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Carmelo Massimo Tidona
NOCTURNAL
www.quellidized.it
Nocturnal
Copyright © 2012
Carmelo Massimo Tidona
Zerounoundici Edizioni
ISBN: 978-88-6578-206-4
Cover:
Free image from FrreDigitalPhotos.net
Work autonomously proposed by the author, not submitted to selection from the publisher
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NOCTURNAL
CHAPTER 1
It was morning.
Lately it seemed like it was always morning.
Not like “it's still too early for lunch”, rather like “pull yourself out of that damned bed and try to keep your eyes peeled because you have to go to work”.
Amanda hated that sensation.
Although she wasn't used to stay up late at night, recently she felt like she wasn't able to sleep enough. No, not exactly... she wasn't able to rest enough, just as if sleeping made her more tired instead of shedding tiredness off her.
She rolled in the bed, repressing a yawn and pulling along most of the blankets, letting her bare back uncovered. A shiver ran down her spine, killing the already feeble will she had of getting up, but with a supreme effort she was able to put the blankets aside completely, fighting against the instinct to pull them up again and nestle in the pleasantly warm bed for some extra minute of sleep. She knew all too well that, if she did, those minutes would soon become hours, and she would have to explain the rector of the university the reason why she had skipped work. No one in the world wanted to explain that man anything, and Amanda was no exception.
After gulping a warmed coffee and washing with some water that couldn't be called just “cold”, she was at least able to keep her eyes open without using her fingers. She put on her glasses and some clothes chosen at random from the chest – doing it all in the wrong order, so that her pullover got caught in the frame of the spectacles, and she had to spend five minutes trying to wriggle it free without launching them on the floor or, even worse, under her feet – then she finally left for the station, cheerfully thinking that she was not too late after all.
In those days almost everyone had a personal means of transport. She had thought about that too, then decided that, even though she could buy one, she preferred not to have it, all things considered.
After all, public transports where perfectly fine and not expensive, the only problem was avoiding the most crowded times, which she was able to do... most of the time.
The station wasn't far from her place, ten minutes at worst using the main streets. Of course she didn't have that much time, so she rather turned into the alleys who cut the block like a network. They didn't have a good repute, but so early in the morning they were almost deserted... then again this should have been an additional good reason not to go there at all. Anyway, so far nothing bad had ever happened to her, and that was the thought crossing her mind when she bumped against an obstacle that shouldn't have been there, and fell sitting on the pavement.
Thankfully her large bag, mostly full of papers, fell between her and the hard floor, sparing her part of the impact, but still she fell hard enough for her glasses to jump and come to a halt on the tip of her nose. She thought she had to look quite ridiculous like that.
The first thing she did, however, was not putting them back in place but looking up to try and understand who had decided to place a wall in the middle of the alley. She found out the wall had arms, legs and a quite terrifying haircut.
The expression on the face of the bloke while he walked toward her left no doubts about the fact that he hadn't bumped into her by mistake.
«Quick!»
The voice came from behind her assailant, thus either he was a good ventriloquist or he had an accomplice hidden to her by his size. She chose the second option, which was soon confirmed by the apparition of another boy approaching. This was much slimmer than the first. He actually looked like a badly-assembled scarecrow and walked like he was just going along with the wind, but when it came to the haircut... deciding who had the worst would have been a very hard choice.
«The bracelet.»
This time it was the walking wall speaking. Amanda looked down at the simple crystal bracelet around her wrist as if she was seeing it for the first time ever.
«Are you kidding?» she asked in return. «What would you do with it?»
Either those two had lived the last fifty years in another world, which was quite unlikely because by their looks they probably didn't sum up forty years put together, or they were unredeemable idiots. This, however, didn't mean they couldn't be dangerous.
«Shut up and give me the bracelet!» the wall insisted, unsheathing a knife.
Amanda stared at him. There was no doubt left; they were idiots. Of course she wasn't expecting fireweapons, but that tiny blade was almost... pathetic!
«Fine, fine, give me a second», she replied meekly. She pushed back her glasses with the tip of a finger, then grabbed the bracelet with her right hand and tried to remove it, pulling hard as if it were stuck and wouldn't let go.
The wall got closer with a nervous pace, almost touching her. This moved him from the “idiot” category to the “completely dumb” one.
«So? We've no time to waste!» he grunted.
«One moment... almost there...» she was trying to look scared, or at least worried, but it was hard to. She gave a last pull and the bracelet, which had never offered any resistance in the first place, slid to her left hand while she used the moment to reach out to the man and grab his balls trough the thin fabric of the sweatpants he had on.
"If you really want to keep this career, at least wear some strong jeans", she thought, while the knife left the hand of its owner, no longer trying to keep it, and bounced tingling on the street. The big man bent over her hand. Big or small, you only had to know how to handle them...
«WhoOOOOooooooooooo...» the swearword turned into an howl, dying slowly as Amanda's grip grew stronger and stronger.
«Language!» she remarked, letting him go and quickly lying on her back, bending her legs. The brute didn't have enough time to rejoice for the liberation of his family jewels before both feet of his supposed victim hit his chin, sending him flying backwards and falling on his pal, who had stood in place, astonished, the whole time, barely understanding what was going on.
"Deem yourself lucky I don’t wear stiletto heels", Amanda thought as she stood up and tried to dust her trousers.
«Kill her!» the wall shrieked, keeping both hands below his waist as if he was afraid that his balls could fall and roll away if he didn't keep them in place.
The scarecrow moved forward. In spite of his menacing look, he didn't seem like he wanted to get too close, and Amanda had no trouble understanding why.
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She moved her hand next to her hip and only then realized that she was missing something. She repressed the instinct of turning to look behind; although those guys had plainly showed that they weren't so brilliant, she didn't think it was good to give them her back, so she tried to think fast of something to do. She decided to let the strap of her bag slip away from her shoulder and grabbed it at middle length, swinging it slightly. She had to leave the bracelet on the pavement, and for a second she hoped no one tried to steal it while she was busy... but who in the world, apart from those idiots, could be as stupid to even try? She made her bag do a full circle, even though she knew that, after that, she was going to need a detective, at least, to find something in there.
The scarecrow let go a rough laugh, to show that he wasn't worried by that unlikely weapon. Whom he was trying to show it to was an open question.
«Either do something or get out of my way, I'm late», she remarked.
«Are you kidding me?» was his grunted answer.
«Would you leave if I say I am?»
That last remark seemed to hit the switch in the boy, who started running at her, shaking his fists in the air. Actually, he gave the impression of falling rather than moving. The bag swung again, and this time it hit the boy full in the neck. He stumbled back, then he shook for a second as if he had been hit by a charge and fell in a heap of slim limbs.
Amanda stared, amazed, unable to understand what she had just seen. She hadn't hit that hard. Then again, she wouldn't have been able to obtain a similar effect even if she had hit much harder than she had.
Then she looked up and the mystery was no more. A man wearing a blue uniform walked to her, reaching out with a hand for some reason, as if he thought she needed help walking. «Are you OK, miss?»
Police. WOW. Someone had really called the police.
Now she was really going to be late.