Jasmine:
There was only silence all around me, which is the way I like it most of the time. But tonight it felt different- like the whole world was dead. I walked the same route every night, and the sounds of the night-crickets chirping, rabbits or other small animals running in the woods, and the occasional hoot of an owl-was always present, but not tonight.
I slowed down, thinking that maybe I had startled the animals and in turn caused the silence. But as I did shivers went up and down my spine and suddenly I felt as though I was being watched. I glanced around, trying to see anything out of place maybe the flashlight of a lost hiker or a campfire in the distance. I saw nothing but the feeling grew so intense that I picked up my pace. I felt a wave of relief wash over me as my little cottage came into view.
I bought the cottage a few months ago, after seeing it during a hike with a few friends. At the time it hadn't been much to look at but after a little bit of work, and some good old fashioned cleaning , it was just as I had pictured it the first time I'd seen it. A beautiful place, still the color of the wood that it had been built with, a porch that ran the length of the front of the cottage with two chairs and a small table sitting on the left of the door and a porch swing on the right end of it. I had planted flowers around it and even a couple rose bushes.
My own little slice of heaven. I thought.
I had slowed again as I approached the cabin, forgetting about the intense feeling of being watched but as I walked up the steps it came back and I glanced behind me. I scanned the tree line looking for a shape of some sort, thinking that maybe an animal was watching me. Living out in the middle of the woods as I do it was nothing for the occasional bear or wolf to be seen from time to time. But although I looked thoroughly not just once but twice I didn't see anything.
I mentally shook myself and walked on in to the cottage.
Sebastian:
She is beautiful. He thought to himself. Only once in my very long life had I ever saw a woman that had the ability to completely capture my whole attention.
My body yearned to take her, the beast within me demanded to be satisfied, and what bit of my old self was left demanded that I leave her alive and unharmed. It was a war inside one that had not been fought in a very long time, but I knew that deep down I would not harm this woman.
I'd caught a glimpse of her in the small town at dusk. And the impulse to follow her was too strong for me to deny. When she had stopped at the small store which catered to hikers I had thought she was staying at one of the two cabins behind it. But no, she only went inside the store and seconds later came and went straight to the trail behind it that led deep into the forest. I had no clue why she'd be going hiking alone in the middle of the night. I was about to go, just walk away but I could not ignore the impulse to follow her.
I know that as I watch, she feels my eyes upon her, and if this had been a true hunt, I would back off until her guard was down. This was no true hunt, and honestly I didn't know what it was, all that I knew was that I was unable to stop. It was as if I was afraid that she would disappear into thin air or maybe slip away and I would never see her again. I was intrigued with the feelings that this woman was stirring up within myself as much as I was with the woman herself.
Now I had her sent, and even if she were to get away from me, I would be able to find her in a crowd of hundreds. She smelt like sunshine (or at least what I could recall of a warm sunny day). The sight of her was as bright as the stats in a clear night sky, a sight that I looked at every night.
I watched as she walked towards a small cottage. I jumped to the nearest tree and perched on the lowest branch. She stood on the porch looking over her shoulder. She found nothing and continued inside, where she would no longer feel my gaze upon her. I waited a bit and quietly jumped from the tree. I listened for any sign that she would be coming back out the door and when I determined that she wouldn't, I slowly began to walk closer, being careful not to make noise that would alert her to the fact that I was there.