought was cut short by another flash of lightning. In the split second of light, Castiel found the silhouette of a man walking in his backyard.

He jumped back so quickly that his back collided with the kitchen island. Castiel yelped in pain, and he shook with trepidation.

What am I going to do? he panicked. What do I even do?

Castiel pulled out a steak knife in 0.5 seconds flat. While he kept his eyes locked on his backyard, he reached slowly for the backlight. He flicked it on and artificial light tried to desperately pierce through the thick rain.

He was waiting for an axe wielding maniac with a ski mask, but instead, his sight was greeted with a bare ass.

His eyebrows knitted together and he cocked his head as he watched the man lazily jump naked into his pool. Castiel noticed the string of clothes leading to the pool, and he stood there in utter confusion.

Lightning crashed, thunder boomed, rain came down in sheets, and a dog sounded like it was out for blood.

Then there was this guy...  Swimming during all of that. Naked. In a stranger's pool.

The man bobbed in and out of the water a few times before Castiel noticed a dip with no return. A small pang of concern bloomed in his gut as he waited.

The stranger never came back up.