Soul

Niall

2

Niall Ryan hit the cold grey footpath face first, got as far as his hands and knees, then proceeded to vomit all over it. Behind him, the giant muscular barman spat in his direction.

"That'll teach you to start fights in my bar."

Niall heard groaned but stayed where he was. Ten beers, he now realised, had been one too many. He staggered upright and then tottered along the street, drunkenly maneuvering his way around the crowds of night time clubbers that were still queing there. The thumping music from various night clubs pounded against his skull like hammerblows and he fought the urge to be sick again as he made his clumsy way back home.

His face hurt. Niall was pretty sure he had a black eye and that his nose was broken, but whether from the fight inside the bar or from being tossed out on the street he wasn't sure. He rounded a corner and went five paces before he stopped suddenly. Even through his alcohol-muddled senses, he could tell that something was following him.

"Whos'er?" He slurred, looking around him. Nothing moved. He shivered and even though it was dirty and sour-smelling, pulled his denim jacket tighter around him. It was cold all of a sudden, much too cold for what had previously been a relatively balmy May night, despite the constant rain.

Shrugging it off, Niall continued on his meandering way back to his house. He wasn't sure if he was going the right direction, but surely, his hammered mind reasoned, all roads led to the same place at some point. He had been walking for ten minutes before he again felt the strange presence, closer this time, like someone's breath on the back of his neck. He careered around on his feet, fists raised and ready.

But again there was nothing there.

Suddenly a wind whipped up from nowhere, surrounding Niall and bowling him over onto the wet ground, dissapating as soon as it had appeared. He gasped with the pain as he hit the concrete then leavered himself up on to his elbow and looked up, ready to stagger to his feet once more.

What he saw turned his blood to icy slush in his veins and robbed him of what little sense he had retained after his drinking session.

There was a shape forming in the middle of the gloomy alleyway, formless and smoky but ultimately the silhouette of a person. Niall felt himself freeze with terror even as he fought to convince himself that it was the drink that was doing this to him, that he was imagining it all.

Then the shape solidified, the monster was revealed and as Niall looked into the face of nightmares he knew it was going to be the last thing he ever saw.

A scream ripped from his throat as the creature darted towards him, there was a moment of intense pain, of overwhelming, unbearable panic and then...

Nothing.

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I know this is really short, but it's only an introduction-type-thingy for later. The next chapter will be longer, I swear. The song is In the Shadows by The Rasmus.