Fear Of The Dark

[[SARAH]]

Kirsty and I drank up the last of our water, before waiting patiently for Johnny to down his beer. He stood up and we all walked out of the pub together, gaining looks from the men in there. We ignored them however, and set off down the road towards our houses.

I shivered slightly; it was dark out and cold, as usual. London was never really warm at night. I saw Johnny visibly shudder, and giggled at this. Although it had been a good few years, he was still from the West Coast of America, famed for being warm.

"Too cold for you Johnny?" I asked, smirking at him. He looked at me and frowned, giving me a playful glare. "Now, now you two," Kirsty said, waving a hand in between us, acting mature for once which caused me to laugh out loud.

The noise echoed along the quiet, empty streets, giving us quite an eerie feeling. "That was kinda creepy," Johnny said, pointing at me. I looked at him for a second, before nodding in agreement. "Yeah it was. I don't like being out now. Not since that murder," I mumbled.

Kirsty giggled at me and shook her head. "Oh don't worry, we've got big, brave and bold Johnny here. No-one would even think of touching us," she said, smirking at Johnny as he frowned at her sarcasm. "Not funny," he pouted, causing us both to laugh softly.

"We're so mean to you sometimes huh Johnny boy?" I said, smiling sweetly at him. He looked at me and nodded, a sad expression on his face. "Oh Johnny, stop being so childish," Kirsty said, sighing as she patted his cheek. He pulled a face and moved away.

"So what do you think to this whole murder business then? It's pretty exciting. Nothing interesting really goes on around here. We needed something to liven this place up," his American accent drawled out, a hint of excitement laced within. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I see you find it amusing that some poor girl lost her life then?" I asked quietly, regarding him out the corner of my eye. We rounded a corner and found ourselves alongside the Thames. It's dirty surface black in the night, yet shining out thanks to the moon, which stared down at us.

"It's not amusing, it's just. Iunno, people have been getting too cocky with themselves. They need something to teach them to stay indoors at night. It's not exactly safe you know?" He mumbled, looking up at the moon with interest.

"I bet it was really gory and gruesome how she died. I think this guy would've gone all out on her. Just butcher her you know? Because you've got to be wrong in the head to do that anyway," he said, grinning at us, his eyes lighting up with amusement.

I frowned and scrunched my nose up. "Ew Johnny, shut up," I whined at him.

"Oh come on. Tell me how you think she did. I heard it was bad, not for the faint of heart. Would you like to see that? I think it'd be awesome. Apparently her neck just got completely butchered. Ravaged, I think he must've gotten pretty happy with a knife," I frowned at him.

He really did get too excited about that sort of stuff.

"God, imagine if he came out now. We'd just know it was him, cos he'd probably have a big knife you know? So he can cut you up and shit. I bet he'd like to see you bleed, apparently there was loads of blood," he said grinning at us, his eyes sparkling.

"Johnny you're sick. Shut up, I don't want to hear about some crazy bastard going round cutting girls up. You're just going to freak me out," Kirsty scowled at him.

But he'd done it now, images of dead girls with their throats brutally cut open, blood pooled on floors, splashed up walls. Eyes glazed over and staring out into the night. A man stood, sinister, laughing with a silver knife, tarnished maroon.

"Johnny you arsehole. All I can think of now is dead girls. It's creeping me out!" I whined and pouted. He chuckled before looking up suddenly. I followed his gaze and my eyes set on two dogs. The same ones from the other day. I shuddered as they kept their gaze on me.

"What are they doing out? Aren't they meant to be locked up somewhere? They're creepy," Kirsty whispered, forgetting that the dogs would hear us anyway. I stared at them, frowning. They were still, only their heads moved as they watched us walk past.

Johnny was the only one who was still calm and casual, as if the dogs didn't bother him. His attitude calmed me slightly, but I couldn't help but stare at the animals still.

I looked directly at one of them, staring into its deep brown eyes, trying to figure out what they so evidently wanted with us. I stopped, surprised when a flash of green ran through the dogs eyes, and I stared closer at it.

I thought it was a trick of the eye, as the dog's eyes were the same colour as they'd been before. That deep shade of brown, similar to a tree bark. And yet I was positive it's eyes had turned green, a light shade, a colour so similar to those expensive stones in the jewellers shop. But evidently I was wrong, and the moonlight was playing with my mind. Besides, dogs eyes don't change, that's just silly.

I carried on, hurrying my pace to catch up with Johnny and Kirsty, not wanting to be left alone on the streets. And yet strangely, when I'd been in the two dogs presence alone for those few seconds, I felt safer than when I was with Johnny and Kirsty.

Looking back, I saw they had disappeared, and frowned, my nerves slightly shaken at the meeting. Shaking my head I carried on with the other two, who were laughing and joking again now, and yet I couldn't find myself fall back into their conversation again.

Something was happening in London. And I didn't like it. Little did we know that our relatively simple lives were going to get thrown into turmoil.