No Trace

Staying still and silent had never been so important. Stacy snuck a peek around the corner to see the man now had his back to her. She caught only the slightest movement in his hands.

The light caught on his knife for a quick moment, enough to force a blink or two. He tipped the long, sleek blade just enough to catch his reflection. What he saw was pleasing – cold, dead eyes and a frightening stare. Perfect. He’d slain the demon of emotions long ago, and he retained no desire to feel again. It would only make his job harder – impossible, even.

He tore his eyes away from his beloved blade and took one final look at the body on the ground. Nudging it with his foot, he chuckled gently and sauntered back down the alley towards town. Stacy pulled herself back around the corner, leaning her head against the brick wall and finally letting out her breath. Relief crashed through her like a tidal wave, and the tension finally left her shoulders. She half expected her heart to leap right out of her chest.

A few more moments of silence and her limbs had stopped shaking enough to hold her up. Confident she was now safe, her shaking fingers closed around her cell phone and she dialed 9-1-1 ready to tell them everything. She stepped out into the alley to see if she could find any proper information.

“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”

“Wait, what… the HELL!” She yelled, momentarily forgetting she’d witnessed a murder and the man who did it had only just walked away.

“Nevermind,” Stacy whispered as she ended the call and let the phone slip out of her hands. It hit the pavement with a crack.

The shock she felt as she scanned the alley now was worse than when she stumbled upon the event itself.

The body was gone.

Frantically, she ran back and forth along the walls, looking for doors or traps or… anything to explain what was happening. That man had killed someone in front of her, walked away laughing, and there was no trace. No body, no bloodstains, nothing left behind. She was positive no one else was there, and even if there was, surely she’d have heard something?

She stood there for what felt like hours. She closed her eyes, shook her head, and wondered if she was seeing things again. She grimaced and pulled the dreaded pill bottle out of her purse, pouring one into her hand with a sigh. It had been almost two years, but she couldn’t deny the tricks her mind had played this time. She picked her phone up and ambled towards the main road, keeping her gaze over her shoulder just in case.

She only straightened back out once she felt the daylight hit her eyes and saw a car zoom by – things felt normal again. She continued until she reached her initial destination, where she opened the door and plunked down in her usual seat – a small booth in the corner, beside a window.

“Hey Stacy, just the usual?”

“You bet!” She spent about an hour here every day before work to prepare and fuel up. They offered free refills on the coffee and her friend Jackie always slipped her a muffin or a donut on the house.

“I’ll be back in ten with that refill.” Jackie smiled as she set a small plate on the table. “Chocolate chip today, the morning batch didn’t sell out.”

“Thanks, Jackie, I really appreciate it.”

The hot coffee felt good on her throat and after a few minutes, Stacy felt better. She was ready to put the strange vision behind her until she could tell her therapist about it at their next session. She proceeded with her morning ritual of pre-work people watching. It was the main reason she loved the corner window booth.

Today she observed a young woman walking a cute little Pomeranian, a constant flow of people in and out of the city’s most popular ice cream shop, and a man in an odd red jacket lounging on the park bench and writing in his little black notebook. He had the over-sized, angular collar flipped up, covering most of his face. Stacy leaned back on the comfy bench and let herself relax – it was just another normal day. The man looked up suddenly, his gaze almost searching for hers. She snapped her head back down and reached for her phone to put on some music. She pulled it out and saw with a slight twinge of panic that the screen was cracked. She clicked the power button and relaxed slightly when the screen flicked on.

“Damn, I can’t upgrade for another six months.”

“Yikes, that looks nasty.”

Stacy jumped as Jackie appeared and topped up her coffee.

“Ugh yeah, I’m just gonna have to live with it, I guess. At least it still works.”

The next 45 minutes flew as Stacy wrote furiously in her journal, her mind still processing. She wasn’t even done when she realized it was time to go, but she had a bus to catch.

The ride to work was uneventful, save for a screaming baby and a couple on the brink of a breakup, arguing loudly.

