The One Eyed Bandit
rotworm
Deirest
SCENE:
The Shadow Over Stein Street
TIME:
June 26th, 2022
LOCATION:
Suspiciously Located Manor, West District
PARTICIPANTS:
Mugen, Deirest
The Shadow Over Stein Street
There was stillness.
There was peace.
Deirest knew little of either of these, but as she lay within black, chilly folds of her haunt for the night she felt both. It was not often that her mind did not buzz. These moments of brief reprieve where the buzzing gnats in the back of her head did not nibble at her senses. To whatever capacity she could, she treasured them. There was value in scarcity, and here in the West, she had found it.
And here in the West, it had been taken from her.
Even secluded within the inky pitch of a basement, Deirest could hear it. The pitter-patter of feet marching by. Closer and closer. Voices, careless and brash carried atop them. Deeper and deeper. The brazen march of boys playing at manhood. Through her alley. Through the shadow of her home. She felt one nip, and then the next. The insistent gnawing of compulsion, of indignation, of...
She was already on her feet. Her gait padded in tandem with the patter of footsteps above. Up the withered stairs, across the decrepit floorboards, and yet neither dared squeak nor creak. There was intent in her movements. Beyond the building's gloom, light still held the world. Deirest could see it. The warm, loving orange of the setting sun. It was not reflected within her eyes. Like to pools of predatorial hate, they gleamed for an instant within the black. She'd heard them before. She saw them now.
She heard confidence. She saw arrogance. She heard companionship. She saw fealty. She heard a predator, but she saw prey.
Nothing stirred as she approached. It was unusual for her to be so silent, so still and focused. If those at the parish saw her now they might have been proud, but they did not. Nobody did. She passed from one window to the next. For each step the boys took, she took five. It was an instant before they were beyond her reach that she struck. Glass exploded out from the black. A howl of movement. Her hands seized the first neck they could find and then wrenched it deep into the abandoned home.
Darkness absorbed the both of them and echoes soon obscured her flight.
The evening was still again.
There was peace.
Deirest knew little of either of these, but as she lay within black, chilly folds of her haunt for the night she felt both. It was not often that her mind did not buzz. These moments of brief reprieve where the buzzing gnats in the back of her head did not nibble at her senses. To whatever capacity she could, she treasured them. There was value in scarcity, and here in the West, she had found it.
And here in the West, it had been taken from her.
Even secluded within the inky pitch of a basement, Deirest could hear it. The pitter-patter of feet marching by. Closer and closer. Voices, careless and brash carried atop them. Deeper and deeper. The brazen march of boys playing at manhood. Through her alley. Through the shadow of her home. She felt one nip, and then the next. The insistent gnawing of compulsion, of indignation, of...
She was already on her feet. Her gait padded in tandem with the patter of footsteps above. Up the withered stairs, across the decrepit floorboards, and yet neither dared squeak nor creak. There was intent in her movements. Beyond the building's gloom, light still held the world. Deirest could see it. The warm, loving orange of the setting sun. It was not reflected within her eyes. Like to pools of predatorial hate, they gleamed for an instant within the black. She'd heard them before. She saw them now.
She heard confidence. She saw arrogance. She heard companionship. She saw fealty. She heard a predator, but she saw prey.
Nothing stirred as she approached. It was unusual for her to be so silent, so still and focused. If those at the parish saw her now they might have been proud, but they did not. Nobody did. She passed from one window to the next. For each step the boys took, she took five. It was an instant before they were beyond her reach that she struck. Glass exploded out from the black. A howl of movement. Her hands seized the first neck they could find and then wrenched it deep into the abandoned home.
Darkness absorbed the both of them and echoes soon obscured her flight.
The evening was still again.