The Psycho's Reign

Seven- Shortcut

I can not believe he tried to steal my pizza. How rude and barbaric. I haven't talked to him since last night, and didn't plan on it either. He will soon learn the ways of my apartment. Until then, he would have to deal with my silent treatment and inevitable attitude.

I woke up this morning and to my happiness the sun wasn't shining violently through my windows. It was a beautiful Sunday, and by beautiful that meant an overcast morning.

I slipped my cheerful self out of bed and got dressed in simple black leggings and a long sleeve gray shirt. It was a good morning for a walk due to the lack of sun. The heat wouldn't be bothering me today and I certainly would take advantage of it.

I grabbed my ear puds and my phone, prepping my music for when I began my walk and snatching my black sneakers up.

I walked out of my bedroom door and into the kitchen. I set my phone, earbuds and sneakers onto the kitchen table before searching the cupboard under the sink for my water bottle. A few moments of shuffling through the contents of the cupboard later, I retrieved it and filled it with ice cubes and tap water.

I set the cold bottle next to my other things before remembering I had to tie my hair up. Nothing is worse than eating your hair when you are trying to enjoy nature and I was not tolerant of it at all. I ran back to my room and grabbed a hair tie and I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, only smoothing and brushing it with my hand seeing that it is naturally very straight.

When I walked out, Sterling, or as I have been calling him all night in my head, Assling, was leaning on the counter with his elbow looking at me with a stupid smirk.

"Where are you going?" he asked, keeping his position.

I rolled my eyes and walked over grabbing my sneakers and putting them on. I grabbed my things and stuffed my earbuds into my ears and began to play my music loudly so even if he spoke I couldn't hear him.

I snatch my water bottle up and walk out the door, not even acknowledging him again. Yes. I am petty. But I'm petty for pizza.

The air wasn't too hot and not too cold. Rather than one of the extremes, it was the perfect temperature for a walk. I started down the sidewalk and headed to the local park which was just a jog across town.

The park was beautiful and well kept. The flowers were in full bloom, the grass as green as it could be and the trees hadn't lost many leaves yet. It was the end of summer, and fall would be here within a few weeks.

I took my usual beaten down trail through the woods. Many runners and some bikers raced passed me but I paid them no attention as I enjoyed the beat of my music and strolled along.

My music changed to another song, one I wasn't into at the moment. I grumbled as I stopped to pull my phone out of my pocket. As I turned my phone on to switch the song, I looked down at my phone and noticed I had received a message from Danny.

Danny

"Hey Queen! What's up today?"

Me

"Just walking around. The sun isn't out so my vampire self can walk among the living today!"

Danny

"Can't relate. I'm having a lazy day. Wanna come by my place later and watch a scary movie?"

Me

"Absolutely! I'll text you when I'm outside your apartment. Xoxo!"

The small conversation with Danny was enough to put a smile on my face. Danny loved movie nights and horror movies specifically. That was one of the first things we had in common when we met and began the connection between us.

He and I had been friends since high school when he moved to my school. We instantly connected because I was the rebellious loner and he was the only out gay kid in school.

Cali came a year after he did after moving back to our school. She and I grew up together but grew distant after she left. We reconnected when she came back and our friendship blossomed more than ever.

I put on a new song and continue my walk through the forest. After my trail trip, which was longer than expected, I decided it may be best to take a shortcut to Danny's. This meant I was going to have to pass through the bad part of town. By bad I mean sketchy dark alleyways, drug dealers, and really bad people in general.

I stopped at the end of the trail, which happened to end near the bad part of the town. I gulped down my fear and began the walk. I had been through the area plenty of times, but a strange pit in my stomach was urging me to walk the other way this time. I should really have learned to start listening to my instincts.

As I began, I thought it wouldn't be as bad as I have heard. Though I had never seen anything suspicious, I heard stories of rapists, gun fights, and every other bad part of town horror stories you can think of. This little corner of the town seemed to have everything bad in its belly.

I composed all of my courage and walked down the sidewalk trying to keep my head down as best as I could in order to keep any attention off of myself.

I turned a corner near a run down brick building and three men stood there talking. My gut once again told me to take another route, but the men had already seen me. Maybe they aren't as bad as they look, I thought to myself. I bit the inside of my cheek as my legs began to move towards the men, my brain and heart both telling me to turn and run.

As I walked closer, I could see their details better.

One of them had reddish brown scraggly hair that touched his shoulders. His eyes were dark and his clothes were all black and ripped. He appeared to be in his late twenties or thirties. He had a slight beard growing, which looked dirty as the rest of him did.

The second who was to the left of the first had blonde hair which was shaved on the sides but the top was long and pulled into a small man bun. He was clearly younger than the first, looking to be in his twenties. His eyes were a deep blue which matched the dark jeans he wore along with a gray hoodie. He held his cigarette up and took a drag as he eyed me.

The third, who was to the right of the first looked the youngest and had matching blonde hair as the second except his was long enough to have a slight side sweep to his bangs. He looked to be my age or younger, and had a friendliness to his look. His blue eyes were a bit brighter than the second man's, as if he had seen less horrible things in life, a look I knew all too well.

I walked to where I was maybe twenty feet away when the reddish haired man's lips moved. I plucked one of my earbuds out, as I walked by in case he said something to me.

"Hey!" he yelled in a raspy gruff voice. I stopped, now about fifteen feet away. I looked in their direction, the other two standing quietly next to him.

"What are you doing around here, pretty?" he asked. His voice sent chills down his spine as his voice almost sounded naturally threatening, or rather disgusting. Just based on his aura I could tell he was one of those men from the horror stories I had heard one too many times.

"Oh... I was cutting through to get to someone's place," I said shyly.

He began to walk towards me, making me tense up in my spot. He walked up, standing three feet away, the two blondes behind him on either side.

"Now that wasn't smart was it?" he said with a devilish smile as my blood froze over with his words.

"I-I don't k-know what you're t-talking about," I stuttered out, taking a step back. My confidence was shattering with every second his eyes stayed on my body. His grin became wider as he took a step closer.

"You're about to find out," he says, that disgusting smirk growing.