Twisted Love

Chapter 1 - Out Of The Shadows

::::Catnote: Waving Howdy! If you read my stuff before you know normally I like to write really big stories. ;-) But I've gotta say it was a lot of fun working on a short story for a change. I hope you like this short story I've written for the #TNTHorrorContest. I set the story in the old mining town of Superior, Arizona where I live. I've added a few pics to the story that I took around town. :::

and so the story begins....

It was Saturday night, and the blind date was going better than expected. Mattie Thomas owed her roommate Rebecca big time for setting it up. Jay was the perfect combination of nerdy, but hot. Six foot, buff enough, Jay didn't spend the night talking about football and monster trucks. Instead, he focused on her. Asked her what she liked. Asked her what she thought and seemed to care about her answers. After the date, at the front door, he leaned in and kissed her. It was a decent kiss. One that made her look forward to a second date.

Mattie stood on the porch and watched Jay drive away. It was fall in Arizona. Not quite cold enough to warrant a heavy jacket. Mattie wore a cream-colored sweater over her favorite white blouse, the one Rebecca called "super girlie" with the ruffles at the neck. Not a fan of skirts Mattie paired the blouse with a pair of dark black jeans and some black high heeled boots. The five-inch heels were a first date, confidence booster which added model like inches to Mattie's five-foot-six-inch frame.

A cool breeze kicked up out of nowhere and blew across the porch whipping Mattie's long blonde hair in her face. And for a moment the fanciful thought crossed her mind that there was something odd about the breeze. The cold wind sent a chill down her spine, and she could hear grandmother's voice in her head repeating the old adage "someone just walked over my grave."

Mattie looked back at the darkened windows of the faded yellow house. Rebecca was home, but fast asleep. The very ancient house she and Rebecca moved into at the end of summer had a creepy vibe. But apparently, the creepy vibe was only something Mattie felt because Rebecca laughed anytime Mattie brought it up.

Mattie walked to the edge of the porch and looked up. It was a moonless night — the only lights visible came from the stars and the porch light. Something she both loved and hated about living in the outskirts of town — they had their privacy, only a handful of neighbors lived nearby, and those neighbors were far enough away, and hidden behind the high desert underbrush. Which meant no lights from other houses were visible from Mattie's porch. Standing out here in the dark, you felt as if you were all alone on the planet, but there were times, especially when Rebecca got home late, that Mattie felt a bit freaked out about being out here, in this old house all by herself. Too many scary movies and a vivid imagination made her wonder — if something was to happen to her, would the neighbors hear her screams for help?

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't see the figure step out of the shadows. Didn't see the male in the gray hoody until the sound of a foot hitting loose gravel had her turning, one hand going to her chest, the other holding out the key to the front door like a weapon.

"Mattie," he said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Mattie's fear battled with shock as she recognized the voice. "Brandon, what are you doing here!"

Brandon Preston, her ex-boyfriend, stepped into the light.

Mattie's heart raced at the sight of him, and she took a few steps back. He was the last person she had expected to see standing in her front yard in the middle of the night.

Brandon lowered the hood on his jacket. He hadn't changed; his blond hair was still shaggy, falling to his shoulders, his blue eyes still full of the same desperation that filled them when she had told him it was over.