Just One Night [SHORT STORY]

Chapter One

[Author's Note: This short story was intended as part of an anthology some friends and I were writing together about different types of smut/steam. As such, there are some names/events that reference a story that you wouldn't have read so might not understand. This is fine. The story itself is a standalone]

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The ground beneath her fingers felt... grimey.

Her vision blurry, her hearing distorted; Jesse scrambled to try and stand on trembling legs. She stumbled towards what looked like a brick wall and braced herself against it, before emptying the contents of her stomach in a stream of orange liquid.

I shouldn't have had that extra mimosa.

Holding a hand to her stomach, Jesse staggered closer to the wall and leant her back against it, breathing heavily. As her vision and hearing slowly cleared, she took stock of her surroundings and started to panic.

Where were the girls?

They were meant to do this together but she was out here - wherever here was - alone.

Again.

Jesse dust her hands off on her dark jeans, unwilling to dissect what they may have landed in before. She adjusted her white vest and cropped leather jacket as she looked around, hugging herself against the slight breeze. It was summer time warm - no need for a jacket unless it set your outfit off just right - and smelled like smoke and machinery.

It looked like... home.

"Where the fuck am I?"

The dark alleyway, the dumpster occupying most of the dingy space; even the paving on the street at the end of it, all looked like... London.

"Figures," Jesse mumbled to herself as she walked precariously towards the open end of the alley. "I bet the others are in some fairy-tale enchanted forest and I end up in a concrete jungle."

Jesse still felt queasy but she had to figure things out and find the girls. They could be hurt or...

No. She wouldn't think like that. There was no logical reason to think they were dead if she had arrived relatively unscathed.

"Christ, I sound like Bess." Jessie staggered along, trying to get her bearings, the end of the alley feeling incredibly far away.

"Okay Jesse, woman up. Find the girls, get out of here an—"

Jesse's mental plan regurgitation was cut short when she felt a ripple through the air around her. It suddenly felt thick, stifling and the back of her neck grew warm. Turning as quickly as she could on still unsteady legs, Jesse was met by a ripple of kaleidoscopic colour at the end of the alley from which she'd staggered.

A portal!

Relieved that one of the girls was on their way, Jesse hobbled back towards it as it widened. Trying to keep the smile off her face in case whoever came through caught any sign that she'd actually missed them, Jesse watched as a smokey figure appeared inside the portal.

"Ava?"

The second before Jesse's smile broke free, the shadowy figure fully emerged and Jesse came face to face with a nightmare.

It had mottled tar black skin that seemed to be dripping off it. It had two red orbs that served as eyes and as Jesse watched the monstrosity, frozen to the spot with fear, she watched two darkened slits - in what she assumed was its face - sniff in her direction. Its spindly arms reached out while its haunched legs took a step towards her and roared.