Jaqueline dragging her feet along the narrow street exhausted each step feels heavier from the last. After another twelve–hour shift with endless tasks, she only wants to reach home to finally rest. The sky black as ebony, thick clouds hanging in the sky, with the moon hiding ever so slightly. The small fragments of the moonlight cascade down on Jaqueline’s face, engulfing her in the night’s embrace. The railway track is ahead of her; she usually takes the route through the city to get home, but today she was too tired to even care — the only thing on her mind was to get home as quickly as possible. As she approaches the railway track, walking along, Jaqueline finds a sense of solace and comfort in the darkness surrounding her further starless venture.
“How much longer do I have to endure this?” Jaqueline whispers to herself, trying to let go of reality.
As she continues, she feels a presence around her. Suddenly the air no longer feels cold — but strangely warm. Too warm. Jacqueline stops in her tracks, wondering if her exhaustion is catching up with her. Squinting her eyes, she sees the outline of a figure, far off but unmistakably there. Waiting in the shadows, with a strange pull, Jacqueline takes a step closer to the creature, her heart pounding faster by the second. She walks closer until she is at arm’s length with the creature, and a shiver falls down her spine. A tall figure draped in a long black coat and a hat covering its face only revealed an unsettling smile. In one skeletal hand, it holds a lantern, its glass cracked and smeared with grime. Inside burns a strange, flame. The flame is neither bright nor warm but casts a light that seems to dim everything else around it.
The air between Jaqueline and the creature is suffocating, until the creature finally speaks. “Oh Jaqueline … you’ve wandered so very far.”
Its voice is deep and raspy, each word being said excruciating slow. She swallows hard, barely keeping her voice steady, “I-I just want to get h-home.”
She says in fear taking a step back from the creature. “My dear child this is home.” It lets out a rattling laugh sending shivers to the bone.
“Come.” It whispers reaching its hand out to her, “nothing put peace awaits you.”
“No… I’m not done yet,” something inside fights back — a faint, desperate spark.
It lets out a chilling, echoing sigh. Its voice grows colder, harsher. “Then run, little flame… the weary always return back to me.”
Jacqueline turns and stumbles back from the track, forcing herself to look away. She feels the creature’s gaze lingering on her as she hurries down the road, away from its grasp and back into the city.
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