Stacy sighed as she stepped off the bus and looked up and glared at the entrance of her workplace. “Another night of getting yelled at by entitled rich people, yay me.” Aside from the slightly above minimum-wage pay, she kept the job for the spectacular management and the many co-workers turned friends. Plus, she got a nice employee discount on designer jewelry, which may come in handy someday.

Considering her rather vacant social life, Stacy always appreciated working the later shift. It was usually a little slower and the bus ride home was always quieter. At first, this night was no different. About halfway through the trip home, a gentleman two rows in front of her stood up and prepared to exit at the next stop. Stacy glanced up as her eye caught the movement and she froze at the familiar sight.

It was the same man she watched jaunt down the alley after ending a man’s life. The top hat gave him away. The bus stopped, and she put her head into her hands, breathing deeply. She looked back up a moment later and the man was gone. She peered out the window, but all she saw was a flash of red and the bus started moving again.

Once more she pulled out the bottle of medication but decided against taking another. It had a cruel habit of giving her insomnia. Instead, she sent a text to her therapist requesting an emergency appointment the next day.

The walk home from the bus stop was only about two minutes, but Stacy couldn’t help looking over her shoulder the whole time. She hated this feeling of paranoia, and she hated how familiar it was. She couldn’t go back.

She opened her door to find the day’s pile of mail. She picked it up and the tension returned to her shoulders. “Great, more bills I can’t pay.” She grumbled as she tossed them back on the ground to deal with later.

She went through her bedtime routine on autopilot and sank into her sea of blankets with an exhausted sigh. Sleep was merciful that night and did not evade her, though the peaceful embrace of soft darkness was cut short as she woke up in a sweaty panic. The clock read 3:02am.

She was flooded with memories of her dream, visions of the killer’s glinting knife behind her eyes, whether she closed them or not. Her mind had twisted her relaxing hour at the coffee shop, showing her a dog with glowing red eyes and the ice cream shop on fire, screaming patrons jumping through a broken window. The man with the small book and strange collar was facing her now, his expression dark and deadly. Stacy swallowed her own scream and ran to the window, throwing it open and desperately sucking in the cool, fresh air.

Fully awake now, she focused solely on breathing and clearing her head of the horrid nightmare. Following her therapist’s advice, Stacy documented everything in the journal, noting every detail she could while it was all still fresh. She glanced at her phone and found she’d received a late-night response to her text, offering her an appointment the next morning. Her racing heart calmed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d get this all sorted out soon.

Stacy went back to bed feeling better and praying further bad dreams away. The rest of the night passed without incident and she woke up feeling positive and alert at her 9:00 am alarm. She hit snooze a few times but finally threw the covers off and got up. Feeling even more awake after going through her morning routine, Stacy smiled at the prospect of the day being great as she slipped on her shoes and left for her appointment.

Not watching the ground, Stacy almost tripped over a package outside her apartment door. “That’s weird, I haven’t ordered anything in weeks.” She picked it up and flipped it over. Plain brown envelope, no return address.

Brow furled, Stacy ripped it open and almost dropped the whole thing at the sight of cash. A huge bundle of crisp $100 dollar bills. Mouth gaping, she flipped through it all, mentally counting at least $20,000. She figured it was some mistake until she got to the bottom and pulled out a small black card with swirly red writing.

“You saw nothing. Tell no one.”

That was it. Just six words and a plain image – a blade cutting through a top hat. She looked up and caught the slightest glimpse of a bright red jacket with a weird collar. She sprinted down the hall after it but they were, of course, gone by the time she threw herself around the corner.

She looked back down at the cash in her hand, her head still spinning as she realized that while this was crazy, she wasn’t. $20,000 to stay quiet about something that she couldn’t prove, anyway. She couldn’t help but smile as she reached for her bottle of pills and made her way back home. She tossed the bottle in the nearby garbage can and sent a text that would change her life.

“Hi Dr. Laura, so sorry for the inconvenience but it turns out I’m actually fine and won’t need to come in today after all.”