The pounding on the door startled Alexis awake and she looked around blindly for the clock on her beside table. 8:12am.
Flinging the covers back she groaned as she pushed herself out of bed and hobbled down the hall to the front door; her limbs were stiff and aching from the sleep.
"Alright, jeez. Where's the fire?" She muttered and snorted at herself.
Unlocking the door she opened it a crack before pulling it wide a moment later, a look of surprise on her face. "Jake? Do you realise how early it is?"
Jake smiled wide and lifted up a brown paper bag. "Just finished a night shift. I brought your favourite breakfast – sausage and egg baguette with brown sauce and... a tea."
Mocking a sigh she gestured him inside and went in to her living room, letting him shut the door behind him. Collapsing down on to her sofa she clicked on the tv and waited for it to load up. Jake sat down calmly next to her and dropped the bag on her lap.
"Cheers. It feels like ages since I had this." Unwrapping the baguette she took a big bite and started chewing, glancing sideways at her crew mate.
"Well, you have been off work for two weeks now. Do you have any idea when you'll be back?" The hint of hope in his voice was hard to miss.
Alexis shook her head, tearing another chunk of baguette off. "Nope," she replied with her mouth full. "Management say they want to wait for the investigation to make progress. They say it may distract me too much to be at work. Sitting around is driving me crazy though."
"Have you sorted out your parent's house yet?"
"Its coming along. I've packed everything away and sorted it. Just got to sell it now and get rid of everything. And before you say it – no, I don't want to live there. I don't want to keep all of their belongings."
Jake dipped his head and started eating his own breakfast. He had been nagging her for the last 2 weeks, saying how she needs to keep some momentos, keep the house in the family. But she couldn't move on with all of those reminders. She wasn't doing it to be heartless, but quite the opposite. She couldn't live in that house, it would feel like her life is frozen in time, constantly reminded of the grief threatening to overwhelm her.
The property prices in London were overpriced and she would financially be better off in a house that's already had its mortgage paid, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
Jake had devoured his breakfast and was already getting up to throw the wrapper in the bin.
"Well, you need to get out of this flat. I'm going out tonight with some friends for a few drinks and you're coming. Meet me at The Den for 8. No objections."
Alexis sighed as she crumpled up her own food wrapper. "You better make this worth my time, Jacob."
Jake only shot her a weird look as he walked to the front door, and she couldn't decipher what it meant. The look then quickly vanished to be replaced by a shy smile.
"There will be some people there that I want you meet." With that he opened the door and left.
"Bye then!" Alexis called out as he closed the door, and slumped back against the fluffy pillows of her sofa, cradling the warm cup of tea and browsing through the tv channels for something to watch.
She hadn't been out for a drink in so long the thought of it felt alien to her. Having to get ready – wash and style her hair, put make-up on, find an outfit... it required so much effort. The Den was only a casual bar, dark and dingy in a cool kind of way. Couples chilled out in booths, snuggled up against each other. Groups played pool whilst resting their beers round the edge of the pool table. Friends and dates dotted around on tables and stalls of varying sizes. It was just a welcoming place to hang out and not be bothered by rude drunks like it can be in the bigger bars.
Ever since her parent's death Alexis had felt like a shadow of her former self, almost wasting away to nothing. Maybe it was time to start living again.
But she didn't need to get ready for quite a few hours yet and this sofa was so comfy.
Getting ready actually took longer than Alexis had expected and it was half 8 by the time she left the flat. The bar was 20 minutes away on foot so she decided to walk. Her long blond hair was tied up in a messy ponytail with the hair curled at the bottom and her short side fringe styled out of the hair band. Her chosen septum jewellery was a black ring and matched the multiple other ear and labret piercings she had. She'd had them all done years ago but had to take them out whilst working. Her look was a casual – dark blue skinny jeans with a black top, slightly tight so it showed off her figure, with thick heeled boots and a dark military style jacket. The later October air was colder than she expected and she shivered, but she had walked too far now to go back and get a warmer coat.
