One Word: Glance

She turned her head and just for a moment the face was there, then it was gone.  She kept walking, glancing behind her. She shook her head and laughed, thinking it must have been a shadow.  She turned the corner relieved to be on her own street.  It was almost embarrassing to be afraid to walk the three blocks to her house after work.  She sped up, twisting her uniform vest into knots.  In the twilight, she could see her house now.  It had rained most of the day and though it had stopped, she could still hear the run off draining into the ditch next to the street.  Halfway down the block she heard a noise.  Someone calling for help.  It was coming from the ditch.

“No way am I going down there!” She thought.  She started to pass by and then sighed.  She looked over the edge but it was too dark to see anything.  She called out. “Are you ok?  I’m coming.  Talk so I can find you!”

She heard a noise like a soft moan and went down the side toward the sound.  “Hello?” She called. She was sliding a little now, holding on to bushes.  It was wet and muddy and what was that smell?  “Hello?” She called out again.

A voice in the dark said “Down here.  I can’t get up!”  She moved closer and saw the shape of someone lying half in the water.  She hurried to it and crouched down to see what was wrong.  She saw black shiny eyes and moonlight glinting off rows of tiny teeth.   Long talons grasped her wrist.

The next morning police were called when the remains of a young woman were found by a couple of kids chasing a soccer ball down in the drainage ditch.  Her neck was broken and her eyes were gone.