Choosing Destiny: The Chosen

It was a quiet night with a full moon visible in the sky. Everyone in the city seemed to have gone to sleep. The street lamps that skirted the edge of the roads looked like they were losing interest in watching the sleepy streets. It was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. The only sound instead was the sound of my heels clicking on the concrete in rapid succession.

Click...Click...Click

I could feel the blood pulsing through my veins. It was like a drum being played in my ears at a high volume. I was trying to control my breathing. Now was not the time to stop to catch my breath.

I was looking around desperately for someplace to hide. I was out in the open, not the smartest of places to be. I could hear the footsteps behind me. They seemed to be getting closer with every second.

To think all of this started because I saw a man following me. He had been stalking me since I left the party, and when he began to pick up his pace after me, I tried to flee. I knew if I had let him catch me back there, things wouldn't end well. They never do for a girl that has been followed and is alone. How stupid could I be?

I could hear laughter, but my mind couldn’t register where it was coming from. It seemed to be behind me, but all around me at the same time. My heart was racing and there was a cool sweat forming on my body. Maybe if I stopped for a moment everything would be okay.

I slowed my pace for a little while. An action that I knew I would regret later. I gasped for air. I ran on the track team at the college I attended, but nothing could have prepared me for this. I took in my surroundings.

To my left was nothing but closed buildings. Restaurants that have closed up shop for the night. No one would be inside to help. To my right were a couple of alleyways. Maybe I could hide there.

I didn’t pause for long. I took off towards one of the alleyways. I pushed my legs harder and harder. I was running for my life after all. The further inside the dark alley I went, the more I felt like I was trapped in a loop. I didn’t remember the alleys being so long.

How much ground have I covered in the last few hours? Or, at least it felt like hours. I must have been running for miles and miles. I didn’t think I could run anymore. Just give up already, I thought.

I heard footsteps behind me, and I could feel the anxiety set in. I could barely breathe.

“Where are you?” the man called out in his silky smooth voice.

Seriously it was like the sexiest sound, but behind it was a sadistic meaning. His voice is one I think I could just sit and listen to. He wasn’t asking about where I was to help me, and I knew that for certain. So, I shake off the feeling of ease I got from listening to his voice and pushed on. Don’t stop no matter what he says.

I was looking over my shoulder as I ran instead of looking ahead, and I felt my feet hit something. I hit the ground hard. My knees were scuffed up well and my dress tore in that area. I tried to scramble to my feet when a sharp pain hit me. I looked down and noticed my ankle bruising some.

Pain shot up my leg, up my spine, and straight into my head as I tried to move. I had to push on. I had to run away. I pushed myself against the wall to my back, and I used it to push myself back up on my feet. I started breathing very hard.

Breathe in, breathe out.

I was in a full-blown panic attack because I knew what was going to happen. So, I did what I had to do. I ran on anyway, and it wasn’t as fast as I was moving earlier, but I made do with what I had. I think with the adrenaline rush, I wasn’t feeling the pain as much as I would have normally. I was certain this man was going to overtake me. Was this going to be my last night in New Orleans?

I wonder if this is what happened to my brother, Max. How could this be happening to me? I had no one that would miss me if I went missing because my parents, my brother, and my aunt are all gone. Except for Adam. Thoughts of Adam brought tears to my eyes.

The night I met Adam, I wasn’t looking for love. I had been two years out of my relationship with Justin. I was still working on my self-worth, and no matter what people told me, I never felt beautiful. I had started staying home more and more, but I only went out when Max begged me to. This night, in particular, I was glad he asked.

We were at my friend, Mira’s house, and the party was in full swing. People were dancing, drinking, jumping in the pool, and pushing people in the pool. Some couples or people that had just met were making out in closed-off places. I was dancing with Mira and I was having a blast. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

I saw Max talking to a handsome guy. He wasn’t on the outskirts of the party, but he wasn’t at its center either. I couldn’t stop staring at him. When he looked my way, I averted my eyes. No way did I want him to think I was checking him out.

Mira joked about me catching the new guy’s attention. I brushed her off and continued chatting with her for a while. After Justin, I was in no hurry to jump back into a relationship. So, being the good friend I am, I told her to go talk to him if she thought he was so cute. She just kept nudging me in Max’s direction.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hey, I’m Adam,” he said holding out a hand for me to shake.

I took it cautiously.

“I’m Destiny,” I finally said.

I took in his blond wavy hair, and he had the deepest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. It was like a pool that you could get lost in. He had freckles that were scattered across his cheeks. He also seemed very bashful because he looked down and back up at me.

He even scratched the back of his neck nervously before he spoke again.

“You’re a great dancer,” he said.

“Thanks,” I answered.

That did it. I won’t have the rest of my life to spend with him anymore. I continued to run on trying to wipe away the tears pooling in my eyes. Then my mind began to wander into different memories of my past.

I had to refocus my thoughts on going forward. I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. How did I manage to get into this situation? I kept breathing in and out. It was so hard to move with my ankle hurting as it did.

Don’t lose focus.

I kept limping along with tears blurring my vision. I had just gotten back to normal life, and I had met who I thought would be my soul mate, and now it was all going to end. I have to keep going. I must keep moving. Don’t think about anything but survival.

Don’t give up!

I reached the end of the alley to meet with a chain-link fence. My heart raced as I looked around. I couldn’t go back, and I couldn’t go over the fence. With me in the best shape of my life, I could easily vault over the fence. Not now.

