Lonely

Chapter One:First Sight

I do not know how this story first began, but we'll start in the month of November, on a chilly, dark morning, where drizzle hung in the air like a silent tension you could cut with scissors. In London, days this time of year were late to lighten and quick to end. Even the air seemed itself depressed as it whistled through the ghostly streets and wrapped it's skinny arms around everyone who had dared to exit their homes in this storm. One man in particular stuck out from the small few that had dared and you could sense that he wasn't your typical everyday Londoner just from a quick glance. His posture seemed almost stiff, and yet he didn't look quite as affected by the cold as the others. In fact he seemed to almost float in his wake and emitted a rather enticing aura if truth be known. He held a book in his left hand whilst his right hand occupied the innards of his trouser pocket.

The bell of the small store jingled as the door was opened and the young man stepped inside, relaxing slightly as the warm body of air radiated on to him. He placed his coat on a hook and walked peacefully into the columns of book shelves. The scent of bookstores had always intranced him.                                                                                            In fact he remembered his first time walking into this small book store. He was a lonely 11 year old child that had come with his mother because she had to pick up some work books for his older sister. He had begun to wonder around and had picked up Wuthering Heights by Jane Austin, falling in love after the first page. From then on he would visit the store as often as he could and he would spend days, weeks and months that soon turned into years inside that store.

He had never been one to have company however because he felt as though people were just there to hurt each other and he didn't want to involve himself in the hunger and greed that was society.

The young mans name, as I understand, was Daniel, he really didn't give much care for what people thought of him and he was quite stubborn if that aids your opening opinion on him. He was also quite paranoid so he found it quite strange when he looked to the front of the store and saw a young girl acting quite unusual around the coat hooks. She couldn't be more than a year or two younger than him and her un-wrinkled, soft brown skin seemed to speak to him as being a girl that could take care of herself.

He snapped the book he had picked up closed and placed it upon the shelf before slowly walking over to the young lady. He was quite shocked to find the girl looking at something from his very own coat pocket. His grandfathers pocket watched gleamed as she held it in her hand and he was even more shocked when she deposited it in her bag. 

"Excuse me miss, that doesn't belong to you"

She shot her glance up at him and her eyes were widened in shock. Note, that she did not seem scared that she'd just been caught, she just looked shocked and almost confused that he was speaking to her.

"You can see me?"

He didn't reply but with the blink of an eye, just as she had been stood there, in front of him, she was gone. Daniel looked around wildly. He was scattered, how could she have just disappeared like this. He was bewildered by what had just happened, did he imagine it ? Looking in his pocket, he saw no pocket watch. So it was real ? Then where had she gone ?                               

Daniel had always been quite a sceptical man, ever since he was a child he had scoffed at ghost stories or so called "supernatural" videos people had shown him. So if we look again at how taken aback the man is now, we could change our opinion on the matter.

Not long after the encounter, Daniel exited the store, he had decided to push whatever had just happened to the back of his mind and focus on what he deemed more important things. He walked up the road, slipping through the doors of the news office he worked in and entered the small closet that was his office.  Slumping into his chair, rubbing his temple and groaning in displeasure, he sat up and looked at his computer to see any emails he had received. The usual one from his mother asking him to stay safe and an email from his boss asking him to write an article on the house that had burned down on Cherry Street. The second one was going to be relatively easy to do once he had details on the matter which of course, were not provided to him.  

Daniel was halfway through his article when he saw something. A pair of eyes burning into the back of his head. He swivelled around and for a fraction of a second he saw her. The same girl that had stole his pocket watch. But then she was gone. Again.

He swore he was going mad. Was this girl real? If she wasn't then where the hell did his pocket watch go? He quickly finished his article, published it and told his boss he felt ill before exiting the building and starting his path home. He trudged back through town, dragging his feet at times in exasperation it was busier now but it still had a sense of eeriness. Like always. He was just getting his head around the fact that it must have all been a hallucination when he saw her again. This time she didn't disappear, she simply beckoned to him to follow her into the alley. He did not know why he obliged, he later assumed it was pure curiosity that drew him in. He looked at her dark outfit as he followed her and stayed at a distance when she stopped in her tracks and turned toward him.

"What's your name?"

Her voice was sweet, it seemed... clean ? Well at least it had a softness to it that he couldn't quite explain.

"It's uh Daniel, Daniel Fox"

"Nice to meet you uh Daniel, I'm Lilith"

He chuckles at this, the girl had humour he gave her that. She reached into her bag and drew out the pocket watch. She didn't say anything, she just held it out toward him and he took it from her hands.

"Uh th-thanks"

"No problem Daniel, may I walk you home?"

"I guess so"

She smiled sweetly and skipped ahead of Daniel like she knew exactly where to go. This gave him adequate time to take in her outfit. She had above shoulder length hair that was a pastel shade of lilac and there were two golden clips that kept strands from flying into her face. She wore a white, over-sized, woollen white jumper with chains that draped around her neck. On her lower torso she wore ripped jean shorts with fishnets and very platformed boots. he could of sworn he saw something tucked into the back of her shorts but ignored it for the time being.

"You uh take a right here"

"I know"

"How do you know where I live?"

"I know everything about you now Daniel"

He stopped walking and started to mentally freak out. He didn't know if he was in danger, if she was just tricking him or if she was just a figment of his imagination. Without thinking he turned around and ran, he ran because he didn't want to be hurt by her.

But if she wanted to hurt you, why did she give you your pocket watch back?

He stopped running at this thought and turned around. She was just... stood there. She hadn't tried to run after him and more importantly she hadn't disappeared again. This was stupid he thought as he marched toward the girl. 

He was gonna confront her about this, no matter what it took to get the truth.