Darkness Desires Ch. 01

I've always been a night person myself, after high school I started working the grave yard shift and I've never gone back to days since then. After a few years of going nowhere I decided to start taking night classes, it's not possible to really live on minimum wage, and I was tired of barely scraping by month after month. So here I am now, in the middle of my second semester, going for a business degree. I want to eventually open an all-night gym, our town doesn't have one. This is a shame because we have a thriving night life. I'm having trouble listening to my economics professor tonight. I'm usually not afraid of the dark, but on my way into class tonight I had the eerie feeling of being watched. I can't shake my head of this creepy feeling and I am dreading the walk back to my car. I'm not parked to far from the building but I know that my car will be the only one in the parking lot after class. I know it was stupid of me to park in that lot; it's the parking lot of a rundown building that used to be a grocery store that sits across the street from the campus. It was stupid but I was running late to class and didn't want to waste the time circling the building to access the proper lot. Suddenly, I was pulled out of my thoughts by a soft kick from under the table. Bringing myself back to the here and now I realized that the whole class was staring at me.

"Sorry I must be a little distracted today."

Looking at my professor, I saw his face soften a little. "You're usually a very attentive student so I'll let it slide this time. Now, as I was saying..." I turned to my seat mate and smiled.

"Thanks."

He smiled back "Not a problem. Consider it repayment for keeping me awake last class."

Keith was a nice enough guy from what I knew of him. The last few classes we had exchanged small talk over our breaks and helped to keep each other in line. Keith works days and has a wife and twin boys at home, night classes are all he can take right now. Sometimes he's just so exhausted in class he nods off during lectures. I try to keep nudging him awake when this happens, he's just trying to do right by his family and I don't want to see him fail. By the end of class I had completely zoned out again thinking about the eerie feeling I had earlier. The loud slamming of books beside me brought me back to reality and I smiled again at Keith for nonchalantly letting me know it's time to leave. I should have asked him then and there to walk me to my car, but I didn't. I'm a very stubborn person and I've never been afraid of the night before. On my way out of the building I gave myself a small pep talk.

"There's nothing out there. You're just paranoid, I told you to lay off the horror movies. You've been a night person forever and nothing has ever happened before. Just get over it and get to your car. Fuckin blonde."

At this I had to smile. Every time I get onto myself it always ends up being about my blonde hair; it's my excuse for everything. I paused briefly at the door and looked through the glass.

"See I told you, there's nothing out there."

As I pushed through the door the cool night air hit me and I instantly felt more at ease. Feeling more and more confident with each step, I made it quickly to the safety and comfort of my car. I took a few deep breaths before fishing around in my purse for my cigarettes. I cracked the window, locked the doors, and lit one from my pack.

"Smoking is bad for you, you know?"

I let out a startled scream and whipped around in my seat to find the source of the voice coming from the back. All I knew for certain before I turned was that it was a man's voice, but no one was there. I sat there for a few minutes scouring the backseat with my eyes. I'm the only person in the car, but where did that voice come from?

"What drugs are you on, making you hallucinate voices and shit?" I said to my reflection in my visor mirror.

"I wish I knew, ha-ha. God what is wrong with me? You're obviously crazy, that's the only explanation."

Seriously becoming concerned about my mental health, I took another look in the back seat; still empty. As I started my drive home I continued to argue with myself about the voice that I had heard.

"You're just losing it Sarah. Yeah, it happens sometimes."

I continued my drive in silence for a few minutes, really wishing I had a car radio to distract myself with music.

"You know people really will start to think you're crazy if you keep talking to yourself."

Without thinking I jerked around in my, still no one in my backseat. A loud screech pulled my eyes back to the road in front of me. I saw the headlights coming at me and tried to pull back into my lane, but my reaction wasn't fast enough. I clipped the car in front of me and went into a spin. It all happened to fast for me to do anything about. I heard the glass break and felt pain in the front of my head, and then everything went white.