I saw some empty crates hanging around, and I got to feeling them. They felt sturdy enough to hold my weight. I started stacking them up in a way that would help me get over the fence. Landing would hurt. I knew I didn’t need to put any more stress on my ankle, but I didn’t have another option.

I started to climb. I still couldn't move well because my ankle was killing me. Putting the weight on it when I was trying to climb the fence made me flinch.

“Oh, Destiny, I know you’re down there!” came the man’s voice.

I tried to climb more quickly. I got halfway up the fence when I felt arms around my waist. He grabbed me down and threw me to the ground. I hit the concrete hard and felt the arm break I landed on it when the full force of my weight hit it. I still tried to scramble to my feet, but I failed.

As he came closer I could hear him humming an odd little tune. I was terrified, and I didn’t understand what he wanted. Why should I fight? Will it do me any good at all? What do I do?

And then he spoke. He had a nice voice but was laced with a little venom.

“Foolish girl, why do you insist on being so difficult? Did you think I wouldn’t find you?”

I looked up at him. He had dark hair and dark eyes. He was handsome, but his features were feral. I had sensed he was very dangerous. It had been that same instinct that had told me to run, but now I was trapped.

I whimpered. I didn’t like this at all. I had wanted to outrun him. I guessed running on the track team hadn’t helped me. I knew I had done all I could.

“Calm down, this will be over quickly,” He said.

I mustered all of my courage to send him a glare. He laughed right at me. He was enjoying seeing me in pain.

“W-W-What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill you,” he said.

The way he said it reminded me of how you would just make a statement about the weather. How brazen is he?

“N-N-N-No, please don’t kill me! I have a family! I’ll give you whatever you want!” I begged. Don’t have a family to look after me.

He only laughed more. Then he started walking towards me. I tried kicking out with my legs to try and get away. He knelt beside me and reached out to brush the hair out of my face. If I wasn’t in my situation, I’d say it was a nice gesture.

“How do I know you wouldn’t try to go to the police?”

He made a valid point. If he let me go, that’s my first stop.

“If you leave now, I won’t tell anyone. I promise. I’ll go straight home and forget what happened!” I continued to plead.

“You’re lying. There’s no way out of this for you,” he sneered.

He looked amused. I wanted to slap him.

“I see that fire in your eyes. That’s why I chose you. You have a fire that burns deep within your being. I have no doubt you could have accomplished big things in your life.”

In the pale light of the alleyway, I could see him give me a full-fledged toothy smile. The odd thing is, his canines were extended. They looked like fangs. He bent his head down and brushed the hair away from my neck. He snapped my head back so he would have better access, and he sank his teeth in and started drinking.

I cried out in pain. I had never felt something so awful. It felt like someone was setting my skin on fire and poking my throat with fire pokers. When he had his fill, I was almost unconscious. He made a tiny cut on his wrist and stuck it to my mouth.

“Drink. It’ll make you feel better.”

I nodded. I feebly grabbed a hold of his wrist to hold it in place. I drank until he ripped his arm from mine. The coppery liquid going down my throat tasted good...and it made me sick. Then he started to stand to watch me struggle to breathe.

Was I going to die? It was inevitable that I would die tonight. At least the only person I had left in my life to miss was my boyfriend, Adam. My parents were both dead and my dear brother, Max; has been missing for a couple of years now. My face would be plastered on milk cartons and the news for weeks, and then when no trace of me shows up anywhere, I’ll vanish from everyone’s memories.

I have no one to remember me. All I had left were memories. They flashed before my eyes.

My parents were murdered in their home, not too far from where I am now. Their throats had been reportedly ripped out. My brother, Max, and I went to live with our Aunt Natalie. The police couldn’t find the animal, or in my opinion, the person responsible for their deaths. Then my Aunt Natalie went missing, and her body was found near the docks.

Max was the main suspect in my Aunt Natalie’s murder, but I knew he was innocent. Then, he too went missing. I am all alone. I would have been all alone if he hadn’t introduced me to Adam before he went missing. Stupid Max trying to make sure I was taken care of, and he was surely trying to make sure my life went on like normal.

After all of that, I’ll be known as the twenty-one-year-old girl that had a promising career as a dancer and I was gone from the world too soon. Everyone at my college would tell the news reporters they were my best friend, and that wouldn’t be true. No one would be the wiser because I wouldn’t be there to contradict them. It would be a cautionary tale for parents to tell their daughters to not walk home alone at night. I’d probably also be the reason why some of these girls start taking self-defense classes to keep themselves safe.

All of this was running through my mind. When the man started to speak, it was evilly and amusingly. It sent chills down my spine.

“Destiny, you will awake in glory. Maybe you can accept the true nature of what you are becoming.”

“How do you know my name?” I asked, weakly.

“You know, I killed a girl in this same spot eight hundred years ago. I knew her name because I watched her for weeks. I’ve been watching you. Watching you go to party after party and flirting with boys that are not your boyfriend. When you awaken, if you awaken, be sure to maintain that spunk you have, because it’ll come in handy.”

I summoned up what I could of my strength to make a feeble attempt at a threat. It took me a little bit to find my voice. I could feel just how cold the words sounded as they formed in my head. When I spoke out loud, I put as much malice as I possibly could in my voice.

“If what you tell me is true, I’m coming after you when I come back. Your blood will be mine then.”

“I believe you would find a way to kill me, darling,” he laughed as he kneeled again, this time snapping my neck.

I couldn’t speak anymore. I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t see. I could only hear. This was it, and it was wonderful. This was my death.