Words are Words (Dan Smith - Bastille Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

I had already checked the fridge and the cupboards multiple times before I came to the conclusion that I had absolute zilch to eat tonight, which meant I had to go out, but honestly, I couldn't be less in the mood for it. I still couldn't believe Jake despite the fact that he's acted like this constantly for what seems like years on end, and the majority of the time, it ends up turning out even worse. He does anything he possibly can to gain attention from me, and in this case it was the breaking of one of my glasses.

He wasn't always this way. Rewind four years, and I can picture when we first started dating. He appeared to be the most perfect boyfriend I could have ever asked for, from my wonderfully great deal of expertise in this fine area of dating guys with anger issues, anyway. I never imagined that this would've happened, or when I first spotted the first signs of his passive aggressiveness, which soon turned to dire rage at the slightest little thing. Why? I constantly used to ask myself, day after day - was it me? Am I to blame? Should I have acted...differently, when we first met? Now however, I've just accepted it as the norm. Maybe he never even changed in the first place, and I just never noticed his real ways, until now. But I couldn't leave him. I do...love him. I do. Right? Why else would I still be with him?

The coldness forming around me interrupted me then, tugging me back into the real world. I'd only just registered that I was too engulfed in my thoughts to contemplate that I was in fact, stood still, in front of an empty fridge, staring blankly into the cold appliance before me. I shivered a little and shut the fridge door carefully before striding out into the hall, ready to head out to the local supermarket. I hooked my leather jacket off the rail and began to walk outside.

This was one of those times where I wished I had a car of my own. It wasn't the accustomed walks I had to take almost every day that deferred me from going out this late, no. It was the fact that it was, well, late. You always feel strangely protected in a car, especially with the windows rolled up, despite the reality that the only thing keeping you and twilight apart was a thin layer of glass. When walking, I never liked these streets at night. You never knew who was lurking behind a corner or who could be following you. It was probably just me being paranoid again, but I always had my wits about me when I was out this hour of darkness.

This time however was strangely different. The night had an era of calmness about it. The only sounds entering my ears were a faint bark of a dog in the distance, and the clip-clop of my boots on the pavement. I didn't feel scared or weary, in fact for the first time in ages, I felt...settled.

I gave my wristwatch a quick check. The time had only just hit 7pm, but it felt a lot later.

I gasped all of a sudden, hearing the the sound of shoes scuffing against the pavement behind me causing my eyes to dart up from my shoes and my head to turn around. I didn't mean to do it so abruptly, but my actions took over the will once again. The broken street lights didn't come in handy when trying to make out the black silhouette; it was a definitely a man though, I knew that.

I then experienced that moment in life when you only just realise what something was, just when you look away from it. I swore that I knew that guy, or at least recognised him from somewhere. Even in dull light, I could easily notice the dark hairs stand up on end in his perfectly messed up quiff, his hands placed in his light blue denim jacket pockets. He walked slowly behind, looking down at the ground as he went. Which reminded me I was in fact, still staring. I began focus my attention back in front of me when a large, solid object stopped me dead in my tracks.

I peered up cautiously to see a lofty and slightly - if not very - clearly drunk man stood directly before me, examining my body with a forbidding expression on his face. His features eased as he looked me up and down, his mouth curving into a spine-chilling smile.

"What do we have here?"

Even though the look on his face held a mere sense of happiness, I could tell this experience was going to be the complete opposite...