Turning the corner she had come to the road The Den was on and could see the sign down the other end of the street – a twinkling neon sign of an illuminated full moon with a black silhouette of a wolf's head thrown back in a howl. Not exactly original but it worked.
As Alexis was walking along the pavement, her heels clicking against the stone, she noticed the street gradually becoming darker. The streetlamps flickered and the very air became still and stale. A fog darker than night itself began to creep around the edges of the street. Was it her vision? She stopped abruptly in the middle of the street and held her breath, not knowing where to look in case she saw another one of her hallucinations.
Not tonight, please.
Several things happened at once. Alexis let out her breath and it turned to mist in the sudden freezing air. A shape appeared at the other end of the street by The Den that looked like an elongated body, thin and deformed and hovering a foot above the ground. The creature flickered, disappearing for only a second and reappearing a few metres closer to her. It's ice blue eyes bore in to hers as it opened its mouth and let out a piercing screech that sounded like its very soul was being tortured. It was coming for her.
Her mind burst in to action and she spun on her heel, desperate to get as far away from this thing as possible. This had to be real this time, how could it not be?! But it was real that time she was scratched by that hand... had she been denying it all this whole time...
Get a grip Alex! Run!
She pumped her legs faster and hurtled round a corner, taking no notice of where she was heading, as long as it was in the opposite direction to The Den. She could still hear the shrieking and electricity crackling in the air as the Horror kept jumping closer. Now she wished she had kept going to the gym in the past few weeks as her lungs started to burn, but she kept pushing herself.
Running across the empty road she turned another corner and had lost sight of it when a pair of hands suddenly grabbed her from the shadows and dragged her in to an alleyway. Gasping in surprise Alexis was thrown roughly against the damp brick wall of the alley. A rough hand clasped around her mouth and as her vision focused again she could only see someone standing before her in a dark hood that obscured their face. The stranger held a finger to their lips as if to say quiet, and they waited.
Alexis could hear the screaming coming closer, cut off whenever it vanished only to resume when the creature reappeared again. It sounded... angry. Even angrier than before. She couldn't describe how, but it made her blood run cold. Turning her head towards the opening of the alley she tried to flatten herself against the wall even further just as it appeared in front of them. This monster looked like it may have been a woman once and seemed tall, at least 6 feet. Her skin was the dead grey colour of the hands she had kept seeing over the past month. As it paused it stopped it's noise to sniff at the air, it's thin wisps of greasy hair dangling limply over its shoulders. Only a rag hung off its body for clothing. It was horrifying.
Not sensing Alexis anymore the thing finally vanished and the air around her suddenly snapped back to normal – it didn't seem so dense and foggy, and it was a little less cold. Now she turned her attention back to the stranger in front of her. Pulling the hand still clasped over her mouth away she gasped in a breath of fresh air and gathered up the courage to speak.
"Who are you?!" She asked stupidly, saying the first thing that popped in to her mind.
The person choked out a laugh and started pacing in front of her, clearly eyeing Alexis up and down.
"Seriously? What a stupid question. I just saved your life, how about a thank you?"
The voice was... female. Alexis blushed as she pushed herself away from the wall and brushed the loose hair from her face. "Thank you," she muttered. "But I would still like to know who you are. After all, you did save my life."
The girl sighed and stopped pacing, resting her hands on her hips. She seemed to be muttering to herself.
"What to do with her... she's just a human, she needs to be cleansed. And yet, she has the sight... might be important somehow. What will Marcus make of this?"
The girl had clearly made her mind up as she slipped out a phone and began texting frantically. Finished, she looked directly at Alexis – who had just been staring in bewilderment - and sighed.
"I'm sorry about this."
Clicking her fingers a blue wisp of smoke rose from the tips of them and Alexis' eyes rolled back. The strange girl managed to catch her as she passed out and laid her gently against her shoulder.
There was a worried look in her as she waited in this alley with an unconscious girl, and wondered if she had done the right thing.