Chapter One – Broken Compass

Him

He watched her from his hidden position at the end of the street. Her and the little dog. Sooty. He spat the name out. Sooty. He’d called it Sooty. Sooty for its jet-black fur. Very original, he’d thought at the time. Now, she called it by a different name. She pulled on the lead gently and he noted how the dog hesitated before it trotted to her heel, the pair now strolling side by side up the curving pavement of the close. Sweat began to drip down his forehead, stinging at his eyes. It was hot, the sun already beating down on him in his grey hoodie, but he paid no attention to the perspiration pooling under his arms, his heart beating, his mouth dry, body clenched. He didn’t dare take his eyes off her. Not after all this time.

The light of the morning caught her red hair, colouring it temporarily into a flame, entrancing him into a stupor. Piled into a messy bun, those few tendrils loose, framing that freckled face he couldn’t see from this distance, but he didn’t need to. He’d studied her face so intently he would know exactly how the small freckles would pepper her skin. The fire upon her head danced dangerously in the summer breeze as it escaped its hold from the clip at her crown, swinging down her back, the sun’s rays entangled in each strand, threatening to burn him alive. He allowed it to captivate him, enjoying the sick pleasure of its show, its owner clueless to a hidden audience. He closed his eyes, remembering the first time he’d seen her. Those jade eyes sparkling mischievously. Those same copper flames cascading over her small, narrow shoulders. Her red-bitten lips with the deep cupid’s bow, just the perfect shade of crimson and the scattering of brown freckles across her button nose. He knew her pale skin would be developing more little tan flecks by the day in the summer, dotted over her nose, her cheeks, down her chest, encouraged by the sun. He shuddered, suddenly cold in the stifling heat. Bumps flayed his skin as he pulled himself from the memory of her, from all those years before. Opening his eyes, he resumed his watch of their path from his safe distance.

A couple out on their own afternoon stroll approached her from the opposite direction, hand in hand. He smirked at the bloke who was desperately trying not to stare at her as they passed, how he overcompensated for his transgression by planting a kiss on the forehead of his oblivious partner. He sneered. He’d seen the way others looked at her before. It used to rile him. But there was no doubt about it, however angry he got, no matter how he hated it. She was striking. It was all part of her attraction.

They were walking away from him now, up the road. Her and Sooty. He felt the flicker of panic stirring as he watched her move away, threatening to conceal herself from his line of sight. He had to get closer. He couldn’t risk losing her again. He stole across the green, away from the hedge of number five, keeping his distance from the pavement that curled around the border. Bowed in his body, hood up, he caught glimpses of them flash between the threshold of the bungalows that framed the small, grassed area as he stalked quietly.

Sooty seemed reluctant to walk to her heel, he could see her impatience as she pulled on his leash again, more vigorously than before. He couldn’t blame the little dog. He wouldn’t like to be tied to her either. The road bent around in front of them as he came to a halt behind a picket fence of number fifteen. She faced him now, although she didn’t know it. He took her in, the picture of innocence with her little nose up in the air, her easy gait, the casual swing in her shoulders. There was a hint of a smile on her face, he imagined her breathing deeply. Inhaling the fresh breeze around her. Relishing her freedom. The liberty she stole. He gritted his teeth. Not for much longer.

Sooty bounded down a drive to his right, he could hear her irritated cry as the dog darted away. He kept hidden, observing how she followed him down past the small car in the driveway of the bungalow across the road, her back to him once more. The dog settled himself on the doorstep. To his delight, he watched as she pulled the keys out of her back pocket, the sound of metal upon metal music to his ears. Heart quickening, he felt the moisture leave his mouth, anticipating the confirmation that finally, finally, this was it. The final piece of the plan was slotting into place.

She reached for the door before hesitating, her sudden halt stemming his excitement. Maybe he had got it wrong, this wasn’t hers after all. Instead of inserting the key into the lock, she pulled something out of her back pocket. He strained his neck to see, he could now hear his heart thumping into his chest. It was her phone. She was studying it hard, apparently glued to the screen.

Sooty was scrapping at the door now. The scratching noise of his claws violently ripped through the quiet cul-de-sac. She was too busy doing something on her phone to notice. Sooty was becoming more ferocious in his desperation to be acknowledged. It was like nails on chalkboard. It would usually irk him, set his teeth on edge, but not today. Today it made him smile. This wasn’t the flighty, hypervigilant, cool and collected woman he remembered. She was distracted. It made her easy to get to. Easier to follow. It was better when she was not alert.

She raised her key to unlock the door, finally confirming this was her new home. He licked his lips, suddenly aware of the dryness of his mouth, as she put her phone back in her pocket. He watched as she put her key in the lock and turned it, glancing over her shoulder as the door swung open. He ducked quickly behind the bush of the front garden to his left. The thorns bit through his thin hooded top, stealing his breath but he didn’t flinch. He waited a beat, before peeking back over the hedge. Just to watch. He was content just to watch her. For now.

Little Sooty bounded through the door gladly as her auburn hair caught the sun, burning against her scalp again. Sending sheets of flame into the air. Oh, that hair. That beautiful head of hair. It was how he knew. How he’d known since the first time he saw her again, after all these years. It was her. She was the one. He watched, bent and concealed, as she gave the close a sweep behind her before following Sooty over the threshold. The door slammed shut behind them and he rose from his hiding place with a smirk.

Finally. It had taken everything he had, but he had finally done it.

He’d found her.

Broken Compass – Robbie Daniels

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Category: Fiction, Thriller/Crime