Fallen University: Year One

“Hey, girl! Long time no see!” I gushed, even though I’d never met her before in my life. “How are you?”

Her body stiffened for a second until realization kicked in, then she hugged me back. “Oh, you know. Same old, same old. You?”

I pulled back, keeping half my focus on the street behind me as I blathered mindlessly to my new best friend. “Eh. Been better. Colin just cheated on me, so I was thinking we could grab some drinks to celebrate. What do you say?”

“Grey Goose?” the girl asked, playing along.

“Whatever you want, so long as I can drink to forget.”

“Cheers to that.” She laughed, tossing her long blonde hair.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched a black-clad figure walk past us. The girl seemed to notice him too and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

I waited for him to disappear before I turned toward her again, blowing out a breath of relief. “Hey, thanks for that. I don’t know how long creep-o was following me, but I just needed to get him off my back.”

“Don’t worry about it. We girls have to stick together, right?” She flashed me a toothy smile. “I’ve pulled that stunt before. The guys around here can be serious creeps. It’s always a risk going out alone.”

I eyed the neon sign of the bar. I was still a couple miles from my apartment, and a stiff drink actually sounded like a great idea right about now. Hell, maybe by the end of the night, I’d cave and splurge on a cab home.

“How about I buy you a drink to thank you?” I asked.

She laughed, then nodded. “Yeah, sure. I was about to bail—my friend ditched me for her currently on-again boyfriend, and I didn’t want to drink alone. But I’d love—”

Before she could finish speaking, there was a flash of movement from above us.

A half-second later, a dark, inhuman creature dropped down from the roof—

And pulled the girl straight up.

She was gone in a blink, as if she’d never been there. Her aborted scream echoed like a memory in the suddenly quiet street.

“What… the fuck…?”

I was too shocked to move. I could barely even breathe. I just kept staring at the place where the girl had stood a moment before, trying to unsee what I’d just seen.

To make it not real.

My heart lurched in my chest, pounding out an irregular rhythm that made me feel sick.

“What the fuck…?”

My mouth formed the same words over and over again. I sounded like a broken record, and my head swiveled back and forth like I was some demented owl.

What the hell was that thing?

It had been too dark to see it properly, but it’d looked like something straight out of a horror movie—a living gargoyle maybe. I had no idea.

“Hey, if this is some kind of joke… it isn’t funny,” I called out, backing slowly away from the building. Against every directive from my brain, my gaze crept up the side of the brick facade, searching for some sign of the girl. Of the thing.

A groan sounded. It was right behind me.

I spun around, thinking maybe the blonde girl had returned—but instead, I found myself face-to-face with a massive monster. Its teeth glistened with thick goo and its face was scarred and disfigured, its skin so rough it looked like burlap.

My chest squeezed so tight I couldn’t breathe.

What the ever-loving fuck?

That single coherent thought shocked my brain back into some semblance of control. Lurching into motion, I spun on my heel and sprinted down the street, breath coming in sharp gasps and backpack banging hard against my back as my feet hit the pavement.