It was midnight. It was dark. And it was very empty.
The street was bare of anything, only a few streetlights dotted at 8ft intervals or more, their orange glow blinking on, off, on, off methodically as if that was all they were made to do. Several cats loitered around a pile of sodden rubbish, hoping for scraps - but of course, there was nothing there. Only fish bones, bugs and the rotting paper bag it lay in.
The man stood not 4ft away from the animals, but they did nothing that showed they knew he was there. No one, in fact, knew he was there. Not the cats...and not the boy.
He was barely 17, breaching the limits of child and adult; his stature lazy but secretive. The man could hear the youth's canvas shoes splashing about in puddles, kicking empty cans as he moved towards his hiding spot, no care for discretion.
A cat looked up, green eyes huge and hungry. It meowed pitifully.
In the darkness, the man stood watching, waiting until it was time for his vengeance.
One of the smaller cats, a black and grey patched thing with a missing ear, patted it's way to the approaching boy, meowing pitifully and rubbing it's back against the boy's jeaned legs. He stopped, and knelt down toward the cat, scratching behind the one remaining ear.
The man could hear his breathing.
A can stirred in the wind. The boy turned. The knife plunged in.
Blood seeped through the man's fingers, warm and thick. Below him, the boy's eyes widened first in confusion, then in recognition as he took in his brother's familiar face. A hiss from the kitten. A hiss from the dying boy. He took in a shaky breath, the blood already filling his lungs and suffocating him to the death. He raised his hands to the knife, feeling around in the dark for his brother.
The man smiled as he went limp, life already seeped out into the air. He removed the knife, inspecting the drip, drip, dripping of red before standing up straight and stepping over the crumpled figure. He began to whistle, a happy tune that lifted the spirits of the night.
And walked away, vengeance redeemed.
