Blood Moon

After a long day of bartending at the Pig and Whistle, Christina was glad to be going home. It wasn’t that she didn’t like working at the grungy, little pub in the heart of the city; as a matter of fact, she rather enjoyed her job. But, some days... well, some days felt longer than others.

She liked the night shift, but sometimes the guys who couldn’t handle their booze got a little over-confident and hands-y. Friday nights seemed to be the worst for it.

Normally, her best friend, Alex, would have had her back, but he wasn’t on the roster to work tonight. He would almost always comment on the whole thing, saying, “Friday nights were when the crazies came out”.

Chris’s apartment was only a fifteen-minute walk from where she worked in the Valley. Ten-minutes for those who knew the short-cuts like she did.

As soon as she arrived at her building, she was forced to climb three flights of stairs due to the broken elevator. Nobody knew why it was broken, it had just always been “OUT OF ORDER”, ever since Chris first moved into her apartment a year ago.

One would think that multiple people, especially those on the upper levels, might have complained about the lift by now.

There was one tenant, in particular, that liked to complain about everything and anything. She seemed to make it her sole purpose in life to annoy the shit out of Chris.

After reaching her floor, Chris’s eyes narrowed when she saw that tenant’s evil minion; a long-haired cat, sitting in the hallway, casually grooming its bits like it owned the place. Its patchwork of multi-coloured fur, all red and brown, made the feline look feral.

It paused its grooming to eyeball Chris. Its mismatched eyes, one brown and one yellow, followed Chris as she walked past.

The cat stared daggers at Chris and hissed at her; as it did every day.

Chris’s brows lowered and she mockingly hissed back as she continued up the hallway to the door of her apartment.

“What is your problem? Why do you hate cats?” Questioned a blonde woman with a thick Scottish accent.

Chris sighed throatily and loudly as she felt around the bottomless pit of her faded-grey shoulder-bag for her keys. She didn’t even have to look to know which of her horrid neighbours had come out of there cave to harass her.

“Oh, I don’t hate cats, Wendy.” Chris imitated her neighbour’s accent. “It’s you and that little fuckin’ gremlin that I hate. Now fuck off.”

In a huff, Wendy scooped up her cat and returned to the Hell-hole from whence she came.

Without the forced accent, Chris couldn’t stop herself from adding one last thing for good measure.

“And keep that little demon off my damn balcony!” Chris shouted.

Having found her keys, she entered her apartment and locked the door behind her. Locking out all the crazies; that neighbour especially.

She left her bag and Doc Martens by the door and opted for a quick shower before heading to the kitchen to prepare a cup of tea.

Absolutely buggered from her shift, she went to lay in bed for a moment while she waited for the kettle to boil.

But just as she pulled back her sheets to lay down and rest, a loud, crashing bang startled her.

“What the...?”

Her head snapped to the noise and she was compelled by curiosity to move toward it. She thought that the sound must have come from the alleyway beside her apartment building, so she went to investigate.

She shambled out of her bedroom, past the kitchen, and through the living area over to the door to the balcony.

Pushing the thick, black curtain aside and cupping her hands against the glass of the door, Chris peered outside.

Or tried to...

It was far too dark, and she didn’t even know what she was looking for. All she was doing was fogging up the cool glass with the warmth of her breath.

Figuring it was probably just Wendy’s demon spawn messing about on the fire escape—as it often did—Chris sighed deeply and turned away from the glass door.

But she stopped in her tracks when she heard another noise.

This time it wasn’t a bang or a thud...

... it was a shout.

Briefly frozen in place, Chris doubted what her ears were telling her.

She flicked the lock on the sliding door and pulled it open to step outside onto the balcony—that doubled as the fire escape.

Only silence greeted her. Silence and the chilly midnight air that made each of her breaths visible.

Shivering, Chris leaned on the icy railing to peer into the alleyway below.

Darkness. Complete and utter darkness. She wondered if it was usually that pitch black and, if she admitted it, rather eerie.

“Hello?” She called out to the darkness before scrunching up her face and shaking her head at herself.

Stupid. Stupid idea...

But just as she was about to turn around and head back inside, she saw a light switch on; way down on the ground level in the alley.

The light was rectangular in shape and went out after a few seconds.

Chris stared, holding her breath and gripping tightly to the railing as she waited for it to turn on again. But it didn’t.

She began tapping her foot. Silently contemplating her next step.

Logic dictated that she forget about it and go back to bed. She’s far too tired for this.

But... that itching curiosity only grew more and more...

“Nope. Nope. Nope. Don’t be an idiot.” Chris spoke aloud to herself. “Don’t go down into the creepy alleyway in the middle of the night. Do. Not. Do it.”

Next minute...

With her boots on and her phone tucked into the front pocket of her navy-coloured hoodie, Chris scaled down the steps of the fire escape.

Once her boots hit the ground, she took out her smartphone and turned on the flashlight feature.

It was still eerily quiet, making each step she took that much louder than normal. The scraping and crunching of the loose gravel underfoot sounded thunderous as it echoed between the buildings.

Until something caught her eye...

... a body.

Chris gasped and, without thinking, rushed over to the figure that lay beside a dumpster.

Kneeling by the body, she hesitated to touch it.

Whoever this person was... they were in bad shape. They were wearing a large, faded-black coat which, she now realized upon closer inspection, was covered in blood.

“Oh my God.” Chris placed her phone on top of an old, busted, box television beside the dumpster and shifted to tap the person on the shoulder. “Hey? You okay?”

No response.

Chris pulled the bloody mass toward her, laying them on their back. At the same time, an object clattered to the ground, drawing her attention.

It was a smartphone much like her own.

She picked it up and looked at the face of the unknown person. Her brows pinched together when she viewed the injured man.

He let out a soft moan.

At least he was alive, but Chris didn’t know what to do.

This guy had that much blood on him that she couldn’t even tell where he was injured.

She put a hand to his neck to check his pulse. Not that she really knew if she was actually doing it correctly. His flesh was ice cold... that’s never a good sign.

Chris absent-mindedly pocketed his phone and retrieved her own. She held it close with both hands, its light illuminated her face. The phone made clacking sounds as she tapped at the screen. First unlocking it and then pulling up the caller menu.

That’s when a hand snapped up and clamped itself onto her wrist.

Very nearly jumping out of her skin and cursing, Chris stared at the man with her eyes wide and her body tensed.

He then mumbled something that she couldn’t understand. His own eyes were still shut and other than the hand on Chris’s wrist, he hadn’t moved.

“What?” Chris leaned closer, turning an ear to the man.

He mumbled indistinguishably again.

Chris straightened back up.

“Dude. You’re covered in blood; I’m going to call an ambulance.”

“No.” The man replied, his voice weak. “No ambulance.”

“This is your blood though, right?”

He didn’t respond.

“You need to go to the hospital.” Chris wasn’t a nurse, but if that was his blood, he needed help. Immediately.

“No. No hospitals.”

Chris’s brows knotted together as she bit her lip and began to fidget.

“Please...” He whispered. “They’re coming.”

“What? Who’s coming?” Chris leaned closer again.

“Help me.”

Those last two words were barely more than a whisper, before the man passed out.

“Hey? Hey!” Chris shook him by his shoulder, just as roughly as she dared, as she was still unsure of the severity of his wounds.

“What the fuck do I do?” She spoke at him, as if she was hoping he would wake up and tell her.

She twisted and looked to the fire escape. To all the steps she would have to climb to get back to her apartment. Then she looked at the man. To the dead weight she would be dragging up all those stairs.

But, what else could she do?

Chris sighed noisily.

“Fuck it...”