Short Stories

Into The Night

by Andrew Tuttle
07/16/21
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The young woman removed the sweater wrapped around her waste and put it on slowly. Her right arm first and deliberately. Her left arm a little slower. She took a deep breath and soaked the rays of the stars in for a minute before looking out over the LA basin. She shuttered as a cool breeze kicked up. She began wiping the dirt with her feet, much like a ballplayer does on the infield after making a heroic play or a terrible mistake.

The wind kicked up again, this time dying off to a steady pace. Los Angeles glistened in the night. There was no smog. The Santa Ana’s had wiped out everything giving LA a clean slate by bringing in a new batch of air the overcrowded city could ruin. Stella picked up a rock and threw it off the side of the hill she was on. She heard nothing. There were houses down below but too far away to be hit or be seen. Nothing but rocks, trees and shrubs separated her from the deadly decline.

She threw another rock, more like a boulder. She could barely get it over her head. She listened as it tumbled and this time it hit the plastic. Stella winced a little at the crumpling sound. The rock stopped dead. She continued mimicking a nervous ballplayer but added a sprinkling of rocks and leaves. Another deep breath and she crouched down much like a catcher. LA sure was beautiful on these nights.

She stood and said, “Goodbye Matt.”

Stella wondered how long it would be before the plastic wrapped body was found. She turned and walked back into the night.

“Stella.”

Stella stopped. Her bladder vibrated.

“What, whose that?”

A shadow emerged from behind a tree. Stella squinted.

“You weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye I hope.”

“Matt?”

The shadow became flesh. Stella’s mouth dropped. Her fear constricted the breath out of her lungs. She gasped just before nearly passing out.

“Matt, how could…”

She looked out past the cliff where she thought Matt’s body was. She looked back at Matt.

“No!”

Stella ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over. It was too dark; she could see nothing. She looked back at Matt. He was gone. She gasped again looking around in fright. Stella’s fear consumed her, beginning with her hands. She placed them tightly on her chest to stop the vibrations. She ran back into the night. 

She tripped near the area she first saw Matt. The fall was sudden and she was unable to brace the impact with her arms. Stella landed on the left side of her face skidding along the dirt. A small dust cloud poofed from the impact and particles stuck to the makeup on her cheeks. She coughed and pushed her chest off the ground before turning around.

Matt was standing over her.

This time, Stella’s bladder quenched the tremors.

Her mouth opened but the scream was silent. Frantically, she kicked her feet backwards dragging her butt along the ground. Matt crept forward for every inch Stella moved away from him. Finally, she twisted her body around, pushed up using her arms, got on her feet and sprinted into the night.

The darkness hid the tree. The coarse bark left a deep imprint in her forehead as Stella made a lover’s run blindly into the unwilling oak. At once upright, her body rammed 90 degrees back into the ground. Her backside greeted the ground first then her head followed whipping the ground and mimicking the sound a bowling ball makes when it first hits the alley. Unlike the bowling ball though, her head came to rest after the second bounce.

Stella grabbed her head in obvious pain. Her thoughts were no longer on Matt. She simply wanted to survive. Blood oozed from her nose and seeped from the muddy burn along the left side of her face. Her right hand massaged her forehead rubbing the tree’s branding out of her skin. Her left hand applied pressure to the back of her skull.

Grudgingly, she got to her knees. The nausea over came her and she stayed on all fours breathing deeply to stave off retching. The earth’s spinning was just starting to recede when she heard his voice.

“Stella.”

She gasped again. She got to her feet and lurched forward unbalanced. The unloving oak became her friend as Stella gripped the tree for support.

“What do you want?!” she yelled.

The searing pain in her head was the first warning not to scream. She grabbed her head with both hands again. Matt again appeared from the darkness. Stella began to stumble backwards.

“Please Matt, I didn’t mean it,” she said holding her hand out as if to repel his ghostly presence.

Matt walked towards her as she tumbled along. Her right foot hit an overgrown root tripping her backwards. This time, Stella was able to break her fall. She fell meekly on her left side and immediately got up, her life bar not yet on empty. Stella’s eyes never left Matt.

“I loved you. Let’s work this out,” she wailed.

Conceding defeat, Stella stopped. She sobbed.

“Please Matt. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry. For everything.”

Matt stopped six feet away from her. His head arched down and he looked at Stella through the top of his eyes.

“Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?” he said flatly without emotion.

Stella was hyperventilating and trying to compose herself. Matt simply stared. Stella gritted her teeth.

“I did say goodbye,” she said forcibly.

Matt grinned still looking at her through the top of his eyes. He began to nod slightly.

“Good.”

He bowed his head. Stella’s breathing slowed. A sense of easiness gave her hope. She looked away from Matt and breathed deep. She looked back up.

Matt was inches from her face staring evil into her veins.

Stella’s trachea collapsed. She couldn’t get air in or out. Her body convulsed as she tried to breath. She took a step back. Then two. Then three. She quickly turned and ran.

Unlike the oak, the steep cliff greeted her enthusiastically. Stella stayed upright only for a step, her body caving in to the steep descent. She fell first on her right side, her arm pinned beneath her. Stella picked up speed spinning as if she were captured in the jaws of a crocodile in the midst of a death roll. A divot in the ground caused an imbalance and Stella flung in the air, like a boneless doll, coming down hard before toppling end over end.

Having its share of fun, the steep hill finally rebuked Stella’s body. She was tossed one more time before landing on a small but brief plateau. The plastic crinkled as the lifeless body came to rest. Her head cracked against an oddly placed rock.

 


The breeze picked up blowing a scattering of leaves. The eastern sky was beginning to glow.

“Whatta we got?”

“Two bodies.”

“Been there long?”

“Maybe a day. No more then two.”

“Bullet wounds?”

“Not sure yet. One body is wrapped in plastic. M.E. is still unwrapping it. The other is a female. A bloody battered mess.”

“She in the plastic too?”

“No. Lying right alongside the other body. The one wrapped in plastic.”