Prompt
Late one night, you find yourself in a fairly under populated area of town. You’ve been strangely alone for the past few moments when you see movement out of the corner of your eye. Only a few yards away you see a young woman with tear-stained cheeks and a long white gown. It is difficult to make out any more details; she seems to be running from something. She looks like she is screaming but makes no sound; even her footsteps seem to be silent. If you try to chase her, you will wind up in a dead end—alone, and suddenly, cold. It feels like something has slammed into you and turned your blood to ice, but there’s no one around. No matter what you do, the chill remains until morning—but the image of the woman’s fear-filled face may haunt your dreams for much longer.
There had been so many weird things going on lately - gargoyles that were apparently more alive than he wanted to think about while walking alone at night, scuttling sounds on roofs at night... and the rumors of things he hadn't personally experienced, like the flooded park he hadn't bothered to investigate and a few other things - that it was almost ridiculous. Sure, it was nearly Halloween, and that probably did contribute to the influx of wild stories and wilder realities, but... even taking that into account, it was bizarre and unpleasant that so many things were happening (or at least being claimed to happen) in such a short span of time.
Joseph really hoped that it wasn't indicative of a long-term thing. If it swelled up around and then died down after Halloween, he'd be able to relax. If this upswing in Weirdness continued, then he'd have to dip into what was becoming a pretty decent life to take a more active role on the front lines. And while he didn't mind helping out Elpis, didn't mind going into the fight, it was a little too close to being a career soldier for him to really be fond of the idea.
It was with this train of thought in mind that he had decided to take a walk to clear his head. Sure, it was past midnight ad not a great time to be out, but the night held no real fears for Joseph, not even with the weird happenings of late. The cool air of a late-October night was just what he had needed to clear his head, so he hadn't thought twice about heading out.
There wasn't really anyone else out this late, at least not in this part of the city - no late-night entertainment, only a gas station on the odd corner and one nearly-defunct video-rental place still had their doors open in this part of town. And that was why it was so weird when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Startled from his reverie by the motion, he turned to fully take in the sight, and had to stare.
Okay. A woman in white wasn't the strangest thing he'd ever seen, and a woman running wasn't that hard to believe either. (People were shitty sometimes, it was a fact of life). But the fact that she wasn't making any sound at all? That was weird. She was screaming, but it was as though she was on T.V. and someone had pressed mute - but on her and her alone. Joseph was keenly aware of the sound of his own footsteps as he turned and started movingafter her.
Was he chasing a ghost? Damn, this was.. kind of cool - freaky s**t, but cool. Did he think he actually could catch her? Nah, not a chance. but somehow, he found himself picking up speed anyway. And maybe it wasn't even a ghost, but some kind of youma illusion. If it was, he was far better bait for it than a civilian would be. He chased the figure down the street and around two corners before she ducked into what looked like an alleyway, as though she was trying to hide there.
Following her in, Joseph almost ran into a wall nose-first. Stumbling as he stopped more quickly than he had been expecting, he gasped as it felt like something rammed into - and through - him. Damn... damn, when had it gotten this cold? Glancing around at the empty alleyway, Joseph tugged his coat closer and shivered.
"Y'know," he said aloud to the air, "If all this was just t' put me on ice, this really ain't a funny joke." There was no response - no sign of any youma. Just the cold and the memory of that terrified, silent face. Groaning and shivering, Joseph gave up on his walk, gave up on taking time to think, and definitey gave up on this wild goose ghost chase, instead leaving the alley (which, frankly, smelled like week-old garbage and cat pee),choosing instead to head for home.
Hot chocolate sounded damn good right about now - and maybe a phone call to Wren, about why he was never going to go into the ghost hunter business.
Word Count: 722
