Antoine's Curious Collection of Arbitrary Short Stories

The Naked Thief

At exactly 3:00 AM my body would voluntarily wake itself up. It's a routine that I've been half-heartedly doing ever since I was a kid. i don't remember much what I did after I wake up before, maybe I take a piss or just stare right at the damned ceiling until I tire myself out and fall asleep again, that's just what normally people do when they suddenly arouse from sleep.

That was until something happened that one time that will influence my idea of a pattern. I woke up, as always, but the difference was that i felt really exhausted and was panting for breath. It's like I ran a mile even though i did nothing but sleep. I don't know what pushed me then but I walked right outside my room, gone to the living room. It's like my feet had their own mind. I stand there for a while, it's like my conscious and my subconscious minds are restricting each other. I found myself thirsty so i let it go to the kitchen to get something to relieve the feeling. And to my surprise, a lady was out there, naked! Jesus! Who wouldn't piss their pants when they see someone looking crazy, near their house?

I hid at first and tried not to make a noise or unusual move that would have her attention, then I slowly walked away. I could see her at the window of our kitchen. It was designed to have a big glass window so we can see the view outside our house when we eat. Seeing a naked lady must be a good sight as long as it's not in this hour. I've watched enough thriller and action films not to ring a bell.

I tiptoed back to my room, locked the door and got my baseball bat that my dad bought for me as a gift. I've never used it before. Maybe tonight I will. I tried to peek at my window. The kitchen and my bedroom are in the same position. I know what i have seen. She's probably there lurking. My thoughts were running wild; I don't remember anyone who's crazy enough to walk outside their house at 3 in the morning naked in our neighborhood. Jesus. We live in a religious community; everyone here is too kind or too afraid to do something unethical. Well, obviously I'm not like them, my parents are.

I watched her; she seemed wary and unsettled. She kept looking back and forth, being cautious to not be seen. She then moved to our neighbor and disappeared, I let out a sigh. I hope of the possibility that she's just a girl my neighbor decided to whack and then got caught by someone and, because of shock, she ran away naked, or anything as long as she's not a sociopath who lurks at dark to find someone to stab, seducing them with her nakedness then killed them.

I decided to fall asleep again. When I woke up, nothing seemed unusual: no neighbor got hurt or anything. Then suddenly I heard Mrs. Gibbs telling my mother that she got robbed by a pervert, nothing much; actually just the nightgown that she loves the most. And then i thought of her, was she the one who stole Mrs. Gibbs nightgown? I told my mother what I have seen that night then they reported it to the police. They've found nothing at the nearby CCTV cameras. The weird part was that even her shadow wasn't seen.

Night falls, everyone was probably deep asleep, but I wasn't. I can't let her out of mind. I tried to envision her again. She's slim, has fair skin, and short dark hair. I can't picture her face; I haven't had a proper look at it. It was fast. Does she live here? Was she the thief? I clenched my teeth; this is what happens when you're a hormonal, thriller geek teenager who has nothing else to think about.

I look at the clock at the wall, it's already 12 AM, I should be asleep by now, but my thoughts don't let me. I get up and lit a cigarette to spare some time, I opened my window to let out the smoke. I stare outside for a while; the streetlight illuminated the street as well as my room. Our house was set up between two streets. My room was in the back, there's a small yard planted with wildflowers and vegetables by my mother, and a string that was strung to a post to hang our clothes. It was quiet, the streets are empty.

After i smoke, I closed the window, I put on earphones and lay down on my bed, i pretended to sleep and let the music filled my thoughts. My favorite song turns, i let my fingers sway by it, it was a good song until something tried to distract me from the sound of it; all I can hear now is the noise of the static. Annoyed, I turned it off.

I woke up by the brush of cold air. I realized that the windows are open. Confusion washed over me. I'm pretty sure that i closed it right before i slept. I look at the clock; it's 3 AM, always. I let my eyes adjust for a while. As I tried to get up, I felt a throbbing pain in my head. It always happens yet I can't still get to used it. I close the window and before I could turn my back, my vision hit something; it's her. Just the sight of her immediately wakes me up. I was stunned for a moment. It's like I'm paralyzed and can't help but to gaze at her. She's there standing. She probably felt that someone was watching, as she swiveled her head towards my direction. My heart stopped as we locked our eyes. She ran after she realized that I saw her.

I hadn't slept and just waited until the rooster screamed for morning. I got myself downstairs, trying to distract myself from the thoughts of her. We eat breakfast. Mrs. Gibbs is here again and surprised us with her news. She told us that our other neighbor got robbed too by a pervert, nightgowns.

My mother got worried that we might be the next and what the thief could do other than stealing. I opened again the possibility that it might be her. They believed me this time, I told them about what she looks like and they provided a sketch for us. It turns out that no one knows her, no proper evidence was provided to say that it was her. No prints or anything that could point out it was her.

Just before the day ended, another startling news poofs and it left everyone surprised with fear. It was reported that there are corpses found in a cornfield just near our district. It's discovered that the body is from a girl just around 18-20 of age, naked, has short hair, a mark of a rope was seen on her wrists who was shot in the head and raped and presumably died a couple of days ago. She was assumed to be one of the refugees who originated from other countries, Asian. I felt like i was drench in cold water when I saw the picture on the headline. It's her, i know; I just saw her last night. I couldn't be wrong about it. It's like my mind was playing tricks on me. When I tried to fit the pieces, it all fits together: Naked, short hair, died a couple of days ago and the robberies started the same day she died. No.

I run to the bathroom and puked as the realization came over me. I was wrong, horribly wrong. She's lost, running away from someone who did this to her, she could've been still alive if i only helped her. F*ck.

Night comes and i didn't find the will to sleep, how could I? I soaked myself to nicotine, I smoked and smoked. 3 AM, always. I close the window after, and then my eye caught something. And there I thought, she isn't aware, was she?