The Heart Of You ♚ Jim Moriarty

Three

Tall trees crowded an otherwise empty street, shielding Alaina from the silver moon. A sharp wind kissed her droopy cheeks and she crossed her arms. Kenna had left in a cab with Jackson hanging from her slender arm, and insisted Alaina ride with them. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in the backseat of a cab while Jackson tried to see how far he could shove his tongue down Kenna's throat, so she assured them both she was sober enough to walk home. As her knees wobbled and her head seemed filled with helium, Alaina wished she had reconsidered her best friend's offer.

She giggled as she swayed along the abandoned sidewalk, her footing wasn't as precise as she expected it to be. She clenched her tingling fingers, everything was light. Her head, her limbs, her mind. A small beat tried persuading her to dance— how could she still hear the music from the club?  When she left, music flooded from the front doors. Somehow, three blocks later she could still hear a small hint of drums.

Boom, boom, boom.

Alaina began to rifle through her bag and stumbled when she took her eyes away from her path. She giggled again glad no one was around to see it happen.

Boom, boom, boom...

She took a few more unsteady steps before leaning against a tree so she could continue searching through her bag without fear of toppling over. She shook her head. It wasn't as if she had had much to drink. Only three, not including the sour drink she tried at the bar. She took her bottom lip between her teeth. As she thought about it there was something, someone more intoxicating than anything she was drinking.

Her shoulder scraped against the bark and she hissed taking out a white box from her bag. She packed it lightly on her palm and took out a cigarette. Her house was another three blocks away but Alaina couldn't be bothered to walk at the moment. She lit her cigarette and tried to find the moon through the trees. It was so dark above her, the leaves bushy and thick. Before Jim she had never met anyone with truly dark eyes. They were whirlpools of swirling ink, entrancing her with every breathtaking gaze.

Her mouth watered thinking of how he was probably still at the bar. It wouldn't surprise her if he was chatting with another woman by now. A pretty girl in a shorter dress, ready and willing to invite him home. Or maybe he was dancing to the same beat Alaina could faintly make out.

Boom... boom... boom...

As she brought the cigarette to her lips she peeked at her wrist. The marks Travis left were now puffy little blemishes littered along her soft flesh. She was fortunate Jim had intervened when he did. If she had gotten the attention of a bar tender there was no telling how the night would have gone. They certainly wouldn't have said anything to make Travis run away like he did. Whatever Jim told him he knew it would scare him enough to leave. Alaina wasn't sure who she should have been more afraid of. The man who grabbed her, or the man who made her assailant flee with a whisper.

Of course she had met men like Travis. Men so consumed by anger and entitlement they wouldn't stop until they got what they felt they deserved.

A stone dropped in Alaina's stomach. Her fingers froze and she let go of the cigarette. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck woke up in a wave and she held her breath. She couldn't hear the music beat anymore and yet she hadn't moved in the last few minutes. Where had it gone?

Men like Travis have something in common with beasts looking for their next meal. Persistence in the hunt.

Step! Step! Step!

"Hello, pretty thing."

Alaina yelped turning around, she pressed her back firm against the tree. Travis stood not five feet away from her, grinning with his dead teeth. A sour stench of alchohol burned her tender nose, her chest rose and fell in an erratic rhythm. Travis stepped closer, his grungy eyes taking in the purity of her bare skin.