Love Lengths

Chapter Six

Kyle

He had meant to go home; that had been the original plan, up until, that is, he'd heard through the radio on his phone about the murder that had taken place the night before.

‘A young girl, aged eighteen, has been brutally r***d and murdered in an alley in the local area. Our police force are doing all they can to try and find the killer but, as of yet, they have no leads. From a brief description given by a passer-by, we have been led to believe that the killer is a tall Caucasian male of strong build standing around six foot. We advise all to be cautious and if anybody suspicious is seen that you inform the police straight away. Thank you, good night and God bless.‘

That’s what he tried to convince himself; he was protecting her. She was obviously out on her own, where was her boyfriend? Did she have a boyfriend? The knot in his stomach tightened as the thought of someone touching her pissed him off. He had sobered up quicker than ever and his decision was made.

Purposefully, he turned back, watching down the street in case she saw him; would she run? He hoped not; unable to put his finger on why, he jogged back quietly towards the alley in which he had faced her, knowing that he had to protect her; from whom? The murderer, or himself?

Kyle brushed off the thought, knowing he’d never intentionally hurt her; actually, he slowed to a brisk walk. What would he tell her about tonight? ‘The truth you i***t,’ he thought, ‘you were just protecting yourself you have nothing to be ashamed of.’ Yeah except the fact that guy had every right to be pissed, that was his wife. Goddess he needed to be more careful. The more he thought about it, the less interested he was in ever doing it again. Not now, now that he’d felt that spark.

He’d never felt it before, with anyone, but he knew that’s what it was, his mother had told him all about it when she’d met his father. ‘Why tonight? Why her?’ His head spun with the unanswered questions as he sped up until he stopped by the next alley: she was still there; he could hear the quiet thud of something hit material. Unsure, he hid behind a bin, desperate for her not to see him and bolt, especially with a maniac on the loose.

Surely, had anyone seen anything, they would have labelled him as the killer, but he knew he wasn’t – he wouldn’t dream of hurting anybody; least of all, after tonight’s happenings, her.

Suddenly, his head was flooded with her; the sweet smell of her vanilla scent dancing on the chilly breeze, the same as it had when she had moved around him to help him up; the soft

bell chime of her voice as she begged him to let her help; the feather like touch of her hands against his neck, and how he’d so easily succumbed to her touch, yearning for her to never stop.

Deep within his thoughts, he’d almost missed her coming out of the alleyway, seemingly unshaken; she walked purposefully down the road towards the large yellow bin at the end of the entry, where he was supposedly hiding; ducking down further, he smelt the odour of rotting eggs, the kind of smell that comes out of the school drains on a hot day when they haven’t been cleaned properly. Pinching his nose, he stayed there; waiting a few moments until she’d passed him and was about 50 yards away, heading onwards, further away from him down towards where nobody ever seemed to live.

‘She lives in Hellingham?’ He thought; the place that was all roads and hilly countryside, the place that usual people took a bus to, but not her, no. ‘Were they all right? Was she as weird as they all thought?’ With a killer on the loose you’d think any normal teenaged girl would want the safety of a bus to take her most of the way home in the dark, not her. Surely, he thought, surely he should make sure she got in ok, just to sooth his mind; after all, she’d already been through a lot tonight.

Grinning in such a way that had his smile blazing from one ear to the other, Kyle crept behind her down the long, soon to be winding, road as she plugged in an iPod and, from what he could hear in the silent street, turned it all the way up, so he could just hear the muffled sound of a bouncy song playing on the air; a medium levelled beat that someone could just about bop their head to – she didn’t.

As he followed, they passed the last bus shelter for miles as the country road began, housing an empty beer can with a slight tear in its crushed up form, just beneath the label that read as ‘Stella Artois’, and a half empty bottle of ‘Frosty Jack’s’ cider – classy.

He continued down the road behind her, paying no attention to anything on the slim pavement below him, only to her in front of him, knowing it was a lot more likely that he be caught down here, as the only things to hide behind were the tall trees that had quite clearly been planted decades ago, and the smaller ones, still as tall as houses, that had probably been planted in the last few decades.

He watched as her left hand lifted to unclip the long silver clip that had captivated her hair, letting it fall freely down her back as she shook it out of the kink; long, black wavy locks blew gently in the late night wind as she dropped the clip into her bag, running her right hand, then, through her hair, keeping it off of her face, something he’d seen her do in school, but tonight, it looked so, graceful, and in a way, sexy.

Slowly, he made his eyes look passed the way she swung her hips as she walked, towards the looming house about a hundred yards in front of him and then to the left down a gravelled path; double fronted with double glazed windows, the house stood easily fifty feet off the ground, not including the extension that had been added on as, what appeared to be, a loft room conversion. ‘How many of them is there?!’ he wondered as he continued walking, and staring, towards their path; the house he was looking at had to be at least five bedrooms. 'Wow', he mused, kicking a stone just underneath his shoe.

“s**t,” he mouthed, mentally crucifying himself for having made a sound at the last hurdle, he watched as the stone he’d kicked rolled across the gravelly floor, flying up off of the ground slightly as it hit another one, landing just shy of her right foot, missing her, only just. ‘Phew!’ he was so close, so close to making sure she got in ok, what was he to do when she got to her door? Kyle knew he couldn’t speak to her, he knew ‘I’m sorry’ wouldn’t suffice again; what with scaring and then stalking her, she’d call the damned police! Watching as she slowed a little, saw how her foot turned slightly, he dashed behind the nearest tree.

He didn’t know how long it was, seconds? It felt like hours. All he knew was that she couldn’t see him, and that the tree smelled like bird droppings as he faced it, begging and praying to the Goddess that she wouldn’t see him, and then he heard it, “Kyle,” the tinkling of her bell voice was behind him as he tried so hard not to make a sound.