The Night Vigilante

I. Grace

                                                                                     Chapter 1

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

                                                                                  -Robert Frost

                                                                                           ~*~

      I remember lying on the cold, dirt ground, my blood seeping into the soil.

      It was freezing, and that's all I could vaguely process as I stared into the starry night.

      The stars winked and glistened and when I exhaled, I could literally see the puff of smoke emitted.

      My heart pounds slowly against my chest, aching with every beat. It felt like the cold literally froze my heart.

      I don't remember why I'm out here.

      I exhale a shaky breath, sleepy with lethargy.

      My heart clenches, breaking the icy prison the cold set, and it continues to beat slowly.

      There was no light or heat, there was only the chilling night.

      I was dying.

      I blink: once...twice.

      With my body curled on the ground, I can briefly smell the scent of blood-my blood-mixing in the wind.

      The looming trees barricade a wall around me, closing me off.

      I just lie there motionlessly, the cold settling into my bones, seeping into every cell.

      I lie there watching the starry night coalesce into a galaxy of celestial orbs burning like a torch to lead me home.

      I was

                  Cold.

      I was

                  Dying.

      I hear a rustle of movement from the trees and then the crunch of gravel beside me.

      His eyes-

      A brilliant icy, oceanic, blue speckled with gun-metal silver.

      I held onto those eyes for as long as I could, the stars in the sky long forgotten.

      He doesn't look away.

      My eyes droop, but he stays beside me, his eyes never leaving mine.

      I don't remember my name or who I am.

      All I know is that I am dying.   

      But I don't die.

      I was frozen in the cold but later embraced into the arms of warmth.

       I remember his eyes.

      I thought I would never see them again.