Terror in the Night

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (Twenty years later)

Life was never the same after than night. Faye’s mother died on the way to the hospital, her Father didn’t mean to push her away but he was never the same after that night, he never smiled again, he never told jokes or played with her, he seemed to just fade away from everything and everyone until he became a stranger in his daughter’s eyes. The mugger who killed her Mother managed to get away during all the hustle and bustle but his face haunted Faye’s dreams for years, when she stood over her Mummy’s grave when she was still six years old, she promised she would get revenge on the man that took her Mother away from them.

Faye through herself into her schoolwork while she attended school, but more importantly to her, she threw herself into any and all self defence classes she could find. She tried to master as many fighting techniques that were available to her but although she wasn’t as good as the masters of the art, she made up for her lack of ability in a range of weapons her Father would never know about.

Graham Sparrow; Faye’s Father, buried himself in work both with the city’s firm and working alone when he had the time. He earned a fair bit of money which Faye normally helped herself to, seeing as he wasn’t going to use what was left after the bills were paid. Half the time, Faye wondered if he knew what was going on around him if it had nothing to do with his work.

Most nights Faye would wonder about the streets looking for the man who killed her Mum and most mornings she would return home too exhausted to do anything but sleep for many hours. Night after night, Faye would leave and come back empty handed but she always knew that one day she would find him and when she did, there would be no-one around to tell her to stop.

The middle of February was bitterly cold even wrapped up in so many thick layers. Faye stood on the corner of one of the busiest streets in the city, everyone from the drunks and the party goers and the prostitutes and the thieves, they all seemed to come out on a Friday night. It was around midnight when the drunks thought she was a slut to hit on and a few hours later the clubs would turf everyone out. It was rather annoying when she was trying to find one single man in a very busy city.

But it wasn’t midnight yet and Faye had a few hours of hunting to use up before any idiots thought she was an easy hit. Some muggers liked the easy prey walking around in the central park, it was big enough for people to disappear in and the romantic couples were easy to prey on that those wandering the streets.

She was strolling through the park, her black coat long enough to cover her knees, her collar pulled up under her chin and a dark scarf around her neck and jaw, when a shadow of a man jumped the couple in front of her.

He grabbed the woman’s bag as he ran at them and ripped it off her shoulder as he ran by.

“Hey get back here,” the woman’s companion shouted after the man and started after the mugger.

Faye had time to watch the thief run towards her and assessed that this thief was not her man; he was too big and didn’t hobble.

“Stop him,” the man shouted hoping for Faye’s help.

The bag snatcher was getting closer, close enough for Faye to see the panic in his eye even as the pursuing man was starting to fall behind. Faye was the only one who could stop the man and he didn’t seem to think Faye was much to worry about.

She raised her fist level with the oncoming man’s head giving him little chance to step out of the way and he ran straight into her solid fist.

His legs flew out in front of him as the rest of his body smacked heavily on the ground.

Faye carried on walking like nothing had happened while the thief lay groaning on the ground. The other man staggered to a stop in front of her long enough for him to look at her face before carrying on over to the thief.

“Thank you,” the woman said as Faye walked by.

But Faye just kept on walking. She was on the hunt for another man but she would never deny that she felt good helping someone with the same problem she had gone through. It was rare occasions like then when she helped other people when they needed it that she felt as if she was doing something better, not just wondering around looking after that one man in many.

As she walked away from the park, the sound of police sirens could be heard and the flashing blue and red lights could be seen the other side of the park. Faye stopped for a moment to watch everything unfold around her and for a moment, she felt the weight of the world lift that little fraction off her shoulders, letting her smile just a little behind her scarf before pushing off once more into the night.