Bat Out Of Hell

AKA This Happened Before

A car door slammed outside. Startled, the girl dropped the doll she was playing with and slowly walked to look out the window, down to the street below, a single blue eye peering from behind the curtain. The leaves had all fallen from the trees, a late November afternoon.

Outside, a woman got out of a minivan, followed by two kids. With a nod, the girl closed the curtain and sat back down on the floor again, playing with the leaves brought in from outside, covering her doll with them. Crayons rolled across the floor from discarded leaf rubbings, her name signed at the bottom of each one. It was four letters, but she could not see the name in her memory.

March 10th, 2015

The scar on the back of her neck was visible as Willow glanced up at the building by the crosswalk, reading the lettering etched above the entrance. WHITEHALL. She cocked her head, considering it for a moment, just as the walk sign dinged and she stepped off the curb, eyes forward and only focused on her destination. It was early in the morning, earlier than she was used to being awake, evident by the bags under her eyes and the way she still looked bleary with sleep. She stopped on the sidewalk for a moment, pulling out an earbud and listening.

Willow knew when she was being followed.

She could hear the footsteps, even above the noise of the city and her music. The footsteps stopping and starting when she did, boots on the city pavement, heavy, walking with a purpose.

She turned the corner and after the footsteps faded for a moment, blocked by the building, she ducked into the alleyway between the store on the corner and the apartment buildings next door and took off running, her heart pounding, eyes wide. Her backpack slammed against her back as she tore down the alleyway, leaping over discarded bags of trash and dark puddles deeper than they looked.

The footsteps hadn't stopped. In fact, they had gotten louder. And faster. The pursuer was running now, too. "Hey, kid! Hold on!"

Willow swore and only ran faster, her size giving her the advantage as she slipped under a chainlink fence at the end of the alley and continued to run. The alley opened up to another main street and she nearly barreling over a woman walking a dog, who shouted at her to watch where she was going, as Willow hardly slowed.

"Jesus, hold on!" the voice yelled again from behind her. "I'm not gonna hurt you!" The woman was closer than ever. Willow glanced back, bewildered that this woman was still gaining on her, confusion playing on her brow.

The girl leaped off the sidewalk and out into the street, cutting off a taxi and unleashing a chorus of honking. Her hand nearly made contact with the hood of the car as Willow instinctively reached out to cover herself. Just as she recovered from the near miss, someone grabbed the back of her coat and tugged her back towards the sidewalk.

In a panic, Willow began to thrash around, trying to get the woman to loosen her grip, but the woman held on tight. "Let me go!" Willow said through gritted teeth, trying to wiggle out of her coat, hoping her sweater would still hide the wings. "Let me go!"

"I know you broke into my apartment," the woman said. "Who gave you that envelope? Did someone tell you to deliver it?"

"No one," Willow said, twisting around to face the woman, a scowl across her face as she tried to wrestle herself away. "I don't know what you're talking about. But I have to go, I'm gonna be late to meet someone and—"

"Did he tell you to meet him?" the woman asked. "Who are you meeting?"

"Take a deep breath."

"I can't say."

"Yes, you can. Tell me." She tugged Willow back towards the door to her apartment building. "Just, can we just—"