When Love Met Destruction

She woke up to an empty dorm room. The bed springs squeaked as she stood up and walked out to the kitchen where the only sound she could hear was the slight hum of the refrigerator.

She sighed, pouring herself some tea and sitting down at the counter. With Willow at a dance competition in Queens and the Motionless In White boys on Long Island, you could say Quinn was lonely.

She glanced over at the digital clock on the stove. 8:30. She had an hour before class. She gulped down the rest of her tea and put the mug in the sink before going to get ready.

Today, she was determined to find someone to go out with tonight. She couldn’t stand being all alone any longer. Before and after class, she went around asking various people what they were doing that night and all the responses came back similar.

“I’m hanging out with my boyfriend/girlfriend.”

“I’m busy.”

“I have to study. Big test tomorrow.”

And the all famous:

“I just don’t feel like going out tonight.”

Overall, it was a lost cause. Everyone was “busy”. So she decided she would go out by herself. She didn’t have anywhere specific in mind. Maybe she would go to a coffee shop and do a little writing or sketching. Maybe she would just take a walk; anything to get her out of that dorm room and around other people.

She grabbed her keys, cell phone, sketch book, money and a few pencils and threw them in her bag before heading out to go about the city.

The city was busy tonight. She figured it being Friday night and all, people would be out and about. She turned the corner of the street and started walking to the nearest coffee shop. It was so close that she could see the neon signs inside the window.

Then, a strong pair of hands gripped her upper arm tightly and pulled her into the alleyway. There were three guys, from what she could tell because it was so dark, and they were all dressed in black with dark brown hair and dark eyes.

They surrounded her, pushing her back and forth between them, shouting out at each other in Spanish. One guy tried to pull her bag off her shoulder but she drew back her hand and sent a smack across his face.

The next thing she knew, her back was pushed up against the cold brick wall and she was looking eye to eye with one of the Spanish men. Now she began to think that staying in the dorm room would have been a good idea.

There was a sudden noise; it almost sounded like… a growl? And a fifth person joined the group but he had glowing red eyes. Instead of trying to mug her like the other three, this person—or creature for that matter—was trying to protect her.

She watched in fear as he fought back the men. The red glowing eyes looked back at her and he growled.

“Run. Go! Get out of here!”

She nodded quickly and dashed out onto the street. She began running, weaving in and out of people on the street, and didn’t stop until she got to the dorm building.

She unlocked the door and let herself in, slamming it behind her and flipping the lock. She fished her phone out of her bag and began searching her contacts until she found the one she wanted. She didn’t think anyone would pick up the phone but they did.

“Willow?” She said breathless into the phone. “Something strange just happened and I can’t explain it.”