IT was a beautiful night.
The full moon shone overhead and countless stars speckled the night sky.
She'd never felt so alive.
Zas was back in LA.
What could get better?!
This was her real self- happy and carefree.
Not the Tina that ran away from reality and was broken.
She missed being herself.
She had to walk through two more streets to reach home.
A street. An alley. Another street. And then finally, home.
The place was deserted.
It was dark but she kept walking.
It was a narrow street, but at the end of the street, there was a deserted building.
Beside it there was an alley- the one Tina had to pass through to get to the other street.
And then home.
She reached the end of the street and turned towards the alley- the one beside the deserted building- when she saw a flicker of movement at the far end of the alley.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
Her heart skipped a beat.
There was something- or someone.
Although she was a tiny bit afraid she kept walking.
Maybe the movement was from someone walking home just like her, she thought.
She walked slowly- too scared that she may scare whatever that was.
She moved closer even though part of her screamed to turn back around- to safety.
While the other part of her just wanted to go home and sleep.
She was a few yards away from where she first saw the flicker of movement.
She noticed that something still seemed to be moving there.
She narrowed her eyes and tried to see what exactly it was when whatever it was suddenly disappeared.
"What the-" she was about to say, taken aback by its disappearance, when she suddenly felt icy cold hands on her shoulders.
Its grip on her, strong.
She struggled against its grip but it only held her tighter still.
She kicked out violently with her legs and flailed her arms in every direction, in attempt to get away from its grip.
But all in vain.
She felt something sharp- needle like- sink into her neck, just below her pulse point.
A searing pain shot through her body.
She screamed out loud.
She could feel her life slowly ebbing away.
She felt dizzy, her vision blurring at the edges.
She collapsed onto the ground just when the stone cold hands released her shoulders.
Her heartbeat faltered.
Her lungs didn't seem to be getting enough oxygen, no matter how deep she breathed.
She didn't have enough energy left to move.
"Help.." she tried to scream, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper.
Her eyes were closing involuntarily.
But just before her eyes shut, she noticed someone towering over her.
She could only distinguish the persons outline against the night sky.
She heard him mumbling something.
She tried to focus on the persons face but her eye lids shut without her consent.
She drifted into the darkness.
***